A couple of quotes from the Terminal Note that I felt were important:

"A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn't have bothered to write it otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows...Happiness is it's keynote - which by the way has had an unexpected result: it made the book more difficult to publish... If it ended unhappily, with a lad dangling from a noose or with a suicide pact, all would be well...But the lovers get away unpunished and consequently recommend crime.''

''Since Maurice was written there has been a chance in the public attitude: the change from ignorance and terror to familiarity and contempt...(I) had supposed that knowledge would bring understanding. We had not realized that what the public loathes about homosexually is not the thing itself but having to think about it. Consequently... Police prosecutions will continue and Clive on the bench will continue to sentence Alec on the dock. Maurice may get off.''