Her ringlets, her
buckles and bangles, glistened more brightly with each succeeding
year, and she remained quite the same officious and imaginative Mrs.
Penniman, and the odd mixture of impetuosity and circumspection, that
we have hitherto known. As regards one point, however, her
circumspection prevailed, and she must be given due credit for it.
For upwards of seventeen years she never mentioned Morris Townsend's
name to her niece. Catherine was grateful to her, but this
consistent silence, so little in accord with her aunt's character,
gave her a certain alarm, and she could never wholly rid herself of a
suspicion that Mrs. Penniman sometimes had news of him.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Little by little Dr. Sloper had retired from his profession; he
visited only those patients in whose symptoms he recognised a certain
originality. He went again to Europe, and remained two years;
Catherine went with him, and on this occasion Mrs. Penniman was of
the party. Europe apparently had few surprises for Mrs. Penniman,
who frequently remarked, in the most romantic sites--"You know I am
very familiar with all this." It should be added that such remarks
were usually not addressed to her brother, or yet to her niece, but
to fellow-tourists who happened to be at hand, or even to the
cicerone or the goat-herd in the foreground.
One day, after his return from Europe, the Doctor said something to
his daughter that made her start--it seemed to come from so far out
of the past.
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