Washington Square
- When the child was about ten
- years old, Dr. Sloper invited his
- sister, Mrs. Lavinia Penniman,
- to come and stay with him. He
- was extremely polite to Lavinia,
- scrupulously, formally polite;
- and she had never seen him in
- anger but once in her life,
- when he lost his temper in a
- theological discussion with her
- late husband. With her he
- never discussed theology nor,
- indeed, discussed anything; he
- contented himself with making
- known, very distinctly, in the
- form of a lucid ultimatum, his
- wishes with regard to Catherine.
- Once, when the girl was about
- twelve years old, he had said to
- her ‘Try and make a clever
- woman of her, Lavinia; I should
- like her to be a clever woman.’
- Mrs. Penniman, at this, looked
- thoughtful a moment. ‘My dear
- Austin,’ she then inquired, ‘do
- you think it is better to be
- clever than to be good?’
- ‘Good for what?’ asked the
- Doctor. ‘You are good for
- nothing unless you are clever.’
- From this assertion Mrs.
- Penniman saw no reason to
- dissent; she possibly reflected
- that her own great use in the
- world was owing to her
- aptitude for many things.
- ‘Of course I wish Catherine to
- be good,’ the Doctor said next
- day; ‘but she won’t be any the
- less virtuous for not being a
- fool. I am not afraid of her
- being wicked; she will never
- have the salt of malice in her
- character. She is “as good as
- good bread,” as the French
- say; but six years hence I
- don’t want to have to compare
- her to good bread-and-butter.’
- ‘Are you afraid she will be
- insipid? My dear brother, it
- is I who supply the butter; so
- you needn’t fear!’ said Mrs.
- Penniman, who had taken in
- hand the child’s
- ‘accomplishments,’ overlooking
- her at the piano, where
- Catherine displayed a certain
- talent, and going with her to
- the dancing-class, where it
- must be confessed that she
- made but a modest figure.
- Mrs. Penniman was a tall, thin,
- fair, rather faded woman, with
- a perfectly amiable disposition,
- a high standard of gentility, a
- taste for light literature, and a
- certain foolish indirectness
- and obliquity of character.
- She was romantic; she was
- sentimental; she had a passion
- for little secrets and mysteries
- – a very innocent passion, for
- her secrets had hitherto always
- been as unpractical as addled
- eggs. She was not absolutely
- veracious; but this defect was
- of no great consequence, for
- she had never had anything to
- conceal.
- Her brother, who was very
- shrewd, understood her turn
- of mind. ‘When Catherine is
- about seventeen,’ he said to
- himself, ‘Lavinia will try and
- persuade her that some young
- man with a mustache is in
- love with her. It will be quite
- untrue; no young man, with
- a mustache or without, will
- ever be in love with Catherine.
- But Lavinia will take it up,
- and talk to her about it;
- perhaps even, if her taste for
- clandestine operations doesn’t
- prevail with her, she will talk
- to me about it. Catherine
- won’t see it, and won’t believe
- it, fortunately for her peace of
- mind; poor Catherine
- isn’t romantic.’
- She was a healthy, well-grown
- child, without a trace of her
- mother’s beauty. She was not
- ugly; she had simply a plain,
- dull, gentle countenance. The
- most that had ever been said
- for her was that she had a
- ‘nice’ face; and, though she
- was an heiress, no one had
- ever thought of regarding
- her as a belle.
- Her father’s opinion of her
- moral purity was abundantly
- justified; she was excellently,
- imperturbably good;
- affectionate, docile, obedient,
- and much addicted to
- speaking the truth. In her
- younger years she was a
- good deal of a romp, and,
- though it is an awkward
- confession to make about
- one’s heroine, I must add
- that she was something of a
- glutton.
- Catherine was decidedly not
- clever; she was not quick with
- her book, nor, indeed, with
- anything else. She was not
- abnormally deficient, and
- she mustered learning enough
- to acquit herself respectably
- in conversation with her
- contemporaries. She was
- extremely fond of her father,
- and very much afraid of him;
- her deepest desire was to
- please him, and her
- conception of happiness
- was to know that she had
- succeeded in pleasing him.
- She had never succeeded
- beyond a certain point.