Chapter 25 - Page 2

from his manly bearing, had gradually disclosed
themselves--namely, an extraordinary vanity, and an almost ridiculous
dependence upon the opinion of the world. But so long as his heart was
in the right place, and she could feel that he loved her, these
disappointments were matters of but secondary consideration to her. She
felt that she even loved him all the more for these weaknesses; and she
trusted to the power which she was gaining over him more and more every
day to get them presently corrected.

The charming Lieutenant Beck became sought after everywhere, and his
success with the ladies resulted in his having very soon established
sentimental relations with nearly every member of the fair circle around
him. He nearly always had a flower in his buttonhole when he came home,
which had been jokingly given to him as a _gage d'amour_ by some one or
other of his admirers; he received presents from all sides; and they, in
fact, laid a sort of embargo upon him as an object of general
admiration.

There was nothing to say against all this--far from it; but the only
person who felt left out in the cold was his own wife, who seemed to see
this enthusiastic crowd gradually establishing, as it were, a
prescriptive right of way between herself and her husband, and treading
under foot the very flowers that should have grown only for their own
two selves in the intimacy of their home. She became gradually a less
animated, but was still, he thought, an interested listener, when he
came home after being in the society of his lady friends, and recounted
his triumphs. If this was so, she at all events began to be more
particular about her own dress and appearance, and set to work now to
systematically cultivate the social talent which she naturally
possessed. She determined to conquer her rivals, who had the advantage
of her in appearance, but were inferior to her in talent; and she
succeeded. But she became naturally an object for their criticism in
consequence.

The only one with whom she did not succeed was her husband. His
self-love was far too much taken up with the small flatteries of all
kinds, and the homage of which he was the object, to have any eyes for
the very great compliment indeed which was being paid to him by his wife
in the line which she had adopted. To her he was married, and therefore
of her he was always sure enough.

It was from that time that she dated the influence which she usually
acquired in the social circles she frequented, and which her husband's
position and circumstances made it easy for her to maintain when they
changed their residence to Arendal.

But those first years of their married life had not passed without a
serious, and to her completely decisive,