It troubled her very much. She was by no means not alive to the
honour of the Duke's friendship. Throughout her intimacy with the
Duchess she had abstained from pressing herself on him, not
because she had been indifferent about him, but that she had
perceived that she might make her way with him better by standing
aloof than by thrusting herself forward. And she had known that
she had been successful. She could tell herself with pride that her
conduct towards him had been always such as would become a lady of
high spirit and fine feeling. She knew that she had deserved well
of him, that in all her intercourse with him, with his uncle, and
with his wife, she had given much and had taken little. She was
the last woman in the world to let a word on such a matter pass
her lips; but not the less was she conscious of her merit towards
him. And she had been led to act as she had done by sincere
admiration for the man. In all their political troubles, she had
understood him better than the Duchess had done. Looking on from a
distance she had understood the man's character as it had come to
her both from his wife and from her own husband.
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