She is manipulative and judgmental, and she could make his life miserable. Perhaps she would not be interested in him anyway.
Then, in three year, he meet another woman in a clothing shop in Neuchatel. She i nice. She makes love to him very slowly, over a period of months. After a year, she comes to live with him in Berne. They live quietly, take walks together along the Aare, are companions to each other, grow old and contended.