“Oh—why—from myself, I guess. It’s common sense, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Isn’t that the way morals are made—from common sense? Don’t your principles, as you call them, come mostly from your own common sense, rather than from your religion?”
She hesitated. “Well, put it this way: I think out my principles, and religion gives me the strength to live up to them. There now—that’s almost like Mathew Arnold.”
There was quite a long silence.
“My, but we’ve gotten serious,” she said at last, and looked at him, as though to see if he were playing with her. But it was evident that he was not.
Presently they returned again to the dance.
Roger decided to prolong his visit to Hartford, and in the course of the next few days he saw her several times. She did not live very far out of town. For her part, Helen found herself dangerously fascinated by him. Whenever she was with him, she was led to suggest things “in fun”—things which would actually be quite contrary to her puritanical principles. And he always seemed to respond, up to the very limit, although he had not so much as tried to take her hand. She reflected that she had never flirted quite so violently with any man, without having him spoil the excitement by an attempt to leave the realms of the intellectual, and burst into the physical. Roger almost satisfied her highest ideal.
She asked Mary Waterworth about him one night, and Mary told her that he was engaged. Mary even showed her a picture of Georgiana, which Helen gazed at for a long time. Georgiana had light hair and large eyes, which were probably brown, and almost classic features. She was very lovely, Helen thought. The expression of her face seemed to say, “I understand Roger. I belong to Roger. There is more to bind us together than a night’s flirtation. There is the whole past.” Helen was jealous in spite of herself. The picture, which was mounted in a large silver frame, and which gazed out at the world innocently enough, fascinated her. She could with difficulty remove her eyes from it.
“What are you looking at?” asked Mary.