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Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen · Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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  Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Chapter one, Advertisement by the authoress to Northanger
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  Abbe. This little work was finished in the year eighteen o three and intended
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  for immediate publication. It was disposed of to a bookseller. It was even
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  advertised. And why the business proceeded no farther the author has never been able
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  to learn that any bookseller should think it worth while to purchase what he did
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  not think it worth while to publish, seems extraordinary. But with this neither
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  the author nor the public have any other concern than as some observation is necessary
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  upon those parts of the work which thirteen years have made comparatively obsolete. The
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  public are entreated to bear in mind that thirteen years have passed since it was
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  finished, many more since it was begun, and that during that period places,
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  manners, books and opinions have undergone considerable changes. Chapter one. No
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  one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born
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  to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father
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  and mother, her own person and disposition were all equally against her. Her
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  father was a clergyman without being neglected or poor, and a very respectable man.
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  Though his name was Richard and he had never been handsome, he had
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  a considerable independence besides two good livings, and he was not in the least
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  addicted to locking up his daughters. Her mother was a woman of useful,
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  plain sense, with a good temper, and, what is more remarkable,
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  with a good constitution. She had three sons before Catherine was born, and
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  instead of dying and bringing the latter into the world, as anybody might expect,
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  she still lived on. Lived to have six children, more to see
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  them growing up around her, and to enjoy excellent health herself. A family
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  of ten children will always be called a fine family where there are heads and
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  arms and legs enough for the number. But the Moorlands had little other right
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  to the word, for they were in general very plain, and Catherine,
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  for many years of her life as plain as any. She had a thin,
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  awkward figure, a sallow skin without color, dark lank hair, and
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  strong features. So much for her person, and not less unpropitious for heroism
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  seemed her mind. She was fond of all boys plays, and greatly preferred
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  cricket, not merely to dolls, but to the more heroic enjoyments of infancy,
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  nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary bird, or watering a rose bush.
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  Indeed, she had no taste for a garden, and if she gathered
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  flowers at all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief, at least,
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  so it was conjectured from her, always preferring those which she was forbidden
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  to take. Such were her propensities, her abilities were quite as extraordinary.
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  She never could learn or understand anything before she was taught, and sometimes not
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  even then, for she was often inattentive and occasionally stupid. Her mother was
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  three months in teaching her only to repeat the beggar's petition, and after all
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  her next sister Sally, could say it better than she did. Not that
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  Catherine was always stupid by no means. She learnt the Fable of the Hare
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  and many Friends as quickly as any girl in England. Her mother wished her
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  to learn music, and Catherine was sure she should like it, for she
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  was very fond of tinkling the keys of the old forlorn spinner. So at
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  eight years old she began. She learnt a year and could not bear it,
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  and Missus Morland, who did not insist on her, daughter's being accomplished
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  in spite of incapacity or distaste, allowed her to leave off. The day
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  which dismissed the music master was one of the happiest of Catherine's life. Her
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  taste for drawing was not superior, though whenever she could obtain the outside of
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  a letter from her mother or seize upon any other odd piece of paper,
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  she did what she could in that way by drawing houses and trees, hens
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  and chickens, all very much like one another. Ring an accounts she was
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  taught by her father French by her mother. Her proficiency in either was not
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  remarkable, and she shirked her lessons in both whenever she could. What a
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  strange, unaccountable character. For with all these symptoms of profligacy at ten years
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  old, she had neither a bad heart nor a bad temper. Was seldom
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  stubborn, scarcely ever, quarrelsome, and very kind to the little ones,
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  with few interruptions of tyranny. She was moreover noisy and wild, hated confinement
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  and cleanliness, and loved nothing so well in the world as rolling down the
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  green slope at the back of the house. Such was Catherine Morland at ten
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  at fifteen, appearances were mending. She began to curl her hair and long
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  for balls. Her complexion improved, her features were softened by plumpness and color.
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  Her eyes gained more animation and her figure more consequence, her love of
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  dirt gave way to an inclination for finery, and she grew clean as she
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  grew smart. She she had now the pleasure of sometimes hearing her father and
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  mother remark on her personal improvement. Catherine grows quite a good looking girl.
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  She is almost pretty to day, were words which caught her ears now and
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  then, And how welcome were the sounds. To look almost pretty is an
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  acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the first fifteen
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  years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive. Missus
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  Morland was a very good woman, and wished to see her children everything they
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  ought to be. But her time was so much occupied in lying in and
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  teaching the little ones, that her elder daughters were inevitably left to shift for
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  themselves. And it was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature
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  nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket baseball, riding on horseback and running
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  about the country at the age of fourteen, to books, or at least
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  books of information, for provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from
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  them, provided they were all story and no reflection. She had never any
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  objection to books at all, but from fifteen to seventeen she was in training
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  for a heroine. She read all such works as heroines must read, to
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  supply their memories with those quotations which are so serviceable and so soothing in the
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  vicissitudes of their eventful lives. From Pope she learnt to censure those who bear
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  about the mockery of woe. From Gray that many a flower is born to
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  blush unseen and waste its fragrance on the desert air. From Thompson that it
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  is a delightful task to teach the young idea how to shoot. And from
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  Shakespeare she gained a great store of information amongst the rest, that trifles light
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  as air are to the jealous confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ. That
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  the poor beetle, which we tread upon in corporal sufferance, feels a pang
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  as great as when a giant dies, And that a young woman in love
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  always looks like patience on a monument, smiling at grief. So far her
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  improvement was sufficient, and in many other points she came on exceedingly well.
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  For though she could not write sonnets, she brought herself to read them.
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  And though there seemed no chance of her throwing a whole party into raptures by
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  a prelude on the pianoforte of her own composition, she could listen to other
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  people's performance with very little fatigue. Her greatest deficiency was in the pencil.
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  She had no notion of drawing, not even enough to attempt a sketch of
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  her lover's profile, that she might be detected in the design. There she
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  fell miserably short of the true heroic height. At present, she did not
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  know her own poverty, for she had no lover to portray. She had
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  reached the age of seventeen without having seen one amiable youth who could call forth
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  her sensibility, without having inspired one real passion, and without having excited even
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  any admiration. But what was very moderate and very transient. This was strange,
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  indeed, But stray things may be generally accounted for if their cause be
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  fairly searched out. There was not one lord in the neighborhood, no,
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  not even a baronet. There was not one family among their acquaintance who had
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  reared and supported a boy accidentally found at their door, not one young man
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  whose origin was unknown. Her father had no ward, and the squire of
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  the parish no children. But when a young lady is to be a heroine,
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  the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will
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  happen to throw a hero in her way. Mister Allen, who owned the
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  chief of the property about Fullerton, the village in Wiltshire where the Morlands lived,
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  was ordered to bath for the benefit of a gouty constitution, and his
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  lady, a good humored woman, fond of Miss Morland, and probably aware
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  that if adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she
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  must seek them abroad, invited her to go with them. Mister and missus
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  Morland were all compliance, and Catherine all happiness. End of chapter one,
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  Chapter two, In addition to what has already been said of Catherine Morland's personal
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  and mental endowments, when about to be launched into all the difficulties and dangers
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  of a six week's residence in Bath. It may be stated for the reader's
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  more certain information, lest the following pages should otherwise fail of giving any idea
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  of what her character is meant to be. That her heart was affectionate,
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  her disposition cheerful and open, without conceit or affectation of any kind, her
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  manners just removed from the awkwardness and shyness of a girl, her person pleasing
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  and when in good looks pretty, and her mind about as ignorant and uninformed
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  as the female mind at seventeen usually is when the hour of departure drew near,
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  the maternal anxiety of missus Morland will be naturally supposed to be most severe.
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  A thousand alarming presentiments of evil to her beloved Catherine from this terrific separation
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  must oppress her heart with sadness and drown her in tears for the last day
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  or two of their being together. And advice of the most important and applicable
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  nature must of course flow from her wise lips in their parting conference in her
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  closet cautions against the violence of such noblemen and baronets as delight in forcing young
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  ladies away to some remote farmhouse must at such a moment relieve the fullness of
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  her heart. Who would not think so? But missus Morland knew so little
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  of lords and baronet's that she entertained no notion of their general mischievousness, and
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  was wholly unsuspicious of danger to her daughter from their machinations. Her cautions were
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  confined to the following points. I beg, Catherine, you will always wrap
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  yourself out very warm about the throat when you come from the rooms at night,
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  and I wish you would try to keep some account of the money you
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  spend. I will give you this little book on purpose, Sally, or
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  rather Sarah, for what young lady of common gentility will reach the age of
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  sixteen without altering her name, as far as she can, must from situation,
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  be at this time the intimate friend and confidant of her sister. It
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  is remarkable, however, that she neither insisted on Catherine's writing by every post,
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  nor exacted her promise of transmitting the character of every new acquaintance, nor
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  detail of every interesting conversation that Bath might produce. Everything indeed, relative to
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  this important journey was done on the part of the Morlands with a degree of
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  moderation and composure, which seemed rather consistent with the common feelings of common life
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  than with the refined susceptibilities the tender emotions which the first separation of a heroine
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  from her family ought always to excite. Her father, instead of giving her
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  an unlimited order on his banker, or even putting an hundred pounds bank bill
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  into her hands, gave her only ten guineas and promised her more when she
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  wanted it. Under these unpromising auspices, the parting took place, and the
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  journey began. It was performed with suitable quietness and uneventful safety. Neither robbers
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  nor tempests befriended them, nor one lucky over returned to introduce them to the
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  hero Nothing more alarming occurred than a fear on missus Allen's side of having once
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  left her clogs behind her at an inn, and that fortunately proved to be
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  groundless. They arrived at Bath, Catherine was all eager delight. Her eyes
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  were here, there everywhere as they approached its fine and striking environs, and
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  afterwards drove through those streets which conducted them to the hotel. She was come
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  to be happy and she felt happy already. They were soon settled in comfortable
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  lodgings in Pulteney Street. It is now expedient to give some description of Missus
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  Allen, that the reader may be able to judge in what manner her actions
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  will hereafter tend to promote the general distress of the work, and how she
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  will probably contribute to reduce poor Catherine to all the desperate wretchedness of which a
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  last volume is capable, whether by her imprudence, vulgarity or jealousy, whether
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  by intercepting her letters, ruining her character, or turning her out of doors.
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  Missus Allen was one of that numerous class of females whose society can raise
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  no other emotion than surprise at there being any men in the world who could
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  like them well enough to marry them. She had neither beauty, genius,
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  accomplishment, nor manner, the air of a gentlewoman. A great deal of
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  quiet, inactive good temper, and a trifling turn of mind were all that
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  could account for her being the choice of a sensible, intelligent man like mister
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  Allen. In one respect, she was admirably fitted to introduce a young lady
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  into public being, as fond of going everywhere and seeing everything herself as any
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  young lady could be. Dress was her passion. She had a most harmless
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  delight in being fine, and our heroine's entree into life could not take place
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  till after three or four days had been spent in learning what was mostly worn,
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  and her chaperone was provided with the dress of the newest fashion. Catherine
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  too made some purchases herself, and when all these matters were arranged, the
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  important evening came, which was to usher her into the upper rooms. Her
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  hair was cut and dressed by the best hand, her clothes put on with
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  care, and both Missus Allen and her maid declared she looked quite as she
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  should do. With such encouragement, Catherine hoped at least to pass uncensured to
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  the crowd. As for admiration, it was always very welcome when it came,
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  but she did not depend on it. Missus Allen was so long in
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  dressing that they did not enter the ball room till late the season was full,
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  the room crowded, and the two ladies squeezed in as well as they
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  could. As for mister Allen, he repaired directly to the card room and
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  left them to enjoy a mob by themselves. With more care for the safety
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  of her new gown than for the comfort of her protegee, Missus, Allan
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  made her way through the throng of men by the door as swiftly as the
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  necessary caution would allow. Catherine, however, kept close at her side and
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  linked her arm too firmly within her friends to be torn asunder by any common
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  effort of a struggling assembly. But to her utter amazement, she found that
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  to proceed along the room was by no means the way to disengage themselves from
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  the crowd. It seemed rather to increase as they went on, where she
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  had imagined that when once fairly within the door, they should easily find seats
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  and be able to watch the dances with perfect convenience. But this was far
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  from being the case, and though by unwearied diligence they gained even the top
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  of the room, their situation was just the same. They saw nothing of
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  the dancers but the high feathers of some of the ladies. Still they moved
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  on. Something better was yet in view, and by a continued exertion of
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  strength and ingenuity, they found themselves at last in the passage behind the highest
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  bench. Here there was something less of a crowd than below, and hence
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  Miss Morland had a comprehensive view of the company beneath her, and of all
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  the dangers of her late passage through them. It was a splendid sight,
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  and she began, for the first time that evening to feel herself at a
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  ball. She longed to dance, but she had not an acquaintance in the
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  room. Missus Allen did all that she could do in such a case by
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  saying, very placidly, every now and then, I wish you could get
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  a dance, my dear, I wish you could get a partner. For
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  some time, her young friend felt obliged to her for these wishes, but
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  they were repeated so often and proved so totally ineffectual, that Catherine grew tired
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  at last, and would thank her no more. They were not long able,
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  however, to enjoy the repose of the eminence they had so laboriously gained.
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  Everybody was shortly in motion for tea, and they must squeeze out like
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  the rest. Catherine began to feel something of disappointment. She was tired of
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  being continually pressed against by people. The generality of whose faces possessed nothing to
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  interest, and with all of whom she was so wholly unacquainted that she could
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  not relieve the irksomeness of imprisonment by the exchange of a syllable with any of
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  her fellow captives. And when at last arrived in the tea room, she
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  felt yet more the awkwardness of having no party to join, no acquaintance to
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  claim, no gentlemen to assist them. They saw nothing of mister Allen,
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  and after looking about them in vain for a more eligible situation, were obliged
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  to sit down at the end of a table at which a large party were
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  already placed, without having anything to do there or anything to speak to except
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  each other. Missus Allen congratulated herself as soon as they were seated on having
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  preserved her gown from injury. It would have been very shocking to have it
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  torn, said she would it not. It is such a delicate muslin for
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  my part. I have not seen anything I like so well in the whole
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  room. I assure you how uncomfortable it is, whispered Catherine, not to
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  have a single acquaintance here. Yes, my dear, replied Missus allen with
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  perfect serenity. It is very uncomfortable. Indeed, what shall we do?
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  The gentlemen and ladies at this table looks if they wondered why we came here.
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  We seem forcing ourselves into their party. Ay, so we do?
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  That is very disagreeable. I wish we had a large acquaintance here. I
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  wish we had any It would be somebody to go to. Very true,
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  my dear. And if we knew anybody, we would join them directly.
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  The Skinners were here last year. I wish they were here now had not?
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  We better go away? As it is? Here are no tea things
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  for us, you see no more there are? Indeed, how very provoking.
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  But I think we had better sit still, for one gets so tumbled
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  in such a crowd. How is my head? My dear? Somebody gave
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  me a push that has hurt it? I am afraid. No, indeed
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  it looks very nice. But dear missus Allan, are you sure there is
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  nobody you know in all this multitude of people? I think you must know
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  somebody. I don't, upon my word, I wish I did. I
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  wish I had a large acquaintance here with all my heart. And then I
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  should get you a partner. I should be so glad to have you dance.
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  There goes a strange looking woman. What an odd gown she has got
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  on? How old fashioned it is? Look at the back. After some
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  time they received an offer of tea from one of their neighbors. It was
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  thankfully accepted, and this introduced light conversation with the gentleman who offered it,
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  which was the only time that anybody spoke to them during the evening till they
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  were discovered and joined by mister Allen. When the dance was over, well,
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  miss Morland said he directly. I hope you have had an agreeable ball.
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  Very agreeable, indeed, she replied vainly, endeavoring to hide a great
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  yawn. I wish she had been able to dance, said his wife.
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  I wish we could have got a partner for her. I have been saying
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  how glad I should be if the Skinners were here this winter instead of last,
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  or if the Parrys had come, as they talked of once, she
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  might have danced with George Parry. I am so sorry she has not had
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  a partner. We shall do better another evening, I hope, was mister
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  Allan's consolation. The company began to disperse when the dancing was over, enough
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  to leave space for the remainder to walk about in some comfort. And now
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  was the time for a heroine who had not yet played a very distinguished part
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  in the events of the evening, to be noticed and admired. Every five
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  minutes. By removing some of the crowd gave greater openings for her charms.
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  She was now seen by many young men who had not been near her before.
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  Not one, however, started with rapturous wonder on beholding her. No
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  whisper of eager inquiry ran round the room, nor was she once called a
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  divinity by anybody. Yet, Catherine was in very good looks, and had
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  the company only seen her three years before, they would now have thought her
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  exceedingly handsome. She was looked at, however, and with some admiration,
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  for in her own hearing two gentlemen pronounced her to be a pretty girl.
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  Such words had their due effect. She immediately thought the evening pleasanter than she
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  had found it before. Her humble vanity was contented. She felt more obliged
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  to the two young men for this simple praise than a true quality heroine would
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  have been for fifteen sonnets in celebration of her charms, and went to her
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  chair in good humor with everybody, and perfectly satisfied with her share of public
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  attention. End of Chapter two, Chapter three. Every morning now brought its
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  regular duties. Shops were to be visited, some new part of the town
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  to be looked at, and the pump room to be attended, where they
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  paraded up and down for an hour, looking at everybody and speaking to no
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  one. The wish of a numerous acquaintance in Bath was still uppermost with missus
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  Allen, and she repeated it after every fresh proof which every morning brought of
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  her. Knowing nobody at all. They made their appearance in the lower rooms,
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  and here fortune was more favorable to our heroine. The master of the
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  ceremonies introduced to her a very gentlemanlike young man as a partner. His name
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  was Tilney. He seemed to be about four or five and twenty, was
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  rather tall, had a pleasing countenance, a very intelligent and lively eye,
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  and if not quite handsome, was very near it. His address was good,
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  and Catherine felt herself in high luck. There was little leisure for speaking
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  while they danced, But when they were seated at tea, she found him
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  as agreeable as she had already given him credit for being. He talked with
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  fluency and spirit, and there was an archness and pleasantry in his manner which
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  interested, though it was hardly understood by her. After chatting some time on
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  such matters as naturally arose from the objects around them, he suddenly addressed her
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  with I have hitherto been very remiss, madam, in the proper attentions of
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  a partner here. I have not yet asked you how long you have been
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  in Bath, whether you were ever here before, whether you have been at
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  the upper rooms, the theater and the concert, and how you like the
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  place altogether. I have been very negligent. But are you now at leisure
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  to satisfy me in these particulars? If you are, I will begin directly.
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  You need not give yourself that trouble, sir, No trouble, I
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  assure you, madam. Then, forming his features into a set smile and
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  affectedly softening his voice, he added, with a simpering air, have you
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  been long in Bath? Madam? About a week, Sir replied Catherine,
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  trying not to laugh, really with affected astonishment. Why should you be surprised,
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  sir? Why? Indeed, said he in his natural tone. But
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  some emotion must appear to be raised by your reply, and surprise is more
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  easily assumed and not less reasonable than any other. Now let us go on.
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  Were you never here before, madam? Never, sir? Indeed,
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  have you yet honored the upper rooms? Yes, sir, I was there
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  last Monday. Have you been to the theater, yes, sir. I
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  was at the play on Tuesday? To the concert, yes, sir on
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  Wednesday? And are you altogether pleased with bath? Yes? I like it
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  very well. Now I must give one smirk, and then we may be
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  rational again. Catherine turned away her head, not knowing whether she might venture
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  to laugh. I see what you think of me, said he gravely.
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  I shall make but a poor figure in your journal to morrow, my journal.
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  Yes, I know exactly what you will say. Friday went to the
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  lower rooms, wore my sprig muslin robe with blue trimmings, plain black shoes,
• 24:19
  appeared to much advantage, but was strangely harassed by a queer, half
• 24:25
  witted man who would make me dance with him, and distressed me by his
• 24:27
  nonsense. Indeed, I shall say no such thing. Shall I tell you
• 24:33
  what you ought to say, if you please. I danced with a very
• 24:38
  agreeable young man introduced by mister King, had a great deal of conversation with
• 24:44
  him. Seems a most extraordinary genius. Hope I may know more of him?
• 24:48
  That, madam, is what I wish you to say. But perhaps
• 24:52
  I keep no journal. Perhaps you are not sitting in this room, and
• 24:56
  I am not sitting by you. These are points in which a doubt is
• 25:00
  equally possible not keep a journal. How are your absent cousins to understand the
• 25:06
  tenor of your life in Bath without one? How are the civilities and compliments
• 25:10
  of every day to be related as they ought to be unless noted down every
• 25:14
  evening in a journal? How are your various dresses do you remembered? And
• 25:18
  the particular state of your complexion and curl of your hair to be described in
• 25:22
  all their diversities without having constant recourse to a journal? My dear madam,
• 25:26
  I am not so ignorant of young ladies ways as you wish to believe me.
• 25:30
  It is this delightful habit of journaling which largely contributes to form the easy
• 25:34
  style of writing for which ladies are so generally celebrated. Everybody allows that the
• 25:40
  talent of writing agreeable letters is peculiarly female. Nature may have done something,
• 25:45
  but I am sure it must be essentially assisted by the practice of keeping a
• 25:48
  journal. I have sometimes thought, said Catherine, doubtingly, whether ladies do
• 25:56
  write so much better letters than gentlemen. That is, I should not think
• 26:00
  the superiority was always on our side. As far as I have had opportunity
• 26:04
  of judging, it appears to me that the usual style of letter writing among
• 26:08
  women is faultless except in three particulars. And what are they? A general
• 26:15
  deficiency of subject, a total inattention to stops, and a very frequent ignorance
• 26:19
  of grammar. Upon my word, I need not have been afraid of disclaiming
• 26:25
  the compliment. You do not think too highly of us in that way,
• 26:30
  I should no more lay it down as a general rule that women write better
• 26:33
  letters than men than that they sing better duets or draw better landscapes. In
• 26:37
  every power of which taste is the foundation, excellence is pretty fairly divided between
• 26:42
  the sexes. They were interrupted by missus Allen. My dear Catherine, said,
• 26:48
  she do take this pin out of my sleeve. I am afraid it
• 26:52
  is torn a hole already. I shall be quite sorry if it has,
• 26:56
  for this is a favorite gown. Though it cost but nine shillings a year.
• 27:00
  That is exactly what I should have guessed it, madam, said mister
• 27:03
  Tilney, looking at the muslin. Do you understand muslins, sir particularly well?
• 27:11
  I always buy my own crabats, and am allowed to be an excellent
• 27:14
  judge, and my sister has often trusted me in the choice of a gown.
• 27:18
  I bought one for her the other day, and it was pronounced to
• 27:21
  be a prodigious bargain by every lady who saw it. I gave but five
• 27:25
  shillings a yard for it, and a true Indian muslin, missus Allen was
• 27:29
  quite struck by his genius. Men commonly take so little notice of those things,
• 27:34
  said she. I can never get mister Allen to know one of my
• 27:37
  gowns from another. You must be a great comfort to your sister, sir.
• 27:42
  I hope, I am, madam, and pray, sir, what
• 27:47
  do you think of miss Morland's gown? It is very pretty, madam,
• 27:52
  said he, gravely, examining it. But I do not think it will
• 27:56
  wash well. I am afraid it will fray. How can you, said
• 28:00
  Catherine, laughing be so she had almost said strange. I am quite of
• 28:07
  your opinion, sir, replied missus Allen. And so I told Miss Morland
• 28:12
  when she bought it. But then you know, Madam Muslin always turns to
• 28:18
  some account or other. Miss Morland will get enough out of it for a
• 28:21
  handkerchief or a cap or a cloak. Muslin can never be said to be
• 28:25
  wasted. I have heard my sister say so forty times when she has been
• 28:29
  extravagant in buying more than she wanted, or careless in cutting it to pieces.
• 28:33
  Barth is a charming place, sir. There are so many good shops
• 28:37
  here. We are sadly off in the country, not but what we have
• 28:41
  very good shops in Salisbury. But it is so far to go. Eight
• 28:45
  miles is a long way. Mister Allan says it is nine measured nine,
• 28:49
  but I am sure it cannot be more than eight. And it is such
• 28:52
  a fag. I come back tired to death. Now Here one can step
• 28:56
  out of doors and get a thing in five minutes. Miss mister Tilney was
• 29:00
  polite enough to seem interested in what she said, and she kept him on
• 29:03
  the subject of muslins till the dancing recommenced. Catherine feared as she listened to
• 29:07
  their discourse that he indulged himself a little too much with the foibles of others.
• 29:12
  What are you thinking of so earnestly, said he as they walked back
• 29:17
  to the ball room. Not of your partner, I hope, for by
• 29:19
  that shake of the hedge, your meditations are not satisfactory. Catherine colored and
• 29:25
  said, I was not thinking of anything that is artful and deep, to
• 29:30
  be sure, but I had rather be told at once that you will not
• 29:33
  tell me. Well, then I will not thank you. For now we
• 29:40
  shall soon be acquainted, as I am authorized to tease you on this subject
• 29:44
  whenever we meet, and nothing in the world advances intimacy so much. They
• 29:48
  danced again, and when the assembly closed parted on the lady's side, at
• 29:53
  least with a strong inclination for continuing the acquaintance. Whether she thought of him
• 29:59
  so much while she drank her warm wine and water and prepared herself for bed,
• 30:03
  as to dream of him when there cannot be ascertained, But I hope
• 30:07
  it was no more than in a slight slumber or morning doze at most,
• 30:11
  For if it be true, as a celebrated writer has maintained, that no
• 30:15
  young lady can be justified in falling in love before the gentleman's love is declared.
• 30:19
  It must be very improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman
• 30:22
  before the gentleman is first known to have dreamt of her. How proper mister
• 30:26
  Tilney might be as a dreamer or a lover had not yet perhaps entered mister
• 30:30
  Allan's head, but that he was not objectionable as a common acquaintance for his
• 30:34
  young charge. He was, on inquiry satisfied, for he had, early
• 30:38
  in the evening, taken pains to know who her partner was, and had
• 30:41
  been assured of mister Tilney's being a clergyman and of a very respectable family in
• 30:45
  Gloucestershire. End of Chapter three, Chapter four. With more than usual eagerness
• 30:56
  did Catherine hasten to the pump room the next day, secure than herself of
• 31:00
  seeing mister Tilney there before the morning were over, and ready to meet him
• 31:03
  with a smile. But no smile was demanded. Mister Tilney did not appear
• 31:10
  every creature in bath except himself, was to be seen in the room at
• 31:14
  different periods of the fashionable hours. Crowds of people were every moment passing in
• 31:18
  and out up the steps and down, people whom nobody cared about and nobody
• 31:22
  wanted to see, and he only was absent. What a delightful place both
• 31:29
  is, said Missus Allen, as they sat down near the great clock,
• 31:33
  after parading the room till they were tired. And how pleasant it would be
• 31:37
  if we had any acquaintance here. This sentiment had been uttered so often in
• 31:41
  vain that Missus Allen had no particular reason to hope it would be followed with
• 31:45
  more advantage. Now, but we are told to despair of nothing. We
• 31:49
  would attain as unwearied diligence our point would gain. And the unwearied diligence with
• 31:56
  which she had every day wished for the same thing, was at length to
• 32:00
  have its just reward. For hardly had she been seated ten minutes before a
• 32:04
  lady of about her own age, who was sitting by her, and had
• 32:07
  been looking at her attentively for several minutes, addressed her with great complaisance in
• 32:12
  these words, I think, Madam, I cannot be mistaken. It is
• 32:16
  a long time since I had the pleasure of seeing you. But is not
• 32:21
  your name Allan? This question answered as it readily was. The stranger pronounced
• 32:27
  hers to be Thorpe, and Missus Allen immediately recognized the features of a former
• 32:30
  school fellow and intimate whom she had seen only once since their respective marriages,
• 32:37
  and that many years ago. Their joy on this meeting was very great,
• 32:40
  as well it might, since they had been contented to know nothing of each
• 32:45
  other for the last fifteen years. Compliments on good looks now passed, and
• 32:49
  after observing how time it slipped away since they were last together, how little
• 32:52
  they had thought of meeting in Bath, and what a pleasure it was to
• 32:55
  see an old friend. They proceeded to make inquiries and of intelligence as to
• 33:00
  their families, sisters and cousins, talking both together, far more ready to
• 33:05
  give than to receive information, and each hearing very little of what the other
• 33:08
  said. Missus Thorpe, however, had one great advantage as a talker over
• 33:13
  Missus Allen in a family of children, and when she expatiated on the talents
• 33:17
  of her sons and the beauty of her daughters, when she related their different
• 33:22
  situations and views, that John was at Oxford, Edward at Merchant Taylor's,
• 33:27
  and William at Sea, and all of them more beloved and respected in their
• 33:30
  different station than any other three beings ever were. Missus Allen had no similar
• 33:36
  information to give, no similar triumphs to press on the unwilling and unbelieving ear
• 33:39
  of her friend, and was forced to sit and appear to listen to all
• 33:43
  these maternal effusions, consoling herself, however, with the discovery which her keen
• 33:47
  eye soon made that the lace on Missus Thorpe's police was not half so handsome
• 33:52
  as that on her own. Here come my dear girls, cried Missus Thorpe,
• 33:59
  pointing at three smart looking females who arm in arm were then moving towards
• 34:04
  her. My dear Missus Allen, I long to introduce them. They will
• 34:07
  be so delighted to see you. The tallest is Isabella, my eldest.
