CHAPTER XXI
Dr. Sloper very soon imparted his conviction to Mrs. Almond, in the
same terms in which he had announced it to himself. "She's going to
stick, by Jove! she's going to stick."
"Do you mean that she is going to marry him?" Mrs. Almond inquired.
"I don't know that; but she is not going to break down. She is going
to drag out the engagement, in the hope of making me relent."
"And shall you not relent?"
"Shall a geometrical proposition relent? I am not so superficial."
"Doesn't geometry treat of surfaces?" asked Mrs. Almond, who, as we
know, was clever, smiling.
"Yes; but it treats of them profoundly. Catherine and her young man
are my surfaces; I have taken their measure."
"You speak as if it surprised you."
"It is immense; there will be a great deal to observe."
"You are shockingly cold-blooded!" said Mrs. Almond.
"I need to be with all this hot blood about me. Young Townsend
indeed is cool; I must allow him that merit."
"I can't judge him," Mrs. Almond answered; "but I am not at all
surprised at Catherine."
"I confess I am a little; she must have been so deucedly divided and
bothered."
"Say it amuses you outright! I don't see why it should be such a
joke that your daughter adores you."
"It is the point where the adoration stops that I find it interesting
to fix."
"It stops where the other sentiment begins."
"Not at all--that would be simple enough.
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