The Ambassadors Book Twelfth Chapter 5

In which Strether shares a reflective breakfast with Maria Gostrey in her charming, orderly retreat, where their conversation turns to his stirring recent encounters and the tangled matters of affection and duty that he must now confront. They exchange thoughtful and delicate observations on the people and ties that bind him, lingering over the question of what he will carry back home, all the while shaded by the gentle yet unyielding gravity of parting.