ABSTRACT
If the conflict of values that James seems to project and then sometimes to withdraw does not materialize in the substantial way that some readers have expected, neither does the problem vanish with the novel's resolution. In the final pages, it is true, Maggie notes of what they may know of each other that `It isn't a question of any beauty . . . it's only a question of the quantity of truth.' (p. 566) Here the validity of two forms of assessment is neatly framed. But the consequences lead not to separation but to accommodation.
