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Chapter 6The Long Wait

          Morris was more handsome than Catherine remembered. He put his arms round her. She knew that she loved him very much.

          ‘Why did you send for me?’

          ‘Because I wanted to see you,’ said the girl quietly.

          ‘Do you want only to look at me? Or to tell me something?’

           He waited. Then he suddenly said, ‘Marry me tomorrow. Take me or leave me. Decide between me and your father.’

          ‘I want you, Morris. But we must wait. We must be strong. I said to Father last night, “We don’t want your money.” ’

          His face went red, but he smiled and spoke. No, he was not angry. The money was not important. He loved her very much.

          ‘Yes!’ cried Catherine, ‘we must marry as soon as we can!’ She put her arms round him and closed her eyes.

          He left soon after. They did not decide on a day to marry. Morris wanted to think. When was the cleverest time to marry? He did not want the girl without the money. He thought about the ten thousand from Catherine’s mother. That was not a good living. Not for Morris Townsend. But then, it was better than nothing.

*

          Mrs Penniman asked Morris Townsend to a second secret meeting. This time they met outside a church.

          ‘I see the thing differently from our last meeting,’ said Mrs Penniman.

          ‘Every time I see you, you say something different.’

          ‘My head is never quiet. I don’t think you can marry Catherine now. My brother says he’s going to throw me out of the house. You know I’m not a rich woman.’

          ‘But Catherine says we must marry now, in secret. How can I get out of it now?’

          ‘Catherine loves you very much. You can do anything with her. You can say you must wait.’

          ‘Ah!’ said Morris quietly.

          Catherine’s days were long at this time. Her father never looked at her or spoke to her. This was his plan. He waited for Catherine to speak first.

          ‘I think that Morris and I will marry,’ she said one day.

          ‘When? In the next four or five months?’ he asked.

          ‘I don’t know, father,’ said Catherine, ‘we cannot decide.’

          ‘Then wait for six months. I’ll take you to Europe. I want you to come with me.’

          Catherine was happy to say ‘yes’ to her father.

Mrs Penniman asked Morris Townsend to a second secret meeting. This time they met outside a church.

          Dr Sloper did not ask Mrs Penniman to go to Europe. She wanted to go but she did not show it. ‘Washington Square is going to be nice and quiet,’ she said to Mrs Almond. Catherine met Morris before she left. Tie asked questions.

          ‘Do you want to see all those famous things over there?’

          ‘Oh no, Morris!’ said Catherine quickly.

          ‘What is this woman interested in!?’ thought Morris.

          ‘Father thinks I’ll forget you,’ said Catherine, ‘but I won’t. He’ll be angry with me.’

          ‘Yes, I think you’re right. But the visit to Europe is a good thing. He wants you to go and he’ll be happy,’ said Morris. ‘1 don’t want you to lose your money — not for me, but for you and your children. When you’re in Europe, decide on a good time and place — an evening in Venice — and then perhaps you can move your father. Ask him to say yes, you can marry Morris.’ Catherine thought this was a clever plan.

♦

          Europe was very interesting to Dr Sloper, so they stayed for twelve months, not six. Mrs Penniman lived well in Washington Square, and so did Morris Townsend. Mrs Penniman liked to ask him to tea. He had his chair — a very easy armchair — by the fire in the back sitting room. He drank the doctor’s Madeira and smoked his cigars.

          ♦

          In the first six months that Dr Sloper and his daughter were in Europe, they never spoke of Morris Townsend. Catherine followed her father quietly and politely through the mountains of Switzerland and the buildings and pictures of Italy. She gave no opinion about any of these places or things and her father did not ask for it. She was not a thinking woman.

          One day father and daughter were in a quiet place in the Alps. The driver took their bags on and they walked together a little. Cold red light washed over the sky. Next to the mountains the two people were very small, but they were not afraid. They walked on in the dying light. Dr Sloper came close to his daughter and stopped. He suddenly asked her, ‘Are you going to break with him?’

          ‘No, father,’ Catherine answered.

          ‘Does he write to you?’

          ‘Yes, I get two letters every month.’

          The doctor looked at the mountains above them. ‘I’m very angry,’ he said,‘and I must tell you that I can be a very hard man.’ 

          For the next week they did not say a word. And for the next six months they did not speak about Morris. But on their last night in Europe, before their ship left Liverpool for New York, he spoke again. ‘Are you going to marry him as soon as you arrive in New York?’

          ‘I cannot tell before we arrive,’ Catherine answered.

          ‘Please tell me before you marry. When a man is going to lose his only child, he likes to know before.’