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And here Dorothea's pity turned from her own future to her husband's

past--nay, to his present hard struggle with a lot which had grown out

of that past: the lonely labor, the a hardly under the

pressure of self-distrust; the goal receding, and the heavier li above hiht help hiht the as to be soreater, which she could

serve in devoutly for its own sake Was it right, even to soothe his

grief--would it be possible, even if she promised--to work as in a

treadmill fruitlessly?

And yet, could she deny hier?" It would be refusing to do for hi If he lived as Lydgate had said he

ht, for fifteen years orhi him

Still, there was a deep difference between that devotion to the living

and that indefinite promise of devotion to the dead While he lived,

he could claiainst, and even to refuse But--the thought passed through her ht he notine,

since he wanted her pledge to carry out his wishes without telling her