washington square. part 1.pdf

8/11/2019 Washington Square. Part 1.pdf

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Pearson ducation Limited

Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,

Essex

C M 2 0

2JE, England

and Associated Companies throughout the world.

I S B N 0 582 40162 3

First

published 1881

Publis hed in Penguin Pop ular Classics 1995

This

editi on first publishe d 1999

Text copyright Penguin Books 1999

Illustrations copyright Bob Harvey

(Pennant

Illustration) 1999

Typeset by

D ig i t a l

Type, London

Set in 11/14pt Bembo

Printed in Spain by Mateu Cromo,

S.A.

Pinto (Madrid)

All

rights

reserved;nopartofthispublication may be reproduced stored

in a retrievalsystem ortransmitted in anyform or by anymeans

electronic mechanical photocopying recording or

otherwise without

the

prior

written

permission of the

Publishers.

Published by Pearson Education Limite d in association w ith

Penguin Books

L t d

both

companies

being subsidiaries of Pearson Pic

Contents

p ge

Introduction

Chapter 1

A n Ordinary G i r l

1

Chapter 2

A M an with No Profession

5

Chapter 3

Secrets

10

Chapter 4

Fo r

Love or Money?

17

Chapter 5

M r s

Penniman s Plan

22

Chapter 6 The Lon g Wait 27

Chapter 7

A

D i f f i cu l t

Time

31

Chapter 8

After

the Dance

35

Activities

40


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ntroduction

He s looking

for a

profession, saidAunt Penniman.

He

looks

every

day.

He s looking

for it here,

answered

thedoctor. The

profession

of

husband to

a

weak

woman with thirty

thousand

dollars.

Catherine lives a quiet

life

with her father andaunt i n a nice

house i n aquiet corner of New Y o r k Catherineis not beautiful

or

clever or interesting.She is honest and good and she is Dr

Sloper s only c h i l d A n d when her father dies, she w i l l havea lot

o f

money.

O n e day, she meets a handsome young ma n called Morr is

Townsend.

He is

very interested

in

Catherine.

H e

soon says

he

loves

her. She loves him.But her father does no t

l ike

h i m W i l l

they marry?

HenryJames is one of the most important writers i n the English

language.H e was b orn in N e w Y o r k in 1843 and went to school

there. He then went to HarvardUniversity as a law student. In

1875 he leftAmerica and

l iv ed

i n

Paris.

There he met Flaubert,

Turgenev and other important writers . In 1876 he moved to

London. London society loved Henr y James and he was often

u every night of the week.He wrote plays, short stories and

twenty books.

His

stories

are

clever pictures

of

American

and

European society.

Washington Square

is one of his earliest books

he wroteit in 1880. His other famous books are

The

Portraitof a

Lady

(1881), The

Bostonians

(1886),The

Golden Bowl

(1904)and

the short story,

The

Turnofth Screw(1898).ThePortrait

of a Lady

and The Turn

of

th

Screw

are both in the Penguin Readers series.


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Chapter 1 An Ordinary irl

Many years

ago in the city of New

Y o r k

there l i v ed

a doctor.

America

likes doctors and

Ne w Y o r k l i k ed

D r Sloper. At the time

our story begins, in 1843, Dr Sloper was

fifty

yearsold. He was a

good doctor, he was a man of the

world,

and he was honest.

Life

was good to

him.

At twenty-seven he marri ed a beautiful

and clever

g i r l .

She had pretty eyes, ten thousa nd dollars and a

good place in society. For

five

yearsDr Sloper was a happy m an.

Many

of his wife s friends came to him and he did

w e l l

in his

profession. They

l i v ed

in a large house in Washington Square a

quiet corner in a noisy

city.

Their first

ch i l d

a very clever littl e boy, died when he was

three.

H is mother s love and his father s profession di d not help

him.

Two years later, Mrs Sloper had a second

ch i l d

a

g i r l .

The

doctor did not want a

g i r l .

But this was not the worst. Two weeks

later, Mrs Sloper died. The little girl s name was Catherine. She

was strong. Her father was not afraid of

losing

her.

When

the

c h i l d

was ten yearsol d, Dr Sloper asked his sister, Mrs

LaviniaPenniman to come and stay with them. M r Penniman, a

churchman withou t a penny, died when M rs Pennim an was

thirty-three. She had no children and no money.

Stay for six months, he said.

I w i l l look for a flat, she said. She moved into her brother s

house and never went away again. Mr s Penni man told everybody

thatthe

ch i l d

wanted a clever woman

near

her. Dr Sloper did not

think his sister was clever, but he was always very pol ite to her

and never angry. They didn t speak much. He gave her his

opinions*about Catherine s school ing and not much more.

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Catherine was very good andhonest,but she was not pretty or

clever. She was quiet. She loved her father and was very afraid of

him.

She was happy when her

father

was happy. The doctor

wanted to be proud of her, but he

wasn't.

He was som etimes

angry

because

his only

ch i l d

was ordinary.

When she was eighteen, Catherine was a quiet young woman,

but she began to wear strong, noisy colours. Dr Slope r did not

l ike

her new

dresses.

