"No," said Connie slowly, "a blunder."
"A blunder," faltered Carol, falling back. "You did it on purpose to
make him propose, didn't you?"
"Yes, and he proposed, and we were engaged. But it was just a blunder.
It was not Dan I wanted. Carol, every woman feels like that at times.
She is full of that great magnificent ideal of home, and husband, and
little children. It seems the finest thing in the world, the only
flawless life. She can't resist it, for the time being. She feels
that work is silly, that success is tawdry, that ambition is wicked.
It is dangerous, Carol, for if she gets the opportunity, or if she can
make the opportunity, she is pretty sure to seize it. I believe that
is why so many marriages are unhappy,--girls mistake that natural
woman-wish for love, and they get married, and then--shipwreck."
Carol sat silent.
"Yes," said David sympathetically, "I think you are right. You were
lucky to escape."
"I knew that evening, that one little evening of our engagement, that
having a home and a husband, and even a little child like Julia, would
never be enough. Something else had to come first. And it had not
come. I went to bed and cried all night, so sorry for Dan for I knew
he loved me,--but not sorry enough to make me do him such a cruel
injustice.
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