Morris gave a little laugh.' Yes, I verily believe that your poor father will be disappointed. But you will have seen Europe,' he added, humorously.' What a take-in!'

'I don't care for seeing Europe,' Catherine said.' You ought to care, my dear; and it may mollify your father.' Catherine, conscious of her obstinacy, expected little of this, and could not rid herself of the idea that in going abroad and yet remaining firm, she should play her father a trick.' Don't you think it would be a kind of deception?' she asked.

'Doesn't he want to deceive you?' cried Morris.' It will serve him right. I really think you had better go.'

'And not be married for so long?'

'Be married when you come back. You can buy your wedding - clothes in Paris.' And then Morris, with great kindness of tone, explained his view of the matter. It would be a good thing that she should go; it would put them completely in the right. It would show they were reasonable, and willing to wait. Once they were so sure of each other, they could afford to wait - what had they to fear? If there was a particle of chance that her father would be favorably affected by her going, that ought to settle it; for, after all, Morris was very unwilling to be the cause of her being disinherited. It was not for himself, it was for her and for her children. He was willing to wait for her; it would be hard, but he could do it. And over there, among beautiful scenes and noble monuments, perhaps the old gentleman would be softened; such things were supposed to exert a humanizing influence. He might be touched by her gentleness, her patience, her willingness to make any sacrifice but that one; and if she should appeal to him some day, in some celebrated spot - in Italy, say, in the evening; in Venice, in a gondola, by moonlight - if she should be a little clever about it, and touch the right chord, perhaps he would fold her in his arms, and tell her that he forgave her. Catherine was immensely struck with this concept of the affair, which seemed eminently worthy of her lover's brilliant intellect, though she viewed it askance in so far as it depended upon her own powers of execution. The idea of being' clever' in a gondola by moonlight appeared to her to involve elements of which her grasp was not active. But it was settled between them that she should tell her father that she was ready to follow him obediently anywhere, making the mental reservation that she loved Morris Townsend more than ever.

She informed the Doctor she was ready to embark, and he made rapid arrangements for this event. Catherine had many farewells to make, but with only two of them are we actively concerned. Mrs Penniman took a discriminating view of her niece's journey; it seemed to her very proper that Mr Townsend's destined bride should wish to embellish her mind by a foreign tour.

'You leave him in good hands,' she said, pressing her lips to Catherine's forehead. (She was very fond of kissing people's foreheads; it was an involuntary expression of sympathy with the intellectual part.)' I shall see him often; I shall feel like one of the vestals of old tending the sacred flame.'

'You behave beautifully about not going with us,' Catherine answered, not presuming to examine this analogy.

'It is my pride that keeps me up,' said Mrs Penniman, tapping the body of her dress, which always gave forth a sort of metallic ring.

Catherine's parting with her lover was short, and few words were exchanged.

'Shall I find you just the same when I come back?' she asked; though the question was not the fruit of scepticism.' The same - only more so,' said Morris, smiling. It does not enter into our scheme to narrate in detail Doctor Sloper's proceedings in the Eastern hemisphere. He made the grand tour of Europe, travelled in considerable splendor, and (as was to have been expected in a man of his high cultivation) found so much in art and antiquity to interest him, that he remained abroad, not for six months, but for twelve. Mrs Penniman, in Washington Square, accommodated herself to his absence. She enjoyed her uncontested dominion in the empty house, and flattered herself that she made it more attractive to their