• 34:13
  Is not she a fine young woman? The others are very much admired too,
• 34:16
  but I believe Isabella is the handsomest. The miss Thorpes were introduced,
• 34:22
  and Miss Morland, who had been for a short time forgotten, was introduced.
• 34:27
  Likewise, the name seemed to strike them all, and after speaking to
• 34:30
  her with great civility, the eldest young lady observed aloud to the rest,
• 34:36
  how excessively like her brother, Miss Morland is the very picture of him?
• 34:40
  Indeed, cried the mother, and I should have known her anywhere, for
• 34:45
  his sister, was repeated by them all two or three times over. For
• 34:51
  a moment. Catherine was surprised, but missus Thorpe and her daughters had scarcely
• 34:54
  begun the history of their acquaintance with mister James Morland before she remembered that her
• 34:59
  elder most brother had lately formed an intimacy with a young man of his own
• 35:01
  college, of the name of Thorpe, and that he had spent the last
• 35:06
  week of the Christmas vacation with his family near London. The whole being explained,
• 35:10
  many obliging things were said by the miss Thorpes, of their wish of
• 35:14
  being better acquainted with her, of being considered as already friends through the friendship
• 35:19
  of their brothers, et cetera, which Catherine heard with pleasure and answered with
• 35:22
  all the pretty expressions she could command, and as the first proof of amity,
• 35:28
  she was soon invited to accept an arm of the eldest Miss Thorpe,
• 35:30
  and take a turn with her about the room. Catherine was delighted with this
• 35:34
  extension of her Bath acquaintance, and almost forgot mister Tilney while she talked to
• 35:37
  Miss Thorpe. Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
• 35:45
  Their conversation turned upon those subjects of which the free discussion has generally much
• 35:49
  to do in perfecting a sudden intimacy between two young ladies, such as dress,
• 35:53
  balls, flirtations, and quizzes. Miss Thorpe, however, being four
• 35:58
  years older than Miss Morland, and at least four years better informed, had
• 36:01
  a very decided advantage in discussing such points. She could compare the balls of
• 36:06
  Bath with those of Tunbridge, its fashions with the fashions of London, could
• 36:09
  rectify the opinions of her new friend in many articles of tasteful attire, could
• 36:15
  discover a flirtation between any gentleman and lady who only smiled on each other,
• 36:19
  and point out a quiz through the thickness of a crowd. These powers received
• 36:22
  due admiration from Catherine, to whom they were entirely new and the respect which
• 36:27
  they naturally inspired might have been too great for familiarity, had not. The
• 36:30
  easy gaiety of Miss Thorpe's manners, and her frequent expressions of delight on this
• 36:35
  acquaintance with her softened down every feeling of awe and left nothing but tender affection.
• 36:40
  Their increasing attachment was not to be satisfied with half a dozen turns in
• 36:45
  the pump room, but required, when they all quitted it together, that
• 36:47
  Miss Thorpe should accompany Miss Morland to the very door of mister Allen's house,
• 36:52
  and that they should there part with the most affectionate and lengthened shake of hands,
• 36:55
  after learning to their mutual relief, that they should see each other cross
• 37:00
  the theater at night and say their prayers in the same chapel the next morning.
• 37:04
  Catherine then ran directly upstairs and watched Miss Thorpe's progress down the street from
• 37:08
  the drawing room window. Admired the graceful spirit of her walk, the fashionable
• 37:14
  air of her figure and dress, and felt grateful, as well she might,
• 37:17
  for the chance which had procured her such a friend. Missus Thorpe was
• 37:22
  a widow, and not a very rich one. She was a good humored,
• 37:24
  well meaning woman and a very indulgent mother. Her eldest daughter had great
• 37:29
  personal beauty, and the younger ones, by pretending to be as handsome as
• 37:32
  their sister, imitating her air and dressing in the same style, did very
• 37:37
  well. This brief account of the family is intended to supersede the necessity of
• 37:42
  a long and minute detail from missus Thorpe herself of her past adventures and sufferings,
• 37:46
  which might otherwise be expected to occupy the three or four following chapters,
• 37:51
  in which the worthlessness of lords and attorneys might be set forth, and conversations
• 37:55
  which had passed twenty years before be minutely repeated. End of chapter four,
• 38:04
  Chapter five, Catherine was not so much engaged at the theater that evening,
• 38:09
  in returning the nods and smiles of miss Thorpe, though they certainly claimed much
• 38:14
  of her leisure, as to forget to look with an inquiring eye for mister
• 38:16
  Tilney in every box which her eye could reach, But she looked in vain.
• 38:22
  Mister Tilney was no fonder of the play than the pump room. She
• 38:25
  hoped to be more fortunate the next day, and when her wishes for fine
• 38:29
  weather were answered, by seeing a beautiful morning, she hardly felt a doubt
• 38:32
  of it. For a fine sunday in bath empties, every house of its
• 38:37
  inhabitants, and all the world appears on such an occasion to walk about and
• 38:40
  tell their acquaintance which a charming day it is. As soon as divine service
• 38:45
  was over, the Thorpes and Allens eagerly joined each other, And, after
• 38:49
  staying long enough in the pump room to discover that the crowd was insupportable,
• 38:52
  and that there was not a genteel face to be seen, which everybody discovers
• 38:57
  every Sunday throughout the season, they hastened away the crescent to breathe the fresh
• 39:00
  air of better company. Here Catherine and Isabella arm in arm again tasted the
• 39:07
  sweets of friendship in an unreserved conversation. They talked much and with much enjoyment.
• 39:13
  But again was Catherine disappointed in her hope of re seeing her partner.
• 39:15
  He was nowhere to be met with. Every search for him was equally unsuccessful
• 39:21
  in morning lounges or evening assemblies. Neither at the upper nor lower rooms,
• 39:24
  at dressed or undressed balls, was he perceivable, nor among the walkers the
• 39:29
  horsemen or the curricle drivers of the morning. His name was not in the
• 39:32
  pump room book, and curiosity could do no more. He must be gone
• 39:37
  from Bath, Yet he had not mentioned that his stay would be so short.
• 39:42
  This sort of mysteriousness, which is always so becoming in a hero,
• 39:46
  through a fresh grace in Catherine's imagination around his person and manners, and increased
• 39:51
  her anxiety to know more of him. From the Thorpes. She could learn
• 39:53
  nothing, for they had been only two days in Bath before they met with
• 39:57
  Missus Allen. It was a subject, however, in which she often indulged
• 40:00
  with her fair friend, from whom she received every possible encouragement to continue to
• 40:05
  think of him, and his impression on her. Fancy was not suffered therefore
• 40:08
  to weaken. Isabella was very sure that he must be a charming young man,
• 40:13
  and was equally sure that he must have been delighted with her dear Catherine,
• 40:15
  and would therefore shortly return. She liked him the better for being a
• 40:20
  clergyman, for she must confess herself very partial to the profession, and something
• 40:24
  like a sigh escaped her as she said it. Perhaps Catherine was wrong in
• 40:29
  not demanding the cause of that gentle emotion. But she was not experienced enough
• 40:32
  in the finesse of love or the duties of friendship to know when delicate raillery
• 40:37
  was properly called for, or when a confidence should be forced. Missus Allen
• 40:42
  was now quite happy, quite satisfied with Bath. She had found some acquaintance,
• 40:46
  had been so lucky too as to find in them the family of a
• 40:50
  most worthy old friend, And as the completion of good fortune, had found
• 40:54
  these friends by no means, so expensively dressed as herself. Her daily expression
• 41:00
  were no longer I wish we had some acquaintance in Bath. They were changed
• 41:05
  into how glad I am we have met with Missus Thorpe. And she was
• 41:08
  as eager in promoting the intercourse of the two families as her young charge and
• 41:13
  Isabella themselves. Could be never satisfied with the day unless she spent the chief
• 41:16
  of it by the side of Missus Thorpe, in what they called conversation,
• 41:21
  but in which there was scarcely ever any exchange of opinion, and not often
• 41:24
  any resemblance of subject. For Missus Thorpe talked chiefly of her children, and
• 41:29
  Missus Allen of her gowns. The progress of the friendship between Catherine and Isabella
• 41:34
  was quick as its beginnings had been warm, and they passed so rapidly through
• 41:37
  every gradation of increasing tenderness, that there was shortly no fresh proof of it
• 41:42
  to be given to their friends or themselves. They called each other by their
• 41:45
  Christian name, were always arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each
• 41:50
  other's train for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set.
• 41:52
  And if a rainy morning deprived them of other enjoyments, they were still
• 41:57
  resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shot themselves up to
• 42:00
  read novels together, Yes, novels, for I will not adopt that ungenerous
• 42:07
  and impolitic customs so common with novel writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure,
• 42:12
  the very performances to the number of which they are themselves, adding joining
• 42:15
  with their greatest enemies, and bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and
• 42:20
  scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if
• 42:23
  she accidentally takes up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages
• 42:28
  with disgust. Alas if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the
• 42:32
  heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard. I cannot
• 42:37
  approve of it. Let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions
• 42:42
  of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel, to talk in
• 42:45
  threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not
• 42:51
  desert one another. We are an injured body. Although our productions have afforded
• 42:57
  more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world,
• 43:01
  no species of composition has been so much to pride from pride, ignorance,
• 43:07
  or fashion. Our foes are almost as much as our readers. And
• 43:12
  while the abilities of the nine hundredth a bridger of the history of England,
• 43:15
  or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of
• 43:19
  Milton Pope or prior with a paper from the Spectator and a chapter from Stern,
• 43:23
  are eulogized by a thousand pens, there seems almost a general wish of
• 43:28
  decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labor of the novelist, and of slighting the
• 43:32
  performances which have only genius, wit and taste to recommend them. I am
• 43:37
  no novel reader. I seldom look into novels. Do not imagine that I
• 43:43
  often read novels. It is really very well for a novel, such is
• 43:49
  the common cant And what are you reading? Miss? Oh? It is
• 43:53
  only a novel, replies the young lady, while she lays down her book
• 43:59
  with an affected in difference or momentary shame. It is only Cecilia, or
• 44:04
  Camilla or Belinda, or in short, only some work in which the greatest
• 44:08
  powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human
• 44:13
  nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and
• 44:17
  humor, are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language. Now,
• 44:22
  had the same young lady been engaged with the volume of the Spectator instead of
• 44:27
  such a work, how proudly would she have produced the book and told its
• 44:30
  name, Though the chances must be against her being occupied by any part of
• 44:35
  that voluminous publication of which either the manner or matter would not discuss a young
• 44:39
  person of taste, the substance of its papers so often consisting in the statement
• 44:45
  of improbable circumstances, unnatural characters, and topics of conversation which no longer concern
• 44:51
  any one living, and their language too frequently so coarse as to give no
• 44:55
  very favorable idea of the age that could endure it. End of chapter five,
• 45:04
  Chapter six. The following conversation, which took place between the two friends
• 45:09
  in the pump room one morning after an acquaintance of eight or nine days,
• 45:14
  is given as a specimen of their very warm attachment and of the delicacy,
• 45:17
  discretion, originality of thought, and literary taste which marked the reasonableness of that
• 45:22
  attachment. They met by appointment, and as Isabella had arrived nearly five minutes
• 45:28
  before her friend, her first address naturally was, my dearest creature, what
• 45:34
  can have made you so late? I have been waiting for you at least
• 45:37
  this age, have you? Indeed? I am very sorry for it,
• 45:42
  but really I thought I was in very good time. It is but just
• 45:45
  one. I hope you have not been here very long, oh these ten
• 45:50
  ages at least. I am sure I've been here this half hour. But
• 45:53
  now let us go and sit down at the other end of the room and
• 45:57
  enjoy ourselves. I have a hundred things to say to you. In the
• 46:00
  first place, I was so afraid it would rain this morning, just as
• 46:05
  I wanted to set off, it looked very showery, and that would have
• 46:07
  thrown me into agonies. Do you know? I saw the prettiest hat you
• 46:12
  can imagine in a shop window in Milsom Street just now, very like yours,
• 46:15
  only with Cockley Cough ribbons instead of green. I quite longed for it.
• 46:21
  But my dearest Catherine, what have you been doing with yourself all this
• 46:23
  morning? Have you gone on with UDOLPHO? Yes, I have been reading
• 46:29
  it ever since I woke, and I am got to the Black Veil?
• 46:32
  Are you indeed? How delightful? Oh? I would not tell you what
• 46:37
  is behind the black veil, for the world are not too wild to know?
• 46:42
  Oh? Yes, quite what can it be? But do not tell
• 46:45
  me I would not be told upon any account. I know it must be
• 46:49
  a skeleton. I am sure it is Laurentina's skeleton. Oh, I am
• 46:52
  delighted with the book. I should like to spend my whole life in reading
• 46:57
  it. I assure you. If it had not been to me you,
• 47:00
  I would not have come away from it. For all the world dear creature,
• 47:05
  how much I am obliged to you. And when you have finished Rudolpho,
• 47:08
  we will read the Italian together. And I have made out a list
• 47:12
  of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you. Have you indeed?
• 47:16
  How glad I am? What are they all? I will read you
• 47:21
  their names directly. Here they are in my pocket book. Castle of Wolfenbach,
• 47:25
  Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell,
• 47:32
  Orphan of the Rhine, and horrid mysteries. Those will last as some time,
• 47:37
  Yes, pretty well. But are they all horrid? Are you sure
• 47:42
  they are all horrid? Yes? Quite sure. For a particular friend of
• 47:46
  mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures
• 47:51
  in the world, has read every one of them. I wish you knew
• 47:53
  Miss Andrews. You would be delighted with her. She is netting herself the
• 47:59
  sweetest cloak you can conceive. I think her as beautiful as an angel,
• 48:02
  and I am so vexed with the men for not admiring her. I scold
• 48:07
  them all amazingly about it. Scold them, Do you scold them for not
• 48:12
  admiring her? Yes? That I do. There is nothing I would not
• 48:16
  do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving
• 48:20
  people by halves. It is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively
• 48:24
  strong. I told Captain Hunt at one of our assemblies this winter that if
• 48:29
  he was to tease me all night, I would not dance with him unless
• 48:32
  he would allow Miss Andrews to be as beautiful as an angel. The men
• 48:37
  think us incapable of real friendship, you know, and I am determined to
• 48:39
  show them the difference. Now, if I were to hear anybody speak slightingly
• 48:44
  of you, I should fire up in a moment. But that is not
• 48:47
  at all likely, for you are just the kind of girl to be a
• 48:51
  great favorite with the men. Oh, dear, cried Catherine Coloring. How
• 48:55
  can you say so? I know you very well. You have so much
• 49:01
  animation, which is exactly what Miss Andrews wants for I must confess there is
• 49:07
  something amazingly insipid about her. Oh, I must tell you that just after
• 49:12
  we parted yesterday, I saw a young man looking at you so earnestly.
• 49:16
  I am sure he is in love with you. Catherine colored and disclaimed again.
• 49:22
  Isabella laughed. It is very true upon my honor. But I see
• 49:28
  how it is you are indifferent to everybody's admiration except that of one a gentleman
• 49:32
  who shall be nameless. Nay, I cannot blame you. Speaking more seriously,
• 49:39
  your feelings are easily understood where the heart is really attached. I know
• 49:45
  very well how little one can be pleased with the attention of anybody else.
• 49:49
  Everything is so insipid, so uninteresting, that does not relate to the beloved
• 49:53
  object. I can perfectly comprehend your feelings, but you should not persuae that
• 50:00
  I think so very much about mister Tilney, for perhaps I may never see
• 50:04
  him again. Not see him again, my dearest creature, Do not talk
• 50:08
  of it. I am sure you would be miserable if you thought so.
• 50:13
  No, indeed, I should not. I do not pretend to say that
• 50:15
  I was not very much pleased with him. But why I have Udolpho to
• 50:20
  read. I feel as if nobody could make me miserable. Oh the dreadful
• 50:24
  black veil, my dear Isabella. I am sure there must be laurentina skeleton
• 50:30
  behind it. It is so odd to me that you should never have read
• 50:35
  Udolpho before. But I suppose Missus Morran objects to novels. No, she
• 50:40
  does not. She very often reads, Sir Charles Grandison herself. But new
• 50:45
  books do not fall in our way. Sir Charles Grandison. That is an
• 50:51
  amazing horrid book, is it not? I remember Miss Andrews could not get
• 50:54
  through the first volume. It is not like Udolpho at all. But yet
• 50:59
  I think it is very entertaining. Do you. Indeed you surprise me.
• 51:05
  I thought it had not been readable. But my dearest Catherine, have you
• 51:08
  settled what to wear in your head to night? I am determined at all
• 51:12
  events to be dressed exactly like you. The men take notice of that sometimes,
• 51:15
  you know, but it does not signify if they do, said Catherine,
• 51:20
  very innocently signify, Oh heavens, I make it a rule never to
• 51:25
  mind what they say. They are very often amazingly impertinent if you do not
• 51:30
  treat them with spirit and make them keep their distance. Are they well?
• 51:35
  I never observed that they always behave very well to me. Oh, they
• 51:39
  give themselves such airs. They are the most conceited creatures in the world,
• 51:45
  and think themselves of so much importance. By the bye, though I have
• 51:49
  often thought of it, a hundred times. I have always forgot to ask
• 51:52
  you, what is your favorite complexion in a man? Do you like them
• 51:55
  best? Dark or fair? I hardly know, Oh, I never much
• 52:00
  thought about it, something between both. I think brown, not fair,
• 52:07
  and and not very dark. Very well, Catherine, that is exactly he.
• 52:14
  I have not forgot your description of mister Tilney, a brown skin with
• 52:17
  dark eyes and rather dark hair. Well, my taste is different. I
• 52:22
  prefer light eyes. And as to complexion, do you know I like a
• 52:27
  sallow better than any other. You must not betray me if you should ever
• 52:31
  meet with one of your acquaintance answering that description? Betray you? What do
• 52:37
  you mean? Nay, do not distress me. I believe I have said
• 52:40
  too much. Let us drop the subject. Catherine, in some amazement,
• 52:45
  complied, and, after remaining a few moments silent, was on the point
• 52:50
  of reverting to what interested her at that time rather more than anything else in
• 52:52
  the world, Laurentina's skeleton, when her friend prevented her by saying, for
• 52:58
  Heaven's sake, let's move away from this end of the room. Do you
• 53:01
  know there are two odious young men who have been staring at me this half
• 53:05
  hour. They really put me quite out of countenance. Let us go and
• 53:08
  look at the arrivals. They will hardly follow us there. Away they walked
• 53:14
  to the book, and while Isabella examined the names, it was Catherine's employment
• 53:17
  to watch the proceedings of these alarming young men. They are not coming this
• 53:22
  way, are they? I hope they are not so impertinent as to follow
• 53:25
  us. Pray, let me know if they are coming. I am determined
• 53:30
  I will not look up. In a few moments, Catherine, with unaffected
• 53:34
  pleasure, assured her that she need not be longer uneasy, as the gentlemen
• 53:37
  had just left the pump room. And which way are they gone, said
• 53:43
  Isabella, turning hastily round. One was a very good looking young man.
• 53:47
  They went towards the churchyard. Well, I am amazingly glad I have got
• 53:52
  rid of them. And now what say you to going to Edgar's buildings with
• 53:57
  me? And looking at my new hat? You said you should like to
• 53:59
  see it. Catherine readily agreed. Only she added, perhaps we may overtake
• 54:06
  the two young men. Oh, never mind that, if we make haste,
• 54:09
  we shall pass them by presently. And I am dying to show you
• 54:13
  my hat. But if we only wait a few minutes, there will be
• 54:15
  no danger of ours seeing them at all. I shall not pay them any
• 54:20
  such compliment, I assure you, I have no notion of treating men with
• 54:22
  such respect. That is the way to spoil them. Catherine had nothing to
• 54:29
  oppose against such reasoning, and therefore, to show the independence of Miss Thorpe
• 54:32
  and her resolution of humbling the sex, they set off immediately as fast as
• 54:37
  they could walk in pursuit of the two young men end of Chapter six,
• 54:45
  Chapter seven half a minute conducted them through the pump yard to the archway opposite
• 54:51
  Union passage. But here they were stopped. Everybody acquainted with Bath may remember
• 54:55
  the difficulties of crossing Cheap Street at this point. It is indeed yet a
• 55:00
  street of so impertinent a nature, so unfortunately connected with the great London and
• 55:05
  Oxford roads and the principal inn of the city, that a day never passes
• 55:08
  in which parties of ladies, however important their business, whether in quest of
• 55:14
  pastry, millinery, or even as in the present case, of young men,
• 55:17
  are not detained on one side or other by carriages, horsemen or carts.
• 55:22
  This evil had been felt and lamented at least three times a day by
• 55:27
  Isabella since her residence in Bath, and she was now fated to feel and
• 55:30
  lament it once more, for at the very moment of coming opposite to Union
• 55:36
  passage, and within view of the two gentlemen, who were proceeding through the
• 55:38
  crowds and threading the gutters of that interesting alley, they were prevented crossing by
• 55:44
  the approach of a gig, driven along on bad pavement by a most knowing
• 55:47
  looking coachman with all the vehemence that could most fitly endanger the lives of himself,
• 55:52
  his companion and his horse. Oh these odious gigs, said Isabella,
• 55:58
  looking up, how I detest them. But this detestation, though so just,
• 56:05
  was of short duration, for she looked again and exclaimed, delightful,
• 56:09
  mister Morland, and my brother good heaven Tis James was uttered at the same
• 56:16
  moment by Catherine, and on catching the young men's eyes, the horse was
• 56:21
  immediately checked with a violence which almost threw him on his haunches, and the
• 56:24
  servant, having now scampered up, the gentleman jumped out, and the equipage
• 56:29
  was delivered to his care Catherine, by whom this meeting was wholly unexpected,
• 56:34
  received her brother with the liveliest pleasure, and he, being of a very
• 56:37
  amiable disposition and sincerely attached to her, gave every proof on his side of
• 56:42
  equal satisfaction which she could have leisure to do. While the bright eyes of
• 56:45
  miss Thorpe were incessantly challenging his notice and to her his devoirs were speedily paid
• 56:52
  with a mixture of joy and embarrassment, which might have informed Catherine had she
• 56:55
  been more expert in the development of other people's feelings, and left simply engrossed
• 57:00
  by her own, that her brother thought her friend quite as pretty as she
• 57:04
  could do herself. John Thorpe, who in the meantime had been giving orders
• 57:08
  about the horses, soon joined them, and from him she directly received the
• 57:14
  amends which were her due, for while he slightly and carelessly touched the hand
• 57:17
  of Isabella on her, he bestowed a whole scrape and half a short bow.
• 57:22
  He was a stout young man of middling height, who, with a
• 57:25
  plain face and ungraceful form, seemed fearful of being too handsome unless he wore
• 57:30
  the dress of a groom, and too much like a gentleman unless he were
• 57:34
  easy where he ought to be civil and impudent where he might be allowed to
• 57:37
  be easy. He took out his watch. How long do you think we
• 57:40
  have been running it from Tetbury, Miss Morland, I do not know the
• 57:45
  distance? Her brother told her that it was twenty three miles three and twenty,
• 57:52
  cried Thorpe, five and twenty if it is an inch. Morland remonstrated,
• 57:58
  pleaded the authority of road books, innkeepers and milestones, but his friends
• 58:01
  disregarded them all. He had a surer test of distance. I know it
• 58:07
  must be five and twenty, said he. By the time we have been
• 58:10
  doing it. It is now half after one. We drove out of the
• 58:15
  inn yard at Tetbury as the town clock struck eleven. And I defy any
• 58:19
  man in England to make my horse go less than ten miles an hour in
• 58:22
  harness. That makes it exactly twenty five. You have lost an hour,
• 58:29
  said Morland. It was only ten o'clock when we came from Tetbury ten o'clock
• 58:34
  it was eleven. Upon my soul, I counted every stroke. This brother
• 58:39
  of yours would persuade me out of my senses, Miss Morland, do but
• 58:44
  look at my horse. Did you ever see an animal so made for speed
• 58:47
  in your life? The servant had just mounted the carriage and was driving off
• 58:52
  such true blood three hours and half indeed, coming only three and twenty miles.
• 58:59
  Look at that creep, and suppose it possible if you can. He
• 59:02
  does look very hot, to be sure hot. He had not turned a
• 59:07
  hair till he had come to Walcote Church. But look at his forehead,
• 59:10
  look at his noins. Only see how he moves. That horse cannot go
• 59:15
  less than ten miles an hour. Tie his legs and he will get on.
• 59:20
  What do you think of my gig, Miss Morland? A neat one?
• 59:22
  Is it not well hung? A town built? I have not had
• 59:25
  it a month. It was built for a christ Church man, a friend
• 59:29
  of mine, a very good sort of fellow. He ran at a few
• 59:31
  weeks till I believe it was convenient to have done with it. I happened
• 59:36
  just then to be looking out for some light thing of the kind, though
• 59:37
  I had pretty well determined on a curricle too. But I chanced to meet
• 59:42
  him on Mortland Bridge as he was driving into Oxford last term. Ah Thorpe
• 59:46
  said, he do you happen to want such a little thing as this.
• 59:51
  It is a capital one of the kind. But I am cursed tired of
• 59:53
  it, oh said I. I am your man. What do you ask?
