she had won a substantial victory. Her mother was subject to her
control and could not defeat her in argument. By the latter token she
felt she was certain to win. Besides, she was counting heavily on her
mother's regard for Eugene and her deep affection for herself. Hitherto,
her mother had really refused her nothing.

The fact that Eugene did not take her outright at this time,--postponing
until a more imperative occasion an adjustment of the difficulties which
must necessarily flow from their attempted union without marriage--was
due to the fact that he was not as desperate or as courageous as he
appeared to be. He wanted her, but he was a little afraid of Suzanne
herself. She was doubtful, anxious to wait, anxious to plan things her
own way. He was not truly ruthless ever, but good natured and easy
going. He was no subtle schemer and planner, but rather an easy natured
soul, who drifted here and there with all the tides and favorable or
unfavorable winds of circumstance. He might have been ruthless if he had
been eager enough for any one particular thing on this earth, money,
fame, affection, but at bottom, he really did not care as much as he
thought he did. Anything was really worth fighting for if you had to
have it, but it was not worth fighting for to the bitter end, if you
could possibly get along without it. Besides, there was nothing really
one could not do without, if one were obliged. He might long intensely,
but he could survive. He was more absorbed in this desire than in
anything else in his history, but he was not willing to be hard and
grasping.

On the other hand, Suzanne was willing to be taken, but needed to be
pressed or compelled. She imagined in a vague way that she wanted to
wait and adjust things in her own way, but she was merely dreaming,
procrastinating because he was procrastinating. If he had but compelled
her at once she would have been happy, but he was sadly in need of that
desperate energy that acts first and thinks afterward. Like Hamlet, he
was too fond of cogitating, too anxious to seek the less desperate way,
and in doing this was jeopardizing that ideal bliss for which he was
willing to toss away all the material advantages which he had thus far
gained.

When Mrs. Dale quite casually within a few days began to suggest that
they leave New York for the fall and winter, she, Suzanne and Kinroy,
and visit first England, then Southern France and then Egypt, Suzanne
immediately det