The Private Marriage Plot — Washington Square

At the oyster saloon Mrs. Penniman tells Morris that Catherine is steadfast and will hold fast to the death, then unveils her preferred strategy: a private marriage before Dr. Sloper can be met by the accomplished fact. She reminisces about her clergyman husband marrying a fleeing couple in a dark church and offers herself as witness and helper, though Morris privately thinks her an idiot. When he asks whether Catherine would be cut off, she assures him that appearing disinterested now may move the doctor to make amends later, and that Catherine still has her mother's fortune even if Austin's will changes.

Morris presses the money question, blushes at fear of injuring Catherine, and listens as Lavinia tells him to hold fast and be brave. They leave the grim Seventh Avenue shop together, and Morris walks her back to Washington Square, lingering before the white marble steps and lighted windows that look to him like the closed portal of happiness.

He calls the house devilish comfortable, studies Catherine's windows, then takes a gloomy circuit of the square before coming back to stare again. The chapter turns Aunt Lavinia's fantasy of romantic subterfuge into financial arithmetic for Morris, and shows how secret counsel can feel like help while mainly feeding one side's impatience.