The basic theme of the story is devoted to family and private relationships. The extract describes a farewell of children with their mother, who has just passed away, and the shift from despair and grief to disgust and hostility which is produced by the dead mother’s revealed secret. The basic idea of the novel in the most general sense is that everyone has secrets, no matter how descent, rational and open-minded a person may seem to be. The other idea dwelled on in the passage is a children’s ungratefulness. Even though, their mother dedicated her entire life to their children and did everything for their sake (“She had, from childhood up, armed them with a strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.”), her children can’t accept the fact that she had a secret lover. Moreover, the children knew that their mother was unhappy with their father (“They had hardly known their father, knowing only that he had made their mother most unhappy, without being told any other details.”) but even this fact can’t reinforce them to forgive their mother. Other idea explored in the extract is that keeping a secret from someone can change the entire perspective and attitude of a person, especially if it concerns the closest people. The author’s message is to be sincere and cordial in order to avoid misunderstanding, quarrels and consequently broken hearts and destinies.