There was a coming manliness about him
which she liked,---and she liked even the slight want of present
manliness. Putting aside Frank Tregear she could go nearer to
loving him than any other man she had ever seen. With him she
would not be turned from her duties by disgust, by dislike, or
dismay. She could even think that the time would come when she
might really love him. Then she had all but succeeded, and she
might have succeeded altogether had she been a little more
prudent. But she had allowed her great prize to escape from her
fingers.
But the prize was not yet utterly beyond her grasp. To recover
it,--to recover even the smallest chance of recovering it, there
would be need of great exertion. She must be bold, sudden,
unwomanlike,--and yet with such display of woman's charms that he
at least should discover no want. She must be false, but false
with such perfect deceit, that he must regard her as a pearl of
truth. If anything could lure him back it must be his conviction
of her passionate love. And she must be strong;--so strong as to
overcome not only his weakness, but all that was strong in him.
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