On a lone journey by rail, having now lived many years alone and reflecting on his past, Nicholas Van Tassel begins a memoir of his marriage from 1899 to 1915. The archaic prose, the style of the last century, is the first hint to the reader that this tale begins in another time and place. Restricted by Victorian mores, Van Tassel's manner is inhibited and constrained by the particular social customs and strict codes of conscience of the era. Any mention of sexuality is forbidden to Victorians in mixed company and women are protected from life's crude realities, their sensitivities wrapped in a diaphanous cloak of romanticism. Men may be men, with base carnal appetites, but women must remain unsullied, their virginity preserved for marriage. Even then, it is unacceptable for a woman to express any carnal physical needs; a woman's duty is to bear and raise children, creating a nurturing and comfortable home. It is the dawn of a new Century and the world is full of amazing inventions and conveniences, the future brimming with promise. Nicholas Van Tassel, Professor of Literature and Rhetoric at a small New England college, is, at thirty, self-effacing and modestly aware of his shortcomings, not quite handsome and not quite brilliant. One evening when a fire breaks out in the restaurant where he is dining, senses heightened in the moment of incipient danger, Van Tassel notices a particular young woman. From that moment on, he is obsessed with her, unable to find peace until he has captured her attentions. Van Tassel sets his mind to the courtship and marriage of Etna Bliss, sensing that her circumstances are not advantageous enough for her to refuse his suit. He is unable to withstand the compulsion of his desire, aware that Etna does not return his affection, yet undaunted. Etna clearly declares that she does not love Nicholas before she accepts his affections and agrees to the marriage. Like the typical Victorian romantic, Van Tassel is sure Etna will come to love him in time. True to form, he stubbornly denies all semblance of reality, save his own unquenchable needs.