Washington Square Page #4

I've lived long enough to learn

certain truths about myself.

One is that my vanity

requires an audience.

Now, this is not the

most attractive of traits,

and women are quick

to acknowledge this.

Not so, Catherine.

I tire myself before she tires of me,

which is saying a great deal.

What you see, and my stories,

are all I bring to this union.

And she makes me feel like

the most important being...

ever to roam the planet.

Do you know what it's like to be the most

important person in the world to someone?

Perhaps you do.

Perhaps that is...

Perhaps that is what brings

us to this to this place.

Catherine is so good...

and honest and... and true.

She... she lives in a place where

everything is shining and clean...

and where everyone has

the best of intentions.

I never imagined such a world.

And now I want to

live there with her.

You are a remarkable individual.

As a dinner companion, as a storyteller,

as a man of the world...

and, in fact, as a superior human being,

I take off my hat to you.

But the absence of

employment, means,

a profession,

any visible prospects...

place you in a category from

which it would be imprudent...

for me to choose a husband

for my daughter.

But... but it's not

for you to choose.

It's for Catherine to, and she has

chosen me. You've spent a life idling.

Now you've decided it's time

you found a position...

A position in the parlor

of 21 Washington Square

as the husband of a

weak-minded woman.

You see, you need not be

concerned with my eyesight.

But that is not what Catherine sees.

I have 26 years...

and the deep well of her respect

and admiration to draw from.

I'll supply her with a

pair of spectacles.

Well, do not forget that I, too,

draw from that same well.

This is too amusing.

You mean to defy me.

A man who spends his life...

you call it idling;

I call it searching...

seeks something.

For me, it was happiness.

By having gone to the ends of the earth

in pursuit of it, what do you suppose...

are the chances of giving it up,

having discovered it on his doorstep?

Please excuse me.

I am late for lunch.

Would you just go away?

Oh!

Come on, ma'am.

You've had your look.

Hmm.

Come on, Digs!

No time for tail waggin'!

Easy, boy!

We'll go through this way.

You may disrobe now.

Oh, Mr. Townsend.

I refuse to carry on a conversation

with that... contraption.

I have my reputation to think of.

Then why choose an establishment

that fairly reeks of licentiousness?

I'd heard it was reliable for things

clandestine. Do you have anything for me?

He will never change. To do

so would be to surrender.

I know his hard, intellectual nature.

He's impervious to pity.

He will be vanquished only

by the established fact.

Well, it's a fact that I want

to marry his daughter.

I presented it to him, and he didn't

seem in the least vanquished.

Marry Catherine first.

Meet him afterward.

You mean I should carry her off?

Elope?

Well, don't you see?

He thinks you like the money.

If you marry her, knowing

that she'll be disinherited,

he has no choice but to see

that you're honorable.

Would you really wish the life

of a pauper on your niece?

She has 10,000 a year

from her mother.

She's used to more.

You know, my husband, the good reverend,

once married a young couple...

in the same distress.

The father was reconciled afterward.

Everything worked out beautifully.

Well, unfortunately, we do not have reverend

Penniman to marry us. No, but you have me.

I can't perform the ceremony,

of course, but I can be in attendance.

We must use a subterranean chapel

with little lighting so...

Is this what you called

me here to ask me?

I thought you might wish to see

someone close to Catherine...

To send her word, a message...

a lock of hair.

She knows my heart.

As I do.

I know it to be good

and constant and true.

You cannot know this, but I went to

great personal peril to come here.

Austin threatened to

throw me to the elements and

worse if I continued to help you.

However, I cannot sit by...

and see you in distress.

My nature demands that if

I can be of assistance...

in matters of the heart, I must be.

I'm thinking only of you, Morris.

I racked my brains trying to

think of ways to help you.

I pay the penalty

with my headaches.

My perfect circulate of pain.

But I carry it as a Queen

carries her crown.

What are they doing in there?

You know, I have no idea.

Oh, my goodness!

Ah, sweets.

Pretty thing.

Pretty...

Catherine!

Yes?

Father...

You told me if I had anything

to say about Mr. Townsend...

you would be available

to listen.

I wish to see him.

- To bid him good-bye.

- He's not going anywhere.

Would you like to make

your father very happy?

If I can. You can and you will.

It depends on your will.

Is it to give him up?

You are happier than I. I have

no doubt you're unhappy now.

But it's better to be

unhappy for three months

and get over it than

be unhappy forever.

But the only thing that would make me

unhappy forever would be to be without him.

You suppose I know nothing of men?

Their vices and falsities?

He's not vicious.

He's not false.

You make nothing of

my judgment, then!

I... I can't believe it. I don't ask

you to believe it. Take it on trust.

But... we can wait a long time.

Of course.

You can wait until I die.

Your engagement will have

one delightful effect on you.

It will make you extremely

impatient for that event.

If I do not marry before your

death I will not have to.

There's one thing you can tell

him if you see him again.

Tell him if you marry without my consent,

you'll not get a farthing of my money.

Well, I... I, uh... not, in that case,

to have a farthing of it.

You are an ungrateful, cruel child.

If you see him again, you'll have given

your father the greatest pain of his life.

No!

Oh! I'm to take it to Mr. Townsend

and wait for an answer.

Oh. Yeah, I'll take it for you.

Oh, n...

Miss Sloper made me swear not

to give it to anyone but himself.

She did not include me in

that number. Give it here.

Are you questioning

my trustworthiness?

I...

I... I will just go ask the

young Miss if it's all right.

You'll just get my bonnet.

Thank you.

Have you called me here

to look at me?

As gratifying as that is,

after three weeks...

three weeks of silence, I am in

need of hearing your voice.

I did want to look at you.

My father has asked me

to go away with him...

to Europe for six months,

and I have agreed. Huh.

So, it's done.

You've given me up for him.

- No, Morris. No. Let me explain...

- Ex-explain what?

That I am... an undesirable

match because I am poor.

Or that he believes that

I am a mercenary.

He told me to tell you...

that if I marry you without his consent,

I shall not inherit a penny of his fortune.

Please tell him that I don't

give a damn for his message,

and that I don't want

nor need his money.

- Marry me.

- Without his consent?

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