He might have been expected to understand that Society was closed to him and Anna; but some sort of vague notion got into his head that though it used to be so in olden times, yet now, when there was so much progress (without noticing it, he had become an advocate of every kind of progress), public opinion had changed and it was possible that they would be received in Society.
Debía haber comprendido que el mundo estaba cerrado para él y para Ana. Pero actualmente nacía en su cerebro la vaga idea de que, si eso era así antiguamente, ahora, dado el rápido progreso humano (a la sazón era muy partidario de todos los progresos), el punto de vista de la sociedad había cambiado y por tanto la cuestión de si ellos serían recibidos en sociedad o no, no estaba aún decidida.