For she had forgotten that, conservative
and apparently priggish as he was, he was before all things a romantic
in temperament; and the true romantic will shrink from the ordinary risk
while he accepts the extraordinary one. She had forgotten that men of
Stephen's nature are incapable of small sacrifices, and yet at the same
time capable of large ones; that, though they may not endure petty
discomforts with fortitude, they are able, in moments of vivid
experience, to perform acts of conspicuous and splendid nobility. For
the old order was not merely the outward form of the conservative
principle, it was also the fruit of heroic tradition.
"You must think it over, Stephen," she pleaded. "Go away now, and try
to realize all that it will mean to you."
"Thinking doesn't get me anywhere," he replied. His face was pale and
thoughtful; and Corinna knew, while she watched him, that he had found
freedom at last; that he had come into his manhood. "I've made my
choice, and I'll stand by it to-day even if I regret it to-morrow.
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