women had a better social position, and a great deal more influence.
With what condescension for instance, they treated the spinsters! But
whenever she thought of getting married, the incident with her mare
flashed into her mind and terror made her ill.

In the second year the wife of a professor from Upsala, who combined
with her official position great personal charm, appeared on the
scene. Helena's star paled; all her worshippers left her to worship
the new sun. As she no longer possessed her former social position,
and the savour of the court had vanished like the scent on a
handkerchief, she was beaten in the fight. One single vassal remained
faithful to her, a lecturer on ethics, who had hitherto not dared to
push himself forward. His attentions were well received, for the
severity of his ethics filled her with unlimited confidence. He wooed
her so assiduously that people began to gossip; Helena, however, took
no notice, she was above that.

One evening, after a lecture on "The Ethical Moment in Conjugal Love"
or "Marriage as a Manifestation of Absolute Identity," for which the
lecturer received nothing but his expenses and a grateful pressure of
hands, they were sitting in the denuded dining-room on their
uncomfortable cane chairs, discussing the subject.

"You mean to say then," said Helena, "that marriage is a relationship
of co-existence between two identical Egos?"

"I mean what I said already in my lecture, that only if there exists
such a relationship between two congruous identities, _being_ can
conflow into _becoming_ of higher potentiality."