The Paula Jones sexual harassment civil action against President Clinton, the case which led to the disclosure of his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky - and the embarrassment of Mr Kenneth Starr's report, - ended last night when the President agreed to pay her $850,000 but offered no apology.
"There has been agreement," said a legal source. The settlement, believed to fall short of Ms Jones's legal bills, was not entirely unexpected but her lawyers had been holding out for an apology - something the President was not prepared to concede, his resolve bolstered by the good results for the Democrats in the recent midterm elections.
There was no immediate comment from the White House or from Mr Clinton's lawyers on the settlement. Mr Clinton, however, had consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In a separate development, meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Starr was sending more evidence to Congress related to the impeachment inquiry against the President.
US television networks said that Mr Starr had also reindicted one of Mr Clinton friend's, a former associate attorney general, Mr Webster Hubbell, on 15 counts of lying and fraud during Mr Starr's original Whitewater investigation.
A letter from Mr Starr's deputy, Mr Robert Bittman, to the House Judiciary Committee, the committee considering the case for impeaching the President, described the evidence as "certain investigative materials related to our referral," meaning the independent counsel's report into Mr Clinton.
Mr Hubbell, formerly a partner in Mrs Hillary Clinton's law firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, has already spent 18 months in jail after he confessed to stealing some $400,000 from the company. That case was also brought by Mr Starr.
The committee opened hearings on November 9th aimed at deciding whether and how to punish President Clinton for allegedly committing lying under oath in the Jones case and also before a Grand Jury investigating his affair with Miss Lewinsky in order to keep it secret.
The full committee is weighing charges that Clinton committed perjury, obstructed justice, and abused his power in trying to hide the affair. Mr Starr is due to testify before the committee on November 19th and perhaps 20th.
The panel will then report back to the House of Representatives with a recommendation on whether the President should face articles of impeachment, formal charges which - if approved by the house - would lead to Mr Clinton's trial by the Senate.