Penniman, as
well as his daughter, had been assiduous at his bedside.
On his will being opened after a decent interval, it was found to
consist of two portions. The first of these dated from ten years
back, and consisted of a series of dispositions by which he left the
great mass of property to his daughter, with becoming legacies to his
two sisters. The second was a codicil, of recent origin, maintaining
the annuities to Mrs. Penniman and Mrs. Almond, but reducing
Catherine's share to a fifth of what he had first bequeathed her.
"She is amply provided for from her mother's side," the document ran,
"never having spent more than a fraction of her income from this
source; so that her fortune is already more than sufficient to
attract those unscrupulous adventurers whom she has given me reason
to believe that she persists in regarding as an interesting class."
The large remainder of his property, therefore, Dr. Sloper had
divided into seven unequal parts, which he left, as endowments, to as
many different hospitals and schools of medicine, in various cities
of the Union.
To Mrs. Penniman it seemed monstrous that a man should play such
tricks with other people's money; for after his death, of course, as
she said, it was other people's. "Of course, you will dispute the
will," she remarked, fatuously, to Catherine.
"Oh no," Catherine answered, "I like it very much. Only I wish it
had been expressed a little differently!"
CHAPTER XXXIV
It was her habit to remain in town very late in the summer; she
preferred the house in Washington Square to any other habitation
whatever, and it was under protest that she used to go to the seaside
for the month of August.
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