human
Am I forgiven?
gpt
For what?
human
For pretending to disbelieve you this morning.
gpt
Was it pretence?
human
No, it wasn't! he told her fiercely.
gpt
It was deadly earnest. I would have given all I had to be able to disbelieve you. Do you know that?
human
But why, Nap?
gpt
Why? he said.
human
Because your goodness, your purity, are making a slave of me. If I could catch you--if I could catch you only once--cheating, as all other women cheat, I should be free. But you are irreproachable and incorruptible. I believe you are above temptation.
gpt
Oh, you don't know me, she interposed quietly.
human
But even if I were all these things, why should it vex you?
gpt
Why? he said.
human
Because you hold me back, you check me at every turn. You harness me to your chariot wheels, and I have to run in the path of virtue whether I will or not!
gpt
Don't you even care to know what was in that letter that you never had?
human
Tell me!
gpt
I told you that I was mad to have missed you that day. I begged you to let me have a line before you came again. I besought you to let me call upon you and to fix a day. I signed myself your humble and devoted slave, Napoleon Errol.
human
You must never come to see me,
gpt
Not if I bring the mother as a chaperon?
human
Neither you nor your mother must ever come to see me again, she said firmly.
gpt
And--Nap--though I know that the writing of that letter meant nothing whatever to you, I am more sorry than I can say that you sent it.
human
What? he said.
gpt
Has the queen no further use for her jester? Am I not even to write to you then?
human
I think not,
gpt
And why?
human
I think you know why,
gpt
Do I know why? Is it because you are afraid of your husband?
human
No.
gpt
Afraid of me then?
human
No,
gpt
Why, then?
human
For a reason that means much to me, though it may not appeal to you. Because my husband is not always sane, and I am afraid of what he might do to you if he were provoked any further.
gpt
Great Lucifer! said Nap.
human
Does he think I make love to you then?
gpt
He is not always sane,
human
You are right, he said.
gpt
That reason does not appeal to me. Your husband's hallucinations are not worth considering. But I don't propose on that account to write any more letters for his edification. For the future--
human
For the future, Anne said,
gpt
No, I don't understand, Nap said.
human
I don't understand how you can, by the widest stretch of the imagination, believe it your duty to conform to the caprices of a maniac.
gpt
How can I help it?
human
Like our mutual friend, Major Shirley, he said slowly,
gpt
I wonder why you stick to the man.
human
You never loved him,
gpt
I live with him because he gave me that for which I married him. He fulfilled his part of the bargain. I must fulfil mine. I was nothing but his bailiff's daughter, remember; a bailiff who had robbed him--for whose escape from penal servitude I paid the price.
human
Great Heavens!
gpt
I have never told anyone else, she said.
human
I tell you because I know you are my friend and because I want you to understand. We will never--please--speak of it again.
gpt
Wait! Nap's voice rang stern.
human
Was it part of the bargain that he should insult you, trample on you, make you lead a dog's life without a single friend to make it bearable?
gpt
Let us go back,
human
I am not going to give up my friendship with you. Let that be clearly understood.
gpt
You are very good to me,
human
No. I am not. I am human, that's all. I don't think this state of affairs can last much longer.