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 He sat staring before him. &quot;Of course you realize what it would mean ?&quot; he began at length.

&quot;To you?&quot; she returned.

&quot;I put that aside. To others—to you. I should go to prison.&quot;

&quot;I suppose so,&quot; she said simply.

&quot;You seem to take it very easily—I'm afraid my mother would n't.&quot;

&quot;Your mother?&quot; This produced the effect he had expected.

&quot;You had n't thought of her, I suppose? It would probably kill her.&quot;

&quot;It would have killed her to think that you could do what you have done!&quot;

&quot;It would have made her very unhappy; but there s a difference.&quot;

Yes: there was a difference; a difference which no rhetoric could disguise. The secret sin would have made Mrs. Peyton wretched, but it would not have killed her. And she would have taken precisely Denis's view of