To return, however, to Arowhena. I soon gathered that neither Mr. nor Mrs.
Nosnibor would have any objection to my marrying into the family; a physical
excellence is considered in Erewhon as a set-off against almost any other
disqualification, and my light hair was sufficient to make me an eligible match.
But along with this welcome fact I gathered another which filled me with dismay;
I was expected to marry Zulora, for whom I had already conceived a great
aversion.
    At first I hardly noticed the little hints and the artifices which were
resorted to in order to bring us together, but after a time they became too
plain. Zulora, whether she was in love with me or not, was bent on marrying me,
and I gathered in talking with a young gentleman of my acquaintance who
frequently visited the house and whom I greatly disliked, that it was considered
a sacred and inviolable rule that whoever married into a family must marry the
eldest daughter at that time unmarried. The young gentleman urged this upon me
so frequently that I at last saw he was in love with Arowhena himself, and
wanted me to get Zulora out of the way; but others told me the same story as to
the custom of the country, and I saw there was a serious difficulty. My only
comfort was that Arowhena snubbed my rival and would not look at him. Neither
would she look at me; nevertheless there was a difference in the manner of her
disregard; this was all I could get from her.
    Not that she avoided me; on the contrary I had many a tête-à-tête with her,
for her mother and sister were anxious for me to deposit some part of my pension
in the Musical Banks, this being in accordance with the dictates of their
goddess Ydgrun, of whom both Mrs. Nosnibor and Zulora were great devotees. I was
not sure whether I had kept my secret from being perceived by Arowhena herself,
but none of the others suspected me, so she was set upon me to get me to open an
account, at any rate pro forma with the Musical Banks; and I need hardly say
that she succeeded. But I did not yield at once, I enjoyed the process of being
argued with too keenly to lose it by a prompt concession; besides, a little
hesitation rendered the concession itself more valuable. It was in the course of
conversations on this subject that I learned the more defined religious opinions
of the Erewhonians, that coexist with the Musical Bank system, but are not
recognized by those curious institutions. I will describe them as briefly as
possible