I found it interesting in The Lifted Veil that although Latimer can see into the future that he will marry Bertha and the result will not be favorable, he still pursues her.  In Latimer's vision he claims that she [Bertha] was his wife  and they hated each other. (20)  And although he is aware of such, he still pursues her because she is the one person in which he can not read.  I believe Latimer chooses to pursue Bertha out of natural curiosity.  I find it perplexes him that her thoughts are hidden from him and drives him to figure her out in a sense.