Nevertheless she _did_ love him in her own flower-like way.

She would certainly have made a _small_ sacrifice for his sake.

His love was tenderly moved and re-niched into a smaller demand on hers, one that she could have met without too much distress.

His bruised mind comforted itself with the conviction that if a slight sacrifice on her part could have saved him she would indubitably have made it.
After a year in prison the news tardily reached Michael through his friend, the doctor, that the duke was dead.
The news, so long expected, gave him a pang when it did at last arrive.
He had liked the duke.

For a moment they had been very near to each other.
But now, _now_, Fay would release him.