Miss Gilpin monologue — The Straw

(_sadly_) Oh, it's too late, I'm afraid. If we had only had this talk before you had seen her! I meant to talk to you frankly and if I found out you didn't love Eileen--there was always the forlorn hope that you might--I was going to tell you not to see her, for her sake--not to let her face the truth. For I am sure she continued to hope in spite of everything, and always would--to the end--if she didn't see you. I was going to implore you to stay away, to write her letters that would encourage her hope, and in that way she would never learn the truth. I thought of writing you all this--but--it's so delicate a matter--I didn't have the courage. (_With intense grief._) And now Doctor Stanton's decision to send her away makes everything doubly hard. When she knows _that_--she will throw everything that holds her to life--out of the window! And think of it--her dying there alone!