There
were times when she almost pitied him; for if she had not deceived him
in intention she understood how completely she must have done so in
fact. She had effaced herself when he first knew her; she had made
herself small, pretending there was less of her than there really was.
It was because she had been under the extraordinary charm that he,
on his side, had taken pains to put forth. He was not changed; he
had not disguised himself, during the year of his courtship, any
more than she. But she had seen only half his nature then, as one
saw the disk of the moon when it was partly masked by the shadow of
the earth. She saw the full moon now-she saw the whole man. She had
kept still, as it were, so that he should have a free field, and yet
in spite of this she had mistaken a part for the whole.
Ah, she had been immensely under the charm! It had not passed
away; it was there still: she still knew perfectly what it was that
made Osmond delightful when he chose to be. He had wished to be when
he made love to her, and as she had wished to be charmed it was not
wonderful he had succeeded. He had succeeded because he had been
sincere; it never occurred to her now to deny him that.
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