The conditions of Woburn's own life had made him peculiarly susceptible to
those forms of elegance which are the flower of ease. His father had lost
a comfortable property through sheer inability to go over his agent's
accounts; and this disaster, coming at the outset of Woburn's school-days,
had given a new bent to the family temperament. The father
characteristically died when the effort of living might have made it
possible to retrieve his fortunes; and Woburn's mother and sister,
embittered by this final evasion, settled down to a vindictive war with
circumstances. They were the kind of women who think that it lightens the
burden of life to throw over the amenities, as a reduced housekeeper puts
away her knick-knacks to make the dusting easier. They fought mean
conditions meanly; but Woburn, in his resentment of their attitude, did
not allow for the suffering which had brought it about: his own tendency
was to overcome difficulties by conciliation rather than by conflict. Such
surroundings threw into vivid relief the charming figure of Miss Talcott.
Woburn instinctively associated poverty with bad food, ugly furniture,
complaints and recriminations: it was natural that he should be drawn
toward the luminous atmosphere where life was a series of peaceful and
good-humored acts, unimpeded by petty obstacles. To spend one's time in
such society gave one the illusion of unlimited credit; and also,
unhappily, created the need for it.
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