Creature of Mad Enthusiasms

I have to point out that the ending is perfectly in tune with the period of the story. Edda would have been under incredible social and familial pressure to marry the American soldier -- to whom she had, after all, been formally engaged beforehand -- rather than throw him over for "some Kraut". Remember that a lot of German-descended American citizens actually suffered enough ostracism during this period to legally change their names! And no matter how brave and non-traditional Edda might have been, I can see how she might have quailed at the idea of cutting herself off completely from her family and her former life. That, plus the fact that she still loved Bill, could very easily have produced this result.