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 the elasticity of atonement: she would have accepted private regrets as the genteel equivalent of open expiation. Kate could even imagine her extracting a &quot;lesson&quot; from the providential fact that her son had not been found out.

&quot;You see it's not so simple,&quot; he broke out, with a tinge of doleful triumph.

&quot;No: it's not simple,&quot; she assented.

&quot;One must think of others,&quot; he continued, gathering faith in his argument as he saw her reduced to acquiescence.

She made no answer, and after a moment he rose to go. So far, in retrospect, she could follow the course of their talk; but when, in the act of parting, argument lapsed into entreaty, and renunciation into the passion ate appeal to give him at least one more hearing, her memory lost itself in a tumult of pain, and she recalled only that, when the door closed on him, he took with him her promise to see him once again.