`` this alone does not seem to me a greater bar to your marriage than must be all the other obstacles : the difference in your station , and the uncertainty of the local politics ; the ruin which it must make of your career- '' here laurence trailed off : for he himself had ruined his career , to carry out what he felt his duty ; and granby , who had looked away , knew it : laurence 's own actions spoke too loudly of the choice he himself would make .