Wharton, Edith — The Age of Innocence [1932]

“It’s more real to me here than if I went up,” he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other. — Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence, 1932

Note

Archer names the logic of his entire life in a single sentence: the imagined is more real than the actual, and the preservation of the vision requires that it never be tested. The phrase ‘last shadow of reality’ gives the refusal a quiet dignity rather than mere cowardice.