A strong word, implying a much deeper struggle within Mrs Gould than the words
of the conversation suggest. In fact, in her questioning of Holroyd's motives,
Emily is questioning the entire use of material progress to implement her altruism.
Implicit in this questioning is her use for Charles, as the paragraph's first
sentence makes almost explicit. And what causes her to "relent" is very
significant: it is Charles' upper-class demeanor. Almost hidden, what happens
in this paragraph is that Emily accepts the forces of material progress, despite
her reservations, because they confer something that is to her more important:
an upper-class status. Conrad thus makes a very subtle point, that a standing
of superiority is more fundamentally necessary to altruism than are the means
of redress.