The Inheritance Ultimatum — Washington Square

After her aunt leaves, Catherine sits alone by the parlour fire for more than an hour. Judging Lavinia's aggression makes her feel old and grave. Her terrible plan ripens: she will speak to her father though she is afraid of him. At eleven she knocks on his study door and stands there like a ghost. She tells him she has not seen Morris again but would like to, not to say goodbye for ever, but to ask him to wait.

He calls her a dear faithful child, kisses her, then asks whether she will make him happy by giving Morris up. When she pleads for time and gradual persuasion, he says she may wait until he dies, and that engagement to Morris means simply waiting for his death with impatience. She answers with a desperate inspiration: if she does not marry before his death, she will not marry after. He treats that as another epigram and refuses ever to consent.

He tells her to inform Morris that marriage without paternal consent means not a farthing of inheritance. She says that would be right. He opens the door as if turning her off, and says she will be cruel and ungrateful if she sees him. She sobs in the hall while he listens. Then he takes several turns around the study. By Jove, he believes she will stick.