• 59:58
  And how much do you think he'd miss? Borland? I am sure
• 1:00:01
  I cannot guess at all. Curricle hung you see, seat, trunk,
• 1:00:07
  sword case, splashing board, lamps, silver molding, all you see complete,
• 1:00:12
  the iron work as good as new or better. He asked fifty guineas
• 1:00:15
  I closed with him, directly threw down the money, and the carriage was
• 1:00:21
  mine. And I am sure, said Catherine. I know so little of
• 1:00:25
  such things that I cannot judge whether it was cheap or dear, neither one
• 1:00:30
  nor t'other. I might have got it for less, I daresay, But
• 1:00:32
  I hate taggling, and poor freeman wanted cash. That was very good natured
• 1:00:37
  of you, said Catherine, quite pleased. Oh damn it. When one
• 1:00:43
  has the means of doing a good thing by a friend, I hate to
• 1:00:45
  be pitiful. An inquiry now took place into the intended movements of the young
• 1:00:51
  ladies, and on finding whither they were going, it was decided that the
• 1:00:54
  gentlemen should accompany them to Edgar's buildings. And pay their respects to missus Thorpe.
• 1:01:00
  Eames and Isabella led the way, and so well satisfied was the latter
• 1:01:02
  with her lot, So contentedly was she endeavoring to insure a pleasant walk to
• 1:01:07
  him who brought the double recommendation of being her brother's friend and her friend's brother.
• 1:01:13
  So pure and uncoquettish were her feelings that though they overtook and passed the
• 1:01:16
  two offending young men in Milsom Street, she was so far from seeking to
• 1:01:21
  attract their notice that she looked back at them only three times. John Thorpe
• 1:01:27
  kept, of course with Catherine, and after a few minutes silence, renewed
• 1:01:30
  the conversation about his gig. You will find, however, miss Morland,
• 1:01:35
  it would be reckoned a cheap thing by some people, for I might have
• 1:01:37
  sold it for ten guineas more. The next day, Jackson of Oriol bid
• 1:01:42
  me sixty at once. Morland was with me at the time, Yes,
• 1:01:45
  said Morland, who overheard this. But you forget that your horse was included?
• 1:01:51
  Why horse? How damn it? I would not sell my horse for
• 1:01:53
  a hundred. Are you fond of an open carriage, Miss Morland? Yes,
• 1:01:59
  very, I have hardly ever an opportunity of being in one. But
• 1:02:02
  I am particularly fond of it. I am glad of it. I will
• 1:02:07
  drive you out in mine every day, thank you, said Catherine, in
• 1:02:10
  some distress from a doubt of the propriety of accepting such an offer. I
• 1:02:15
  will drive you up lansdown hill to morrow. Thank you. But will not
• 1:02:21
  your horse want rest? Rest? He has only come three and twenty miles
• 1:02:25
  to day. All nonsense. Nothing ruins horses so much as rest, nothing
• 1:02:30
  knocks them up so soon. No, no, I shall exercise mine at
• 1:02:34
  the average of four hours every day while I am here, shall you?
• 1:02:37
  Indeed, said Catherine very seriously, that will be forty miles a day.
• 1:02:44
  Forty ay fifty for what I care. Well, I will drive you up
• 1:02:49
  lansdown to morrow. Mind, I am engaged. How delightful that will be,
• 1:02:54
  cried Isabella, turning round. My dearest Catherine. I quite envy you.
• 1:02:59
  But I'm afraid, brother, you will not have room for a third
• 1:03:02
  a third. Indeed, no, no, I did not come to Bath
• 1:03:06
  to drive my sisters about. That would be a good joke. Faith Moland
• 1:03:09
  must take care of you. This brought on a dialogue of civilities between the
• 1:03:14
  other two, but Catherine heard neither the particulars nor the result. Her companion's
• 1:03:19
  discourse now sung from its hitherto animated pitch, to nothing more than a short,
• 1:03:23
  decisive sentence of praise or condemnation on the face of every woman they met.
• 1:03:29
  And Catherine, after listening and agreeing as long as she could, with
• 1:03:31
  all the civility and deference of the youthful female mind, fearful of hazarding an
• 1:03:36
  opinion of its own in opposition to that of a self assured man, especially
• 1:03:39
  where the beauty of her own sex is concerned, ventured at length to vary
• 1:03:44
  the subject by a question which had been long uppermost in her thoughts. It
• 1:03:47
  was, have you ever read Udolpho? Mister Thorpe Udolpho? Oh Lord not,
• 1:03:53
  I I never read novels. I have something else to do. Catherine,
• 1:04:00
  humbled and ashamed, was going to apologize for her question, but he
• 1:04:03
  prevented her by saying, novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff.
• 1:04:09
  There has not been a tolerably decent one come out since Tom Jones, except
• 1:04:13
  the Monk. I read that t'other day. But as for all the others,
• 1:04:15
  and they are the stupidest things in creation. I think you must like
• 1:04:19
  Udolpho if you were to read it. It is so very interesting, not
• 1:04:25
  I faith? No, if I read any it shall be Missus Radcliffe's.
• 1:04:29
  Her novels are amusing enough. They are worth reading, some fun and nature
• 1:04:32
  in them. Udolpho was written by Missus Radcliffe, said Catherine, with some
• 1:04:39
  hesitation from the fear of mortifying him. No, shawl was it, ay?
• 1:04:45
  I remember? So it was. I was thinking of that other stupid
• 1:04:47
  book written by that woman. They make such a fuss about she who married
• 1:04:50
  the French emigrant. I suppose you mean Camilla. Yes, that's the book,
• 1:04:56
  Such unnatural stuff, An old Man Playing its Sea Saw. I took
• 1:05:01
  up the first volume once and looked it over, but I soon found it
• 1:05:04
  would not do. Indeed, I guessed what sort of stuff it must be
• 1:05:08
  before I saw it. As soon as I heard she had married an emigrant,
• 1:05:12
  I was sure I should never be able to get through it. I
• 1:05:15
  have never read it. You had no loss, I assure you. It
• 1:05:18
  is the horridest nonsense you can imagine. There is nothing in the world in
• 1:05:21
  it, but in Old Man's Playing at Sea Saw and learning Latin upon my
• 1:05:26
  soul. There is not this critique, the justness of which was unfortunately lost
• 1:05:31
  on poor Catherine. Brought them to the door of Missus Thorpe's lodgings, and
• 1:05:35
  the feelings of the discerning and unprejudiced reader of Camilla gave way to the feelings
• 1:05:40
  of the dutiful and affectionate son as they met Missus Thorpe, who had descried
• 1:05:44
  them from above in the passage. Ah, mother, how do you do?
• 1:05:47
  Said he, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. Where did
• 1:05:50
  you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old
• 1:05:54
  witch? Here is Morland, and I come to stay a few days with
• 1:05:57
  you, so you must look out for a couple of good beds somewhere near.
• 1:06:00
  And this address seemed to satisfy all the fondest wishes of the mother's heart,
• 1:06:04
  for she received him with the most delighted and exulting affection. On his
• 1:06:10
  two younger sisters. He then bestowed an equal portion of his fraternal tenderness,
• 1:06:14
  for he asked each of them how they did, and observed that they both
• 1:06:16
  looked very ugly. These manners did not please Catherine, but he was James's
• 1:06:21
  friend and Isabella's brother, and her judgment was further brought off by Isabella's assuring
• 1:06:26
  her when they withdrew to see the new hat that John thought her the most
• 1:06:29
  charming girl in the world, and by John's engaging her before they parted to
• 1:06:32
  dance with him that evening. Had she been older or vainer, such attacks
• 1:06:36
  might have done little. But where youth and diffidence are united, it requires
• 1:06:42
  uncommon steadiness of reason to resist the attraction of being called the most charming girl
• 1:06:45
  in the world, and of being so very early engaged as a partner.
• 1:06:49
  And the consequence was that when the two Morlands, after sitting an hour with
• 1:06:54
  the Thorpes, set off to walk together to mister Allen's and James, as
• 1:06:58
  the door was closed on them, said well, Catherine, how do you
• 1:07:01
  like my friend Thorpe. Instead of answering, as she probably would have done
• 1:07:05
  had there been no friendship and no flattery in the case, I do not
• 1:07:10
  like him at all, she directly replied, I like him very much.
• 1:07:14
  He seems very agreeable. He is as good natured a fellow as ever lived.
• 1:07:18
  A little of a rattle, but that will recommend him to your sex.
• 1:07:21
  I believe and how do you like the rest of the family very very
• 1:07:26
  much? Indeed, Isabella particularly, I am very glad to hear you say
• 1:07:30
  so. She is just the kind of young woman I could wish to see
• 1:07:33
  you attached to. She has so much good sense and is so thoroughly unaffected
• 1:07:38
  and amiable. I always wanted you to know her, and she seems very
• 1:07:42
  fond of you, she said. The highest things in your praise that could
• 1:07:45
  possibly be, and the praise of such a girl as Miss Thorpe, even
• 1:07:47
  you, Catherine, taking her hand with affection, may be proud of.
• 1:07:53
  Indeed I am, she replied. I love her exceedingly and am delighted to
• 1:07:58
  find that you like her too. You hardly mention anything of her when you
• 1:08:01
  wrote to me after your visit there, because I thought I should soon see
• 1:08:05
  you myself. I hope you'll be a great deal together while you are in
• 1:08:09
  Bath. She is a most amiable girl, such a superior understanding. How
• 1:08:14
  fond all the family are of her, she is evidently the general favorite,
• 1:08:17
  and how much she must be admired in such a place as this is not
• 1:08:21
  She yes, very much, indeed, I fancy mister Allen thinks her the
• 1:08:27
  prettiest girl in birth. I daresay he does. And I do not know
• 1:08:30
  any man who is a better judge of beauty than mister Allen. I need
• 1:08:33
  not ask you whether you are happy here, my dear Catherine, With such
• 1:08:36
  a companion and friend as Isabella Thorpe, it would be impossible for you to
• 1:08:41
  be otherwise. And the Allans, I am sure, are very kind to
• 1:08:44
  you. Yes, very kind. I never was so happy before, and
• 1:08:47
  now you are come, it will be more delightful than ever. How good
• 1:08:51
  it is of you to come so far on purpose to see me. James
• 1:08:56
  accepted this tribute of gratitude and qualified his conscience for a accepting it too,
• 1:09:00
  by saying, with perfect sincerity, indeed, Catherine, I love you.
• 1:09:04
  Dearly inquiries and communications concerning brothers and sisters, the situation of some, the
• 1:09:11
  growth of the rest, and other family matters now passed between them, and
• 1:09:15
  continued with only one small digression on James's part in praise of Miss Thorpe,
• 1:09:19
  till they reached Pulteney Street, where he was welcomed with great kindness by mister
• 1:09:24
  and missus Allen, Invited by the former to dine with them and summoned by
• 1:09:28
  the latter to guess the price and weigh the merits of a new muff and
• 1:09:30
  tippet. A pre engagement in Edgar's buildings prevented his accepting the invitation of one
• 1:09:35
  friend, and obliged him to hurry away as soon as he had satisfied the
• 1:09:39
  demands of the other, the time of the two parties uniting in the Octagon
• 1:09:43
  Room being correctly adjusted. Catherine was then left to the luxury of a raised,
• 1:09:46
  restless and frightened imagination over the pages of Udolpho, lost from all worldly
• 1:09:51
  concerns of dressing and dinner, incapable of soothing missus Allen's fears on the delay
• 1:09:57
  of an expected dressmaker, and having only one minute sixty to bestow even on
• 1:10:00
  the reflection of her own felicity in being already engaged for the evening end of
• 1:10:08
  chapter seven Chapter eight. In spite of Udolpho and the dressmaker, however,
• 1:10:15
  the party from Pulteney Street reached the upper rooms in very good time. The
• 1:10:19
  Thorpes and James Morland were there only two minutes before them, and Isabella,
• 1:10:24
  having gone through the usual ceremonial of meeting her friend with the most smiling and
• 1:10:28
  affectionate haste of admiring the set of her gown and envying the curl of her
• 1:10:32
  hair. They followed their chaperone's arm in arm into the ballroom, whispering to
• 1:10:38
  each other whenever a thought occurred, and supplying the place of many ideas by
• 1:10:42
  a squeeze of the hand or a smile of affection. The dancing began within
• 1:10:46
  a few minutes after they were seated, and James, who had been engaged
• 1:10:49
  quite as long as his sister, was very importunate with Isabella to stand up.
• 1:10:55
  But John was gone into the card room to speak to a friend,
• 1:10:58
  and nothing, she declared, should induce her to join the set before her
• 1:11:01
  dear Catherine could join it too. I assure you, said she, I
• 1:11:06
  would not stand up without your dear sister for all the world, for if
• 1:11:11
  I did, we should certainly be separated the whole evening. Catherine accepted this
• 1:11:15
  kindness with gratitude, and they continued as they were for three minutes longer,
• 1:11:20
  when Isabella, who had been talking to James on the other side of her,
• 1:11:24
  turned again to his sister and whispered, my dear creature, I am
• 1:11:28
  afraid I must leave you. Your brother is so amazingly impatient to begin.
• 1:11:32
  I know you will not mind my going away, and I daresay John will
• 1:11:35
  be back in a moment, and then you may easily find me out.
• 1:11:40
  Catherine, though a little disappointed, had too much good nature to make any
• 1:11:44
  opposition, and the others rising up, Isabella had only time to press her
• 1:11:47
  friend's hand and say good bye, my dear love, before they hurried off.
• 1:11:54
  The younger Miss Thorpe's being also dancing, Catherine was left to the mercy
• 1:11:58
  of Missus Thorpe and Missus Allen, between whom she now remained. She could
• 1:12:01
  not help being vexed at the non appearance of mister Thorpe, for she not
• 1:12:05
  only longed to be dancing, but was likewise aware that, as the real
• 1:12:11
  dignity of her situation could not be known, she was sharing, with the
• 1:12:14
  scores of other young ladies still sitting down all the discredit of wanting a partner
• 1:12:19
  to be disgraced in the eye of the world, to wear the appearance of
• 1:12:23
  infamy, while her heart is all purity, her actions all innocence, and
• 1:12:27
  the misconduct of another the true source of her debasement is one of those circumstances
• 1:12:31
  which peculiarly belonged to the heroine's life, and her fortitude under it what particularly
• 1:12:36
  dignifies her character. Catherine had fortitude two. She suffered, but no murmur
• 1:12:43
  passed her lips. From this state of humiliation, she was roused at the
• 1:12:46
  end of ten minutes to a pleasanter feeling by seeing not mister Thorpe but mister
• 1:12:53
  Tilney within three yards of the place where they sat. He seemed to be
• 1:12:57
  moving that way, but he did not see her, and therefore the smile
• 1:13:00
  and the blush which his sudden reappearance raised in Catherine passed away without sullying her
• 1:13:05
  heroic importance. He looked as handsome and as lively as ever, and was
• 1:13:11
  talking with interest to a fashionable and pleasing looking young woman who leant on his
• 1:13:15
  arm, and whom Catherine immediately guessed to be his sister, thus unthinkingly throwing
• 1:13:19
  away a fair opportunity of considering him lost to her forever by being married already.
• 1:13:25
  But guided only by what was simple and probable, it had never entered
• 1:13:29
  her head that mister Tilney could be married. He had not behaved, he
• 1:13:32
  had not talked like the married men to whom she had been used, he
• 1:13:35
  had never mentioned a wife, and he had acknowledged a sister. From these
• 1:13:40
  circumstances sprang the instant conclusion of his sister's now being by his side, And
• 1:13:45
  therefore, instead of turning of a deathlike paleness and falling in a fit on
• 1:13:48
  Missus Allen's bosom, Catherine sat erect, in the perfect use of her senses,
• 1:13:54
  and with cheeks only a little redder than usual. Mister Tilney and his
• 1:13:58
  companion, who continued, though slowly, to approach, were immediately preceded by
• 1:14:02
  a lady, an acquaintance of missus Thorpe, and this lady, stopping to
• 1:14:06
  speak to her, They as belonging to her, stopped likewise, and Catherine,
• 1:14:12
  catching mister Tilney's eye, instantly received from him the smiling tribute of recognition.
• 1:14:16
  She returned it with pleasure, and then, advancing still nearer, he
• 1:14:19
  spoke both to her and Missus Allen, by whom he was very civilly acknowledged,
• 1:14:25
  I am very happy to see you again, sir. Indeed, I
• 1:14:29
  was afraid you had left bath. He thanked her for her fears, and
• 1:14:32
  said that he had quitted it for a week on the very morning after his
• 1:14:35
  having had the pleasure of seeing her. Well, Sir, and I dare
• 1:14:40
  say you are not sorry to be back again, for it is just the
• 1:14:43
  place for young people, and indeed for everybody else too. I tell mister
• 1:14:47
  Allen, when he talks of being sick of it, that I am sure
• 1:14:49
  he should not complain, for it is so very agreeable a place that it
• 1:14:55
  is much better to be here than at home at this dull time of year.
• 1:14:58
  I tell him he is quite luck to be sent here for his health.
• 1:15:01
  And I hope, madam, that mister Allen would be obliged to like
• 1:15:04
  the place from finding it of service to him. Thank you, sir,
• 1:15:09
  I have no doubt that he will. A neighbor of ours, doctor Skinner,
• 1:15:14
  was here for his health last winter and came away quite stout. That
• 1:15:18
  circumstance must give great encouragement. Yes, Sir, and doctor Skinner and his
• 1:15:24
  family were here three months, so I tell mister Allen he must not be
• 1:15:27
  in a hurry to get away here. They were interrupted by a request from
• 1:15:31
  Missus Thorpe to Missus Allen that she would move a little to accommodate Missus Hughes
• 1:15:35
  and miss Tilney with seats, as they had agreed to join their party.
• 1:15:40
  This was accordingly done, mister Tilney, still continuing standing before them, and
• 1:15:45
  after a few minutes consideration, he asked Catherine to dance with him. This
• 1:15:48
  compliment, delightful as it was, produced severe mortification to the lady, and
• 1:15:54
  in giving her denial, she expressed her sorrow on the occasion so very much
• 1:15:58
  as if she really felt it that had Thorpe, who joined her just afterwards,
• 1:16:01
  been half a minute earlier, he might have thought her sufferings rather too
• 1:16:05
  acute. The very easy manner in which he then told her that he had
• 1:16:09
  kept her waiting did not, by any means reconcile her more to her lot.
• 1:16:14
  Nor did the particulars which he entered into while they were standing up,
• 1:16:16
  of the horses and dogs of the friend whom he had just left, and
• 1:16:20
  of a proposed exchange of terriers between them, interest her so much as to
• 1:16:25
  prevent her looking very often towards that part of the room where she had left
• 1:16:28
  mister Tilney, of her dear Isabella, to whom she particularly longed to point
• 1:16:32
  out, that gentleman, she could see nothing. They were indifferent sets.
• 1:16:36
  She was separated from all her party, and away from all her acquaintance,
• 1:16:41
  one mortification succeeded another, and from the whole she deduced this useful lesson,
• 1:16:46
  that to go previously engaged to a ball does not necessarily increase either the dignity
• 1:16:50
  or enjoyment of a young lady. From such a moralizing strain as this,
• 1:16:56
  she was suddenly roused by a touch on the shoulder, and, turning round,
• 1:17:00
  perceived Missus Hughes directly behind her, attended by Miss Tilney and a gentleman.
• 1:17:04
  I beg your pardon, Miss Morland, said she for this liberty,
• 1:17:09
  but I cannot anyhow get to Miss Thorpe. And missus Thorpe said, she
• 1:17:12
  was sure you would not have the least objection to letting in this young lady.
• 1:17:15
  By you. Missus Hughes could not have applied to any creature in the
• 1:17:18
  room more happy to oblige her than Catherine. The young ladies were introduced to
• 1:17:23
  each other, Miss Tilney expressing a proper sense of such goodness, Miss Morland,
• 1:17:27
  with the real delicacy of a generous mind, making light of the obligation.
• 1:17:30
  Had Missus Hughes satisfied with having so respectably settled, her young charge returned
• 1:17:35
  to her party. Miss Tilney had a good figure, a pretty face,
• 1:17:40
  and a very agreeable countenance, and her air, though it had not at
• 1:17:44
  all the decided pretension the resolute stylishness of Miss Thorpe's, had more real elegance.
• 1:17:49
  Her manners showed good sense and good breeding. They were neither shy nor
• 1:17:54
  affectedly open, and she seemed capable of being young, attractive, and at
• 1:17:58
  a ball without wanting to fix the tension of every man near her, and
• 1:18:00
  without exaggerated feelings of ecstatic delight or inconceivable vexation on every little trifling occurrence.
• 1:18:08
  Catherine, interested at once by her appearance and her relationship to mister Tilney,
• 1:18:13
  was desirous of being acquainted with her, and readily talked therefore whenever she could
• 1:18:16
  think of anything to say, and had courage and leisure for saying it.
• 1:18:20
  But the hindrance thrown in the way of a very speedy intimacy by the frequent
• 1:18:25
  want of one or more of these requisites, prevented their doing more than going
• 1:18:29
  through the first rudiments of an acquaintance by informing themselves how well the other liked
• 1:18:32
  bath, how much she admired its buildings and surrounding country, whether she drew
• 1:18:38
  or played or sang, and whether she was fond of riding on horseback.
• 1:18:42
  The two dances were scarcely concluded before Catherine found her arm gently seized by her
• 1:18:46
  faithful Isabella, who in great spirits exclaimed, at last, I have got
• 1:18:51
  you, my dearest creature. I have been looking for you this hour.
• 1:18:57
  What could induce you to come into this set when you knew I was in
• 1:19:00
  the other. I have been quite wretched without you, my dear Isabella.
• 1:19:04
  How is it possible for me to get at you? I could not even
• 1:19:08
  see where you were, so I told your brother all the time, but
• 1:19:13
  he would not believe me. Do go and see for her, mister Morland,
• 1:19:16
  said I, But all in vain. He would not stir an inch?
• 1:19:20
  Was it not so, mister Morland? But you men are all so
• 1:19:24
  immoderately lazy. I have been scolding him to such a degree, My dear
• 1:19:29
  Catherine, you would be quite amazed. You know, I never stand upon
• 1:19:32
  ceremony with such people. Look at that young lady with the white beads round
• 1:19:38
  her head, whispered Catherine, detaching her friend from James. It is mister
• 1:19:42
  Tilney's sister. Oh heavens you don't say so. Let me look at her
• 1:19:48
  this moment. What a delightful girl. I never saw anything half so beautiful.
• 1:19:55
  But where is her? All conquering brother? Is he in the room?
• 1:19:59
  Point him out to me this instant. If he is, I die
• 1:20:01
  to see him. Mister Morland, you are not to listen. We are
• 1:20:05
  not talking about you. But what is all this whispering about? What is
• 1:20:11
  going on there? Now? I knew how it would be. You men
• 1:20:15
  have such restless curiosity. Talk of the curiosity of women. Indeed tis nothing
• 1:20:21
  but be satisfied, for you are not to do anything at all of the
• 1:20:25
  matter. Land, Is that likely to satisfy me? Do you think?
• 1:20:30
  Well? I declare I never knew anything like you. What can it signify
• 1:20:34
  to you what we are talking of? Perhaps we are talking about you.
• 1:20:39
  Therefore, I would advise you not to listen, or you may happen to
• 1:20:42
  hear something not very agreeable. In this commonplace chatter, which lasted some time,
• 1:20:48
  the original subject seemed entirely forgotten, and though Catherine was very well pleased
• 1:20:54
  to have it dropped for a while, she could not avoid a little suspicion
• 1:20:57
  at the total suspension of all Isabella's impatience desire to see mister Tilney. When
• 1:21:01
  the orchestra struck up a fresh dance, James would have led his fair partner
• 1:21:05
  away, but she resisted. I tell you, mister Morland, she cried,
• 1:21:11
  I would not do such a thing for all the world. How can
• 1:21:14
  you be so teasing? Only conceive, my dear Catherine, what your brother
• 1:21:17
  wants me to do. He wants me to dance with him again, though
• 1:21:21
  I tell him that it is a most improper thing and entirely against the rules.
• 1:21:26
  It would make us the talk of the place if we were not to
• 1:21:29
  change partners upon my honor, said James. In these public assemblies, it
• 1:21:34
  is as often done as not nonsense. How can you say so? But
• 1:21:41
  when you men have a point to carry, you never stick at anything.
• 1:21:45
  My sweet Catherine, do support me. Persuade your brother how impossible it is.
• 1:21:49
  Tell him that it would quite shock you to see me do such a
• 1:21:53
  thing, now, would it not? No, not at all. But
• 1:21:57
  if you think it wrong, you had much better change there, cried Isabella.
• 1:22:02
  You hear what your sister says, and yet you will not mind her.
• 1:22:05
  Well remember that it is not my fault if we set all the old
• 1:22:10
  ladies in Bath in a bustle. Come along, my dearest Catherine, for
• 1:22:13
  Heaven's sake and stand by me. And off they went to regain their former
• 1:22:16
  place. John Thorpe, in the meanwhile, had walked away, and Catherine,
• 1:22:21
  ever willing to give mister Tilney an opportunity of repeating the agreeable request which
• 1:22:25
  had already flattered her, once made her way to Missus Allen and Missus Thorpe
• 1:22:29
  as fast as she could, in the hope of finding him still with them,
• 1:22:32
  a hope which, when it proved to be fruitless, she felt to
• 1:22:35
  have been highly unreasonable. Well, my dear, said Missus Thorpe, impatient
• 1:22:42
  for praise of her son. I hope you have had an agreeable partner,
• 1:22:45
  Very agreeable, madam, I am glad of it. John has charming spirits,
• 1:22:50
  has not he? Did you meet mister Tilney, my dear, said
• 1:22:55
  Missus Allen, No, where is he? He was with us just now
• 1:23:00
  and said he was so tired of lounging about that he was resolved to go
• 1:23:02
  and dance. So I thought perhaps he would ask you if he met with
• 1:23:06
  you, where can he be, said Catherine, looking round, But she
• 1:23:12
  had not looked round long before she saw him leading a young lady to the
• 1:23:15
  dance. Ah, he has got a partner. I wish he had asked
• 1:23:19
  you, said Missus Allen, and after a short silence, she added,
• 1:23:24
  he is a very agreeable young man. Indeed he is, Missus Allen,
• 1:23:30
  said missus Thorpe, smiling complacently. I must say it, though I am
• 1:23:33
  his mother, that there is not a more agreeable young man in the world.
• 1:23:38
  This inapplicable answer might have been too much for the comprehension of many,
• 1:23:42
  but it did not puzzle Missus Allen, for after only a moment's consideration,
• 1:23:45
  she said, in a whisper to Catherine, I daresay she thought I was
• 1:23:49
  speaking of her son. Catherine was disappointed and vexed. She seemed to have
• 1:23:55
  missed by so little the very object she had had in view, and this
• 1:23:59
  persuasion did not incline her to a very gracious reply when John Thorpe came up
• 1:24:02
  to her soon afterwards and said, well, Miss Morland, I suppose you
• 1:24:06
  and I are to stand up and jig it together again. Oh no,
• 1:24:12
  I am much obliged to you. Our two dances are over, and besides,
• 1:24:15
  I am tired and do not mean to dance any more. Do not
• 1:24:19
  you? Then let us walk about and quiz people. Come along with me
• 1:24:24
  and I will show you the four greatest quizzes in the room. My two
• 1:24:27
  younger sisters and their partners. I have been laughing at them this half hour.
• 1:24:31
  Again, Catherine excused herself, and at last he walked off to quiz
• 1:24:35
  his sisters by himself. The rest of the evening she found very dull.
• 1:24:40
  Mister Tilney was drawn away from their party at tea to attend that of his
• 1:24:44
  partner. Miss Tilney, though belonging to it, did not sit near her,
• 1:24:46
  and James and Isabella were so much engaged in conversation together that the latter
• 1:24:51
  had no leisure to bestow more on her friend than one smile, one squeeze,
• 1:24:57
  and one Dearest Catherine. End of chapter eight. Chapter nine. The
• 1:25:05
  progress of Catherine's unhappiness from the events of the evening was as follows. It
• 1:25:11
  appeared first in a general dissatisfaction with everybody about her while she remained in the
• 1:25:15
  rooms, which speedily brought on considerable weariness and a violent desire to go home.
