Catherine took her cup from Mrs. Ripley and thanked her. She held it just the way she had been taught, for clearly there was a right and wrong way to hold a cup and she wouldn't be caught dead holding it the wrong way. "I'm sorry to hear nothing helped. I hope that being home and having the fresh air and sea with offer some relief, at least," she told Miss Ripley. She wanted to ask after all those foreign and exotic places, but she worried that that would be inappropriate, since she knew the Ripleys so little, and clearly Miss Ripley was glad to be back home.