Washington Square Page #5

Catherine...

you can't please us both.

You have to choose.

I have.

I have chosen you.

He is taking me to Europe

to test our devotion.

No. No, he's taking you to Europe

so that you'll forget me.

No.

People think terrible things, Morris.

They don't know what

is between us.

They see you,

and then they see me and...

father doesn't understand.

I don't understand.

Forgive me, but I cannot...

I cannot forsake him so.

Please... please...

Wait for me.

Please, wait...

For me, Morris.

I'll wait for you.

Buy your wedding gown in Paris.

Some-something beautiful.

Something beautiful

that's worthy of you.

Father!

Father!

- Father!

- Mademoiselle!

Voil!

Un, deux, trois.

- Catherine, we ought to p...

- Agnes.

Pack.

We're leaving for Geneva.

Agnes... help me get out of this.

"Whom it..."

Oh, no, no, no, no.

Oh, this I... this is preposterous.

He's gone to far.

He write... eh...

He writes they are to spend

another six months.

Another six months?

Oh.

What does that mean?

Well, it could be

one of two things.

Well, no, uh, three.

We... no!

I've just thought of another.

Lavinia. No, it must be that she's

persuaded him over to you,

and they're both so happy they've

decided not to break the journey.

Or, or he promised that if she remain

faithful for yet another six months,

it must be love and he

will give his blessing.

Or, or, or in exchange for his consent,

she's given him another six months.

It would, after all, be the last

time he has her company so freely.

Or? Or... she has refused

to give you up,

and he's holding her hostage...

in some non-english speaking,

densely populated nation...

which civilization has yet to reach...

until she sees reason.

Oh. Now, there.

There, there.

Don't despair.

Cook has prepared your favorite.

Lamb cassoulet.

With the new potatoes?

Of course.

By now, we know not to serve a meal

without your favorite potatoes.

Hup! Hup! Hup!

Father?

Father?

Should you like to be left in

such a place as this to starve?

That'll be your fate.

That's how he'll leave you.

No, that's not true, father.

You shouldn't say it.

What were you thinking of

when I came upon you?

You were glowing. You were

thinking of him, were you not?

The story of his alpine adventure.

That one over there, I imagine.

His young, beautiful

torso dangling in midair,

with only a rope between

him and mortality.

Well, we're all young and

beautiful once. It's transient.

What will you have when that's gone?

That's his only talent.

That, and hoodwinking dimwitted

young ladies out of their inheritances.

I love him, and when we go home

I shall marry him.

He should be very thankful to me.

A year ago you were rustic, limited.

Now your value is twice as great with

the knowledge and taste you've acquired.

We have fattened the sheep

for him before he kills it.

How obscene...

That your mother

should give her life,

so you could inhabit

space on this earth.

Oh, young man, where is the boat for

mercy? It's already docked, ma'am.

Right there.

Mm? Oh, thank you.

Thank you, officer. Oh, will the,

uh, luggage come ashore today?

Yes, sir. Catherine!

Thank you.

Oh, my! You look so glorious.

Oh... he wanted to allow you

rest after your journey. Oh!

Europe must've agreed with you, Austin.

You look almost civil.

I'll go and attend to the luggage.

Maureen, you're not married yet?

Oh, Doctor!

He-he wanted to come meet you.

But I convinced him...

Austin would think him

presumptuous.

Besides, he had pressing

business at his office...

that required his

immediate attention.

Oh! It was to be a surprise,

but he gave me leave to tell you.

Isn't wonderful? Your father

can find no fault now.

And he's not a subordinate, either.

He's a partner with business

cards and everything.

I've seen a great deal of him.

Well, he isn't easy to know.

I suppose you think you

know him, but you do not.

Well, not as I do.

You will know him after you've

lived with him for a while.

I have lived with him,

and I may say, he's full of...

Oh, he's just full of remarkable

charm and energy;

full of passion, and-and...

What is it?

He-he wrote me of your kindness.

I... I thank you for it.

Did you fail to bring

your father around?

The purpose of my journey was not

to bring father around, as you say,

but rather, to spend some time

with him before I left his house.

It is done. You are the same? You-you

have not swerved the line?

I am the same, only more so. I am home

to marry. Without your father's consent?

With or without it.

It makes no difference.

You have become brave. Perhaps it

does make a difference to Morris.

Why are you so contradictory?

A - a year ago you wished me not

to worry about displeasing father.

No, I thank you for your care of Morris,

but, um, I am home now...

...to marry.

Come, let's go. You know how

father dislikes dillydallying.

Catherine, I adore you.

I have been missed.

You will marry me tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

Next week, then.

To make me wait longer may

well jeopardize your virtue.

You are shameful.

To-to remove a man from the object

of his desire for a day is brutal.

To do so for a year carries a penalty

so high, one should not incur it.

Oh, Morris.

Mm? I'll marry you

anytime you say.

Huh?

Uh, good afternoon, Dr. Sloper.

Uh... oh.

Someone in the parlor?

Uh, Miss Catherine...

and Mr. Townsend, sir.

Oh, how is your father, Catherine?

My father does not...

figure anywhere in this equation.

He-he's unchanged?

Yes.

Oh, my poor, dear girl.

I don't mind it now.

You must let me try him.

No, Morris.

He'll not be brought 'round.

You will only make him worse.

N... you say that only because

I managed so badly the last time.

Yet, I've had, I've had a year

to think about it now.

I have new tact.

Is that what you've been

thinking about for a year?

The idea sticks in my craw.

I... I... I don't like to fail.

Well, how have you

failed if we marry?

No-not on the main issue,

of course, but on the rest of it...

my reputation, my relations

with your father,

um, my relation with our children...

Oh... we shall have enough for our

children... enough for everything.

Hmm. Besides, I believe you will

succeed brilliantly in business.

Mm, it isn't of the material

comfort that I speak.

It's of moral comfort;

of the intellectual satisfaction.

I have great moral comfort now.

Yes, of course you have.

Y - you have it with me

is different. I...

I stake my pride on proving to

your father that he's wrong.

And... and now that I am

the head of a business,

I can deal with him as an equal.

Please, Catherine. Please...

please, let me go at him.

No, Morris.

No.

I have good reason.

What is it?

What is it?

My father despises me.

Catherine, tha... that isn't true.

Do not do that.

It is a great... thing to be

separated from your father.

Especially when...

But it is done.

Take it on faith.

It...

We must never speak of it again.

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