A wave of meretricious sentiment, false yet with a curious base of naturalness, swept in upon him for a moment and tugged at his heart-strings.

She had been his woman; the little boy with the sticky mouth was child of his.
The bald humanity of his affections for them joined forces for a moment with the simple greatness of his new capacity.

Dimly he realized that somewhere behind all these things lurked a truth greater than any he had as yet found.

Then, with an almost incredible swiftness, this new emotion began to fade away.

His brain began to work, his new fastidiousness asserted itself.