The Custom of the Country

In St. Moritz, Switzerland, Undine happily socializes with other wealthy tourists, while Ralph worries about paying hotel bills and getting them to Paris and then back home. A handsome cavalry officer they met in Italy shows up in St. Moritz, a pleasant surprise to Undine, who dances with him. Ralph and Undine have an argument about her new group of friends. Ralph knows that European society and American tourists in that society operate differently, and he warns Undine that she’s getting too excited about them. Undine reveals that her father won’t be able to give them money for another three months due to speculation gone wrong. Undine suggests that Ralph ask his sister, Laura, for money, and she gives it despite Ralph’s shame. The couple travels to Paris, where Undine shops for expensive clothes.

Peter Van Degen is also in Paris, and Ralph is annoyed that Undine spends so much time with him. To Ralph, Peter represents everything about high society that Ralph doesn’t like. Undine tells Ralph that they don’t need to pay to go back to New York; she has convinced Peter to allow them to sail on his boat. Ralph refuses. Undine accuses him of not liking Peter because of his marriage to Clare, whom Ralph at one time courted. Ralph asks his sister for more money to fund their Paris trip through October.

Ralph and Undine continue to argue about money, and Ralph is “struck by the evanescence, the lack of substance, in their moments of sympathy, and by the permanent marks left by each breach between them” (90). The night before they’re to go back to New York, Ralph finds Undine in tears. She’s angry because she’s pregnant.

Claud Popple and Peter Van Degen flirtatiously discuss the importance of painting Undine. She enjoys their attention and misses how Ralph used to quote poetry to her, even if his poetry was too complicated to fully understand. Undine is particularly taken with Claud, who speaks fluently about the depths of passion and feeling. She has been married to Ralph for three years and is still perplexed by how wrong she was about these old families. She has started to see that millionaires who aren’t of the First Families don’t care about the First Families and have their own extravagant social world. Undine realizes she’s placed her stock in the crowd, but “[s]ince it was never her habit to accuse herself of such mistakes it was inevitable that she should gradually come to lay the blame on Ralph” (95). At a party hosted to unveil Claud’s portrait of Undine, Undine hears news that shocks her: The Driscolls have been financially ruined by the Ararat Trust Investigation led by Elmer Moffatt.

Undine lives in a house her father bought for her in an unfashionable neighborhood. She’s therefore pleased that Peter Van Degen offers her a ride home after the party. She reflects on her friendship with Peter and appreciates that he gives her what Ralph never can: peace of mind. What’s more, Peter understands that Undine is anxious about the bills she hides from Ralph, so he offers her money. Throughout the party and ride, Undine feels that she has forgotten something. She suddenly remembers that it’s her son’s birthday, and she was supposed to have taken the boy to his grandmother’s house for cake.

At the Dagonet house, the family wonders what’s been keeping Ralph, Undine, and their son. They discuss the state of Ralph and Undine’s marriage; Ralph now works long hours in business, yet Undine still makes him accompany her to society events and parties. Bowen proposes that American customs have dictated that men don’t respect their wives enough to share the realities of employment and money, so it’s Ralph’s fault that Undine spends frivolously and doesn’t realize how hard he works. Bowen makes the following argument:

Why does the European woman interest herself so much more in what the men are doing? Because she’s so important to them that they make it worth her while! She’s not a parenthesis, as she is here—she’s in the very middle of the picture. I’m not implying that Ralph isn’t interested in his wife—he’s a passionate, a pathetic exception. But even he has to conform to an environment where all the romantic values are reversed. (102)

Although Bowen thinks that it’s Ralph’s fault, he also sees Ralph as the victim in this “American custom.”

Ralph enters the house and apologizes for his tardiness. He’s disappointed to discover that Undine forgot about the little party, and he’s eager to apologize to his son, Paul. Clare Van Degen arrives with a gift for Paul and offers Ralph a ride home. Ralph feels at peace in Clare’s presence, particularly because of the many secret deceptions he has discovered about his wife. When they visited Paris a few years earlier, Undine had promised she wouldn’t reset any of the family jewels, but later, in New York, Ralph found the hidden bill. The expense annoyed him, but what truly felt deceptive was her resetting of family heirlooms. This event fundamentally changed the way Ralph saw Undine:

He saw that, even after their explanation, she still supposed he was angry only because she had deceived him; and the discovery that she was completely unconscious of states of feeling on which so much of his inner life depended marked a new stage in their relation. (106)

This is the reason Ralph enjoys Clare’s company; she’s truly kind.

On the drive home, Clare and Ralph chat about the rumors swirling about Elmer Moffatt. Clare points out that she saw Elmer and Undine speaking familiarly at the theater a few years ago, but Ralph finds it odd that Undine wouldn’t tell him that she knows Elmer. Elmer’s name has become quite important in their circle, what with his takedown of the Driscoll family.

When Ralph returns to his house, he’s sad to hear that his son cried himself to sleep over the disappointment of missing his birthday. Undine arrives late and lies to Ralph about why. Instead of arguing, they dress to go out to dinner.

Ralph realizes that something drastic changed in his life during the trip to Italy with Undine, a change that he has long tried to avoid confronting:

Since then he had been walking with a ghost: the miserable ghost of his illusion. Only he had somehow vivified, colored, substantiated it, by the force of his own great need—as a man might breathe a semblance of life into a dear drowned body that he cannot give up for dead. (109)

Ralph avoided the argument with Undine on the stairs earlier that evening because he knew she’d lie to him, and this lack of truth is an insurmountable problem for him. He knew she wasn’t having an affair with Peter Van Degen because this would cause her too many complications, which she didn’t like. Undine enjoys being surrounded by people but doesn’t like negotiating their emotions.

