hose appearance was so generally
distinguished, ought in New York, where opportunities abounded, to marry
an heiress at least. It was all right of course if Eugene wanted to
marry a girl from the country, but it robbed the family of a possible
glory.

The spirit of this marriage celebration, so far as Eugene was concerned,
was hardly right. There was the consciousness, always with him, of his
possibly making a mistake; the feeling that he was being compelled by
circumstances and his own weakness to fulfil an agreement which might
better remain unfulfilled. His only urge was his desire, in the
gratification of which he might find compensation, for saving Angela
from an unhappy spinsterhood. It was a thin reed to lean on; there could
be no honest satisfaction in it. Angela was sweet, devoted, painstaking
in her attitude toward life, toward him, toward everything with which
she came in contact, but she was not what he had always fancied his true
mate would be--the be all and the end all of his existence. Where was
the divine fire which on this occasion should have animated him; the
lofty thoughts of future companionship; that intense feeling he had
first felt about her when he had called on her at her aunt's house in
Chicago? Something had happened. Was it that he had cheapened his ideal
by too close contact with it? Had he taken a beautiful flower and
trailed it in the dust? Was passion all there was to marriage? Or was it
that true marriage was something higher--a union of fine thoughts and
feelings? Did Angela share his with him? Angela did have exalted
feelings and moods at times. They were not sensibly intellectual--but
she seemed to respond to the better things in music and to some extent
in literature. She knew nothing about art, but she was emotionally
responsive to many fine things. Why was not this enough to make life
durable and comfortable between them? Was it not really enough? After he
had gone over all these points, there was still the thought that there
was something wrong in this union. Despite his supposedly laudable
conduct in fulfilling an obligation which, in a way, he had helped
create or created, he was not happy. He went to his marriage as a man
goes to fulfil an uncomfortable social obligation. It might turn out
that he would have an enjoyable and happy life and it might turn out
very much otherwise. He could not face the weight and significance of
the social theory that this was for life--that if