He had been spared much, and she--she had been delivered from a fate far worse.

For she could never have come to love him.

She was certain of that.

Lifelong misery would have been her portion, school herself to submission though she might.
She believed that the awakening from that dream of lethargy could not have been long deferred for either of them, and with it would have come a bitterness immeasurable.

She did not think he had ever honestly believed that she loved him.