She enjoyed her uncontested
dominion in the empty house, and flattered herself that she made it
more attractive to their friends than when her brother was at home.
To Morris Townsend, at least, it would have appeared that she made it
singularly attractive. He was altogether her most frequent visitor,
and Mrs. Penniman was very fond of asking him to tea. He had his
chair--a very easy one at the fireside in the back parlour (when the
great mahogany sliding-doors, with silver knobs and hinges, which
divided this apartment from its more formal neighbour, were closed),
and he used to smoke cigars in the Doctor's study, where he often
spent an hour in turning over the curious collections of its absent
proprietor. He thought Mrs. Penniman a goose, as we know; but he was
no goose himself, and, as a young man of luxurious tastes and scanty
resources, he found the house a perfect castle of indolence. It
became for him a club with a single member. Mrs. Penniman saw much
less of her sister than while the Doctor was at home; for Mrs. Almond
had felt moved to tell her that she disapproved of her relations with
Mr. Townsend. She had no business to be so friendly to a young man
of whom their brother thought so meanly, and Mrs. Almond was
surprised at her levity in foisting a most deplorable engagement upon
Catherine.
"Deplorable?" cried Lavinia. "He will make her a lovely husband!"
"I don't believe in lovely husbands," said Mrs.
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