Agnes thought that by being of good behavior, she would be forgiven and all the money she lost would be reversed, but it turned out that whatever would be paid would only begin from where the change becomes visible.
In this case, pretending would not help matters as much as she wanted it to. She would have to give up trying to make things difficult for Alex and his wife.
However, she still felt a need for Alex to be lenient with her, at least for the first part as a warning since Alex had only recently been sworn into office but was hit harshly by Alex's reason for making the consideration.
"The maid you bribed drugged a woman, so where do you want me to cough up money to compensate her? You are lucky I refrained from touching your husband's allowances."
In other words, all the money gathered during her probation period would be used as compensation, hence the reason for the non-refundable policy Alex talked about.
