It is idle to suppose that remorse
can not be kept at arm's length for a certain time; but the debt
recklessly incurred must generally be paid to the uttermost farthing.
Life, if sufficiently prolonged, will always afford leisure for
reflection and retrospect, and at such seasons we appreciate in full
force the tortures of "solitary confinement." The criminal may go on
pilgrimage to a hundred shrines, and never light on the purification
that will scare the Erinnyes.
In this instance the victor certainly did not abuse his advantage, and
was any thing but exacting in his requirements. It was strange how his
whole manner and nature altered when alone with his beautiful captive.
The more evident became her subjugation, the more he seemed anxious to
treat her with a delicate deference. They talked, as a rule, on any
subject rather than their own feelings; and he spoke on all such
indifferent topics honestly, if not wisely. For the rest of the world
his sarcasm and irony were ready as ever; he kept all his sincerity and
confidence for Cecil Tresilyan. This is the secret of the influence
exercised by many men, at whose successes we all have marveled.
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