The story ends upon the 5th year of the "apprenticeship," and so Malamud never states that Sobel marries Miriam. We must deduce that Feld will change his mind in the end and let Sobel marry his daughter.
Feld had been interested in only a material future for his daughter, and he had vested his hopes in Max, whom he thought the more socio-economically successful. But Miriam told her father that Max had no soul, and...
