human
Tim, you do not understand, she urged.
gpt
You say he was a landsharp in the South, and that he had to leave--
human
He had to vamoose, or take tar and feathers.
gpt
But he had to leave. And he came here preaching and healing; and he is a hypocrite and a fraud--I know that now, my eyes are opened. He didn't do what he said he could do, and it killed Mary Jewell--the shock; and there were other things he said he could do, and didn't do them. Perhaps he is all bad, as you say--I don't think so. But he did some good things, and through him I've felt as I've never felt before about God and life, and about Walt and the baby--as though I'll see them again, sure. I've never felt that before. It was all as if they were lost in the hills, and no trail home, or out to where they are. Like as not God was working in him all the time, Tim; and he failed because he counted too much on the little he had, and made up for what he hadn't by what he pretended.
human
He can pretend to himself, or God Almighty, or that lot down there --he jerked a finger toward the town--
gpt
He didn't pretend to me, Tim. People don't usually have to _pretend_ to like me.
human
You know what I'm driving at.
gpt
Oh yes, I know. And whatever he is, you've said that you will save him. I'm straight, you know that. Somehow, what I felt from his preaching--well, everything got sort of mixed up with him, and he was--was different. It was like the long dream of Walt and the baby, and he a part of it. I don't know what I felt, or what I might have felt for him. I'm a woman--I can't understand. But I know what I feel now. I never want to see him again on earth--or in heaven. It needn't be necessary even in heaven; but what happened between God and me through him stays, Tim; and so you must help him get away safe. It's in your hands--you say they left it to you.
human
I don't trust that too much.
gpt
See, I'm right; there they are, a dozen of 'em mounted. They're off, to run him down.
human
He's got an hour's start, she said;
gpt
If they don't catch him 'fore that.
human
Or if you don't get to him first,
gpt
It takes a lot of doing. Yet I'll do it for you, Laura, he said.
human
But it's hard on the Pioneers.
gpt
The Pioneers will get over it, Tim, she rejoined.
human
They've swallowed a lot in their time. Heaven's gate will have to be pretty wide to let in a real Pioneer, she added.
gpt
He takes up so much room--ah, Timothy Denton!
human
It hasn't spoiled you--being converted--has it?