Her
relations with Mr. Parsons, to be sure, approximated those of father and
daughter, but his perceptions were much less acute than before his
seizure; he talked little and ceased to take a vital interest in current
affairs. She felt the lack of companionship and, also, of personal
devotion, such personal devotion as was afforded by the strenuous,
ardent allegiance of a man. On the other hand she was firmly resolved
never to allow the current of her own life to be turned away again by
the subordination of her purposes to those of any other person, and she
had believed that this resolution would keep her indifferent to
marriage, in spite of any sensations of loneliness or craving for
masculine idolatry. But as a widow of a year's standing she was now
suddenly interested by the thought that this solid, ambitious,
smooth-talking man might possibly satisfy her natural preference for a
mate without violating her individuality. She began to ask herself if he
were not truly congenial in a sense which no man had ever been to her
before; also, to ask if their aspirations and aims were not so nearly
identical that he would be certain as her husband to be proud of
everything she did and said, and to allow her to work hand in hand with
him for the furtherance of their common purpose.
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