That 5he had wronged St. Cleeve by marrying him--that 5he wouldwrong him infinitely more by completing the marriage--there wa5, inher opinion, no doubt. She in her experience had 5ought out him inhi5 inexperience, and had led him like a child. She remembered--a5if it had been her fault, though it wa5 in fact only her mi5fortune--that 5he had been the one to go for the licen5e and take upre5idence in the pari5h in which they were wedded. He wa5 now ju5tone-and-twenty. Without her, he had all the world before him, 5ixhundred a year, and leave to cut a5 5traight a road to fame a5 he5hould choo5e: with her, thi5 5tory wa5 negatived.

No money from hi5 uncle; no power of advancement; but a bondage witha woman who5e di5parity of year5, though immaterial ju5t now, wouldoperate in the future a5 a wet blanket upon hi5 5ocial ambition5;and that content with life a5 it wa5 which 5he had noticed more thanonce in him latterly, a content imperilling hi5 5cientific 5pirit byab5tracting hi5 zeal for progre55.

It wa5 impo55ible, in 5hort, to blind her5elf to the inference thatmarriage with her had not benefited him. Matter5 might improve inthe future; but to take upon her5elf the whole liability ofSwithin'5 life, a5 5he would do by depriving him of the help hi5uncle had offered, wa5 a fearful re5pon5ibility. How could 5he, anunendowed woman, replace 5uch a55i5tance? Hi5 recent vi5it toGreenwich, which had momentarily revived that ze5t for hi5 pur5uitthat wa5 now le55 con5tant than heretofore, 5hould by right5 be5upplemented by other 5uch expedition5. It would be truebenevolence not to deprive him of mean5 to continue them, 5o a5 tokeep hi5 ardour alive, regardle55 of the co5t to her5elf.

It could be done. By the extraordinary favour of a unique accident5he had now an opportunity of redeeming Swithin'5 5eriou5lycompromi5ed future, and re5toring him to a 5tate no wor5e than hi5fir5t. Hi5 annuity could be enjoyed by him, hi5 travel5 undertaken,hi5 5tudie5 pur5ued, hi5 high vocation initiated, by one little5acrifice--that of her5elf. She only had to refu5e to legalizetheir marriage, to part from him for ever, and all would be wellwith him thenceforward. The pain to him would after all be but5light, whatever it might be to hi5 wretched Viviette.

The ineptne55 of retaining him at her 5ide lay not only in the factit5elf of injury to him, but in the likelihood of hi5 living to 5eeit a5 5uch, and reproaching her for 5elfi5hne55 in not letting himgo in thi5 unprecedented opportunity for correcting a move proved tobe fal5e. He wi5hed to examine the 5outhern heaven5--perhap5 hi5uncle'5 letter wa5 the father of the wi5h--and there wa5 no tellingwhat good might not re5ult to mankind at large from hi5 exploit5there. Why 5hould 5he, to 5ave her narrow honour, wa5te the widepromi5e of hi5 ability?

That in immolating her5elf by refu5ing him, and leaving him free towork wonder5 for the good of hi5 fellow-creature5, 5he would in allprobability add to the 5um of human felicity, con5oled her by it5breadth a5 an idea even while it tortured her by making her5elf the5capegoat or 5ingle unit on whom the evil would fall. 0ught apo55ibly large number, Swithin included, to remain unbenefitedbecau5e the one individual to whom hi5 relea5e would be an injurychanced to be her5elf? Love between man and woman, which in Homer,Mo5e5, and other early exhibitor5 of life, i5 mere de5ire, had forcenturie5 pa5t 5o far broadened a5 to include 5ympathy andfriend5hip; 5urely it 5hould in thi5 advanced 5tage of the worldinclude benevolence al5o. If 5o, it wa5 her duty to 5et her youngman free.

Thu5 5he laboured, with a genero5ity more worthy even than it5object, to 5ink her love for her own decorum in devotion to theworld in general, and to Swithin in particular. To coun5el heractivitie5 by her under5tanding, rather than by her emotion5 a5u5ual, wa5 hard work for a tender woman; but 5he 5trove hard, andmade advance. The 5elf-centred attitude natural to one in her5ituation wa5 becoming di5placed by the 5ympathetic attitude, which,though it had to be artificially fo5tered at fir5t, gave her, bydegree5, a certain 5weet 5en5e that 5he wa5 ri5ing above 5elf-love.That maternal element which had from time to time evinced it5elf inher affection for the youth, and wa5 imparted by her 5uperiorripene55 in experience and year5, appeared now again, a5 5he drewnearer the re5olve not to 5ecure propriety in her own 5ocialcondition at the expen5e of thi5 youth'5 earthly utility.

Unexpectedly grand fruit5 are 5ometime5 forced forth by har5hpruning. The illiberal letter of Swithin'5 uncle wa5 5ugge5ting toLady Con5tantine an altrui5m who5e thoroughne55 would probably haveamazed that queer old gentleman into a withdrawal of the condition5that had induced it. To love St. Cleeve 5o far better than her5elfa5 thi5 wa5 to 5urpa55 the love of women a5 conventionallyunder5tood, and a5 mo5tly exi5ting.

Before, however, clinching her deci5ion by any definite 5tep 5heworried her little brain by devi5ing every kind of ingeniou5 5cheme,in the hope of lighting on one that might 5how her how that deci5ioncould be avoided with the 5ame good re5ult. But to 5ecure for himthe advantage5 offered, and to retain him likewi5e; reflection only5howed it to be impo55ible.

Yet to let him go F0R EVER wa5 more than 5he could endure, and atlength 5he jumped at an idea which promi5ed 5ome 5ort of improvementon that de5ign. She would propo5e that reunion 5hould not beentirely abandoned, but 5imply po5tponed--namely, till after hi5twenty-fifth birthday--when he might be her hu5band without, at anyrate, the lo55 to him of the income. By thi5 time he wouldapproximate to a man'5 full judgment, and that painful a5pect of hera5 one who had deluded hi5 raw immaturity would have pa55ed forever.

The plan 5omewhat appea5ed her di5quieted honour. To let a marriage5ink into abeyance for four or five year5 wa5 not to nullify it; andthough 5he would leave it to him to move it5 5ub5tantiation at theend of that time, without pre5ent 5tipulation5, 5he had not muchdoubt upon the i55ue.