• 1:25:20
  This, on arriving in Pulteney Street, took the direction of extraordinary hunger,
• 1:25:25
  and when that was appeased, changed into an earnest longing to be in
• 1:25:29
  bed. Such was the extreme point of her distress, for when there she
• 1:25:32
  immediately fell into a sound sleep which lasted nine hours, and from which she
• 1:25:38
  awoke perfectly revived in excellent spirits, with fresh hopes and fresh schemes. The
• 1:25:43
  first wish of her heart was to improve her acquaintance with Miss Tilney, and
• 1:25:46
  almost her first resolution to seek her for that purpose in the pump room at
• 1:25:50
  noon. In the pump room, one so newly arrived in bath must be
• 1:25:55
  met with, and that building she had already found so favorable for the discovery
• 1:25:59
  of female excellence and the completion of female intimacy, so admirably adapted for secret
• 1:26:03
  discourses and unlimited confidence, that she was most reasonably encouraged to expect another friend
• 1:26:09
  from within its walls. Her plan for the morning thus settled, she sat
• 1:26:14
  quietly down to her book after breakfast, resolving to remain in the same place
• 1:26:17
  and the same employment till the clock struck one, and from habitude very little
• 1:26:21
  incommoded by the remarks and ejaculations of missus Allen, whose vacancy of mind and
• 1:26:26
  incapacity for thinking were such that as she never talked a great deal, so
• 1:26:30
  she could never be entirely silent. And therefore, while she sat at her
• 1:26:33
  work, if she lost her needle or broke her thread, if she heard
• 1:26:38
  a carriage in the street, or saw a speck upon her gown, she
• 1:26:41
  must observe it aloud, whether there were any one at leisure to answer her
• 1:26:44
  or not. At about half past twelve, a remarkably loud rap drew her
• 1:26:48
  in haste to the window, and scarcely had she time to inform Catherine of
• 1:26:53
  there being two open carriages at the door, in the first, only a
• 1:26:56
  servant her brother, driving Miss Thorpe in the second, before John an Thorpe
• 1:27:00
  came running upstairs, calling out, well, Miss Morland, here I am
• 1:27:03
  have you been waiting long? We could not come before, the old devil
• 1:27:08
  of a coachmaker with such an eternity finding out a thing fit to be got
• 1:27:11
  into. And now it is ten thousand to one, but they break down
• 1:27:14
  before we are out of the street. How do you do, missus Allen?
• 1:27:17
  A famous bag last night? Was it? Not come, Miss Morland,
• 1:27:20
  be quick, for the others are in a confounded hurry to be off.
• 1:27:23
  They wanted to get their tumble over. What do you mean, said
• 1:27:28
  Catherine, Where are you all going to going to? Why you've not forgot
• 1:27:33
  our engagement to be not agree together to take a drive this morning? What
• 1:27:38
  a head you have? We are going up Claverton Down. Something was said
• 1:27:43
  about it, I remember, said Catherine, looking at missus Allen for her
• 1:27:45
  opinion. But really I did not expect you, not expect me. That's
• 1:27:51
  a good one, and what a dust you would have made if I had
• 1:27:55
  not come. Catherine's silent appeal to her friend, meanwhile, was entirely thrown
• 1:28:00
  away, for Missus Allen, not being at all in the habit of conveying
• 1:28:03
  any expression herself by a look, was not aware of its ever being intended
• 1:28:06
  by anybody else. And Catherine, whose desire of seeing Miss Tilney again could
• 1:28:12
  at that moment bear a short delay in favor of a drive, and who
• 1:28:15
  thought there could be no impropriety in her going with mister Thorpe as Isabella was
• 1:28:18
  going at the same time with James, was therefore obliged to speak plainer well
• 1:28:25
  ma'am, what do you say to it? Can you spare me for an
• 1:28:28
  hour or two? Shall I go? Do just as you please, my
• 1:28:30
  dear, replied missus Allen with the most placid indifference. Catherine took the advice
• 1:28:36
  and ran off to get ready. In a very few minutes she reappeared,
• 1:28:40
  having scarcely allowed the two others time enough to get through a very short sentences
• 1:28:44
  in her praise. After Thorpe had procured Missus Allen's admiration of his gig,
• 1:28:47
  and then receiving her friend's parting good wishes, they both hurried downstairs. My
• 1:28:54
  dearest creature, cried Isabella, to whom the duty of friendship immediately called her
• 1:28:58
  before she could get into the carriage. You have been at least three hours
• 1:29:01
  getting ready. I was afraid you were ill. What a delightful ball we
• 1:29:05
  had last night. I have a thousand things to say to you, but
• 1:29:10
  make haste and get in for I long to be off. Catherine followed her
• 1:29:14
  orders and turned away, but not too soon to hear her friend exclaim aloud
• 1:29:17
  to James, what a sweet girl she is. I quite dote on her.
• 1:29:24
  You will not be frightened, Miss Morland, said, Thorpe as he
• 1:29:27
  handed her in. If my horse should dance about a little at first setting
• 1:29:30
  off, he will most likely give a plunge or two, and perhaps take
• 1:29:33
  the rest for a minute. But he will soon know his master. He
• 1:29:36
  is full of spirits, playful as can be, but there is no vice
• 1:29:40
  in him. Catherine did not think the portrait a very inviting one, but
• 1:29:44
  it was too late to retreat, and she was too young to own herself
• 1:29:47
  frightened, so, resigning herself to her fate and trusting to the animal's boasted
• 1:29:51
  knowledge of its owner, she sat peaceably down and saw Thorpe sit down by
• 1:29:57
  her. Everything being then arranged. The servant, who stood but at the
• 1:30:00
  horse's head, was bid in an important voice to let him go, and
• 1:30:03
  off they went, in the quietest manner imaginable, without a plunge or a
• 1:30:06
  caper or anything like one. Catherine, delighted at so happy an escape,
• 1:30:12
  spoke her pleasure aloud with grateful surprise, and her companion immediately made the matter
• 1:30:16
  perfectly simple by assuring her that it was entirely owing to the peculiarly judicious manner
• 1:30:21
  in which she had then held the reins and the singular discernment and dexterity with
• 1:30:26
  which she had directed his whip. Catherine, though she could not help wondering
• 1:30:30
  that with such perfect command of his horse, he should think it necessary to
• 1:30:32
  alarm her with a relation of its tricks, congratulated herself sincerely on being under
• 1:30:38
  the care of so excellent a coachman, and perceiving that the animal continued to
• 1:30:42
  go on in the same quiet manner, without showing the smallest propensity towards any
• 1:30:45
  unpleasant vivacity, and considering its inevitable pace was ten miles an hour by no
• 1:30:50
  means alarmingly fast, gave herself up to all the enjoyment of air and exercise
• 1:30:56
  of the most invigorating kind in a fine mild day of February, with the
• 1:31:00
  consciousness of safety. A silence of several minutes succeeded their first short dialog.
• 1:31:05
  It was broken by Thorpe's saying, very abruptly, Old Allan is as rich
• 1:31:10
  as a jew, is not he? Catherine could not understand him, and
• 1:31:14
  he repeated his question, adding an explanation, Old Allan, the man you
• 1:31:18
  are with, oh mister Allen, you mean yes, I believe he is
• 1:31:24
  very rich, and no children at all, No, not any a famous
• 1:31:30
  thing for his next heirs. He is your godfather? Is not he my
• 1:31:34
  godfather? No? But you are always very much with them, Yes,
• 1:31:41
  very much. Ay, that is what I meant. He seems a good
• 1:31:44
  kind of old fellow enough, and has lived very well in his time.
• 1:31:46
  I dare say he is not gouty for nothing. Does he drink his bottle
• 1:31:50
  a day? Now? His bottle a day? No? Why should you
• 1:31:56
  think of such a thing. He is a very temperate man, and you
• 1:31:59
  could not fan see him in liquor last night, Claude, help you.
• 1:32:02
  You women are always thinking of men's being in liquor. Why you do not
• 1:32:06
  suppose a man is overset by a bottle? I am sure of this that
• 1:32:11
  if everybody were to drink their bottle a day, there would not be half
• 1:32:14
  the disorders in the world there are now. It would be a famous good
• 1:32:16
  thing for us all. I cannot believe it. Oh Lord, it would
• 1:32:21
  be the saving of thousands. There is not the hundredth part of the wine
• 1:32:25
  consumed in this kingdom that there ought to be. Our foggy climate wants help.
• 1:32:30
  And yet I have heard that there is a great deal of wine drunk
• 1:32:33
  in Oxford, Oxford. There is no drinking at Oxford. Now, I
• 1:32:38
  assure you nobody drinks there. You would hardly meet with a man who goes
• 1:32:42
  beyond his four pints at the utmost. Now, for instance, it was
• 1:32:45
  reckoned a remarkable thing in the last party in my rooms, that upon an
• 1:32:48
  average we cleared about five pints ahead. It was looked upon as something out
• 1:32:53
  of the common way. Mine is famous good stuff. To be sure,
• 1:32:57
  you would not often meet with anything like it in Oxford, and may account
• 1:33:00
  for it. But this will just give you a notion of the general rate
• 1:33:02
  of drinking there. Yes, it does give an ocean, said Catherine warmly,
• 1:33:09
  and that is that you will drink a great deal more wine than I
• 1:33:12
  thought you did. However, I am sure James does not drink so much.
• 1:33:16
  This declaration brought on a loud and overpowering reply of which no part was
• 1:33:20
  very distinct, except the frequent exclamations amounting almost to oaths, which adorned it,
• 1:33:27
  and Catherine was left when it ended with a rather strengthened belief of there
• 1:33:30
  being a great deal of wine drunk in Oxford, and the same happy conviction
• 1:33:34
  of her brother's comparative sobriety. Thorpe's ideas then all reverted to the merits of
• 1:33:40
  his own equipage, and she was called on to admire the spirit and freedom
• 1:33:44
  with which his horse moved along, and the ease which his paces, as
• 1:33:47
  well as the excellence of the springs, gave the motion of the carriage.
• 1:33:51
  She followed him in all his admiration as well as she could. To go
• 1:33:56
  before or beyond him was impossible. His knowledge and her ignorance of the subject,
• 1:34:00
  His rapidity of expression, and her diffidence of herself, put that out
• 1:34:03
  of her power. She could strike out nothing new in commendation, but she
• 1:34:08
  readily echoed whatever he chose to assert, and it was finally settled between them
• 1:34:13
  without any difficulty, that his equipieite was altogether the most complete of its kind
• 1:34:16
  in England, his carriage the neatest, his horse the best goer, and
• 1:34:20
  himself the best coachman. You do not really think, mister Thorpe, said
• 1:34:26
  Catherine, venturing after some time to consider the matter as entirely decided, and
• 1:34:30
  to offer some little variation on the subject that James's gig will break down,
• 1:34:36
  break down, O Lord, did you ever see such a little titopy thing
• 1:34:41
  in your life. There is not a sound piece of iron about it.
• 1:34:44
  The wheels have been fairly worn out these ten years at least. And as
• 1:34:47
  for the body upon my soul, you might shake it to pieces yourself with
• 1:34:51
  the touch. It is the most devilish little rickety business I ever beheld.
• 1:34:56
  Thank God we have got a better. I would not be bound to go
• 1:35:00
  two miles in it for fifty thousand pounds. Good heavens, cried Catherine,
• 1:35:04
  quite frightened. Then pray, let us turn back. They will most certainly
• 1:35:10
  meet with an accident if we go on. Do let us turn back.
• 1:35:13
  Mister Thorpe, stop and speak to my brother and tell him how very unsafe
• 1:35:15
  it is. Unsafe? Oh Lord, what is there in that? They
• 1:35:21
  will only get a roll. If it does break down, and there is
• 1:35:25
  plenty of dirt, it will be excellent falling, Oh curse. If the
• 1:35:28
  carriage is safe enough, if a man knows how to drive it, a
• 1:35:30
  thing of that sort and good hands will last above twenty years after it is
• 1:35:34
  fairly worn out. Lord bless you, I would undertake for five pounds to
• 1:35:39
  drive it to Yorke and back again without losing a nail. Catherine listened with
• 1:35:44
  astonishment. She knew not how to reconcile two such very different accounts of the
• 1:35:48
  same thing, for she had not been brought up to understand the propensities of
• 1:35:51
  a rattle, nor to know how many idle assertions and impudent falsehoods the excess
• 1:35:57
  of vanity will lead. Her own family were plain, matter of fact people
• 1:36:01
  who seldom aimed at wit of any kind, her father at the utmost being
• 1:36:05
  contented with the pun and her mother with a proverb. They were not in
• 1:36:09
  the habit, therefore, of telling lies to increase their importance, or of
• 1:36:13
  asserting at one moment what they would contradict the next. She reflected on the
• 1:36:16
  affair for some time in much perplexity, and was more than once on the
• 1:36:20
  point of requesting from mister Thorpe a clear insight into his real opinion on the
• 1:36:25
  subject. But she checked herself, because it appeared to her that he did
• 1:36:29
  not excel in giving those clearer insights, in making those things plain which he
• 1:36:32
  had before made ambiguous, And joining to this the consideration that he would not
• 1:36:36
  really suffer his sister and his friend to be exposed to danger from which he
• 1:36:41
  might easily preserve them. She concluded at last that he must know the carriage
• 1:36:45
  to be in fact perfectly safe, and therefore would alarm herself no longer.
• 1:36:49
  By him, the whole matter seemed entirely forgotten, and all the rest of
• 1:36:54
  his conversation, or rather talk, began and ended with himself and his own
• 1:36:58
  concerns. He told her of horses which he had bought for a trifle and
• 1:37:01
  sold for incredible sums, of racing matches in which his judgment had infallibly foretold
• 1:37:08
  the winner, of shooting parties in which he had killed more birds, though
• 1:37:11
  without having one good shot, than all his companions together, And described to
• 1:37:15
  her some famous day's sport with the foxhounds, in which his foresight and skill
• 1:37:20
  in directing the dogs had repaired the mistakes of the most experienced huntsmen, and
• 1:37:25
  in which the boldness of his riding, though it had never endangered his own
• 1:37:28
  life for a moment, had been constantly leading others into difficulties, which he
• 1:37:31
  calmly concluded had broken the necks of many little as Catherine was in the habit
• 1:37:36
  of judging for herself, and unfixed as were her general notions of what men
• 1:37:41
  ought to be she could not entirely repress a doubt while she bore with the
• 1:37:45
  effusions of his endless conceit, of his being altogether completely agreeable. It was
• 1:37:50
  a bold surmise, for he was Isabella's brother, and she had been assured
• 1:37:55
  by James that his manners would recommend him to all her sex. But in
• 1:37:59
  spite of this, the extreme weariness of his company, which crept over her
• 1:38:02
  before they had been out an hour, and which continued unceasingly to increase till
• 1:38:06
  they stopped in Pulteney Street again, induced her in some small degree to resist
• 1:38:12
  such high authority and to distrust his powers of giving universal pleasure. When they
• 1:38:16
  arrived at Missus Allen's door, the astonishment of Isabella was hardly to be expressed.
• 1:38:21
  On finding that it was too late in the day for them to attend
• 1:38:24
  her friend into the house. Past three o'clock, it was inconceivable, incredible,
• 1:38:30
  impossible, and she would neither believe her own watch, nor her brothers,
• 1:38:33
  nor the servants. She would believe no assurance of it founded on reason
• 1:38:38
  or reality, till Morland produced his watch and ascertained the fact. To have
• 1:38:42
  doubted a moment longer then would have been equally inconceivable, incredible, and impossible,
• 1:38:46
  and she could only protest over and over again that no two hours and
• 1:38:50
  a half had ever gone off so swiftly before, as Catherine was called on
• 1:38:55
  to confirm. Catherine could not tell a falsehood, even to please Isabella,
• 1:39:00
  But the latter was spared the misery of her friend's dissenting voice by not waiting
• 1:39:03
  for her answer. Her own feelings entirely engrossed her. Her wretchedness was most
• 1:39:08
  acute on finding herself obliged to go directly home. It was ages since she
• 1:39:13
  had had a moment's conversation with her dearest Catherine, and though she had such
• 1:39:15
  thousands of things to say to her, it appeared as if they were never
• 1:39:19
  to be together again. So with sniffles of most exquisite misery and the laughing
• 1:39:25
  eye of utter despondency, she bade her friend adieu and went on. Catherine
• 1:39:30
  found missus Allen just returned from all the busy idleness of the morning, and
• 1:39:32
  was immediately greeted with, well, my dear, here you are a truth
• 1:39:38
  which she had no greater inclination than power to dispute. And I hope you've
• 1:39:42
  had a pleasant airing. Yes, ma'am, I thank you. We could
• 1:39:45
  not have had a nicer day, So Missus Thorpe said, she was vastly
• 1:39:50
  pleased at your all going. You have seen Missus Thorpe, then, yes,
• 1:39:56
  I went to the pump room as soon as you were gone, and
• 1:39:58
  there I met her and we had a great deal of talk together. She
• 1:40:01
  says, there was hardly any veal to be got at market this morning,
• 1:40:03
  It is so uncommonly scarce. Did you see anybody else of our acquaintance?
• 1:40:10
  Yes? We agreed to take a turn in the crescent, and there we
• 1:40:13
  met Missus Hughes and mister and miss Tilney walking with her, did you indeed,
• 1:40:17
  and did they speak to you? Yes, we walked along the crescent
• 1:40:21
  together for half an hour. They seem very agreeable people. Miss Tilney was
• 1:40:27
  in a very pretty spotted muslin, and I fancy by what I can learn
• 1:40:30
  that she always dresses very handsomely. Missus Hughes talked to me a great deal
• 1:40:33
  about the family. And what did she tell you of them? Oh?
• 1:40:39
  A vast deal. Indeed, she hardly talked of anything else. Did she
• 1:40:43
  tell you what part of Gloucestershire they come from? Yes she did, but
• 1:40:46
  I cannot recollect now. But they are very good kind of people and very
• 1:40:50
  rich. Missus Tilney was a miss Drummond, and she and Missus Hughes were
• 1:40:56
  schoolfellows. And miss Drummond had a very large fortune, and when she married
• 1:41:00
  her father gave her twenty thousand pounds and five hundred to buy wedding clothes.
• 1:41:05
  Missus Hughes saw all the clothes after they came from the warehouse. And I
• 1:41:10
  mister and Missus Tilney in birth. Yes, I fancy they are, but
• 1:41:15
  I am not quite certain upon recollection. However, I have a notion they
• 1:41:18
  are both dead, at least the mother is. Yes, I am sure
• 1:41:21
  Missus Tilney is dead, because Missus Hughes told me there was a very beautiful
• 1:41:26
  set of pearls that mister Drummond gave his daughter on her wedding day, and
• 1:41:29
  that miss Tilney has got now, for they were put by for her when
• 1:41:31
  her mother died. And is mister Tilney my partner the only son? I
• 1:41:39
  cannot be quite positive about that, my dear, I have some idea he
• 1:41:43
  is, But however he is a very fine young man, Missus Hughes says,
• 1:41:45
  and likely to do very well. Catherine inquired no further. She had
• 1:41:51
  heard enough to feel that Missus Allen had no real intelligence to give, and
• 1:41:56
  that she was most particularly unfortunate herself in having missed such a meeting with both
• 1:42:00
  brother and sister. Could she have foreseen such a circumstance. Nothing should have
• 1:42:04
  persuaded her to go out with the others, and as it was, she
• 1:42:08
  could only lament her ill luck and think over what she had lost, till
• 1:42:11
  it was quite clear to her that the drive had, by no means been
• 1:42:14
  very pleasant, and that John Thorpe himself was quite disagreeable. End of chapter
• 1:42:21
  nine, Chapter ten, the Allens, Thorpes, and Morlands all met in
• 1:42:29
  the evening at the theater, and as Catherine and Isabella sat together, there
• 1:42:33
  was then an opportunity for the latter to utter some few of the many thousand
• 1:42:36
  things which had been collecting within her for communication in the immeasurable length of time
• 1:42:42
  which had divided them. Oh Heavens, my beloved Catherine, have I got
• 1:42:47
  you at last? Was her address on Catherine's entering the box and sitting by
• 1:42:51
  her now mister Morland, for he was close to her on the other side.
• 1:42:58
  I shall not speak another word to you will the rest of the evening,
• 1:43:00
  so I charge you not to expect it. My sweetest Catherine, how
• 1:43:05
  have you been this long age? But I need not ask you, for
• 1:43:10
  you look delightfully. You really have done your hair in a more heavenly style
• 1:43:14
  than ever, You mischievous creature. Do you want to attract everybody? I
• 1:43:18
  assure you My brother is quite in love with you already. And as for
• 1:43:21
  mister Tilney, but that is a settled thing. Even your modesty cannot doubt
• 1:43:27
  his attachment. Now his coming back to Bath makes it too plain. Oh
• 1:43:32
  what would I not give to see him? I really am quite wild with
• 1:43:36
  impatience. My mother says he is the most delightful young man in the world.
• 1:43:41
  She saw him this morning. You know you must introduce him to me.
• 1:43:44
  Is he in the house? Now? Look about? For Heaven's sake,
• 1:43:46
  I assure you I can hardly exist till I see him, No,
• 1:43:51
  said Catherine, he is not here. I cannot see him anywhere. Oh
• 1:43:58
  horrid am I never to be a quainted with him? How do you like
• 1:44:00
  my gown? I think it does not look amiss. The sleeves were entirely
• 1:44:04
  my own thought. Do you know I get so immoderately sick of bath.
• 1:44:10
  Your brother and I were agreeing this morning that though it is vastly well to
• 1:44:14
  be here for a few weeks, we should not live here for millions.
• 1:44:16
  We soon found out that our tastes were exactly alike in preferring the country to
• 1:44:21
  every other place. Really, our opinions were so exactly the same it was
• 1:44:26
  quite ridiculous. There was not a single point in which we differed. I
• 1:44:30
  would not have had you by for the world. You are such a sly
• 1:44:32
  thing. I am sure you would have made some droll remark or other about
• 1:44:35
  it. No, indeed, I should not. Oh yes you would.
• 1:44:41
  Indeed, I know you better than you know yourself. You would have told
• 1:44:45
  us that we seemed born for each other, or some nonsense of that kind,
• 1:44:48
  which would have distressed me beyond conception. My cheeks would have been as
• 1:44:51
  red as your roses. I would not have had you buy for the world.
• 1:44:57
  Indeed, you do me injustice. I would not have made so improper
• 1:45:00
  a remark upon any account. And besides, I am sure it would never
• 1:45:03
  have entered my head. Isabella smiled incredulously and talked the rest of the evening
• 1:45:10
  to James. Catherine's resolution of endeavoring to meet Miss Tilney again continued in full
• 1:45:15
  force the next morning, and till the usual moment of going to the pump
• 1:45:18
  room. She felt some alarm from the dread of a second prevention, but
• 1:45:23
  nothing of that kind occurred. No visitors appeared to delay them, and they
• 1:45:27
  all three set off in good time for the pump room, where the ordinary
• 1:45:30
  course of events and conversation took place. Mister Allen, after drinking his glass
• 1:45:34
  of water, joined some gentlemen to talk over the politics of the day and
• 1:45:38
  compared the accounts of their newspapers, and the ladies walked about together, noticing
• 1:45:43
  every new face and almost every new bonnet in the room. The female part
• 1:45:46
  of the Thorpe family, attended by James Morland, appeared among the crowd in
• 1:45:51
  less than a quarter of an hour, and Catherine immediately took her usual place
• 1:45:55
  by the side of her friend. James, who was now in constant attendance,
• 1:46:00
  maintained a similar position, and separating themselves from the rest of their party,
• 1:46:03
  They walked in that manner for some time till Catherine began to doubt the
• 1:46:08
  happiness of a situation which, confining her entirely to her friend and brother,
• 1:46:12
  gave her very little share in the notice of either. They were always engaged
• 1:46:15
  in some sentimental discussion or lively dispute, but their sentiment was conveyed in such
• 1:46:20
  whispering voices, and their vivacity attended with so much laughter, that though Catherine's
• 1:46:26
  supporting opinion was not unfrequently called for by one or the other, she was
• 1:46:30
  never able to give any from not having heard a word of the subject.
• 1:46:33
  At length. However, she was empowered to disengage herself from her friend by
• 1:46:38
  the avowed necessity of speaking to Miss Tilney, whom she most joyfully saw just
• 1:46:42
  entering the room with missus Hughes, and whom she instantly joined with a firmer
• 1:46:45
  determination to be acquainted than she might have had courage to command had she not
• 1:46:49
  been urged by the disappointment of the day before. Miss Tilney met her with
• 1:46:54
  great civility, returned her advances with equal good will, and they continued talking
• 1:46:59
  together as law as both parties remained in the room, and though in all
• 1:47:01
  probability not an observation was made, nor an expression used by either which had
• 1:47:06
  not been made and used some thousands of times before under that roof, in
• 1:47:11
  every bath season. Yet the merit of their being spoken with simplicity and truth
• 1:47:15
  and without personal conceit might be something uncommon. How well your brother dances was
• 1:47:23
  an artless exclamation of Catherine's towards the close of their conversation, which at once
• 1:47:27
  surprised and amused her companion, Henry. She replied with a smile, Yes,
• 1:47:33
  he does dance very well. He must have thought it very odd to
• 1:47:38
  hear me say I was engaged the other evening when he saw me sitting down,
• 1:47:42
  But I really had been engaged the whole day to mister Thorpe, Miss
• 1:47:45
  Tilney could only bow. You cannot think, added Catherine, after a moment's
• 1:47:49
  silence. How surprised I was to see him again. I felt so sure
• 1:47:55
  of his being quite gone away when Henry had the pleasure of seeing you before
• 1:48:00
  he was in bath, but for a couple of days he came only to
• 1:48:02
  engage lodgings for us. That never occurred to me, And of course,
• 1:48:08
  not seeing him anywhere, I thought he must be gone. Was not the
• 1:48:11
  young lady he danced with on Monday, a miss Smith, Yes, an
• 1:48:15
  acquaintance of missus Hughes, I daresay she was very glad to dance. Do
• 1:48:20
  you think her pretty? Not? Very? He never comes to the pump
• 1:48:26
  room, I suppose yes sometimes, but he has rid out this morning with
• 1:48:30
  my father. Missus Hughes now joined them and asked Miss Tilney if she was
• 1:48:34
  ready to go. I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again
• 1:48:39
  soon, said Catherine. Shall you be at the Cotillion ball to morrow?
• 1:48:44
  Perhaps? We yes, I think we certainly shall. I am glad of
• 1:48:48
  it, for we shall all be there. This civility was duly returned,
• 1:48:53
  and they parted, on Miss Tilney's side with some knowledge of her new acquaintance's
• 1:48:57
  feelings, and on Catherine's without the small consciousness of having explained them. She
• 1:49:02
  went home very happy. The morning had answered all her hopes, and the
• 1:49:06
  evening of the following day was now the object of expectation. The future good.
• 1:49:11
  What gown and what head dress she should wear on the occasion became her
• 1:49:15
  chief concern. She cannot be justified in it. Dress is at all times
• 1:49:19
  a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.
• 1:49:25
  Catherine knew all this very well. Her great aunt had read her lecture on
• 1:49:29
  the subject only the Christmas before, and yet she lay awake ten minutes on
• 1:49:32
  Wednesday night, debating between her spotted and her tambered muslin, and nothing but
• 1:49:36
  the shortness of the time prevented her buying a new one for the evening.
