Yes, it would be quite consistent with sex-
custom, with maidenly modesty, for a Severence to make the first
open move toward a Josh Craig.
"But do I want her?"
That was another question. He admired her, he would be proud to
have such a wife. "She's just the sort I need, to adorn the
station I'm going to have." But what of his dreams of family life,
of easy, domestic undress, which she would undoubtedly find coarse
and vulgar? "It would be like being on parade all the time--she's
been used to that sort of thing her whole life, but it'd make me
miserable." Could he afford a complete, a lifelong sacrifice of
comfort to gratify a vanity?
He had devoted much thought to the question of marriage. On the
one hand he wanted money; for in politics, with the people so
stupid and so fickle, a man without an independence, at least,
would surely find himself, sooner or later, in a position where he
must choose between retiring and submitting himself to some
powerful interest--either a complete sale, or a mortgage hardly
less galling to pride, no less degrading to self-respect. On the
other hand he wanted a home--a wife like his mother, domestic,
attentive, looking out for his comfort and his health, herself
taking care of the children.
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