[PART I. Impulse]
CHAPTER
I.[In Which the Romantic Hero is Conspicuous by His Absence]
II.[Treats of an Eccentric Family]
III.[Apologises for an Old-fashioned Atmosphere]
IV.[Ushers in the Modern Spirit]
V.[In Which a Young Man Dreams Dreams]
VI.[Shows That Mr. Worldly-Wise-Man May Belong to Either Sex]
VII.[The Irresistible Force]
VIII.[Proves That a Poor Lover May Make an Excellent Friend]
IX.[Of Masques and Mummeries]
X.[Shows the Hero to Be Lacking in Heroic Qualities]
XI.[In Which a Lie Is the Better Part of Truth]
[PART II. Illusion]
I.[Of Pleasure as the Chief End of Man]
II.[An Advance and a Retreat]
III.[The Moth and the Flame]
IV.[Treats of the Attraction of Opposites]
V.[Shows the Dangers as Well as the Pleasures of the Chase]
VI.[The Finer Vision]
VII.[In Which Failure Is Crowned By Failure]
VIII.["The Small Old Path"]
IX.[The Triumph of the Ego]
X.[In Which Adams Comes Into His Inheritance]
XI.[On the Wings of Life]
[PART III. Disenchantment]
I.[A Disconsolate Lover and a Pair of Blue Eyes]
II.[The Deification of Clay]
III.[The Greatest of These]
IV.[Adams Watches in the Night and Sees the Dawn]
V.[Treats of the Poverty of Riches]
VI.[The Feet of the God]
VII.[In Which Kemper Is Puzzled]
VIII.[Shows That Love Without Wisdom Is Folly]
IX.[Of the Fear in Love]
X.[The End of the Path]
[PART IV. Reconciliation]
I.[The Secret Chambers]
II.[In Which Laura Enters the Valley of Humiliation]
III.[Proves a Great City to Be a Great Solitude]
IV.[Shows That True Love Is True Service]
V.[Between Laura and Gerty]
VI.[Renewal]

PART I

IMPULSE

CHAPTER I

IN WHICH THE ROMANTIC HERO IS CONSPICUOUS BY HIS ABSENCE

As the light fell on her face Gerty Bridewell awoke, stifled a yawn with her pillow, and remembered that she had been very unhappy when she went to bed. That was only six hours ago, and yet she felt now that her unhappiness and the object of it, which was her husband, were of less disturbing importance to her than the fact that she must get up and stand for three minutes under the shower bath in her dressing-room. With a sigh she pressed the pillow more firmly under her cheek, and lay looking a little wistfully at her maid, who, having drawn back the curtains at the window, stood now regarding her with the discreet and confidential smile which drew from her a protesting frown of irritation.

"Well, I can't get up until I've had my coffee," she said in a voice which produced an effect of mournful brightness rather than of anger, "I haven't the strength to put so much as my foot out of bed."

Her eyes followed the woman across the room and through the door, and then, turning instinctively to the broad mirror above her dressing table, hung critically upon the brilliant red and white reflection in the glass. It was her comforting assurance that every woman looked her best in bed; and as she lay now, following the lines of her charming figure beneath the satin coverlet, she found herself wondering, not without resentment, why the possession of a beauty so conspicuous should afford her only a slight and temporary satisfaction. Last week a woman whom she knew had had her nose broken in an automobile accident, and as she remembered this it seemed to her that the mere fact of her undisfigured features was sufficient to be the cause of joyful gratitude. But this, she knew, was not so, for her face was perfectly unharmed; and yet she felt that she could hardly have been more miserable, even with a broken nose.