In Ethan Frome, how did Ethan feel the morning after spending the evening with Mattie alone?

Having spent a night together with Mattie without the
troubling presence of Zeena in Chapter Five, Ethan wakes up the next morning in Chapter
Six with a feeling of happiness and joy. Although, as he reflected at the end of Chapter
Five that he had not even touched Mattie's hand, as he had desired, still he had greatly
enjoyed his evening and the intimacy that they shared. Note what we are told at the
beginning of Chapter Six:

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He did not know why he was so irrationally
happy, for nothing was changed in his life or hers. He had not even touched the tip of
his fingers or looked her full in the eyes. But their evening together had given him a
vision of what life at her side might be, and he was glad now that he had done nothing
to trouble the sweetness of the picture. He had a fancy that she knew what had
restrained him.

This quote
therefore tells us that Ethan was so happy because he had had a "vision" of what their
life together could be like, sitting together in marital happiness. He also feels that
Mattie knows what was going through his mind and shares the same desires. However, at
the back of Ethan's mind is always the knowledge that this is but a temporary state of
affairs and that his wife is due back that day, which will put to one side his
imaginative flirtations with the idea of living with Mattie
permanently.