At that point, war's all over but the crying, so he could maybe convince himself that his Duty was done. But the Barbara thing is tough - cause it's not just about her as a person and their love and disagreement; his thing for her was always tied up with his ambition and wanting to have a proper wife, a lady. And even though the war is winding down, he still likes to be top dog - could he put that aside for Marie? I think of all his women, she understood him the best, and loved him for what he truly was, and that he could be himself with her, but he is so bad at knowing who he is (as we discussed the other day), that I'm not sure he'd *get* that about their relationship.