Puritan and pagan

Nancy Desmond is the puritan, Mary Allen the pagan. Nancy is a painter with a studio on Washington Square. Mary Allen is a distinguished actress. Max Meredith, who has married one of Nancy’s college friends, comes to New York on business and looks her up. They see much of one another during his stay and find to their dismay that they have fallen in love. True to her instincts and her ideals Nancy sends Max away from her. In the meantime, Roger Greene, Nancy’s friend and teacher, has become infatuated with Mary and between these two there is no question of renunciation. They accept their love as a fact although Mary refuses marriage. When Nancy learns of the affair she Is crushed and finds how much Roger has meant to her. Later after a long separation, after she has seen Max again and after the other love has run its course, Nancy and Roger come together.
– Book Review Digest
“The author has vividly portrayed several phases of New York life and analyzed skillfully several original characters, without forgetting that her main purpose was to tell a very old and very human story.”
– N.Y. Evening Post