Her interest in the project, in fact, as he reviewed the summer, had been slight, always casual, concerned only with its financial factor, never particularly sympathetic, never warm, never eager.

The thought struck him unpleasantly.

It had never occurred to him before.

He wondered if this indifference would continue when they were married, if in ten years--when he was about forty, say--she would be even less inclined to know his work, like the wives of some men he could name who had their own separate interests, who gave their husbands no sympathy at their tasks, nor courage, nor heart, and whose single cognizance of it had to do with the size of the income.
But he drove this depressing and disloyal speculation from his mind.
Ruth was young and perhaps restless, but she was sweet and full of promise.

Time would round out her character; and when she had matured, she would be one in a million--a mate who cheered and inspired.