• 1:49:41
  This would have been an error in judgment great, though not uncommon, from
• 1:49:45
  which one of the other sex, rather than her own, a brother rather
• 1:49:47
  than a great aunt, might have warned her. For man only can be
• 1:49:51
  aware of the insensibility of man towards a new gown. It would be mortifying
• 1:49:56
  to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little
• 1:50:00
  the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire,
• 1:50:03
  how little it is biased by the texture of their muslin, and how
• 1:50:06
  unsusceptible of peculiar tenderness towards the spotted, the sprigged, the maul, or
• 1:50:12
  the jackanette. Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will
• 1:50:16
  admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it.
• 1:50:20
  Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or
• 1:50:25
  impropriety will be most endearing to the latter, that not one of these grave
• 1:50:30
  reflections troubled the tranquility of Catherine. She entered the rooms on Thursday evening with
• 1:50:34
  feelings very different from what had attended her thither the monday before. She had
• 1:50:39
  then been exulting in her engagement to Thorpe, and was now chiefly anxious to
• 1:50:44
  avoid his sight lest he should engage her again. For though she could not
• 1:50:47
  dared not expect that mister Tilney should ask her a third time to dance,
• 1:50:51
  her wishes, hopes, and plans all centered in nothing less every young lady
• 1:50:57
  may feel for my heroine in this critical moment. For every young lady has,
• 1:51:00
  at some time or other known the same agitation. All have been,
• 1:51:04
  or at least all have believed themselves to be in danger from the pursuit of
• 1:51:08
  some one whom they wished to avoid, and all have been anxious for the
• 1:51:11
  attentions of some one whom they wished to please. As soon as they were
• 1:51:15
  joined by the Thorpes, Catherine's agony began. She fidgeted about if John Thorpe
• 1:51:19
  came towards her, hid herself as much as possible from his view, and
• 1:51:24
  when he spoke to her, pretended not to hear him. The contillions were
• 1:51:27
  over the country, dancing beginning, and she saw nothing of the Tilneys.
• 1:51:32
  Do not be frightened, my dear Catherine, whispered Isabella. But I am
• 1:51:36
  really going to dance with your brother again, I declare positively. It is
• 1:51:41
  quite shocking. I tell him he ought to be ashamed of himself. But
• 1:51:45
  you and John must keep us in countenance. Make haste, my dear creature,
• 1:51:48
  and come to us. John is just walked off, but he will
• 1:51:51
  be back in a moment. Catherine had neither time nor inclination to answer.
• 1:51:57
  The others walked away. John Thorpe was still in view, and she gave
• 1:52:00
  herself up for lost, that she might not appear, however, to observe
• 1:52:04
  or expect him. She kept her eyes intently fixed on her fan, and
• 1:52:09
  a self condemnation for her folly in supposing that among such a crowd they should
• 1:52:13
  even meet with the Tilneys in any reasonable time had just passed through her mind
• 1:52:16
  when she suddenly found herself addressed and again solicited to dance by mister Tilney himself,
• 1:52:23
  with what sparkling eyes and ready motion, she granted his request, and
• 1:52:27
  with how pleasing a flutter of heart, she went with him to the set
• 1:52:30
  may be easily imagined to escape, and, as she believed so, narrowly
• 1:52:35
  escaped John Thorpe, and to be asked so immediately on his joining her asked
• 1:52:40
  by mister Tilney, as if he had sought her on purpose. It did
• 1:52:43
  not appear to her that life could supply any greater felicity, scarcely had they
• 1:52:48
  worked themselves into the quiet possession of a place. However, when her attention
• 1:52:51
  was claimed by John Thorpe, who stood behind her hey day, miss Morland
• 1:52:57
  said he what is the meaning of this? I I thought you and I
• 1:53:00
  were to dance together. I wonder you should think so, for you never
• 1:53:04
  asked me. That is a good one, by jove. I asked you
• 1:53:09
  as soon as I came into the room, and I was just going to
• 1:53:11
  ask you again, But when I turned round you were gone. This is
• 1:53:14
  a cursed, shabby trick. I only came for the sake of dancing with
• 1:53:17
  you, and I firmly believe you were engaged to me ever since Monday.
• 1:53:21
  Yes, I remember, I asked you while you were waiting in the lobby
• 1:53:25
  for your cloak and here have I been telling all my acquaintance that I was
• 1:53:28
  going to dance with the prettiest girl in the room. And when they see
• 1:53:30
  you standing up with somebody else, they will quiz me famously. Oh no,
• 1:53:36
  they will never think of me after such a description as that, By
• 1:53:41
  heavens, If they do not, I will kick them out of the room
• 1:53:43
  for blockheads. What chap have you there, Catherine satisfied his curiosity. Tilney,
• 1:53:49
  he repeated, humph, I do not know him, A good figure
• 1:53:53
  of a man, well put together. Does he want a horse? Here
• 1:53:57
  is a friend of mine, Sam Fletcher has got one to sell that would
• 1:54:00
  suit anybody, A famous, clever animal for the road, only forty guineas.
• 1:54:04
  I had fifty minds to buy it myself, for it is one of
• 1:54:06
  my maxims always to buy a good horse when I meet with one. But
• 1:54:11
  it would not answer my purpose. It would not do for the field.
• 1:54:14
  I would give any money for a real good hunter. I have three now,
• 1:54:17
  the best that ever were backed. I would not take eight hundred guineas
• 1:54:21
  for them. Fletcher and I mean to get a house a Leicester share against
• 1:54:25
  the next season. It is so damned uncomfortable living at an inn. This
• 1:54:30
  was the last sentence by which he could weary Catherine's attention, for he was
• 1:54:33
  just then borne off by the resistless pressure of a long string of passing ladies.
• 1:54:39
  Her partner now drew near and said that gentleman would have put me out
• 1:54:43
  of patience had he stayed with you half a minute longer. He has no
• 1:54:45
  business to withdraw the attention of my partner from me. We have entered into
• 1:54:49
  a contract of mutual agreeableness for the space of an evening, and all our
• 1:54:54
  agreeableness belongs solely to each other for that time. Nobody can fasten themselves on
• 1:54:58
  the notice of one without injuring the rights of the other. I consider a
• 1:55:01
  country dance as an emblem of marriage. Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties
• 1:55:06
  of both. And those men who do not choose to dance or marry themselves
• 1:55:11
  have no business with the partners or wives of their neighbors. But they are
• 1:55:15
  such very different things that you think they cannot be compared together. To be
• 1:55:21
  sure not. People that marry can never part, but must go and keep
• 1:55:26
  house together. People that dance only stand opposite each other in a long room
• 1:55:30
  for half an hour, and such is your definition of matrimony and dancing.
• 1:55:34
  Taken in that light, certainly their resemblance is not striking. But I think
• 1:55:40
  I could place them in such a view. You will allow that in both
• 1:55:43
  man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal. That
• 1:55:47
  in both it is an engagement between man and woman formed for the advantage of
• 1:55:51
  each And that when once entered into they belong exclusively to each other till the
• 1:55:56
  moment of its dissolution. That it is their duty to endeavor to give the
• 1:56:00
  other no cause for wishing that he or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere, and
• 1:56:04
  their best interest, to keep their own imaginations from wandering towards the perfections of
• 1:56:09
  their neighbors, or fancying that they should have been better off with any one
• 1:56:12
  else. You will allow all this, Yes, to be sure, as
• 1:56:16
  you state it, all this sounds very well. But still they are so
• 1:56:20
  very different. I cannot look upon them at all in the same light,
• 1:56:25
  nor think the same duties belong to them. In one respect, there certainly
• 1:56:29
  is a difference. In marriage. The man is supposed to provide for the
• 1:56:32
  support of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable to the man.
• 1:56:35
  He is to purvey and she is to smile, But in dancing their
• 1:56:41
  duties are exactly changed. The agreeableness the compliance are expected from him while she
• 1:56:45
  furnishes the fan and the lavender water. That I suppose was the difference of
• 1:56:50
  duties which struck you as rendering the conditions incapable of comparison. No, indeed,
• 1:56:57
  I never thought of that. Then I am quite at a loss.
• 1:57:00
  One thing, however, I must observe this disposition on your side is rather
• 1:57:05
  alarming. You totally disallow any similarity in your obligations. And may I not
• 1:57:11
  thence infer that your notions of the duties of the dancing state are not so
• 1:57:15
  strict as your partner might wish. Have I not reason to fear that if
• 1:57:18
  the gentleman who spoke to you just now were to return, or if any
• 1:57:21
  other gentleman were to address you, there would be nothing to restrain you from
• 1:57:26
  conversing with him, as long as you chose. Mister Thorpe is such a
• 1:57:30
  very particular friend of my brother's that if he talks to me, I must
• 1:57:33
  talk to him again. But there are hardly three young men in the room
• 1:57:36
  besides him that I have any acquaintance with and is that to be my only
• 1:57:42
  security? Alas alas nay, I am sure you cannot have a better for
• 1:57:47
  if I do not know anybody, it is impossible for me to talk to
• 1:57:50
  them, and besides, I do not want to talk to anybody. Now
• 1:57:56
  you have given me security worth having, and I shall proceed with courage.
• 1:58:00
  Do you find Bath as agreeable as when I had the honor of making the
• 1:58:03
  inquiry before? Yes, quite more so. Indeed more so. Take care
• 1:58:13
  or you will forget to be tired of it at the proper time you ought
• 1:58:15
  to be tired at the end of six weeks. I do not think I
• 1:58:19
  should be tired if I were to stay here six months. Bath, compared
• 1:58:24
  with London, has little variety, and so everybody finds out every year for
• 1:58:29
  six weeks. I allow, Bath is pleasant enough, but beyond that it
• 1:58:31
  is the most tiresome place in the world. You would be told so by
• 1:58:36
  people of all descriptions who come regularly every winter, lengthen their six weeks into
• 1:58:42
  ten or twelve, and go away at last because they can afford to stay
• 1:58:45
  no longer. Well, other people must judge for themselves, and those who
• 1:58:49
  go to London may think nothing of Bath. But I, who live in
• 1:58:54
  a small retired village in the country, can never find greater sameness in such
• 1:58:58
  a place as this than in my own home. For here there are a
• 1:59:00
  variety of amusements, a variety of things to be seen and done all day
• 1:59:04
  long, which I can know nothing of there. You are not fond of
• 1:59:09
  the country, Oh yes I am. I have always lived there and have
• 1:59:14
  always been very happy. But certainly there is much more sameness in a country
• 1:59:17
  life than in a bath life. One day in the country is exactly like
• 1:59:21
  another. But then you spend your time so much more rationally in the country,
• 1:59:28
  do I do you not? I do not believe there is much difference
• 1:59:32
  here. You are in pursuit only of amusement all day long, and so
• 1:59:38
  I am at home only I do not find so much of it. I
• 1:59:42
  walk about here, and so I do there. But here I see a
• 1:59:45
  variety of people in every street, and there I can only go and call
• 1:59:47
  on missus Allen. Mister Tilney was very much amused, only go and call
• 1:59:54
  on missus Allen. He repeated, what a picture of intellectual poverty. However,
• 2:00:00
  when you sink into this abyss again, you will have more to say.
• 2:00:03
  You will be able to talk of Bath and of all that you did
• 2:00:06
  here. Oh, yes, I shall never be in want of something to
• 2:00:11
  talk of again to Missus, Allen or anybody else. I really believe I
• 2:00:14
  shall always be talking of Bath when I am at home again. I do
• 2:00:17
  like it so very much. If I could but have Papa and Mama and
• 2:00:21
  the rest of them here, I suppose I should be too happy. James
• 2:00:26
  is coming, my eldest brother, is quite delightful, and especially as it
• 2:00:30
  turns out that the very family we are just got so intimate with a as
• 2:00:33
  intimate friends already. Oh, who can ever be tired of Bath? Not
• 2:00:40
  those who bring such fresh feelings of every sort to it as you do.
• 2:00:43
  But Papa's and Mamma's, and brothers and intimate friends are a good deal gone
• 2:00:46
  by to most of the fraquentos of Bath, and the honest relish of balls
• 2:00:50
  and plays and every day sights is past with them here, their conversation closed,
• 2:00:57
  the demands of the dance becoming now too important for divided attention. Soon
• 2:01:01
  after their reaching the bottom of the set, Catherine perceived herself to be earnestly
• 2:01:05
  regarded by a gentleman who stood among the lookers on immediately behind her partner.
• 2:01:11
  He was a very handsome man, of a commanding aspect, past the bloom,
• 2:01:15
  but not past the vigor of life, and with his eyes still directed
• 2:01:18
  towards her, she saw him presently address mister Tilney in a familiar whisper.
• 2:01:23
  Confused by his notice and blushing from the fear of its being excited by something
• 2:01:27
  wrong in her appearance, she turned away her head. But while she did
• 2:01:30
  so, the gentleman retreated, and her partner, coming nearer, said,
• 2:01:34
  I see that you guess what I have just been asked. That gentleman knows
• 2:01:39
  your name, and you have a right to know his. It is General
• 2:01:42
  Tilney, my father. Catherine's answer was only oh, but it was an
• 2:01:48
  o expressing everything, needful attention to his words and perfect reliance on their truth,
• 2:01:55
  with real interest and strong admiration. Did her eye now follow the General
• 2:01:59
  as he moved through the crowd. And how handsome a family they are,
• 2:02:02
  was her secret remark. In chatting with Miss Tilney before the evening concluded,
• 2:02:08
  a new source of felicity arose to her. She had never taken a country
• 2:02:11
  walk since her arrival in Bath, Miss Tilney, to whom all the commonly
• 2:02:15
  frequented environs were familiar, spoke of them in terms which made her all eagerness
• 2:02:19
  to know them too, And on her openly fearing that she might find nobody
• 2:02:23
  to go with her, it was proposed by the brother and sister that they
• 2:02:26
  should join in a walk some morning or other. I shall like it,
• 2:02:30
  she cried, beyond anything in the world, and do not let us put
• 2:02:33
  it off, let us go to morrow. This was readily agreed to,
• 2:02:38
  with only a proviso of Miss Tilney's that it did not rain, which Catherine
• 2:02:42
  was sure it would not. At twelve o'clock they were to call for her
• 2:02:45
  in Pulteney Street. And remember twelve o'clock was her parting speech to her new
• 2:02:50
  friend, of her other, her older, her more established friend, Isabella,
• 2:02:56
  of whose fidelity and worth she had enjoyed a fortnight's experience. She scarcely
• 2:03:00
  saw anything during the evening, yet, though longing to make her acquainted with
• 2:03:03
  her happiness, she cheerfully submitted to the wish of mister Allen, which took
• 2:03:08
  them away rather early, and her spirits danced within her as she danced in
• 2:03:12
  her chair all the way home end of chapter ten, Chapter eleven. The
• 2:03:21
  morrow brought a very sober looking morning, the sun making only a few efforts
• 2:03:26
  to appear, and Catherine augured from it everything most favorable to her wishes.
• 2:03:30
  A bright morning so early in the year, she allowed, would generally turn
• 2:03:34
  to rain, but a cloudy one foretold improvement. As the day advanced,
• 2:03:39
  she applied to mister Allen for confirmation of her hopes, but mister Allan,
• 2:03:43
  not having his own skies and barometer about him, declined giving any absolute promise
• 2:03:47
  of sunshine. She applied to Missus Allen, and Missus Allen's opinion was more
• 2:03:51
  positive. She had no doubt in the world of its being a very fine
• 2:03:56
  day, if the clouds would only go off and the sun keep out.
• 2:04:00
  At about eleven o'clock, however, a few specks of small rain upon the
• 2:04:02
  windows caught Catherine's watchful eye, and oh, dear, I do believe it
• 2:04:08
  will be wet, broke from her in a most desponding tone. I thought
• 2:04:14
  how it would be, said Missus Allen. No walk for me to day,
• 2:04:17
  sighed Catherine. But perhaps it may come to nothing, or it may
• 2:04:23
  hold up before twelve. Perhaps it may, But then, my dear,
• 2:04:28
  it will be so dirty. Oh that will not signify I never mind dirt,
• 2:04:34
  no, replied her friend, very placidly. I know you never mind
• 2:04:39
  dirt. After a short pause, it comes on faster and faster, said
• 2:04:45
  Catherine, as she stood watching at a window. So it does. Indeed,
• 2:04:49
  if it keeps raining, the streets will be very wet. There are
• 2:04:54
  four umbrellas up already. How I hate the sight of an umbrella. They
• 2:04:59
  are disagreeable things to carry. I would much rather take a chair at any
• 2:05:02
  time. It was such a nice looking morning. I felt so convinced it
• 2:05:08
  would be dry. Anybody would have thought so. Indeed, there will be
• 2:05:13
  very few people in the pump room if it rains all the morning. I
• 2:05:15
  hope mister Allan will put on his greatcoat when he goes, But I dare
• 2:05:18
  say he will not, for he had rather do anything in the world than
• 2:05:21
  walk out in a greatcoat. I wonder he should dislike it. It must
• 2:05:26
  be so comfortable. The rain continued fast, though not heavy. Catherine went
• 2:05:31
  every five minutes to the clock, threatening on each return that if it still
• 2:05:35
  kept on raining another five minutes, she would give up the matter as hopeless.
• 2:05:40
  The clock struck twelve, and still it rained. You will not be
• 2:05:45
  able to go, my dear, I do not quite despair. Yet,
• 2:05:49
  I shall not give it up till a quarter after twelve. This is just
• 2:05:53
  the time of day for it to clear up. And I do think it
• 2:05:56
  looks a little lighter there. It is twenty minutes after twelve, and now
• 2:06:00
  I shall give it up entirely. Oh that we had such weather here as
• 2:06:05
  they had at Udolpho, or at least in Tuscany, in the south of
• 2:06:09
  France, the night that poor Saint Aubin died, such beautiful weather. At
• 2:06:15
  half past twelve, when Catherine's anxious attention to the weather was over and she
• 2:06:18
  could no longer claim any merit from its amendment, the sky began voluntarily to
• 2:06:24
  clear. A gleam of sunshine took her quite by surprise. She looked round,
• 2:06:29
  The clouds were parting, and she instantly returned to the window to watch
• 2:06:31
  over and encourage. The happy appearance ten minutes more made it certain that a
• 2:06:35
  bright afternoon would succeed, and justified the opinion of missus Allen, who had
• 2:06:41
  always thought it would clear up. But whether Catherine might still expect her friends.
• 2:06:45
  Whether there had not been too much rain for miss Tilney to venture must
• 2:06:49
  yet be a question. It was too dirty for Missus Allen to accompany her
• 2:06:54
  husband to the pump room. He accordingly set off by himself, and Catherine
• 2:06:58
  had barely watched him down the street when her notice was claimed by the approach
• 2:07:01
  of the same two open carriages, containing the same three people that had surprised
• 2:07:05
  her so much a few mornings back. Isabella, my brother and mister Thorpe,
• 2:07:11
  I declare they are coming for me, perhaps, but I shall not
• 2:07:15
  go. I cannot go indeed, for you know, Miss Tilney may still
• 2:07:18
  call Missus Allen agreed to it. John Thorpe was soon with them, and
• 2:07:23
  his voice was with them yet sooner, for on the stairs he was calling
• 2:07:27
  out to miss Morland to be quick, make haste, make haste, as
• 2:07:30
  he threw open the door. Put on your hat this moment there is no
• 2:07:33
  time to be lost. We are going to Bristol. How do you do,
• 2:07:36
  Missus Allen? To Bristol? Is not that a great way off?
• 2:07:41
  But however, I cannot go with you to day because I am engaged.
• 2:07:45
  I expect some friends. Every moment. This was of course vehemently talked down
• 2:07:49
  as no reason at all. Missus Allen was called on to second him,
• 2:07:53
  and the two others walked in to give their assistance. My sweetest Catherine,
• 2:07:58
  is not this delightful? We shall have a most heavenly drive. You are
• 2:08:01
  to thank your brother and me for the scheme. It darted into our heads
• 2:08:05
  at breakfast time. I verily believe at the same instant, and we should
• 2:08:09
  have been off two hours ago if it had not been for this detestable rain.
• 2:08:13
  But it does not signify. The nights are moonlight, and we shall
• 2:08:16
  do delightfully. Oh I am in such ecstasies at the thoughts of a little
• 2:08:20
  country, air and quiet, so much better than going to the lower rooms.
• 2:08:24
  We shall drive directly to Clifton and dine there, and as soon as
• 2:08:28
  dinner is over, if there is time for it, we go on to
• 2:08:31
  King Sweeston. I doubt our being able to do so much, said Morland,
• 2:08:37
  you croaking fellow, cried Thorpe. We shall be able to do ten
• 2:08:41
  times more. King's Weston Aye, and Blaize Castle too, and anything else
• 2:08:46
  we can hear of. But here is your sister says she will not go
• 2:08:50
  Blaize Castle, cried Catherine. What is that the finest place in England?
• 2:08:56
  Worth going fifty miles at any time to see? What? Is it?
• 2:09:01
  Really? A castle? An old castle, the oldest in the kingdom?
• 2:09:05
  But is it like what one reads of? Exactly the very same? But
• 2:09:11
  now really are there towers and long galleries by dozens? Then I should like
• 2:09:16
  to see it, but I cannot. I cannot go, Not go,
• 2:09:22
  my beloved creature. What do you mean I cannot go? Because, looking
• 2:09:30
  down as she spoke, fearful of Isabella's smile, I expect Miss Tilney and
• 2:09:33
  her brother to call on me to take a country walk. They promised to
• 2:09:37
  come at twelve only it rained. But now, as it is so fine,
• 2:09:41
  I dare say they will be here soon. Not they, indeed,
• 2:09:45
  cried Thorpe. For as we turned into Broad Street I saw them. Does
• 2:09:48
  he not drive a feted with bright chestnuts? I do not know? Indeed,
• 2:09:54
  yes I know he does. I saw him. You are talking of
• 2:09:56
  the man you danced with last night, are you not? Yes? Well
• 2:10:01
  I saw him at that moment, turn up the Lansdown road, driving a
• 2:10:05
  smart looking girl. Did you? Indeed? Did? Upon my soul knew
• 2:10:11
  him again directly, and he seemed to have got some very pretty cattle too.
• 2:10:16
  It is very odd, but I suppose they thought it would be too
• 2:10:18
  dirty for a walk. And well they might, for I never saw so
• 2:10:22
  much dirt in my life walk. You could no more walk than you could
• 2:10:26
  fly. It has not been so dirty the whole winter. It is ankle
• 2:10:30
  deep everywhere. Isabella corroborated it. My dearest Catherine, you cannot form an
• 2:10:37
  idea of the dirt. Come, you must go. You cannot refuse going
• 2:10:41
  now. I should like to see the castle. But may we go all
• 2:10:43
  over it? May we go up every staircase and into every suite of rooms?
• 2:10:48
  Yes, yes, every hole and corner. But then if they should
• 2:10:52
  only be gone out for an hour till it is dryer, and call by
• 2:10:56
  and by, make yourself easy. There is no danger of that. For
• 2:11:00
  I heard Tilney hallooing to a man who was just passing by on horseback,
• 2:11:03
  that they were going as far as wick Rocks. Then I will. Shall
• 2:11:07
  I go, Missus Allen, just as you please, My dear missus Allen,
• 2:11:13
  you must persuade to go, was the general cry. Missus Allen was
• 2:11:18
  not inattentive to it. Well, my dear said, she suppose you go,
• 2:11:22
  and in two minutes they were off. Catherine's feelings, as she got
• 2:11:26
  into the carriage were in a very unsettled state, divided between regret for the
• 2:11:31
  loss of one great pleasure and the hope of soon enjoying another almost its equal
• 2:11:35
  in degree. However, unlike and kind, she could not think that Tilneys
• 2:11:39
  had acted quite well by her in so readily giving up their engagement without sending
• 2:11:43
  her any message of excuse. It was now but an hour later than the
• 2:11:48
  time fixed on for the beginning of their walk, and in spite of what
• 2:11:50
  she had heard of the prodigious accumulation of dirt in the course of that hour,
• 2:11:54
  she could not, from her own observation help thinking that they might have
• 2:11:58
  fawn with very little inconvenient. To feel herself slighted by them was very painful.
• 2:12:03
  On the other hand, the delight of exploring an edifice like Udolpho,
• 2:12:07
  as her fancy represented Blaize Castle, to be with such a counterpoise of good
• 2:12:11
  as might console her for almost anything. They passed briskly down Pulteney Street and
• 2:12:16
  through Lawre Place without the exchange of many words. Thorpe talked to his horse,
• 2:12:22
  and she meditated by turns on broken promises and broken arches, phaetons and
• 2:12:26
  false hangings, Tilney's and trap doors. As they entered Argyle buildings. However,
• 2:12:33
  she was roused by this address from her companion. Who is that girl
• 2:12:35
  who looked at you so hard as she went by? Who where on the
• 2:12:41
  right hand pavement? She must be almost out of sight? Now? Catherine
• 2:12:46
  looked around and saw Miss Tilney, leaning on her brother's arm, walking slowly
• 2:12:50
  down the street. She saw them both looking back at her. Stop stop,
• 2:12:56
  mister Thorpe, she impatiently cried, it is miss Tilney, it is
• 2:12:58
  indeed, how could you tell me they were gone? Stop stop, I
• 2:13:03
  will get out this moment and go to them. But to what purpose did
• 2:13:07
  she speak? Thorpe only lashed his horse into a brisker trot. The Tilneys,
• 2:13:11
  who had soon ceased to look after her, were, in a moment
• 2:13:13
  out of sight round the corner of Laura Place, And at another moment she
• 2:13:18
  was herself whisked into the market place. Still, however, and during the
• 2:13:20
  length of another street, she entreated him to stop, pray, pray,
• 2:13:24
  stop, mister Thorpe, I cannot go on. I will not go on.
• 2:13:28
  I must go back to miss Tilney. But mister Thorpe only laughed,
• 2:13:33
  smacked his whip, encouraged his horse, made odd noises and drove on.
• 2:13:37
  And Catherine, angry and vexed as she was, having no power of getting
• 2:13:41
  away, was obliged to give up the point and submit. Her reproaches,
• 2:13:46
  however, were not spared. How could you deceive me so, mister Thorpe?
• 2:13:50
  How could you say that you saw them driving up the lansdown road.
• 2:13:54
  I would not have had it happen so for the world. They must think
• 2:13:56
  it so strange, so rude of me to go by them too without saying
• 2:14:01
  a word. You do not know how vexed I am. I shall have
• 2:14:05
  no pleasure at Clifton, nor in anything else. I had rather ten thousand
• 2:14:09
  times rather get out now and walk back to them. How could you say
• 2:14:13
  you saw them driving out in a phaeton? Thorpe defended himself very stoutly,
• 2:14:18
  declared he had never seen two men so much alike in his life, and
• 2:14:20
  would hardly give up the point of its, having been Tilney himself. Their
• 2:14:26
  drive. Even when this subject was over was not likely to be very agreeable.
• 2:14:30
  Catherine's complaisance was no longer what it had been in their former airing.
