Almost unconsciously to himself at first the second influence was gaining daily in power.  As he became convinced that Marian was not an ordinary girl, ready for a summer flirtation with a wealthy stranger, he began to give her more serious thought, to study her character, and acknowledge to himself her superiority.  With every interview the spell of her fascination grew stronger, until at last he reached the conclusion which he regarded as magnanimous indeed.  Waiving all questions of rank and wealth on his part he would become a downright suitor to this fair countrywoman.  It did not occur to him that he had arrived at his benign mood by asking himself the question, “Why should I not please myself?” and by the oft-recurring thought:  “If I marry rank and wealth abroad the lady may eventually remind me of her condescension.  If I win great wealth here and lift this girl to my position she will ever be devoted and subservient and I be my own master.  I prefer to marry a girl that pleases me in her own personality, one who has brains as well as beauty.  When these military enthusiasts have disappeared below the Southern horizon, and time hangs more heavily on her hands, she will find leisure and thought for me.  What is more, the very uncertainties of her position, with the advice of her prudent mamma, will incline her to the ample provision for the future which I can furnish.”

Thus did Willard Merwyn misunderstand the girl he sought, so strong are inherited and perverted traits and lifelong mental habits.  He knew how easily, with his birth and wealth, he could arrange a match abroad with the high contracting powers.  Mrs. Vosburgh had impressed him as the chief potentate of her family, and not at all averse to his purpose.  He had seen Mr. Vosburgh but once, and the quiet, reticent man had appeared to be a second-rate power.  He had also learned that the property of the family was chiefly vested in the wife.  Of course, if Mr. Vosburgh had been in the city, Merwyn would have addressed him first, but he was absent and the time of his return unknown.

The son knew his mother would be furious, but he had already discounted that opposition.  He regarded this Southern-born lady as a very unsafe guide in these troublous times.  Indeed, he cherished a practical kind of loyalty to her and his sisters.

“Only as I keep my head level,” he said to himself, “are they safe.  Mamma would identify herself with the South to-day if she could, and with a woman’s lack of foresight be helpless on the morrow.  Let her dream her dreams and nurse her prejudices.  I am my father’s son, and the responsible head of the family; and I part with no solid advantage until I receive a better one.  I shall establish mamma and the girls comfortably in England, and then return to a city where I can soon double my wealth and live a life independent of every one.”

This prospect grew to be so attractive that he indulged, like Mr. Lanniere, in King Cophetua’s mood, and felt that one American girl was about to become distinguished indeed.