She had no doubt whatever; she had spoken to him, and he had answered; but the answer was one which all the world might have heard.
Down deep in her nature was an inalienable loyalty, was a simple, old-fashioned feeling that "they two," she and Eglington, should cleave unto each other till death should part.

He had done much to shatter that feeling; but now, as she listened to Mario's voice, centuries of predisposition worked in her, and a great pity awoke in her heart.

Could she not save him, win him, wake him, cure him of the disease of Self?
The thought brought a light to her eyes which had not been there for many a day.

Out of the deeps of her soul this mist of a pure selflessness rose, the spirit of that idealism which was the real chord of sympathy between her and Egypt.
Yes, she would, this once again, try to win the heart of this man; and so reach what was deeper than heart, and so also give him that without which his life must be a failure in the end, as Sybil Eglington had said.

How often had those bitter anguished words of his mother rung in her ears--"So brilliant and unscrupulous, like yourself; but, oh, so sure of winning a great place in the world...