• 2:14:33
  She listened reluctantly and her replies were short. Blaize Castle remained her only comfort
• 2:14:39
  towards that she still looked at intervals with pleasure. Though rather than be disappointed
• 2:14:43
  of the promised walk, and especially rather than be thought ill of by the
• 2:14:46
  Tilneys, she would willingly have given up all the happiness which its walls could
• 2:14:50
  supply, the happiness of a progress through a long suite of lofty rooms exhibiting
• 2:14:56
  the remains of magnificent furniture, though now for many years deserve the happiness of
• 2:15:01
  being stopped in their way along narrow, winding vaults by a low grated door,
• 2:15:05
  or even of having their lamp their only lamp, extinguished by a sudden
• 2:15:09
  gust of wind, and of being left in total darkness in the Meanwhile,
• 2:15:15
  they proceeded on their journey without any mischance, and were within view of the
• 2:15:18
  town of Caynsham when a halloo from Morland who was behind them, made his
• 2:15:22
  friend pull up to know what was the matter. The others then came close
• 2:15:26
  enough for conversation, and Morland said we had better go back, Thorpe,
• 2:15:31
  it is too late to go on to day. Your sister thinks so as
• 2:15:33
  well as I. We have been exactly an hour coming from Pulteney Street,
• 2:15:37
  very little more than seven miles, and I suppose we have at least eight
• 2:15:41
  more to go. It will never do. We set out a great deal
• 2:15:43
  too late. We had much better put it off till another day and turn
• 2:15:48
  round. It is all one to me, replied Thorpe, rather angrily,
• 2:15:52
  and instantly turning his horse. They were on their way back to Bath.
• 2:15:56
  If your brother had not got such a damned beast to dre, said he
• 2:16:01
  soon afterwards, we might have done it very well. My horse would have
• 2:16:05
  trotted to Clifton within the hour if left to himself. And I have almost
• 2:16:07
  broke my arm with pulling him into that cursed, broken winded jade's pace.
• 2:16:13
  Morland is a fool for not keeping a horse and gig of his own.
• 2:16:16
  No he is not, said Catherine warmly, for I am sure he could
• 2:16:20
  not afford it. And why cannot he afford it? Because he has not
• 2:16:26
  money enough? And whose fault is that? Nobody said I know of.
• 2:16:33
  Thorpe then said something in the loud incoherent way, to which he had often
• 2:16:37
  recourse about its being a damn thing to be miserly, and that if people
• 2:16:39
  who ruled in money could not afford things, he did not know who could,
• 2:16:43
  which Catherine did not even endeavor to understand. Disappointed of what was to
• 2:16:48
  have been the consolation for her first disappointment, she was less and less disposed
• 2:16:52
  either to be agreeable herself or to find her companion. So and they returned
• 2:16:56
  to Pulteney Street without her speaking twenty words. As she entered the house,
• 2:17:01
  the footman told her that a gentleman and lady had called and inquired for her
• 2:17:05
  a few minutes after her setting off, that when he told them she was
• 2:17:09
  gone out with mister Thorpe, the lady had asked whether any message had been
• 2:17:11
  left for her, and, on his saying no, had felt for a
• 2:17:15
  card, but said she had none about her and went away. Pondering over
• 2:17:20
  these heart rending tidings, Catherine walked slowly upstairs at the head of them.
• 2:17:24
  She was met by mister Allen, who, on hearing the reason of their
• 2:17:26
  speedy return, said, I am glad your brother had so much sense.
• 2:17:31
  I am glad you all come back. It was a strange, wild scheme.
• 2:17:37
  They all spent the evening together at Thorpe's. Catherine was disturbed and out
• 2:17:41
  of spirits, but Isabella seemed to find a pool of commerce in the fate
• 2:17:45
  of which she shared by private partnership with Morland, a very good equivalent for
• 2:17:48
  the quiet and country air of an inn at Clifton. Her satisfaction, too,
• 2:17:52
  in not being at the lower rooms was spoken more than once, how
• 2:17:56
  I pity the poor creatures that are going there. How glad I am that
• 2:18:01
  I am not amongst them. I wonder whether it will be a full ball
• 2:18:05
  or not. They have not begun dancing yet. I would not be there
• 2:18:09
  for all the world. It is so delightful to have an evening now and
• 2:18:13
  then to one's self. I daresay it will not be a very good ball.
• 2:18:16
  I know the Mitchells will not be there. I am sure. I
• 2:18:20
  pity everybody that is. But I daresay, mister Morland, you long to
• 2:18:24
  be at it, do not you? I am sure you do well.
• 2:18:26
  Pray do not let anybody here be such a restraint on you. I daresay
• 2:18:31
  we could do very well without you. But you men think yourselves of such
• 2:18:35
  consequence, Catherine could almost have accused Isabella of being wanting in tenderness towards herself
• 2:18:41
  and her sorrows. So very little did they appear to dwell on her mind,
• 2:18:45
  and so very inadequate was the comfort she offered. Do not be so
• 2:18:48
  dull, my dearest creature, she whispered, you will quite break my heart.
• 2:18:54
  It was amazingly shocking, to be sure, But the Tilneys were entirely
• 2:18:58
  to blame. Why were not they more punctual? It was dirty, indeed,
• 2:19:03
  But what did that signify? I am sure John and I should not
• 2:19:05
  have minded it. I never mind going through anything where a friend is concerned.
• 2:19:09
  That is my disposition. And John is just the same. He has
• 2:19:13
  amazing strong feelings. Good heavens, what a delightful hand you have got kings,
• 2:19:20
  I vow, I never was so happy in my life. I would
• 2:19:22
  fifty times rather you should have them than myself. And now I may dismiss
• 2:19:28
  my heroine to the sleepless couch, which is the true heroine's portion, to
• 2:19:33
  a pillow strewed with thorns and wet with tears, and lucky may she think
• 2:19:37
  herself if she get another good night's rest in the course of the next three
• 2:19:39
  months. End of chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, missus Allen said Catherine the
• 2:19:50
  next morning, will there be any harm in my calling on Miss Tilney to
• 2:19:52
  day? I shall not be easy till I have explained everything. Go by
• 2:19:58
  all means, my dear only put on a white gown. Miss Tilney always
• 2:20:01
  wears white. Catherine cheerfully complied, and, being properly equipped, was more
• 2:20:07
  impatient than ever to be at the pump room that she might inform herself of
• 2:20:11
  General Tilney's lodgings, For though she believed they were in Milsom Street, she
• 2:20:16
  was not certain of the house, and missus Allen's wavering convictions only made it
• 2:20:20
  more doubtful. To Milsom Street. She was directed, and, having made
• 2:20:24
  herself perfect in the number, hastened away with eager steps and a beating heart
• 2:20:28
  to pay her visit, explain her conduct and be forgiven, Tripping lightly through
• 2:20:31
  the churchyard and resolutely turning away her eyes that she might not be obliged to
• 2:20:35
  see her beloved Isabella and her dear family, who she had reason to believe
• 2:20:41
  were in shop hard By. She reached the house without any impediment, looked
• 2:20:45
  at the number, knocked at the door and inquired for Miss Tilney. The
• 2:20:48
  man believed Miss Tilney to be at home, but was not quite certain.
• 2:20:52
  Would she be pleased to send up her name. She gave her card.
• 2:20:56
  In a few minutes the servant returned, and, with a look which did
• 2:21:00
  not quite confirm his words, said that he had been mistaken for that Miss
• 2:21:03
  Tilney was walked out. Catherine, with a blush of mortification, left the
• 2:21:07
  house. She felt almost persuaded that Miss Tilney was at home and too much
• 2:21:13
  offended to admit her, and as she retired down the street, could not
• 2:21:16
  withhold one glance at the drawing room windows in expectation of seeing her there,
• 2:21:20
  but no one appeared at them. At the bottom of the street, however,
• 2:21:24
  she looked back again, and then not at a window, but issuing
• 2:21:28
  from the door, she saw Miss Tilney herself. She was followed by a
• 2:21:33
  gentleman whom Catherine believed to be her father, and they turned up towards Edgar's
• 2:21:37
  buildings. Catherine, in deep mortification, proceeded on her way. She could
• 2:21:41
  almost be angry herself at such angry and civility, but she checked the resentful
• 2:21:46
  sensation she remembered her own ignorance. She knew not how such an offense as
• 2:21:50
  hers might be classed by the laws of worldly politeness, to what a degree
• 2:21:54
  of unforgivingness it might, with propriety lead, nor to what rigors of rudeness
• 2:21:58
  in Wyn it might justly make her amenable. Dejected and humbled, she had
• 2:22:05
  even some thoughts of not going with the others to the theater that night,
• 2:22:07
  But it must be confessed that they were not of long continuance, for she
• 2:22:11
  soon recollected in the first place that she was without any excuse for staying at
• 2:22:16
  home, and in the second that it was a play she wanted very much
• 2:22:18
  to see to the theater. Accordingly, they all went, no Tilney's appeared
• 2:22:24
  to plague or please her. She feared that amongst the many perfections of the
• 2:22:28
  family, a fondness for plays was not to be ranked. But perhaps it
• 2:22:31
  was because they were habituated to the finer performances of the London stage, which
• 2:22:35
  she knew on Isabella's authority rendered everything else of the kind quite horrid. She
• 2:22:41
  was not deceived in her own expectation of pleasure. The comedy so well suspended
• 2:22:46
  her care that no one observing her during the first four acts would have supposed
• 2:22:50
  she had any wretchedness about her. On the beginning of the fifth, however,
• 2:22:54
  the sudden view of mister Henry Tilney and his father joining a party in
• 2:22:58
  the opposite box recalled her to anxiety and distress. The stage could no longer
• 2:23:03
  excite genuine merriment, no longer keep her whole attention. Every other look upon
• 2:23:07
  an average was directed towards the opposite box, And for the space of two
• 2:23:11
  entire scenes did she thus watch Henry Tilney without being once able to catch his
• 2:23:16
  eye. No longer could he be suspected of indifference for play. His notice
• 2:23:20
  was never withdrawn from the stage during two whole scenes. At length, however,
• 2:23:24
  he did look towards her, and he bowed, But such a bow,
• 2:23:30
  no smile, no continued observance attended it. His eyes were immediately returned
• 2:23:33
  to their former direction. Catherine was restlessly miserable. She could almost have run
• 2:23:39
  round to the box in which he sat and forced him to hear her explanation.
• 2:23:43
  Feelings rather natural than heroic, possessed her. Instead of considering her own
• 2:23:46
  dignity injured by this ready condemnation, instead of proudly resolving in conscious innocence to
• 2:23:52
  show her resentment towards him who could harbor a doubt of it, to leave
• 2:23:56
  to him all the trouble of seeking an explanation, and to enlighten him on
• 2:24:00
  the past only by avoiding his sight or flirting with somebody else. She took
• 2:24:03
  to herself all the shame of misconduct, or at least of its appearance,
• 2:24:07
  and was only eager for an opportunity of explaining its cause. The play concluded,
• 2:24:13
  the curtain fell, Henry Tilney was no longer to be seen where he
• 2:24:16
  had hitherto sat, But his father remained, and perhaps he might be now
• 2:24:20
  coming round to their box. She was right. In a few minutes he
• 2:24:24
  appeared, and, making his way through the then thinning rose, spoke with
• 2:24:28
  like calm politeness to missus Allen and her friend. Not with such calmness was
• 2:24:33
  he answered by the latter. Oh, mister Tilney, I have been quite
• 2:24:37
  wild to speak to you and make my apologies. You must have thought me
• 2:24:41
  so rude, But indeed it was not my own fault, was it,
• 2:24:43
  Missus Allen? Did not they tell me that mister Tilney and his sister were
• 2:24:46
  gone out in a phaeton together, And then what could I do? But
• 2:24:50
  I had ten thousand times rather have been with you now, had I not,
• 2:24:54
  Missus Allen, My dear you tumble my gown, was Missus Allan's reply.
• 2:25:01
  Her assurance, however, standing soul as it did, was not thrown
• 2:25:05
  away. It brought a more cordial, more natural smile into his countenance,
• 2:25:09
  and he replied, in a tone which retained only a little affected reserve.
• 2:25:13
  We were much obliged to you at any rate for wishing us a pleasant walk
• 2:25:16
  after our passing you in Arguyle Street. You were so kind as to look
• 2:25:20
  back on purpose. But indeed I did not wish you a pleasant walk.
• 2:25:24
  I never thought of such a thing. But I begged mister Thorpe so earnestly
• 2:25:28
  to stop. I called out to him as soon as ever I saw you.
• 2:25:31
  Now, Missus Allen did not, oh you were not there, but
• 2:25:35
  indeed I did. And if mister Thorpe would only have stopped, I would
• 2:25:39
  have jumped out and run after you. Is there a Henry in the world
• 2:25:43
  who could be insensible to such a declaration? Henry Tilney, at least was
• 2:25:46
  not with a yet sweeter smile. He said everything that need be said of
• 2:25:50
  his sister's concern, regret, and dependence on Catherine's honor. Oh do not
• 2:25:56
  say Miss Tilney was not angry, cried Catherine, because I know she was,
• 2:26:00
  for she would not see me this morning when I called. I saw
• 2:26:03
  her walk out of the house the next minute after my leaving it. I
• 2:26:07
  was hurt, but I was not affronted. Perhaps you did not know I
• 2:26:09
  had been there. I was not within at the time, but I heard
• 2:26:13
  of it from Eleanor, and she has been wishing ever since to see you,
• 2:26:16
  to explain the reason of such and civility. But perhaps I can do
• 2:26:20
  it as well. It was nothing more than that, my father, They
• 2:26:24
  were just preparing to walk out, and he, being hurried for time and
• 2:26:28
  not caring to have it put off, made a point of her being denied.
• 2:26:31
  That was all I do assure you. She was very much vexed and
• 2:26:35
  meant to make her apology as soon as possible. Catherine's mind was greatly eased
• 2:26:39
  by this information, yet as something of solicitude remained, from which sprang the
• 2:26:43
  following question, thoroughly artless in itself, though rather distressing to the gentleman.
• 2:26:48
  But mister Tilney Why were you less generous than your sister? If she felt
• 2:26:52
  such confidence in my good intentions and could suppose it only to be a mistake,
• 2:26:58
  why should you be so ready to take offense me? I take offense?
• 2:27:03
  Nay, I am sure by old. Look when you came to the
• 2:27:05
  books, he were angry. I angry I could have no right. Well,
• 2:27:11
  nobody would have thought you had no right to saw your face, he
• 2:27:16
  replied by asking her to make room for him and talking of the play.
• 2:27:20
  He remained with them some time, and was only too agreeable for Catherine to
• 2:27:24
  be contented when he went away. Before they parted, however, it was
• 2:27:26
  agreed that the projected walk should be taken as soon as possible, and setting
• 2:27:31
  aside the misery of his quitting their box, she was, upon the whole
• 2:27:33
  left one of the happiest creatures in the world. While talking to each other,
• 2:27:39
  she had observed with some surprise that John Thorpe, who was never in
• 2:27:41
  the same part of the house for ten minutes together, was engaged in conversation
• 2:27:46
  with General Tilney, and she felt something more than surprise when she thought she
• 2:27:48
  could perceive herself the object of their attention and discourse. What could they have
• 2:27:54
  to say of her. She feared General Tilney did not like her appearance.
• 2:27:58
  She found it was implied in his prevent her admittance to his daughter, rather
• 2:28:01
  than postpone his own walk a few minutes. How came mister Thorpe to know
• 2:28:05
  your father? Was her anxious inquiry as she pointed them out to her companion.
• 2:28:09
  He knew nothing about it, but his father, like every military man,
• 2:28:13
  had a very large acquaintance. When the entertainment was over, Thorpe came
• 2:28:18
  to assist them in getting out. Catherine was the immediate object of his gallantry,
• 2:28:22
  and while they waited in the lobby for a chair, he prevented the
• 2:28:24
  inquiry, which had traveled from her heart almost to the tip of her tongue,
• 2:28:28
  by asking, in a consequential manner, whether she had seen him talking
• 2:28:31
  with General Tilney. He is a fine old fellow upon my soul stout active,
• 2:28:37
  looks as young as his son. I have a great regard for him,
• 2:28:39
  I assure you, a gentlemanlike a good sort of fellow as ever lived.
• 2:28:43
  But how came you to know him? Know him? There are few
• 2:28:46
  people much about town that I do not know. I have met him forever
• 2:28:50
  at the bedfoot, and I knew his face again to day the moment he
• 2:28:54
  came into the billiard room, one of the best players we have by the
• 2:28:56
  bye, and we had a little touch together. Though I was almost afraid
• 2:29:00
  of him at first. The odds were five to four against me, and
• 2:29:03
  if I had not made one of the cleanest strokes that perhaps was ever made
• 2:29:05
  in this world. I took his ball exactly, but I could not make
• 2:29:09
  you understand it without a table. However, I did beat him. A
• 2:29:13
  very fine fellow, as rich as a Jew. I should like to dine
• 2:29:16
  with him. I dare say he gives famous dinners. But what do you
• 2:29:20
  think we have been talking of you? Yes, by heavens, and the
• 2:29:24
  General thinks you the finest girl in Bath. Oh nonsense, How can you
• 2:29:30
  say so? And what do you think? I said, lowering his voice,
• 2:29:35
  Well done, General, said I I am quite of your mind here.
• 2:29:39
  Catherine, who was much less gratified by his admiration than by General Tilney's,
• 2:29:43
  was not sorry to be called away by mister allen Thorpe, however,
• 2:29:48
  would see her to her chair, and till she entered it continued the same
• 2:29:50
  kind of delicate flattery in spite of her entreating him to have done that.
• 2:29:56
  General Tilney, instead of disliking, should admire her, was very delightful,
• 2:30:01
  and she joyfully thought that there was not one of the family whom she need
• 2:30:03
  now fear to meet. The evening had done more, much more for her
• 2:30:07
  than could have been expected. End of Chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen. Monday,
• 2:30:16
  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday have now passed in
• 2:30:20
  review before the reader. The events of each day, its hopes and fears,
• 2:30:26
  mortifications and pleasures, have been separately stated, and the pangs of Sunday
• 2:30:31
  only now remained to be described. And close the week, the Clifton scheme
• 2:30:35
  had been deferred, not relinquished, and on the afternoon's crescent of this day
• 2:30:39
  it was brought forward again. In a private consultation between Isabella and James,
• 2:30:45
  the former of whom had particularly set her heart upon going, and the latter
• 2:30:48
  no less anxiously placed his upon pleasing her. It was agreed that, provided
• 2:30:52
  the weather were fair, the party should take place on the following morning,
• 2:30:56
  and they were to set off very early in order to be at home in
• 2:31:00
  good time. The affair thus determined, and Thorpe's approbation secured, Catherine only
• 2:31:05
  remained to be apprized of it. She had left them for a few minutes
• 2:31:09
  to speak to Miss Tilney. In that interval the plan was completed, and
• 2:31:13
  as soon as she came again, her agreement was demanded. But instead of
• 2:31:16
  the gay acquiescence expected by Isabella, Catherine looked grave, was very sorry,
• 2:31:22
  but could not go. The engagement, which ought to have kept her from
• 2:31:26
  joining in the former attempt, would make it impossible for her to accompany them.
• 2:31:28
  Now she had that moment settled with Miss Tilney to take their proposed walk
• 2:31:33
  tomorrow. It was quite determined, and she would not, upon any account
• 2:31:37
  retract. But that she must and should retract was instantly the eager cry of
• 2:31:41
  both the Thorpe's. They must go to Clifton tomorrow. They would not go
• 2:31:46
  without her. It would be nothing to put off a mere walk for one
• 2:31:48
  day longer, and they would not hear of a refusal. Catherine was distressed,
• 2:31:54
  but not subdued. Do not urge me, Isabella. I am engaged
• 2:31:58
  to Miss Tilney. I cannot go. This availed nothing. The same arguments
• 2:32:03
  assailed her again. She must go, she should go, and they would
• 2:32:07
  not hear of a refusal. It would be so easy to tell Miss Tilney
• 2:32:11
  that you had just been reminded of a prior engagement and must only beg to
• 2:32:15
  put off the walk till Tuesday. No, it would not be easy.
• 2:32:20
  I could not do it. There has been no prior engagement. But Isabella
• 2:32:26
  became only more and more urgent, calling on her in the most affectionate manner,
• 2:32:30
  addressing her by the most endearing names. She was sure her dearest,
• 2:32:35
  sweetest Catherine would not seriously refuse such a trifling request to a friend who loved
• 2:32:39
  her so dearly. She knew her beloved Catherine to have so feeling a heart,
• 2:32:43
  so sweet a temper, to be so easily persuaded by those she loved,
• 2:32:48
  But all in vain, Catherine felt herself to be in the right,
• 2:32:52
  and though pained by such tender such flattering supplication, could not allow it to
• 2:32:56
  influence her. Isabella. Then another method, she reproached her, with having
• 2:33:01
  more affection for Miss Tilney, though she had known her so little a while,
• 2:33:05
  than for her best and oldest friends, with being grown cold and indifferent
• 2:33:11
  in short towards herself. I cannot help being jealous, Catherine, when I
• 2:33:16
  see myself slighted for strangers I who love you so excessively. When once my
• 2:33:22
  affections are placed, it is not in the power of anything to change them.
• 2:33:26
  But I believe my feelings are stronger than anybody's. I am sure they
• 2:33:28
  are too strong for my own peace. And to see myself supplanted in your
• 2:33:33
  friendship by strangers does cut me to the quick I own. These tilneys seemed
• 2:33:37
  to swallow up everything else. Catherine thought this reproach equally strange and unkind.
• 2:33:45
  Was it the part of a friend? Thus, to expose her feelings to
• 2:33:48
  the notice of others, Isabella appeared to her ungenerous and selfish, regardless of
• 2:33:52
  everything but her own gratification. These painful ideas crossed her mind, though she
• 2:33:58
  said nothing. Isabella, in the meanwhile, had applied her handkerchief to her
• 2:34:01
  eyes, and Morland, miserable at such a sight, could not help saying,
• 2:34:07
  nay, Catherine, I think you cannot stand out any longer now.
• 2:34:11
  The sacrifice is not much, and to oblige such a friend, I shall
• 2:34:15
  think you quite unkind if you still refuse. This was the first time of
• 2:34:20
  her brother's openly siding against her, and anxious to avoid his displeasure, she
• 2:34:24
  proposed a compromise. If they would only put off their scheme till Tuesday,
• 2:34:28
  which they might easily do as it depended only on themselves, she could go
• 2:34:31
  with them and everybody might then be satisfied. But no, no, no,
• 2:34:37
  was the immediate answer that could not be for Thorpe did not know that
• 2:34:41
  he might not go to town on Tuesday. Catherine was sorry, but could
• 2:34:46
  do no more, and a short silence ensued, which was broken by Isabella,
• 2:34:50
  who, in a voice of cold resentment, said, very well,
• 2:34:54
  then there is an end of the party. If Catherine does not go,
• 2:34:58
  I cannot. I cannot be the only woman I would not, upon any
• 2:35:01
  account in the world do so improper a thing. Catherine, you must go,
• 2:35:07
  said James. But why cannot mister Thorpe drive one of his other sisters.
• 2:35:13
  I daresay either of them would like to go. Thank ye, cried
• 2:35:16
  Thorpe. But I did not come to Bath to drive my sisters about and
• 2:35:20
  look like a fool. No, if you do not go, damn me.
• 2:35:24
  If I do, I only go for the sake of driving you.
• 2:35:28
  That is a compliment which gives me no pleasure. But Her words were lost
• 2:35:31
  on Thorpe, who had turned abruptly away. The three others still continued together,
• 2:35:37
  walking in a most uncomfortable manner to poor Catherine. Sometimes not a word
• 2:35:41
  was said. Sometimes she was again attacked with supplications or reproaches, and her
• 2:35:46
  arm was still linked within Isabella's, though their hearts were at war. At
• 2:35:50
  one moment she was softened and another irritated, always distressed, but always steady.
• 2:35:56
  I did not think you had been so obstinate, Catherine said, James.
• 2:36:00
  You are not used to be so hard to persuade. You once were
• 2:36:03
  the kindest, best tempered of my sisters. I hope I am not less
• 2:36:07
  so now, she replied, very feelingly. But indeed I cannot go if
• 2:36:13
  I am wrong. I am doing what I believe to be right. I
• 2:36:18
  suspect, said Isabella in a low voice. There is no great struggle.
• 2:36:24
  Catherine's heart swelled. She drew away her arm, and Isabella made no opposition.
• 2:36:28
  Thus passed along ten minutes till they were again joined by Thorpe, who,
• 2:36:33
  coming to them with a gayer look, said, well, I have
• 2:36:35
  settled the matter, and now we may all go to morrow with a safe
• 2:36:39
  conscience. I have been to Miss Tilney and made your excuses. You have
• 2:36:43
  not, cried Catherine. I have, upon my soul left to this moment,
• 2:36:50
  told her that you had sent me to say that, having just recollected
• 2:36:52
  a prior engagement of going to Clifton with us to morrow, you could not
• 2:36:56
  have the pleasure of walking with her till tuesday. She said, very well,
• 2:37:00
  Tuesday was just as convenient to her. So there is an end of
• 2:37:01
  all our difficulties. A pretty good thought of mine, eyh. Isabella's countenance
• 2:37:07
  was once more all smiles and good humor, and James too looked happy again,
• 2:37:11
  a most heavenly thought. Indeed, now, my sweet Catherine, all
• 2:37:16
  our distresses are over, you are honorably acquitted, and we shall have a
• 2:37:20
  most delightful party. This will not do, said Catherine. I cannot submit
• 2:37:26
  to this. I must run after Miss Tilney directly and set her right.
• 2:37:31
  Isabella, however, caught hold of one hand thorpe of the other, and
• 2:37:35
  remonstrances poured in from all three. Even James was quite angry. When everything
• 2:37:41
  was settled. When Miss Tilney herself said that Tuesday would suit her as well,
• 2:37:45
  it was quite ridiculous, quite absurd. To make any further objection.
• 2:37:48
  I do not care. Mister Thorpe had no business to invent any such message.
• 2:37:54
  If I had thought it right to put it off, I could have
• 2:37:56
  spoken to miss Tilney myself. This is only doing it in a rude way.
• 2:38:00
  And how do I know that mister Thorpe is he may be mistaken again?
• 2:38:03
  Perhaps he led me into one act of rudeness by his mistake on Friday,
• 2:38:07
  Let me go, mister Thorpe, Isabella, do not hold me.
• 2:38:11
  Thorpe told her it would be in vain to go after the Tilneys. They
• 2:38:15
  were turning the corner into Brock Street when he had overtaken them and were at
• 2:38:18
  home by this time. Then I will go after them, said Catherine.
• 2:38:22
  Wherever they are, I will go after them. It does not signify talking.
• 2:38:26
  If I could not be persuaded into doing what I thought wrong, I
• 2:38:28
  never will be tricked into it. And with these words, she broke away
• 2:38:33
  and hurried off. Thorpe would have darted after her, but Morland withheld him.
• 2:38:37
  Let her go, Let her go if she will go. She is
• 2:38:41
  as obstinate as Thorpe never finished the simile, for it could hardly have been
• 2:38:45
  a proper one away walked Catherine in great agitation, as fast as the crowd
• 2:38:50
  would permit her, fearful of being pursued, yet determined to persevere. As
• 2:38:56
  she walked, she reflected on what had passed. It was painful to her
• 2:38:58
  to disappoin and displeased them, particularly to displease her brother, but she could
• 2:39:03
  not repent her resistance setting her own inclination apart to have failed a second time
• 2:39:07
  in her engagement to Miss Tilney, to have retracted a promise voluntarily made only
• 2:39:13
  five minutes before, and on a false pretense, too, must have been
• 2:39:16
  wrong. She had not been withstanding them on selfish principles alone. She had
• 2:39:20
  not consulted merely her own gratification that might have been insured in some degree by
• 2:39:26
  the excursion itself by seeing Blaize Castle. No, she had attended to what
• 2:39:31
  was due to others and to her own character in their opinion. Her conviction
• 2:39:35
  of being right, however, was not enough to restore her composure. Till
• 2:39:37
  she had spoken to Miss Tilney. She could not be at ease, and
• 2:39:41
  quickening her pace when she got clear of the crescent, she almost ran over
• 2:39:45
  the remaining ground till she gained the top of Milsom Street. So rapid had
• 2:39:48
  been her movements that, in spite of the Tilney's advantage in the outset,
• 2:39:52
  they were but just turning into their lodgings. As she came within view of
• 2:39:56
  them and the servants still remaining at the open door, she used only the
• 2:40:00
  ceremony of saying that she must speak with Miss Tilney that moment, and,
• 2:40:03
  hurrying by him, proceeded upstairs, then opening the first door before her,
• 2:40:07
  which happened to be the right. She immediately found herself in the drawing room
• 2:40:11
  with General Tilney, his son and daughter. Her explanation defective only in being
• 2:40:16
  from her irritation of nerves and shortness of breath. No explanation at all was
• 2:40:20
  instantly given. I come in a great hurry. It was all a mistake.
