The lovers begin by deferring their flight for various more or less comprehensible reasons of convenience; but the habit of shrinking from the final step grows steadily upon them, and they never take it, but die, as it were, waiting for each other.

The objection that the act thus avoided was a criminal one is very simply and quite clearly answered by Browning himself.

His case against the dilatory couple is not in the least affected by the viciousness of their aim.

His case is that they exhibited no virtue.

Crime was frustrated in them by cowardice, which is probably the worse immorality of the two.