Chapter 3Secrets

          To Dr Sloper, the thing was a game. He slept well, he ate well. ‘This young man is trying to catch Catherine. I’ll watch and wait,’ he thought. He did not think his daughter was in danger. Morris Townsend was not rich, but that was not important. The doctor did not want Catherine to marry a rich man. ‘Two people can live on her money. She can marry a man with no money. But he must be honest and strong and have a good schooling,’ thought the doctor.

          ‘The next time Mr Townsend visits the house,’ said the doctor to Mrs Penniman, ‘ask him to dinner.’

          The dinner happened a week later. Eight people sat down to eat. The doctor watched Morris carefully. The women left the room after dinner, and then the doctor asked Morris some questions. Dr Sloper pushed the bottle of Madeira over to Morris. Morris liked the doctor’s Madeira. He thought a lot of bottles of Madeira was a good thing for a wife’s father to have. The doctor saw that this was not an ordinary young man. ‘He’s clever,’ he thought. ‘He has a very good head when he wants to use it. And he’s very handsome and he dresses well. But I don’t like him.’ The doctor listened politely to his young friend talk about countries round the world. ‘He talks well — and after a bottle of Madeira! But does he always tell the truth?’

Dr Sloper pushed the bottle of Madeira over to Morris. Morris liked the doctor’s Madeira.

          After dinner, Morris went and spoke to Catherine. She stood by the fire in her red dress. ‘He doesn’t like me,’ said the young man. ‘You must tell him he’s wrong.’

          ‘I never tell him he’s wrong. I won’t talk about you.’

          Morris Townsend’s face was angry, but Catherine did not see it. And then he smiled again.

          ‘Then I must try to get his good opinion.’

          He spoke to Mrs Penniman later in the evening. ‘He thinks I’m all wrong,’ he said.

          ‘That’s not important,’ she said. She gave him a sugary smile. She thought that she understood everything.

          ‘Ah, you say the right thing!’ said Morris. Mrs Penniman was proud that she always said the right thing.

          The next day, the doctor saw his sister, Mrs Almond.

          ‘And what do you think of him?’ she asked. ‘Lavinia tells me Catherine loves him.’

          ‘She must stop loving him. He’s not a good man. He’s vulgar. After thirty years as a student of people, I know what people are. My profession teaches me to understand people in an evening.’ 

          ‘Well, perhaps you’re right. But the thing is for Catherine to see it.’

          ‘I’ll give her some glasses.’

♦

          Morris visited Washington Square often. A young man in New York with no profession has a lot of time. His visits were the most important thing in Catherine’s life. Each time Morris left the house she thought only of his next visit. Catherine did not tell her father about these visits. He did not ask: he wanted her to decide that Morris was no good. Lavinia loved secrets and did not say anything.

          ‘What is happening in this house?’ he asked his sister politely a few weeks later.

          ‘ “Happening”, Austin?’ Mrs Penniman cried. ‘Why, nothing.’ ‘Lavinia, you’re not being honest with me,’ he said. ‘Mr Morris Townsend is coming to my house four times every week, and nobody tells me. Does the young man ask you to say nothing, or is it Catherine?’

          ‘Catherine doesn’t tell me anything,’ said Mrs Penniman. ‘I find Mr Townsend very interesting. But that’s all. He tells me a lot about his life and his bad luck.’

          ‘Ah! His bad luck! Tell me about it.’

          ‘It’s a long story. In his earlier life he was bad. He says so. But he paid for it.’

          ‘And now he has no money.’

          ‘And he has nobody in the world.’

          ‘He lost his friends, then, because of his bad life?’

          ‘No, he had bad friends.’

          ‘He has good friends, too — his sister and her children.’

          ‘The children are young and the sister is not nice.’

          ‘Does he say bad things about her to you? But he lives with her and does nothing. She pays for him.’

          ‘He’s looking for a profession. He looks every day.’

          ‘He’s looking for it here. The profession of husband to a weak woman with thirty thousand dollars!’

♦

          Every Sunday evening, the family at Washington Square went to Mrs Almond’s. The following Sunday, Morris Townsend was also at Mrs Almond’s. He sat next to Catherine and talked only to her. Catherine was not happy and easy with Morris because her father was in the room. Her father was sorry for her. Perhaps he was wrong about Morris. Perhaps Morris was honest and wanted to marry his daughter for love. The doctor decided to give the young man time. 

          Later, he spoke to Morris. ‘I hear you’re looking for a job,’ he said. 

         ‘Yes, I am looking for honest, quiet work. Something to bring me an honest dollar. 1 have only my good right arm.’

Catherine was not happy and easy with Morris because her father was in the room

          ‘Yes, your good right arm,’ said the doctor, ‘but you have a clever head, too. Sometimes I hear about openings. Will you think about leaving New York — going away?’

          ‘No, I’m afraid not. I must make my life here. My sister is here and I am everything to her. Her husband is dead and I must help with her five children. I give them lessons.’

          ‘That’s good. But it’s not a profession.’

          It won’t bring me a lot of money.’

          ‘Money is not the most important thing,’ said the doctor.

          Later that evening, Morris spoke to Catherine again. ‘Can we meet tomorrow? I have something to say to you. Not in your house -Mil the square. I cannot come into your house again. Your father laughed at me because I have no money.’

          ‘Laughed at you? Oh no, you mistake him. Lie’s a good man. You must not be too proud,’ she said.

          » I’ll be proud only of you,’ he said.

          Catherine went quite red. ‘Now you’re laughing at me,’ she said. ‘You know I’m not pretty or clever.’

          Morris made a sound; it was difficult to understand.

          Catherine understood from it that he loved her.

          ‘Come to the house,’ she said. ‘I’m not afraid of that.’

♦

          The next day Morris came to the house. He told Catherine that he loved her. She sat down suddenly. She said he must go — she wanted time to think. A picture of a fight with her father came into her head. She was afraid.

          Before Morris left, she said, ‘We must speak to my father. I’ll do it tonight; you must do it tomorrow.’

          ‘Your father will tell you that I want your money.’

          ‘Then I’ll say that he mistakes you,’ said Catherine.

          ‘Other men are interested only in money, you are not.’