Hethought she was vulgar.

One day, Catherine's other

aunt,

M rs

A l m o n d

asked a lot of

people to her house. Mr s A l m o n d was the younger o f Dr

Sloper's two sisters. She was the wi fe of a

r i c h

city man and the

moth er of nine chi ldre n. She was pretty, happy and clever, and

her brother

l i k e d

her. Wh en he want ed to talk about

Catherine, he went to her and not to Mrs Penniman.

Catherine was close to her

aunt's

child ren. There were seven

boys and two

girls.

The older g i r l mar ried young. The younger

g i r l

called Mari an , soon decid ed to ma rry too. She found a

young m an called Art hur Townsend. An d so the Alm onds asked

everybody to the house.

M r s

Pennim an and Catherine arrived at the Alm onds '. The

doctor planned to come later.

Soon after the dancing started,MarianA l m o n d brought a tall

young man over to Catherine.

'Cathe rine, this is M r

Morris

Townsend. He is from the

same

family

as Arthur He

wants

to

meet

you very much '

Marian A l m o n d

was aprettywoman. Atseventeen she moved

easily in society. She left Ca ther ine and M r Townsend together.

Catherine looked at the young man. He was very handsome.

'What can I say to this handsome man?' thought Catherine. But


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M r

Townsend began to talk to her with an easysmile.

'Wh at a nice evening Wh at a beautiful house What an

interesting

family

What apretty

g i r l

Ma rian is '

He l ooked into Catherine's eyes. She said nothing . He talked

and she listened and looked at him.The dancing began again. He

asked her to dance and she gave hi m her arm. After the dance,

her face was red and she was ho t.

' W e ' l l

sit and talk,' said M r Townsend. But he t alked and

Catherine listened. Catherine sat back. She thought he was very

clever. 'Th is is my first visit to M rs Almond's, ' he said. 'A nd my

first visit to

N ewY o r k

for many years. I

l i v e d here

whe n I was a

c h i l d

but I left whe n I was twenty. I went round the wor ld. I

came back to Ne w

Y o r k

on ly a mon th ago. It is a nice city but I

don't kn ow anybody. Yo u see, people forget you,' he said and

smiled

at Catherine.

Catherine thought,'/'// never forget you.'

They sat therefor sometime. They laughed together.He asked

her about the people

near

them. He gave his opinions about

them. She thought he was very honest.Then Mar ian

A l m o n d

came back and took M r Townsend away to her mother.

' W e ' l l meet

again,' he said to Catherine. Mariancame back and

took Catherine's arm. They walked round the ro om

together.

'What do you think of

M o r r i s ?'

she said.

For

the first time i n her

life

Catherine did not

te l l

the truth.

' O h ,

noth ing much, ' she answered.

' I ' l l te l l hi m that ' cried Marian.'It w i l l be good for him. He

has a very good opinion of

Morris

Townsend Art hur says

that,

and Arthur knows him.'

H a l f

an hour later, Catherine saw her Aunt Penniman

near

a

window.

Morris

Townsend stood next to her. The n Dr Sloper

arrived. He usually had a little smile on his face, but neve r a big

smile.

He looked at his

daughter's

reddress.

'Can

thishandsomewoman be my child ?' he asked. Cat herine

4

d id

not alwaysunderstand her father's words.

'I'm not handsome,'she said, quietly.

'You're r i c h '

he said.'Is the evening going

well?'

' I 'm

rather

tired,' she answered and loo ked away.That evening

was the beginning

o f

something important for Catherine. For the

second time in her

life

and in one evening, she did not speak the

truth. She was not ti red. They drove home. D r Sloper spoke to his

sister,

La v in ia .

'Who

was the young man who spoke of his love for you?'

' O h ,

A u s t i n , ' said Mrs Penniman. She smi led .'H e spoke to me

o f

Catherine.'

' O h ,

Aunt Penniman,' Catherin e c ried out, quietly.

'He's veryhandsome.He's very clever,' said her aunt.

'He's in love with our expensive Catherine, then?' the docto r

asked. He laughed .

'I don't know that.But he

l i k e d

her dress.'

Catherine did not

think,'My dress

only?' She

thought

what a

warm and

r i c h

thing to say.

' Y o u see,' said her father. 'H e thinks she has eighty thousand

dollars.'

'In my opi nion , he doesn't think of that; he's not a vulgar

man,' said Mrs Penniman.

'The time ishere,'the doctor t hought .'Lav inia is going to get

lover for Catherine. I'm sorry for the.

g i r l . '

Chapter A Man with No Profession

Three or four days later,

Morris

Townsend,togetherw ith Arthur

Townsend, visited Washington Square.

'Arthur is going to marry my sister's daughter,Mari an, so the

polite thing is for Arthur to visit me,' Aunt Penniman said to

Catherine before they came.

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A n d here

they were. Arthur sat with Catherine,

Morris

sat

with

M rs Penniman. Catherine tried to listen to

Morris

and her

aunt. Morris

o ften loo ked over at Catherine and smiled. Then

Arthur

began to talk about

Morris

so Catherine began to listen

to him.