• 2:40:24
  I never promised to go. I told them from the first I could
• 2:40:28
  not go. I ran away in a great hurry to explain it. I
• 2:40:31
  did not care what you thought of me. I would not stay for the
• 2:40:33
  servant. The business, however, though not perfectly elucidated by this speech,
• 2:40:39
  soon ceased to be a puzzle. Catherine found that John Thorpe had given the
• 2:40:43
  message and Miss Tilney had no scruple in owning herself greatly surprised by it,
• 2:40:48
  but whether her brother had still exceeded her in resentment. Catherine, though she
• 2:40:50
  instinctively addressed herself as much to one as to the other in her vindication,
• 2:40:54
  had no means of knowing whatever might have been felt before her arrival. Her
• 2:41:00
  eager declarations immediately made every look and sentence as friendly as she could desire.
• 2:41:05
  The affair thus happily settled. She was introduced by Miss Tilney to her father,
• 2:41:09
  and received by him with such ready, such solicitous politeness as recalled Thorpe's
• 2:41:13
  information to her mind, and made her think with pleasure that he might be
• 2:41:16
  sometimes depended on to such anxious attention was the general's civility carried that not aware
• 2:41:22
  of her extraordinary swiftness in entering the house, he was quite angry with the
• 2:41:26
  servant whose neglect had reduced her to open the door of the apartment herself.
• 2:41:31
  What did William mean by it? He should make a point of inquiring into
• 2:41:33
  the matter, And if Catherine had not most warmly asserted his innocence, it
• 2:41:39
  seemed likely that William would lose the favor of his master forever if not his
• 2:41:43
  place by her rapidity. After sitting with them a quarter of an hour,
• 2:41:46
  she rose to take leave, and was then most agreeably surprised by General Tilney's
• 2:41:52
  asking her if she would do his daughter the honor of dining and spending the
• 2:41:54
  rest of the day with her. Miss Tilney added her own wishes. Catherine
• 2:41:58
  was greatly obloimeud, but it was quite out of her power. Mister and
• 2:42:01
  missus Allen would expect her back every moment. The General declared he could say
• 2:42:05
  no more. The claims of mister and Missus Allen were not to be superseded,
• 2:42:09
  But on some other day he trusted, when longer notice could be given,
• 2:42:13
  they would not refuse to spare her to her friend. Oh no,
• 2:42:18
  Catherine was sure they would not of the least objection, and she should have
• 2:42:20
  a great pleasure in coming. The General attended her himself to the street door,
• 2:42:26
  saying everything gallant as they went downstairs, admiring the elasticity of her walk,
• 2:42:30
  which corresponded exactly with the spirit of her dancing, and making her one
• 2:42:33
  of the most graceful bows she had ever beheld. When they parted, Catherine,
• 2:42:39
  delighted by all that had passed, proceeded gaily to Pulteney Street, walking,
• 2:42:43
  as she concluded with great elasticity, though she had never thought of it
• 2:42:46
  before. She reached home without seeing anything more of the offended party, And
• 2:42:50
  now that she had been triumphant throughout, had carried her point and was secure
• 2:42:54
  of her walk, she began as the flutter of her spirit subsided to doubt
• 2:42:58
  whether she had been perfectly right. A sacrifice was always noble, and if
• 2:43:03
  she had given way to their entreaties, she should have been spared the distressing
• 2:43:05
  idea of a friend displeased, a brother angry, and a scheme of great
• 2:43:09
  happiness to both destroyed. Perhaps through her means to ease her mind, and
• 2:43:13
  ascertain by the opinion of an unprejudiced person, what her own conduct had really
• 2:43:18
  been, she took occasion to mention before mister Allen the half settled scheme of
• 2:43:22
  her brother and the Thorpes. For the following day. Mister Allen caught at
• 2:43:24
  it directly well, said he, and do you think of going too?
• 2:43:31
  No, I had just engaged myself to walk with Miss Tilney before they told
• 2:43:35
  me of it, and therefore you know I could not go with them,
• 2:43:37
  could I no, certainly not, and I am glad you do not think
• 2:43:41
  of it. These schemes are not at all the thing. Young men and
• 2:43:45
  women driving about the country in open carriages now and then it is very well.
• 2:43:50
  But going to inns and public places together it is not right, and
• 2:43:54
  I wonder Missus Thorpe should allow it. I am glad you do not think
• 2:43:58
  of going. I am sure Missus Morland would not be pleased. Missus Allen,
• 2:44:01
  are you not of my way of thinking? Do you not think these
• 2:44:03
  kind of projects objectionable? Yes, very much so. Indeed, open carriages
• 2:44:09
  are nasty things. A clean gown is not five minutes where in them you
• 2:44:13
  are splashed getting in and getting out, and the wind takes your hair and
• 2:44:18
  your bonnet in every direction. I hate an open carriage myself. I know
• 2:44:22
  you do, but that is not the question. Do not you think it
• 2:44:26
  has an odd appearance if young ladies are frequently driven about in them by young
• 2:44:30
  men to whom they are not even related, Yes, my dear, a
• 2:44:33
  very odd appearance. Indeed I cannot bear to see it, dear Madam,
• 2:44:39
  cried Catherine. Then why did you not tell me so before? I am
• 2:44:43
  sure if I had known it to be improper, I would not have gone
• 2:44:45
  with mister Thorpe at all, but I always hoped you would tell me if
• 2:44:48
  you thought I was doing wrong, and so I should, my dear,
• 2:44:52
  you may depend on it, for as I told missus Morland at parting,
• 2:44:56
  I would always do the best for you in my power. But one must
• 2:44:58
  not be over particular. Young people will be young people, as your good
• 2:45:03
  mother says herself. You know I wanted you when we first came not to
• 2:45:07
  buy that sprig Muslin, but you would. Young people do not like always
• 2:45:11
  to be thwarted, but this was something of real consequence, and I do
• 2:45:16
  not think you would have found me hard to persuade. As far as it
• 2:45:20
  has gone hitherto, there is no harm done, said mister Allen. And
• 2:45:24
  I would only advise you, my dear, not to go out with mister
• 2:45:26
  Thorpe any more. That is just what I was going to say, added
• 2:45:31
  his wife. Catherine, relieved for herself, felt uneasy for Isabella, and
• 2:45:37
  after a moment's thought, asked mister Allen whether it would not be both proper
• 2:45:39
  and kind in her to write to miss Thorpe and explain the indecorm of which
• 2:45:43
  she must be as insensible as herself, for she considered that Isabella might otherwise
• 2:45:48
  perhaps be going to Clifton the next day in spite of what had passed.
• 2:45:52
  Mister Allen, however, discouraged her from doing any such thing. You had
• 2:45:56
  better leave her alone, my dear, she is old enough to know what
• 2:45:58
  she is, and if not as a mother to advise her, Missus Thorpe
• 2:46:03
  is too indulgent beyond a doubt. But however, you had better naught inter
• 2:46:07
  fear she and your brother choose to go, and you will be only getting
• 2:46:11
  ill will. Catherine submitted, and, though sorry to think that Isabella should
• 2:46:16
  be doing wrong, felt greatly relieved by mister Allen's approbation of her own conduct,
• 2:46:20
  and truly rejoiced to be preserved by his advice from the danger of falling
• 2:46:24
  into such an error herself. Her escape from being one of the party to
• 2:46:28
  Clifton was now an escape. Indeed, for what would the Tilneys have thought
• 2:46:31
  of her if she had broken her promise to them in order to do what
• 2:46:33
  was wrong in itself, If she had been guilty of one breach of propriety
• 2:46:37
  only to enable her to be guilty of another. End of chapter thirteen Chapter
• 2:46:45
  fourteen. The next morning was fair, and Catherine almost expected another attack from
• 2:46:52
  the assembled party. With mister Allen to support her, she felt no dread
• 2:46:56
  of the event, but she would gladly be spared a contest where victor itself
• 2:47:00
  was painful and was heartily rejoiced. Therefore, at neither seeing nor hearing anything
• 2:47:05
  of them, the Tilneys called for her at the appointed time, and no
• 2:47:09
  new difficulty arising, no sudden recollection, no unexpected summons, no impertinent intrusion
• 2:47:15
  to disconcert their measures. My heroine was most unnaturally able to fulfill her engagement,
• 2:47:20
  though it was made with the hero himself. They determined, on walking
• 2:47:24
  round beach and cliff, that noble hill, whose beautiful vergure and hanging coppice
• 2:47:30
  render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath. I never
• 2:47:35
  look at it, said Catherine, as they walked along the side of the
• 2:47:37
  river, without thinking of the south of France. You have been abroad,
• 2:47:43
  then, said Henry, a little surprised. Oh no, I only mean
• 2:47:48
  what I have read about. It always puts me in mind of the country
• 2:47:50
  that Emily into father traveled through in the Mysteries of Udolpho. But you never
• 2:47:56
  read novels. I daresay why not, because they are not clever enough for
• 2:48:01
  you. Gentlemen read better books. The person, be it gentlemen or lady,
• 2:48:07
  who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid. I
• 2:48:11
  have read all missus Radcliffe's works, and most of them with great pleasure.
• 2:48:16
  The Mysteries of Udolpho. When I had once begun it, I could not
• 2:48:20
  lay down again. I remember finishing it in two days, my hair standing
• 2:48:24
  on end the whole time, Yes, added Miss Tilney. And I remember
• 2:48:30
  that you undertook to read it aloud to me, and that when I was
• 2:48:33
  called away for only five minutes to answer a note, instead of waiting for
• 2:48:37
  me, you took the volume into the hermitage walk, and I was obliged
• 2:48:41
  to stay till you had finished it. Thank you, eleanor a most honorable
• 2:48:46
  testimony, you see, Miss Morland, the injustice of your suspicions. Here
• 2:48:50
  was I, in my eagerness to get on, refusing to wait only five
• 2:48:54
  minutes for my sister, breaking the promise I had made of reading it aloud
• 2:48:58
  and keeping her in suspense at a most interesting part, by running away with
• 2:49:01
  the volume which you are to observe was her own, particularly her own.
• 2:49:07
  I am proud when I reflect on it, and I think it must establish
• 2:49:09
  me in your good opinion. I am very glad to hear it, indeed,
• 2:49:15
  and now I shall never be ashamed of liking Udolpho myself. But I
• 2:49:18
  really thought before young men despise novels amazingly. It is amazingly. It may
• 2:49:24
  well suggest amazement if they do, for they read nearly as many as women.
• 2:49:30
  I myself had read hundreds and hundreds. Do not imagine that you can
• 2:49:33
  cope with me in a knowledge of Julia's and Louisa's. If we proceed to
• 2:49:37
  particulars and engage in the never ceasing inquiry of have you read this? And
• 2:49:41
  have you read that? I shall soon leave you as far behind me as
• 2:49:46
  what shall I say? I want an appropriate simile, as far as your
• 2:49:50
  friend Emily herself left poor Valancourt when she went with her aunt into Italy.
• 2:49:56
  Consider how many years I have had the start of you. I had entered
• 2:49:58
  on my studies at Oxford while you were a good little girl working your sampler
• 2:50:03
  at home. Not very good, I'm afraid, But now really do not
• 2:50:09
  you think you, DULPHO the nicest book in the world. The nicest by
• 2:50:13
  which I suppose you mean the neatest. That must depend upon the binding.
• 2:50:18
  Henry said, Miss Tilney, you are very impertinent, Miss Morland. He
• 2:50:24
  is treating you exactly as he does his sister. He is forever finding fault
• 2:50:28
  with me for some incorrectness of language, and now he is taking the same
• 2:50:33
  liberty with you. The word nicest as you used it did not suit him,
• 2:50:37
  and you had better change it as soon as you can, or we
• 2:50:41
  shall be overpowered with Johnson and Blair all the rest of the way. I
• 2:50:46
  am sure, cried Catherine. I did not mean to say anything wrong.
• 2:50:50
  But it is a nice book, and why should I not call it so?
• 2:50:54
  Very true? Said Henry. And this is a very nice day,
• 2:50:56
  and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice
• 2:51:01
  young ladies. Oh, it is a very nice word. Indeed it does
• 2:51:05
  for everything. Originally, perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety,
• 2:51:09
  delicacy, or refinement. People were nice in their dress, in their
• 2:51:13
  sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised
• 2:51:18
  in that one word. While in fact, cried his sister, it ought
• 2:51:24
  only to be applied to you without any commendation at all. You are more
• 2:51:30
  nice than wise, Come, miss Morland. Let us leave him to meditate
• 2:51:33
  over our faults and the utmost propriety of diction, while we praise Udolpho in
• 2:51:39
  whatever terms we like best. It is a most interesting work. You are
• 2:51:45
  fond of that kind of reading, To say the truth, I do not
• 2:51:48
  much like any other. Indeed, that is, I can read poetry and
• 2:51:54
  plays and things of that sort, and do not dislike travels. But history,
• 2:52:00
  real, solemn history, I cannot be interested in, can you?
• 2:52:05
  Yes? I am fond of history. I wish I were too. I
• 2:52:09
  read it a little as a duty, But it tells me nothing that does
• 2:52:13
  not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with
• 2:52:16
  wars or pestilences in every page, the men all so good for nothing,
• 2:52:22
  and hardly any women at all. It is very tiresome, and yet I
• 2:52:26
  often think it odd that it should be so dull. For a great deal
• 2:52:30
  of it must be invention, the speeches that are put into the hero's mouths,
• 2:52:33
  their thoughts and designs. The chief of all this must be invention,
• 2:52:37
  and invention is what delights me. In other books, historians, you think,
• 2:52:43
  said Miss Tilney, are not happy in their flights of fancy. They
• 2:52:46
  display imagination without raising interest. I am fond of history, and am very
• 2:52:52
  well contented to take the false with the true in the principal facts. They
• 2:52:56
  have sources of intelligence in former histories and records, which may may be as
• 2:53:00
  much depended on, I conclude, as anything that does not actually pass under
• 2:53:03
  one's own observation. And as for the little embellishments you speak of, they
• 2:53:09
  are embellishments, and I like them as such. If a speech be well
• 2:53:13
  drawn up, I read it with pleasure by whomsoever it may be made,
• 2:53:16
  and probably with much greater if the production of mister Hume or mister Robertson than
• 2:53:22
  if the genuine words of Caractacus, Agricola or Alfred the Great. You are
• 2:53:26
  fond of history, and so are mister Allen, and my father, and
• 2:53:31
  I have two brothers who do not dislike it. So many instances within my
• 2:53:35
  small circle of friends is remarkable. At this rate, I shall not pity
• 2:53:39
  the writers of history any longer. If people like to read their books it
• 2:53:43
  is all very well. But to be at so much trouble in filling great
• 2:53:46
  volumes, which, as I used to think, nobody would willingly ever look
• 2:53:50
  into, to be laboring only for the torment of little boys and girls always
• 2:53:54
  struck me as a hard fate. And though I know it is all very
• 2:53:58
  right and necessary, I have often wondered at the person's courage that could sit
• 2:54:01
  down on purpose to do it, that little boys and girls should be tormented,
• 2:54:07
  said Henry, is what no one at all acquainted with human nature in
• 2:54:09
  a civilized state can deny. But in behalf of our most distinguished historians,
• 2:54:15
  I must observe that they might well be offended at being supposed to have no
• 2:54:18
  higher aim, and that by their method and style, they are perfectly well
• 2:54:22
  qualified to torment readers of the most advanced reason that, in mature time of
• 2:54:26
  life, I use the verb to torment, as I observed to be your
• 2:54:30
  own method, instead of too instruct, supposing them to be now admitted as
• 2:54:35
  synonymous. You think me foolish to call instruction a torment, But if you
• 2:54:39
  had been as much used as myself to hear poor little children first learning their
• 2:54:43
  letters and then learning to spell if you had ever seen how stupid they can
• 2:54:46
  be for a whole morning together, and how tired my poor mother is at
• 2:54:50
  the end of it, as I am in the habit of seeing almost every
• 2:54:54
  day of my life at home, you would allow that to torment and to
• 2:54:58
  instruct might sometimes be used as synonymous words. Very probably, but historians are
• 2:55:05
  not accountable for the difficulty of learning to read. And even you yourself,
• 2:55:09
  who do not altogether seem particularly friendly to very severe, very intense application,
• 2:55:13
  may perhaps be brought to acknowledge that it is very well worth while to be
• 2:55:16
  tormented for two or three years of one's life for the sake of being able
• 2:55:20
  to read all the rest of it. Consider and if reading had not been
• 2:55:24
  taught, Missus Radcliffe would have written in vain, or perhaps might not have
• 2:55:28
  written at all. Catherine assented, and a very warm panegyric from her on
• 2:55:33
  that lady's merits closed the subject. The Tilneys were soon engaged in another on
• 2:55:39
  which she had nothing to say. They were viewing the country with the eyes
• 2:55:41
  of persons accustomed to drawing, and decided on its capability of being formed into
• 2:55:46
  pictures with all the eagerness of real taste here Catherine was quite lost. She
• 2:55:52
  knew nothing of drawing, nothing of taste, and she listened to them with
• 2:55:56
  an attention which brought her little prophet, For they took talked in phrases which
• 2:56:01
  conveyed scarcely any idea to her. The little which she could understand, however,
• 2:56:05
  appeared to contradict the very few notions she had entertained on the matter before.
• 2:56:09
  It seemed as if a good view were no longer to be taken from
• 2:56:11
  the top of a high hill, and that a clear blue sky was no
• 2:56:15
  longer a proof of a fine day. She was heartily ashamed of her ignorance,
• 2:56:20
  a misplaced shame. Where people wish to attach they should always be ignorant.
• 2:56:24
  To come with a well informed mind is to come with an inability of
• 2:56:28
  administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to
• 2:56:31
  avoid. A woman, especially if she have the misfortune of knowing anything,
• 2:56:37
  should conceal it as well as she can. The advantages of natural folly in
• 2:56:41
  a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pan of a sister
• 2:56:45
  author, And to her treatment of the subject, I will only add in
• 2:56:48
  justice to men that though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex,
• 2:56:52
  imbecility in females as a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is
• 2:56:56
  a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more
• 2:57:01
  in woman than ignorance. But Catherine did not know her own advantages, did
• 2:57:07
  not know that a good looking girl with an affectionate heart and a very ignorant
• 2:57:09
  mind cannot fail of attracting a clever young man unless circumstances are particularly untoward.
• 2:57:16
  In the present instance, she confessed and lamented her want of knowledge, declared
• 2:57:20
  that she would give anything in the world to be able to draw, and
• 2:57:24
  a lecture on the picturesque immediately followed, in which his instructions were so clear
• 2:57:28
  that she soon began to see beauty in everything admired by him, and her
• 2:57:33
  attention was so earnest that he became perfectly satisfied of her having a great deal
• 2:57:37
  of natural taste. He talked of four grounds, distances and second distances,
• 2:57:41
  side screens and perspectives, light and shades, and Catherine was so hopeful a
• 2:57:46
  scholar that when they gained the top of Beech and Cliff, she voluntarily rejected
• 2:57:52
  the whole city of Bath as unworthy to make part of a landscape. Delighted
• 2:57:56
  with her progress, and fearful of wearying her with too much wisdom, at
• 2:57:58
  once, Henry suffered the subject to decline, and, by an easy transition
• 2:58:03
  from a piece of rocky fragment and the withered oak which he had placed near
• 2:58:07
  its summit, to oaks in general, to forests, the enclosure of them,
• 2:58:11
  waste lands, crown lands, and government, he shortly found himself arrived
• 2:58:15
  at politics, and from politics. It was an easy step to silence.
• 2:58:20
  The general pause which succeeded his short disquisition on the state of the nation,
• 2:58:24
  was put an end to by Catherine, who, in a rather solemn tone
• 2:58:28
  of voice, uttered these words, I have heard that something very shocking,
• 2:58:31
  indeed, will soon come out in London. Miss Tilney, to whom this
• 2:58:37
  was chiefly addressed, was startled and hastily replied, indeed, and of what
• 2:58:41
  nature that I do not know, nor who is the author. I have
• 2:58:46
  only heard that it is to be more horrible than anything we have met with.
• 2:58:50
  Yet, good Heaven, where could you hear of such a thing?
• 2:58:56
  A particular friend of mine had an account of it in a letter from London
• 2:58:58
  yesterday. It is to be uncommonly dreadful. I shall expect murder and everything
• 2:59:03
  of the kind you speak with astonishing composure. But I hope your friend's accounts
• 2:59:09
  have been exaggerated. And if such a design is known beforehand, proper measures
• 2:59:13
  will undoubtedly be taken by government to prevent its coming to effect. Government,
• 2:59:20
  said Henry, endeavoring not to smile. Neither desires nor dares to interfere in
• 2:59:24
  such matters. There must be murder, and government cares not. How much
• 2:59:31
  the ladies stared, he laughed and added, Come, shall I make you
• 2:59:35
  understand each other? Or leave you to puzzle out an explanation as you can.
• 2:59:39
  No, I will be noble. I will prove myself a man,
• 2:59:43
  no less by the generosity of my soul than the clearness of my head.
• 2:59:46
  I have no patience with such of my sex as disdained to let themselves sometimes
• 2:59:50
  down to the comprehension of yours. Perhaps the abilities of women are neither sound
• 2:59:54
  nor acute, neither vigorous nor keen. Perhaps they may want observation, discernment,
• 3:00:00
  judgment, fire, genius, and wit. Miss Morland, do not
• 3:00:05
  mind what he says but have the goodness to satisfy me as to this dreadful
• 3:00:09
  riot? Riot? What riot, my dear Eleanor the riot is only in
• 3:00:16
  your own brain? The confusion there is scandalous. Miss Morland has been talking
• 3:00:20
  of nothing more dreadful than a new publication which is shortly to come out in
• 3:00:24
  three duodessimo volumes, two hundred and seventy six pages in each with a frontispiece
• 3:00:28
  to the first of two tombstones and a lantern. Do you understand? And
• 3:00:33
  you, miss Morland, my stupid sister, has mistaken all your clearest expressions.
• 3:00:37
  You talked of expected horrors in London, and instead of instantly conceiving,
• 3:00:43
  as any rational creature would have done, that such words could relate only to
• 3:00:46
  a circulating library, she immediately pictured to herself a mob of three thousand men
• 3:00:50
  assembling in Saint George's Fields. The bank attacked, the tower threatened, the
• 3:00:54
  streets of London flowing with blood, an attachment of the twelfth Light Dragoon,
• 3:01:00
  the hopes of the nation called up from Northampton to quell the insurgents, and
• 3:01:03
  the gallant Captain Frederick Tilney, in the moment of charging at the head of
• 3:01:07
  his troop knocked off his horse by a brick bat from an upper window.
• 3:01:11
  Forgive her stupidity. The fears of the sister have added to the weakness of
• 3:01:16
  the woman, But she is by no means a simpleton in general. Catherine
• 3:01:20
  looked grave, and now Henry said, Miss Tilney, that you've made us
• 3:01:26
  understand each other. You may as well make Miss Morland understand yourself, unless
• 3:01:31
  you mean to have her think you intolerably rude to your sister, and a
• 3:01:33
  great brute in your opinion of women in general. Miss Morland is not used
• 3:01:37
  to your odd ways. I shall be most happy to make her better acquainted
• 3:01:43
  with them, no doubt, But that is no explanation of the present.
• 3:01:48
  What am I to do? You know what you ought to do. Clear
• 3:01:52
  your character handsomely before her. Tell her that you think very highly of the
• 3:01:56
  understanding of women, Miss Morland. I think very highly of the understanding of
• 3:02:01
  all the women in the world, especially of those whoever they may be with
• 3:02:05
  whom I happen to be in company. That is not enough, be more
• 3:02:09
  serious, Miss Morland. No one can think more highly of the understanding of
• 3:02:16
  women than I do. In my opinion, Nature has given them so much
• 3:02:20
  that they never find it necessary to use more than half. We shall get
• 3:02:24
  nothing more serious from him now, Miss Morland. He is not in a
• 3:02:28
  sober mood, but I do assure you that he must be entirely misunderstood if
• 3:02:33
  he can ever appear to say an unjust thing of any woman at all,
• 3:02:35
  or an unkind one of me. It was no effort to Catherine to believe
• 3:02:39
  that Henry Tilney could never be wrong. His manner might sometimes surprise, but
• 3:02:45
  his meaning must be always just, And what she did not understand she was
• 3:02:48
  almost as ready to admire as what she did. The whole walk was delightful,
• 3:02:54
  and though it ended too soon, its conclusion was delightful too. Her
• 3:02:58
  friends attended her into the house, and Miss Tilney, before they parted,
• 3:03:01
  addressing herself with respectful form, as much to missus Allen as to Catherine,
• 3:03:05
  petitioned for the pleasure of her company to dinner on the day after the next.
• 3:03:09
  No difficulty was made on missus Allen's side, and the only difficulty on
• 3:03:13
  Catherine's was in concealing the excess of her pleasure. The morning had passed away
• 3:03:18
  so charmingly as to banish all her friendship and natural affection, for no thought
• 3:03:22
  of Isabella or James had crossed her during their walk. When the Tilneys were
• 3:03:26
  gone, she became amiable again, but she was amiable for some time to
• 3:03:31
  little effect. Missus Allen had no intelligence to give that could relieve her anxiety.
• 3:03:35
  She had heard nothing from any of them. Towards the end of the
• 3:03:39
  morning, however, Catherine, having occasion for some indispensable yard of ribbon which
• 3:03:43
  must be bought without a moment's delay, walked out into the town and in
• 3:03:48
  Bond Street overtook the second Miss Thorpe as she was loitering towards Edgar's buildings,
• 3:03:52
  between two of the sweetest girls in the world, who had been her dear
• 3:03:56
  friends all the morning. From her. She soon learned that the party to
• 3:03:58
  Clifton had taken place. They set off at eight this morning, said miss
• 3:04:03
  Anne, and I am sure I do not envy them their drive. I
• 3:04:07
  think you and I are very well off to be out of the scrape.
• 3:04:09
  It must be the dullest thing in the world, for there is not a
• 3:04:13
  soul at Clifton this time of year. Belle went with your brother and John
• 3:04:16
  drove Maria. Catherine spoke the pleasure she really felt on hearing this part of
• 3:04:22
  the arrangement. Oh, yes, rejoined the other Maria is gone. She
• 3:04:26
  was quite wild to go. She thought it would be something very fine.
• 3:04:31
  I cannot say I admire her taste, and for my part, I was
• 3:04:33
  determined from the first not to go if they pressed me ever so much.
