After all, the point of view was chiefly the cause of the trouble between
them. She had ever dwelt in the shaded valley; he had been on the
mountain-top, and so had secured a broad range of vision. He had come into
contact with the great forces which were making the future and the men of
the future, and he recognized that his own State and his own people must
be vitalized by these forces or else be left far behind. And he
represented a large and increasing class in his native city. In birth and
breeding he was the peer of Mara or any of her aristocratic circle. He had
admission to the best society in the State, and, if looked upon coldly by
some, it was for the same reasons which actuated the girl for whom he
would gladly yield everything except his principles and right of private
judgment.
While he had many warm, sympathetic friends he felt that the old should
give way to the new, he yet ran against the prejudices which Mara embodied
so often that he began to feel ill at ease in Charleston.
He thought of removing permanently to cosmopolitan New York more than once
during his absence North. If he should be fully convinced after his return
that Mara was lost to him, unless he became a part of her implacable and
reactionary coterie, it might be better for his peace of mind that he were
far away.
One evening, before his departure home, he was invited to dine with a
gentleman who had large railroad interests in the South.
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