Almond thought it
rather cruel that her brother should not take poor Lavinia abroad;
but she easily understood that, if the purpose of his expedition was
to make Catherine forget her lover, it was not in his interest to
give his daughter this young man's best friend as a companion. "If
Lavinia had not been so foolish, she might visit the ruins of the
Pantheon," she said to herself; and she continued to regret her
sister's folly, even though the latter assured her that she had often
heard the relics in question most satisfactorily described by Mr.
Penniman. Mrs. Penniman was perfectly aware that her brother's
motive in undertaking a foreign tour was to lay a trap for
Catherine's constancy; and she imparted this conviction very frankly
to her niece.
"He thinks it will make you forget Morris," she said (she always
called the young man "Morris" now); "out of sight, out of mind, you
know. He thinks that all the things you will see over there will
drive him out of your thoughts."
Catherine looked greatly alarmed. "If he thinks that, I ought to
tell him beforehand."
Mrs. Penniman shook her head. "Tell him afterwards, my dear! After
he has had all the trouble and the expense! That's the way to serve
him." And she added, in a softer key, that it must be delightful to
think of those who love us among the ruins of the Pantheon.
Her father's displeasure had cost the girl, as we know, a great deal
of deep-welling sorrow--sorrow of the purest and most generous kind,
without a touch of resentment or rancour; but for the first time,
after he had dismissed with such contemptuous brevity her apology for
being a charge upon him, there was a spark of anger in her grief.
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