The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

This is a semi autobiographical novel by Fisher. The heroine is "Matey" (real name Penelope) Gilbert. She is the daughter of an American academic and his wife, who spend their lives moving around from one American university to another. They have a very unsettled life. She has a brother Francis and a sister Priscilla. She sees little of her other relatives, who mostly live in small communities in America and some of whom are Quakers. Her father periodically gets some time off and usually travels to France or somewhere in Europe to continue his studies.. and so Matey get a wider education than she would in the USA. Her parents dont seem to be very happily married and often quarrel and snipe at each other. It creates more tension in her home. In her teens, Matey's father takes ill suddenly and dies, and her mother is clearly very grieved. She then gets into religion, becoming a High Church Episcopalian. She slips away from her children and gets involved in an orphanage run by an Episopalian charity. Penelope feels a bit alienated from her own family and has no other close friends. She goes to college and begins to teach French, as does Priscilla. When she is in her early 20's, she learns that a distant relative "Aunt Connie" left her some money years ago and now it has grown to a reasonably large sum. She goes to meet the Forts, who are managing the money for her, and Adrian Fort, the son, who is a distant cousin, falls in love with her. Matey is unsure about love as she has not had much emotion in her own family but she begins to become attracted to him. They get engaged. Her brother and sister don't approve. They think the Forts are not rich or grand people and have a "small town" mentality. Priscilla suggests that she and Matey could live together. Francis, who is now a lawyer, is very snobbish about Adrian and also suggests that Matey should break off her engagment. But she decides to go on and marry Adrian, as she is growing to love him. They marry sooner than originally planned and go to Europe for a honeymoon. Adrian has spent some time studying art, in France but gave up because he recognised that he did not have much talent and decided to help run the family bank. But he likes visiting France and is pleased to meet the Vinets who were friends of Matey's when she visited Europe as a young girl. He and Matey are settling into married life.. and seem quite happy. More follows!