They marry, sometimes, where there is neither.

They marry--ye gods! why do people marry, and what reasons will they not find for marrying?
But such women, if they are wedded where their heart is not, are generally very young; far too young to know what they are doing; and though there be little inclination to the step, it always turns out that they had at least a respect for the man.

Margaret had been married to Count Alexis because it was in every way such a plausible match, and she was only eighteen then, poor thing.

But Alexis was such an uncommonly good fellow that she had honestly tried to love him, and had not altogether failed.
At least she had never had any domestic troubles, and when he was shot at Plevna, in 1876, she shed some very genuine tears and shut herself away from the world for a long time.

But though her sorrow was sincere, it was not profound, and she knew it from the first, never deceiving herself with the idea that she could not marry again.