Meanwhile, Undine is unsettled that her husband didn’t push more about missing her son’s birthday. Still, she enjoys avoiding conflict and appreciates that, if nothing else, her marriage to Ralph made Clare jealous of her. Undine’s spirits are also buoyed by the rumor she heard at dinner: that the Driscolls avoided total demise at the hands of Elmer Moffatt and that the Ararat investigation had been stopped.

At the Driscoll annual ball, Undine is greatly admired for her dress, but she senses that Peter looks at her a little too intently for her comfort.

Undine remodels the house, which sends her into a nervous breakdown that requires expensive care. Meanwhile, Paul comes down with an illness that necessitates a team of nurses. Ralph finds a house in the countryside where Paul can escape and regain his health, but Undine spends Sundays only with him. Managing two households and dealing with a rapidly increasing pile of medical bills puts stress on Ralph.

The money that Peter offered Undine for her ball gown doesn’t come through. Peter meets with Undine and tells her that he’ll be escaping his financial woes in Europe. He wants her to come with him, but Ralph will need all his money for Paul’s country convalescence. Undine recognizes Peter’s interest in her and tries to keep it engaged for the sake of prestige, ego, and money. However, she can’t accept his money to go to Europe without Ralph. Both Peter and Undine’s marriage hold them back from living the life they want.

Undine resolves never to accept immediate money from Peter again, preferring instead to establish a long game with him that might ensure her greater success in the future. She’s annoyed that Ralph can’t afford to send the family to Europe when so many New York society people are traveling there. Undine asks her father for the money to travel to Europe, but his fortune has only dwindled further in the last couple of years. Undine insists, telling her father that her marriage to Ralph is unhappy. She declares that his family has never accepted her—and agreed to the marriage only because they assumed that Abner would finance their life and that Ralph wouldn’t have to debase himself with work and instead could continue writing his novels and poetry. Ralph wasn’t brought up to make money, so even with his new job in business he makes meager earnings. Undine proposes that a trip to Europe could ensure her freedom and give her the opportunity to find a way to make a better marriage. Abner is shocked, but before they can discuss futher, they’re interrupted by Elmer Moffatt.

The two men step into another room to discuss business, while Undine thinks through how to secure funding from her father.

Abner refuses to give Undine the money and doesn’t approve of her desire to divorce Ralph for Peter Van Degen, who would also require a divorce from his wife to marry Undine. Although Abner isn’t morally against divorce as a concept, he can’t support Undine in destroying two family units.

Elmer waits for Undine and walks with her. He reminds her of their deal to set him up with business inside her circle. He wishes to meet her husband socially so that he can broach the topic of a property Ralph’s real estate company works with. The deal Elmer is planning would bring significant money to Ralph’s company—and Ralph would get a good piece of that money.

Undine invites Elmer to a gathering with her husband and some of his family members. The group finds Elmer funny and is happy to hear his detailed side of the story regarding the Ararat investigation. Later, Ralph tells Undine that he may work with Elmer on a real estate venture. Undine feigns illness, and the doctor advises a change of scenery, perhaps to London or Paris. Ralph continues to worry about finances and hopes that Elmer’s real estate plan can earn him good money. He quickly agrees to the deal, inspired by Elmer’s intelligence and his own sense of accomplishment. Ralph agrees to send Undine to Europe in the hopes that a little distance will do them both some good.

Undine attempts to hide her pleasure at the agreement. She arranges for the Lipscombs to rent their house while Ralph and Paul stay with the Dagonets for the summer. Undine and Paul encounter Elmer in the park. Elmer asks if he can visit Undine, and she thanks him for his help in securing her happiness. Elmer tells her about an acquaintance of theirs in Apex, who divorced the mother of his children to marry a new wife; Undine further resolves to go to Europe to secure the promise of a new husband.

In Paris, Bowen meets with his friend Raymond de Chelles, a wealthy man who confesses to Bowen that he’s finally interested in marriage. Undine and Peter Van Degen are seated near Bowen and Raymond, and Raymond points out Undine as the object of his attraction. Although Bowen assures Raymond that Undine is married, he introduces them and notices Undine’s subtle seduction of the men around her:

Bowen, at the thought, felt the pang of the sociologist over the individual havoc wrought by every social readjustment: it had so long been clear to him that poor Ralph was a survival, and destined, as such, to go down in any conflict with the rising forces (138).

Nonetheless, he suspects that Undine is smart enough to understand her privileges as a married woman sufficiently to replace Ralph in haste.

Undine is relishing her individual life in Paris. She’s annoyed at Ralph’s letters, in which he declares he hasn’t heard from her in weeks but has noticed how much money she’s spending. The Lipscombs haven’t been able to pay their first rent, and Ralph’s financial situation is becoming more urgent. In addition, she receives a letter from Laura advising her to return to New York at once because Ralph is so overworked that Laura worries about his well-being. However, Undine is in no hurry to leave Paris; she’s excited by Raymond’s attentions and is happy that her flirtations with Raymond have made Peter jealous.

Peter visits Undine to inform her that Raymond has been bragging about Undine’s trip to his home—which was arranged without family and proper supervision. He warns her that Raymond will ruin her reputation. She tells Peter that she’s being summoned back home, and Peter passionately begs her to stay with him in Europe. They kiss for the first time but are interrupted by a telegraph from Laura. Ralph has come down with pneumonia, and the doctors are urgently requesting that Undine return to help care for her ailing husband.