Lord Melbourne with his gentle instruction had sought to lead her into the paths of wisdom and moderation, but the whole unconscious movement of his character had swayed her in a very different direction.

The hard clear pebble, subjected for so long and so constantly to that encircling and insidious fluidity, had suffered a curious corrosion; it seemed to be actually growing a little soft and a little clouded.

Humanity and fallibility are infectious things; was it possible that Lehzen's prim pupil had caught them?
That she was beginning to listen to siren voices?
That the secret impulses of self-expression, of self-indulgence even, were mastering her life?
For a moment the child of a new age looked back, and wavered towards the eighteenth century.

It was the most critical moment of her career.

Had those influences lasted, the development of her character, the history of her life, would have been completely changed.
And why should they not last?
She, for one, was very anxious that they should.