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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: could do would be to let the engagement stand. Of course I,
of all people, ought not to have cared what was said, for it was
just what I fancied I never did care for. But I was a coward--
as so many women are--and my theoretic unconventionality broke down.
If that had not entered into the case it would have been better to
have hurt your feelings once for all then, than to marry you and hurt
them all my life after.... And you were so generous in never giving
credit for a moment to the rumour."
"I am bound in honesty to tell you that I weighed its probability
and inquired of your cousin about it."
"Ah!" she said with pained surprise.
Jude the Obscure | 
