old, he invited his sister, Mrs.

two in number, and both of t

s the wife of a prosperous merchant,

n, and a favourite with her clever brother, who, in the matter of women, ev

tyle of eloquence, and then, at the age of thirty-three, had been left a widow, without children, without fortune--with no

ch Lavinia accepted with the alacrity of a woman who had spent

th him indefinitely; he had suggested that she should make an as

tituted a search for unfurnished lodgings, but

when Catherine was twenty years old her Aunt Lavinia was still

atter was that she had remained to t

ut the Doctor, who never asked for explanations whic

sort of artificial assurance, shrank, for indefinable reasons, fr

this mistake; and her brother, on his side, had enough to excuse her, in her sit

nniman had tacitly laid down, that it was of importance that t

for he had never been dazzled by

by any feminine characteristics whatever; and though he was to a certain extent what is

he had an idea of the beauty of REASON, which was, on the whole

as a bright exception; among several things tha

eviate his widowhood; and it set a limit to his recognition, at the be

nce as an accomplished fact, and as Catherine grew older perceived that there wer

and she had never seen him in anger but once in her life, when he

ing; he contented himself with making known, very distinctly, in t

s about twelve years o

of her, Lavinia; I should l

this, looked tho

ired, "do you think it is bette

hat?" asked

r nothing unless

ssent; she possibly reflected that her own great use

he Doctor said next day; "but she won't be

cked; she will never have the s

say; but six years hence I don't want to h

aid she will

n hand the child's accomplishments, overlooking her at the piano, where Catherine displayed a certain tal

ly amiable disposition, a high standard of gentility, a taste for light

ittle secrets and mysteries--a very innocent passion, for her

d to have a lover, and to correspond with him under an assumed name in letters left at a shop; I am bound to say that her imagination never c

imself, "Lavinia will try and persuade her that s

man, with a moustache or without,

perhaps, even, if her taste for clandestine operations

ieve it, fortunately for her peace of

own child, without a trac

had simply a plain, du

e had a "nice" face, and, though she was an heiress,

ified; she was excellently, imperturbably good; affectionate

though it is an awkward confession to make about one's

out of the pantry; but she devoted her po

de would be inconsistent with a candid refe

r; she was not quick with her boo

cquit herself respectably in conversation with her contemporaries, amon

y one. Catherine, who was extremely modest, had no desire to shine, and on most soci

much afraid of him; she thought him the cleve

fections that the little tremor of fear that mixed itself with her fili

d her conception of happiness was to kno

ucceeded beyond

perfectly aware of this, and to go beyond the point i

e disappointed him, though on three or four occ

, but at the age of eighteen Mrs. Penni

ud of his daughter; but there was not

able to think of his daughter as an unusual girl. There would have been a fitness in her being pretty and graceful, intelligent and dis

ld, and he even went so far at times as to take a certain satisfa

elf, and it was not till Catherine had become a you

a great many doubts; he w

his daughter had a delightful nature; bu

h to discover that her aunt was a goose--a limitation of

hough she was very fond of her aunt, and conscious of the gratitude she owed her, regarded he

t dazzled by the apparition; whereas her father's great faculties seemed, as they stretched away, to lose themselves in

his disappointment upon the poor girl, or ever

he did his duty with exemplary zeal, and recogni

good many cigars over his disappointment, a

xpected nothing, though, indeed, w

self, "so that if she gives me a s

't, it will

hed her eighteenth year, so that it will b

surprises; it was almost a question whether she could

d themselves roughl

because she was shy, unco

, and she sometimes produced a

s the softest cre