I was watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents the other night. As entertaining as those shows are, you always know that the protagonist is not going to get away with whatever hi-jinks he or she tried to pull. It might have something to do with the Hollywood code, this never letting anyone profit from their sins. Thomas Hardy is kind of like that; his characters usually pay for their mistakes. In this case, I believe that Lady Constantine paid more and had me thinking about whether or not her sin was really so much worse than Swithin's. Maybe it is because Lady Constantine's actions were always motivated by a need to hide the truth. Whereas Swithin's instincts were to bring everything out in the light - enlightenment even, playing on his career as a scientist. I also suspect Hardy gave him a pass because of his youth.