measure. I asked her for nothing," she added; " I
never put myself upon her. She must take her
risks, and she surely understands them. What we
shall have got from her is what we ve already spoken
of," Kate further explained; "it's that we shall
have gained time. And so, for that matter, will
she."

Densher gazed a little at all this clearness; his
gaze was not at the present hour into romantic ob
scurity. " Yes; no doubt, in our particular situa
tion, time's everything. And then there's the joy
of it."

She hesitated. " Of our secret?"

"Not so much perhaps of our secret in itself, but
of what's represented and, as we must somehow
feel, protected and made deeper and closer by it."
And his fine face, relaxed into happiness, covered
her with all his meaning. " Our being as we
are."

It was as if for a moment she let the meaning sink
into her. " So gone?"

"So gone. So extremely gone. However," he
smiled, " we shall go a good deal further." Her
answer to which was only the softness of her silence
a silence that looked out for them both at the far
reach of their prospect. This was immense, and
they thus took final possession of it. They were
practically united and they were splendidly strong;
but there were other things things they were pre
cisely strong enough to be able successfully to

[[108]]

p107 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p108w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p109

v?