"I know now what the feeling meant. The knowledge came to me
to-night. It meant that I turned away from his weakness
because deep within myself something stirred in recognition of
it. Humanity is really much simpler than we like to think,
and human impulses have an extraordinary fundamental
connection. Weakness is egotism--but so is strength.
Chilcote has followed his vice; I have followed my ambition.
It will take a higher judgment than yours or mine to say which
of us has been the more selfish man." He paused and looked at
her.
She was watching him intently. Some of the meaning in his
face had found a pained, alarmed reflection in her own. But
the awe and wonder of the morning's discovery still colored
her mind too vividly to allow of other considerations
possessing their proper value. The thrill of exultation with
which the misgivings born of Chilcote's vice had dropped away
from her mental image of Loder was still too absorbing to be
easily dominated. She loved, and as if by a miracle her love
had been justified! For the moment the justification was
all-sufficing.
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