"I will
try not to be," she said. And she stood there submissively, the
image, in advance, of a dutiful and responsible wife. This image
could not fail to recommend itself to Morris Townsend, and he
continued to give proof of the high estimation in which he held her.
It could only have been at the prompting of such a sentiment that he
presently mentioned to her that the course recommended by Mrs.
Penniman was an immediate union, regardless of consequences.
"Yes, Aunt Penniman would like that," Catherine said simply--and yet
with a certain shrewdness. It must, however, have been in pure
simplicity, and from motives quite untouched by sarcasm, that, a few
moments after, she went on to say to Morris that her father had given
her a message for him. It was quite on her conscience to deliver
this message, and had the mission been ten times more painful she
would have as scrupulously performed it. "He told me to tell you--to
tell you very distinctly, and directly from himself, that if I marry
without his consent, I shall not inherit a penny of his fortune. He
made a great point of this. He seemed to think--he seemed to think--
"
Morris flushed, as any young man of spirit might have flushed at an
imputation of baseness.
"What did he seem to think?"
"That it would make a difference."
"It WILL make a difference--in many things. We shall be by many
thousands of dollars the poorer; and that is a great difference.
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