'Morris

asked me to bri ng him. He wanted to come very

much. He loves going out into society.'

'We' re very happy to see him, ' said Catherine.

'Most

people

l ike

h im

he's very interesting. But some people

call

him too clever.'

N o w

he's back in

N e w

Y o r k ,

w i l l

he stay here?'

A h ,

said Arthu r,' he wants to

find

a job.'

'What? He has no profession?' said Catherine.

N o .

He's

looking

round, but he can't

find

anything.'

I m

very sorry,' said Catherine.

O h ,

he

takes life

easy' said Arthur. 'The jo b must be right for

h im .

W i l l his father take him into his

office?'

she asked.

H is

father is dead

he only has a sister.' He looked at

Morris

and began to laugh. We're talking about you. '

Morris

stood up.'I cannot say the

same

about

y o u , Arthur,'

he

said. But I can about

M i s s

Sloper.'

Catherine's face went red. She thought he spoke very

we l l .

I

came to talk to you,

M i s s

Sloper,' he said. 'So no w I must

come another time.'The two young men left.

H e s

very interested in you, Catherine.'

D i d

he say that?'

N o t

in

those

words. But he wanted me to thi nk it. I

understand young men.'

B u t

he doesn't kn ow me.'

O h

yes, he knows yo u. I

told

hi m all about you. '

O h ,

Aunt Penniman.

W e

don't kno w him or his

family'

'Catherine, you kno w very

w e l l

that

yo u

l i ke

him.'

Catherine did not think this was a thing to talk about.

A n d

she

d id

not think thatAunt Penniman spoke the truth.

H a l f

an hour later, Dr Sloper came home. Mrs Penniman

told

h im

of

Morris

Townsend's

visit.

O h ,

and did he ask you to marry h im , Catheri ne?' he asked.

O h ,

father ' said Catherine quietly. She turned and l oo ked at

the dark sky through the window.

H e w i l l

ask

y u

first,

A u s t i n ,

said

L a v i n i a ,

and smiled.

'T he next time he comes,

call

me,' the doctor said.

B u t

the next time M r Townsend came, the docto r was out

again. M rs Penniman left the two young people

together.

The

visit

was quite

long.

He sat

there,

in the biggest chair, by the

fire,

fo r

more than an hour. He lo oked round the room carefully, at all

the things i n it. He loo ked at Cather ine carefully. There was a

smile

i n his handsome eyes. Hi s talk was light and easy. He asked

Catherin e many questions. Di d she

l ike

this? D i d she

l ike that?

T e l l

me about you, ' he said.

G i v e

me a picture

I can carry it

in

my head.' She said she didn 't have muc h to

te l l .

She didn't go

out very often. She didn't

l ike

reading much.

Morris

said he

l iked

singing.

I ll

sing to yo u, but no t today. Perhaps next time.'

H e

did not say,politely,'I

w i l l

sing and you can play for me.' He

thought of this after he was in the

street.

But Catherine thought

onlyabout his words 'next time'.They had a warm sound.

A s

soon

as the doctor came home, she

told

him about

Morris

Townsend's

second

visit.

A n d

did he ask you to marry hi m today?' the doc tor asked.

She was afraid of this question.

'Perhaps

h e l l

do it next time,' she said, and she gave a litt le

laugh. She ran out of the roo m.

The docto r stood and thought. Perhaps his daughter wanted

to marry

Morris

Townsend. He decided to learn about this


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young man, who came in and out of hishouse when he l i ke d . He

went to see Mrs

A l m o n d .

L a v i n i a

is very excited, but I know very littleabouthim,' said

M r s A l m o n d .

A n d

our young man is from Arthur's family?'

Ye s,

but not close family. The name is the same, but I

understand there

are Townsends and

there

are Townsends. Arthur

is from the

best

line of that family, Lavinia's you ng ma n is not. I

know his sister. She is very nice. Her name is Mrs Montgomery.

Her

husband is dead, she has a nice smallhouse, and she has five

children. She lives on Second Avenue.'

'What

does

Mrs Montgomery sayabout him?'

'That he's clever and

perhapsh e l l

be important.'

'But

he

does

nothing.'

'She doesn't say

that.'

'She'sproud,' said the doct or. 'Wh at is his profession?'

'He hasn't

got a profession. He's looki ng for something. He

was at sea.'

'Was? Ho w old is he?'

'Thirty-something. He went to sea when he was very young.

Some money came to him

somebody in his family died, I

think. He went all over the world . He has no money now. He

decided to begin his

l ife

again and so he cameback to Ameri ca.'

'Does he want to marry Catherine, then?'

'Don't forget that after you die she'll have thirty thousand

dollars.'

A n d that's why he thinks she'snice '

M r s A l m o n d went red. 'N ot only that ' she said. 'B ut many

young men think money is important.'

'Th e young men of Ne w Y o r k are not only interested in

money. They also

l ike

clever,

pretty

and excitin g girls. Mar ian is

clever,pretty and exciting . Catherine is not.'

'Marian

is ordinary. Cather ine is not. She has no lovers

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