• 3:04:39
  Catherine, a little doubtful of this, could not help answering. I wish
• 3:04:43
  you could have gone too. It is a pity you could not all go,
• 3:04:46
  Thank you, But it is quite a matter of indifference to me.
• 3:04:48
  Indeed, I would not have gone on any account. I was saying so
• 3:04:52
  to Emily and Sophia when you overtook us. Catherine was still unconvinced, but
• 3:04:58
  glad that Anne should have the friendship of an Emily and a Sophia to console
• 3:05:01
  her. She bade her adieu without much uneasiness, and return home, pleased
• 3:05:05
  that the party had not been prevented by her refusing to join it, and
• 3:05:09
  very heartily wishing that it might be too pleasant to allow either James or Isabella
• 3:05:13
  to resent her resistance any longer. End of chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen.
• 3:05:22
  Early the next day, a note from Isabella speaking peace and tenderness in every
• 3:05:26
  line, and entreating the immediate presence of her friend on a matter of the
• 3:05:31
  utmost importance hastened Catherine in the happiest state of confidence and curiosity. To Edgar's
• 3:05:37
  buildings. The two youngest miss Thorpes were by themselves in the front parlor,
• 3:05:41
  and on Anne's quitting it to call her sister, Catherine took the opportunity of
• 3:05:45
  asking the other for some particulars of their yesterday's party. Mariah desired no greater
• 3:05:50
  pleasure than to speak of it, and Catherine immediately learned that it had been
• 3:05:52
  altogether the most delightful scheme in the world, and that nobody could imagine how
• 3:05:56
  charming it had been, and that it had been more delightful than anybody could
• 3:06:00
  conceive. Such was the information of the first five minutes. The second unfolded
• 3:06:05
  thus much in detail that they had driven directly to the York hotel, ate
• 3:06:09
  some soup and bespoken early dinner, walked down to the pump room, tasted
• 3:06:13
  the water, and laid out some shillings in purses and spars. Thence adjoined
• 3:06:18
  to eat ice at a pastry cook's, and hurrying back to the hotel,
• 3:06:22
  swallowed their dinner in haste to prevent being in the dark, and then had
• 3:06:26
  a delightful drive back. Only the moon was not up, and it rained
• 3:06:28
  a little, and mister Morland's horse was so tired he could hardly get it
• 3:06:33
  along. Catherine listened with heart felt satisfaction. It appeared that Blaize Castle had
• 3:06:39
  never been thought of, and as for all the rest, there was nothing
• 3:06:41
  to regret. For half an instant, Maria's intelligence concluded with a tender effusion
• 3:06:46
  of pity for her sister Anne, whom she represented as insupportably cross from being
• 3:06:50
  excluded the party. She will never forgive me, I'm sure, but you
• 3:06:54
  know how could I help it? John would have me go, for he
• 3:06:58
  vowed he would not drive her because she had such thick ankles. I daresay
• 3:07:03
  she will not be in good humor again this month. But I am determined
• 3:07:05
  I will not be cross. It is not a little matter that puts me
• 3:07:09
  out of temper. Isabella now entered the room with so eager a step and
• 3:07:13
  a look of such happy importance has engaged all her friend's notice. Maria was,
• 3:07:18
  without ceremony, sent away, and Isabella embracing Catherine. Thus began,
• 3:07:24
  Yes, my dear Catherine, it is so. Indeed, your penetration has
• 3:07:30
  not deceived you. Oh that arch eye of yours, it sees through everything.
• 3:07:37
  Catherine replied, only by a look of wondering ignorance. Nay, my
• 3:07:41
  beloved, sweetest friend, continued the other. Compose yourself. I am amazingly
• 3:07:46
  agitated, as you perceive. Let us sit down and talk in comfort.
• 3:07:52
  Well, and so you guessed at the moment you had my note sly creature.
• 3:07:56
  Oh, my dear Catherine, you alone who know my heart, can
• 3:08:01
  judge of my present happiness. Your brother is the most charming of men.
• 3:08:05
  I only wish I were more worthy of him. But what will your excellent
• 3:08:09
  father and mother say? Oh? Heavens when I think of them? I
• 3:08:13
  am so agitated. Catherine's understanding began to awake. An idea of the truth
• 3:08:18
  suddenly darted into her mind, and, with the natural blush of so new
• 3:08:22
  an emotion, she cried out, good, Heaven, my dear Isabella,
• 3:08:26
  what do you mean? Can you? Can you really be in love with
• 3:08:31
  James? This bold surmise, however, she soon lurt comprehended, but half
• 3:08:35
  the fact. The anxious affection which she was accused of having continually watched in
• 3:08:39
  Isabella's every look and action, had, in the course of their yesterday's party,
• 3:08:43
  received the delightful confession of an equal love. Her heart and faith were
• 3:08:48
  alike engaged to James. Never had Catherine listened to anything so full of interest,
• 3:08:54
  wonder, and joy. Her brother and her friend engaged new to such
• 3:08:58
  circumstances. The importance of it appeared unspeakably great, and she contemplated it as
• 3:09:03
  one of those grand events of which the ordinary course of life can hardly afford
• 3:09:07
  a return. The strength of her feelings, she could not express the nature
• 3:09:11
  of them, however, contented her friend. The happiness of having such a
• 3:09:13
  sister was their first effusion, and the fair ladies mingled in embraces and tears
• 3:09:18
  of joy delighting. However, as Catherine sincerely did in the prospect of the
• 3:09:22
  connection, it must be acknowledged that Isabella far surpassed her in tender anticipations.
• 3:09:28
  You will be so infinitely dearer to me, my Catherine, than either Anne
• 3:09:33
  or Maria. I feel that I should be so much more attached to my
• 3:09:37
  dear Morland's family than to my own. This was a pitch of friendship beyond,
• 3:09:41
  Catherine, you are so like your dear brother, continued Isabella, that
• 3:09:46
  I quite doted on you the first moment I saw you. But so it
• 3:09:50
  always is with me, the first moment settles everything. The very first day
• 3:09:54
  that Morland came to us last Christmas, the very first moment I beheld her,
• 3:10:00
  my heart was irrecoverably gone. I remember I wore my yellow gown with
• 3:10:05
  my hair done up in braids, And when I came into the drawing room
• 3:10:07
  and John introduced him, I thought I never saw anybody so handsome before here.
• 3:10:13
  Catherine secretly acknowledged the power of love, for though exceedingly fond of her
• 3:10:18
  brother and partial to all his endowments, she had never in her life thought
• 3:10:22
  him handsome. I remember, too, Miss Andrews drank tea with us that
• 3:10:26
  evening and wore her puce colored sassenet, and she looked so heavenly that I
• 3:10:30
  thought your brother must certainly fall in love with her. I could not sleep
• 3:10:33
  a wink all night for thinking of it. Oh Catherine, the many sleepless
• 3:10:37
  nights I have had on your brother's account. I would not have you suffer
• 3:10:41
  half what I have done. I am grown wretchedly thin, I know,
• 3:10:45
  but I will not pain you by describing my anxiety. You have seen enough
• 3:10:48
  of it. I feel that I have betrayed myself, perpetually so unguarded in
• 3:10:52
  speaking of my partiality for the church, but my secret I was always sure
• 3:10:58
  be safe with you. Catherine felt that nothing could have been safer, But
• 3:11:03
  ashamed of an ignorance little expected, she dared no longer contest the point,
• 3:11:07
  nor refuse to have been as full of arch penetration and affectionate sympathy as Isabella
• 3:11:11
  chose to consider her. Her brother, she found, was preparing to set
• 3:11:15
  off with all speed to Fullerton to make known his situation and ask consent.
• 3:11:20
  And here is a source of some real agitation to the mind of Isabella.
• 3:11:24
  Catherine endeavored to persuade her, as she was herself persuaded that her father and
• 3:11:28
  mother would never oppose their son's wishes. It is impossible, said she,
• 3:11:33
  for parents to be more kind or more desirous of their children's happiness. I
• 3:11:37
  have no doubt of their consenting. Immediately Morland says exactly the same, replied
• 3:11:43
  Isabella. And yet I dare not expect it. My fortune will be so
• 3:11:46
  small they can never consent to it, your brother, who might marry anybody
• 3:11:52
  here, Catherine again discerned the force of love. Indeed, Isabella, you
• 3:11:56
  are too humble the difference of fortune to be nothing to signify. Oh,
• 3:12:01
  my sweet Catherine, in your generous heart, I know it would signify nothing.
• 3:12:07
  But we must not expect such disinterestedness in many. As for myself,
• 3:12:11
  I am sure. I only wish our situations were reversed. Had I the
• 3:12:15
  command of millions, were I mistress of the whole world, your brother would
• 3:12:18
  be my only choice. This charming sentiment, recommended as much by sense as
• 3:12:24
  novelty, gave Catherine a most pleasing remembrance of all the heroines of her acquaintance.
• 3:12:30
  Had she thought her friend never looked more lovely than in uttering the grand
• 3:12:33
  idea, I am sure they will consent, was her frequent declaration. I
• 3:12:37
  am sure they will be delighted with you. For my own part, said
• 3:12:41
  Isabella, my wishes are so moderate that the smallest income in nature would be
• 3:12:46
  enough for me. Where people are really attached, poverty itself is wealth grandeur
• 3:12:52
  I detest. I would not settle in London for the universe. A cottage
• 3:12:56
  in some retired village would be ecstasy. There is a charming little villas about
• 3:13:01
  Richmond. Richmond cried, Catherine, you must settle near Fullerton. You must
• 3:13:07
  be near us. I am sure I shall be miserable if we do not.
• 3:13:11
  If I can but be near you, I shall be satisfied. But
• 3:13:15
  this is idle talking. I will not allow myself to think of such things
• 3:13:18
  till we have your father's answer. Morland says that by sending it to night
• 3:13:22
  to Salisbury, we may have it to morrow. To morrow, I know
• 3:13:26
  I shall never have courage to open the letter. I know it will be
• 3:13:30
  the death of me. A reverie succeeded this conviction, and when Isabella spoke
• 3:13:35
  again, it was to resolve on the quality of her wedding gown. Their
• 3:13:39
  conference was put an end to by the anxious young lover himself, who came
• 3:13:43
  to breathe his parting sigh before he set off for Wiltshire. Catherine wished to
• 3:13:46
  congratulate him, but knew not what to say, and her eloquence was only
• 3:13:50
  in her eyes. From them, however, the eight parts of speech shone
• 3:13:54
  out most expressively, and James could combine them with ease. Impatient for the
• 3:13:58
  real asation of all that he had hoped at home. His adieus were not
• 3:14:01
  long, and they would have been yet shorter, had he not been frequently
• 3:14:05
  detained by the urgent entreaties of his fair one, that he would go Twice
• 3:14:09
  was he called almost from the door by her eagerness to have him gone.
• 3:14:13
  Indeed, Morland, I must drive you away. Consider how far you have
• 3:14:16
  to ride. I cannot bear to see you linger. So, for Heaven's
• 3:14:20
  sake, waste no more time. There, go go, I insist on
• 3:14:24
  it. The two friends, with hearts now more united than ever, were
• 3:14:28
  inseparable for the day, and in schemes of sisterly happiness, the hours flew
• 3:14:33
  along. Missus Thorpe and her son, who were acquainted with everything, and
• 3:14:37
  who seemed only to want mister Morland's consent. To consider Isabella's engagement as the
• 3:14:41
  most fortunate circumstance imaginable for their family, were allowed to join their counsels and
• 3:14:46
  add their quota of significant looks and mysterious expressions to fill up the measure of
• 3:14:50
  curiosity to be raised in the unprivileged younger sisters to Catherine's simple feelings. This
• 3:14:56
  odd sort of reserve seemed neither kindly meant nor consistently supported, and its unkindness
• 3:15:01
  she would hardly have forborne pointing out had its inconsistency been less their friend.
• 3:15:07
  But Anne and Maria soon set her heart at ease by the sagacity of their
• 3:15:11
  I Know what. And the evening was spent in a sort of war of
• 3:15:13
  wit, a display of family ingenuity on one side, in the mystery of
• 3:15:18
  an affected secret, on the other of undefined discovery, all equally acute.
• 3:15:24
  Catherine was with her friend again the next day, endeavoring to support her spirits,
• 3:15:28
  and while away the many tedious hours before the delivery of the letters,
• 3:15:31
  a needful exertion, for as the time of reasonable expectation drew near, Isabella
• 3:15:37
  became more and more desponding, and before the letter arrived had worked herself into
• 3:15:41
  a state of real distress. But when it did come, where could distress
• 3:15:46
  be found? I have had no difficulty in gaining the consent of my kind
• 3:15:50
  parents, and have promised that everything in their power shall be done to fullwood
• 3:15:52
  my happiness were the first three lines, and in one moment all was joyful
• 3:15:58
  security the bright disclose was instantly spread over Isabella's features, all care and anxiety
• 3:16:03
  seemed removed. Her spirits became almost too high for control, and she called
• 3:16:07
  herself without scruple, the happiest of mortals. Missus Thorpe, with tears of
• 3:16:13
  joy, embraced her daughter, her son, her visitor, and could have
• 3:16:16
  embraced half the inhabitants of Bath with satisfaction. Her heart was overflowing with tenderness.
• 3:16:22
  It was dear John and dear Catherine at every word, dear Anne and
• 3:16:28
  dear Maria must immediately be made shares in their felicity, and to DEAs at
• 3:16:33
  once before the name of Isabella were not more than that beloved child had now
• 3:16:37
  well earned. John himself was no skulker in joy. He not only bestowed
• 3:16:43
  on mister Morland the high commendation of being one of the finest fellows in the
• 3:16:46
  world, but swore off many sentences in his praise the letter whence sprang all
• 3:16:50
  This felicity was short, containing little more than this assurance of success, and
• 3:16:56
  every particular was deferred till James could write again. But for particular millers Isabella
• 3:17:00
  could well afford to wait. The needful was comprised in mister Morland's promise.
• 3:17:05
  His honor was pledged to make everything easy and by what means their income was
• 3:17:07
  to be formed. Whether landed property were to be resigned or funded money made
• 3:17:11
  over was a matter in which her disinterested spirit took no concern. She knew
• 3:17:16
  enough to feel secure of an honorable and speedy establishment, and her imagination took
• 3:17:20
  a rapid flight over its attendant felicities. She saw herself at the end of
• 3:17:24
  a few weeks, the gaze and admiration of every new acquaintance at Fullerton,
• 3:17:28
  the envy of every valued old friend in Putney, with a carriage at her
• 3:17:33
  command, a new name on her tickets, and a brilliant exhibition of hoop
• 3:17:37
  rings on her finger. When the contents of the letter were ascertained, John
• 3:17:41
  Thorpe, who had only waited its arrival to begin his journey to London,
• 3:17:43
  prepared to set off. Well, Miss Boland, said he, on finding
• 3:17:48
  her alone in the parlor, I am come to bid you good bye.
• 3:17:52
  Catherine wished him a good journey, without appearing to hear her. He walked
• 3:17:56
  to the window, fidgeted about, hummed a tune, and seen wholly self
• 3:18:00
  occupied. Shall not you be late, devices said Catherine. He made no
• 3:18:05
  answer, but after a minute's silence, burst out with a famous good thing,
• 3:18:11
  this marrying scheme upon my soul, A clever fancy of Morland's and Bell's.
• 3:18:15
  What do you think of it, Miss Morland? I say it is
• 3:18:16
  no bad notion. I am sure, I think it a very good one,
• 3:18:22
  do you That's honest? By heavens, I am glad you are no
• 3:18:26
  enemy to matrimony. However, did you ever hear the old song going to
• 3:18:30
  one wedding brings on another? I say, you will come to Bell's wedding?
• 3:18:33
  I hope yes. I have promised your sister to be with her if
• 3:18:37
  possible. And then, you know, twisting himself about and forcing a foolish
• 3:18:43
  laugh, I say, then you know we may try the truth of the
• 3:18:46
  same old song, may we? But I never sing well. I wish
• 3:18:52
  you a good journey. I dine with Miss Tilney to day, and must
• 3:18:54
  now be going home. Nay, but there is no such confounded hurry.
• 3:19:00
  Who knows when we may be together again? Not but that I shall be
• 3:19:03
  down again by the end of a fortnight, and a devilish long fortnight,
• 3:19:07
  it will appear to me. Then, why do you stay away so long?
• 3:19:11
  Replied Catherine, finding that he waited for an answer. That is kind
• 3:19:16
  of you, however kind and good natured. I shall not forget it in
• 3:19:18
  a hurry. But you have more good nature and all that than anybody living.
• 3:19:22
  I believe a monstrous deal of good nature. And it is not only
• 3:19:26
  good nature, but you have so much, so much of everything, And
• 3:19:31
  then you have such upon my soul. I do not know anybody like you,
• 3:19:35
  oh dear. There are a great many people like me. I daresay,
• 3:19:39
  only a great deal better. Good morning to you, But I say,
• 3:19:43
  Miss Morland, I shall come and pay my respects at Fullerton before it
• 3:19:46
  is long. If not disagreeable, pray do. My father and mother will
• 3:19:52
  be very glad to see you, and I hope, I hope, Miss
• 3:19:56
  Morland, you will not be sorry to see me, oh dear, not
• 3:20:00
  at all. There are very few people I am sorry to see. Company
• 3:20:03
  is always cheerful. That is just my way of thinking. Give me but
• 3:20:07
  a little cheerful company. Let me only have the company of the people I
• 3:20:11
  love. Let me only be where I like and with whom I like.
• 3:20:13
  And the devil take the rest, say I, and I am heartily glad
• 3:20:18
  to hear you say the same. But I have a notion, Miss Morland.
• 3:20:20
  You and I think pretty much alike upon most matters. Perhaps we may,
• 3:20:26
  but it is more than I ever thought of. And as to most
• 3:20:30
  matters, to say the truth, there are not many that I know my
• 3:20:33
  own mind about. By Jove, no more do I. It is not
• 3:20:37
  my way to bother my brains with what does not concern me. My notion
• 3:20:41
  of things is simple enough. Let me only have the girl I like,
• 3:20:45
  say, I with a comfortable house over my head, and what care I
• 3:20:48
  for all the rest? Fortune is nothing. I am sure of a good
• 3:20:52
  income of my own. And if she had not a penny, why so
• 3:20:54
  much the better. Very true, I think like you there, if there
• 3:21:00
  is a good fortune on one side, there can be no occasion for any
• 3:21:03
  on the other, no matter which has it, so that there is enough.
• 3:21:07
  I hate the idea of one great fortune looking out for another, and
• 3:21:09
  to marry for money, I think the wickedest thing in existence. Good day,
• 3:21:15
  we shall be very glad to see you at Fullerton whenever it is convenient.
• 3:21:18
  And away she went. It was not in the power of all his
• 3:21:22
  gallantry to detain her longer with such news. To communicate, and such a
• 3:21:26
  visit to prepare for her departure was not to be delayed by anything in his
• 3:21:30
  nature to urge, and she hurried away, leaving him to the undivided consciousness
• 3:21:33
  of his own happy address and her explicit encouragement. The agitation which she had
• 3:21:39
  herself experienced on first learning her brother's engagement, made her expect to raise no
• 3:21:43
  inconsiderable emotion in mister and missus Allen by the communication of the wonderful event.
• 3:21:48
  How great was her disappointment. The important affair, which many words of preparation
• 3:21:54
  ushered in, had been foreseen by them both ever since her brother's arrival,
• 3:21:58
  and all that they felt on the occasion was comprehended in a wish for the
• 3:22:01
  young people's happiness, with remark on the gentleman's side, in favor of Isabella's
• 3:22:05
  beauty, and on the ladies of her great good luck. It was to
• 3:22:09
  Catherine the most surprising insensibility. The disclosure, however, of the great secret
• 3:22:13
  of James's going to Fullerton the day before, did raise some emotion in Missus
• 3:22:16
  Allen. She could not listen to that with perfect calmness, but repeatedly regretted
• 3:22:22
  the necessity of its concealment. Wished she could have known his intention. Wished
• 3:22:26
  she could have seen him before he went, as she should certainly have troubled
• 3:22:28
  him with her best regards to his father and mother, and her kind compliments
• 3:22:31
  to all the skinners. End of Chapter fifteen. Chapter sixteen. Catherine's expectations
• 3:22:41
  of pleasure from her visit in Milsom Street were so very high that disappointment was
• 3:22:46
  inevitable. And accordingly, though she was most politely received by General Tilney and
• 3:22:52
  kindly welcomed by his daughter, though Henry was at home and no one else
• 3:22:54
  of the party, she found on her return without spending many hours in the
• 3:22:58
  ex examination of her feelings, that she had gone to her appointment preparing for
• 3:23:03
  happiness which it had not afforded. Instead of finding herself improved in acquaintance with
• 3:23:07
  Miss Tilney from the intercourse of the day, she seemed hardly so intimate with
• 3:23:13
  her as before. Instead of seeing Henry Tilney to greater advantage than ever in
• 3:23:16
  the ease of a family party, he had never said so little nor been
• 3:23:20
  so little agreeable, And in spite of their father's great civilities to her,
• 3:23:24
  in spite of his thanks, invitations, and compliments. It had been a
• 3:23:28
  release to get away from him. It puzzled her to account for all this.
• 3:23:33
  It could not be General Tilney's fault. That he was perfectly agreeable and
• 3:23:37
  good natured, and altogether a very charming man. Did not admit of a
• 3:23:41
  doubt, for he was tall and handsome, and Henry's father. He could
• 3:23:45
  not be accountable for his children's want of spirits, or for her want of
• 3:23:48
  enjoyment in his company. The former, she hoped at last, might have
• 3:23:52
  been accidental, and the latter she could only attribute to her own stupidity.
• 3:23:58
  Isabella, on hearing the particulars of the vis gave a different explanation. It
• 3:24:03
  was all pride, pride, insufferable haughtiness and pride. She had long suspected
• 3:24:09
  the family to be very high, and this made it certain. Such insolence
• 3:24:13
  of behavior as Miss Tilney she had never heard of in her life, not
• 3:24:16
  to do the honors of her house with common good breeding, to behave to
• 3:24:20
  her guest with such superciliousness, hardly even to speak to her. But it
• 3:24:26
  was not so bad as that, Isabella, There was no superciliousness. She
• 3:24:31
  was very civil. Oh don't defend her. And then the brother, he
• 3:24:35
  who had appeared so attached to you good heavens well, some people's feelings are
• 3:24:41
  incomprehensible, and so he hardly looked once at you the whole day. I
• 3:24:46
  do not say so, but he did not seem in good spirits. How
• 3:24:50
  contemptible of all things in the world. Inconstancy is my aversion. Let me
• 3:24:56
  entreat you never to think of him again, my dear Catherine. Indeed,
• 3:24:58
  he is unworthy of you. Unworthy. I do not suppose he ever thinks
• 3:25:03
  of me. That is exactly what I say. He never thinks of you.
• 3:25:09
  Such fickleness. Oh, how different to your brother and to mine.
• 3:25:13
  I really believe John has the most constant heart. But as for General Tilney,
• 3:25:20
  I assure you it would be impossible for anybody to behave to me with
• 3:25:22
  greater civility and attention. It seemed to be his only care to entertain and
• 3:25:26
  make me happy. Oh, I know no harm of him. I do
• 3:25:31
  not suspect him of bride. I believe he is a very gentlemanlike man.
• 3:25:35
  John thinks very well of him. And John's judgment, well, I shall
• 3:25:39
  see how they behave to me this evening we shall meet them at the RUMs,
• 3:25:43
  and must I go? Do not you intend it? I thought it
• 3:25:48
  was all settled. Nay, since you make such a point of it,
• 3:25:52
  I can refuse you nothing. But do not insist upon my being very agreeable,
• 3:25:56
  for my heart, you know, will be some forty miles off.
• 3:25:58
  And as for dancing, do not mention it. I beg that is quite
• 3:26:03
  out of the question. Charles Hodges will plague me to death, I dare
• 3:26:05
  say, but I shall cut him very short ten to one. But he
• 3:26:09
  guesses the reason, and that is exactly what I want to avoid, So
• 3:26:13
  I shall insist on his keeping his conjecture to himself. Isabella's opinion of the
• 3:26:18
  Tilneys did not influence her friend. She was sure there had been no insolence
• 3:26:22
  in the manners, either of brother or sister, and she did not credit
• 3:26:24
  there being any pride in their hearts. The evening rewarded her confidence. She
• 3:26:28
  was met by one with the same kindness and by the other with the same
• 3:26:33
  attention as heretofore. Miss Tilney took pains to be near her, and Henry
• 3:26:37
  asked her to dance, having heard the day before in Milsom Street that their
• 3:26:41
  elder brother Captain Tilney was expected almost every hour. She was at no loss
• 3:26:45
  for the name of a very fashionable looking, handsome young man, whom she
• 3:26:48
  had never seen before, and who now evidently belonged to their party. She
• 3:26:52
  looked at him with great admiration, and even supposed it possible that some people
• 3:26:56
  might think him handsomer than his brother. Though in her eyes his air was
• 3:27:00
  more assuming and his countenance less prepossessing, his taste and manners were beyond a
• 3:27:05
  doubt decidedly inferior. For within her hearing, he not only protested against every
• 3:27:09
  thought of dancing himself, but even laughed openly at Henry for finding it possible.
• 3:27:15
  From the latter circumstance, it may be presumed that, whatever might be
• 3:27:18
  our heroine's opinion of him, his admiration of her was not of a very
• 3:27:22
  dangerous kind, not likely to produce animosities between the brothers, nor persecutions to
• 3:27:26
  the lady. He cannot be the instigator of the three villains in Horsemen's Greatcoats,
• 3:27:31
  by whom she will hereafter be forced into a traveling chaise and four,
• 3:27:35
  which will drive off with incredible speed. Catherine, meanwhile, undisturbed by presentiments
• 3:27:39
  of such an evil, or of any evil at all, except that of
• 3:27:43
  having but a short set to dance down enjoyed her usual happiness with Henry Tilney,
• 3:27:48
  listening with sparkling eyes to everything he said, and in finding him irresistible,
• 3:27:52
  becoming so herself. At the end of the first dance, Captain Tilney
• 3:27:56
  came towards them again, and, much to Catherine's dissatisfaction, pulled his brother
• 3:28:01
  away. They retired whispering together, and though her delicate sensibility did not take
• 3:28:07
  immediate alarm and lay it down as fact that Captain Tilney must have heard some
• 3:28:11
  malevolent misrepresentation of her, which he now hastened to communicate to his brother in
• 3:28:16
  the hope of separating them forever. She could not have her partner conveyed from
• 3:28:18
  her side without very uneasy sensations. Her suspense was of full five minutes duration,
• 3:28:24
  and she was beginning to think it a very long quarter of an hour
• 3:28:28
  when they both returned, and an explanation was given by Henry's requesting to know
• 3:28:31
  if she thought her friend, Miss Thorpe would have any objection to dancing,
• 3:28:35
  as his brother would be most happy to be introduced to her. Catherine without
• 3:28:39
  hesitation, replied that she was very sure Miss Thorpe did not mean to dance
• 3:28:43
  at all. The cruel reply was passed on to the other, and he
• 3:28:46
  immediately walked away. Your brother will not mind it, I know, said
• 3:28:50
  she, because I heard him say before that he hated dancing. But it
• 3:28:54
  was very good natured in him to think of it. I suppose he saw
• 3:28:58
  Isabella sitting down and fancied she might wish for a partner. But he is
• 3:29:01
  quite mistaken, for she would not dance upon any account in the world.
• 3:29:07
  Henry smiled and said, how very little trouble it can give you to understand
• 3:29:11
  the motive of other people's actions. Why what do you mean with you?
• 3:29:16
  It is not How is such a one likely to be influenced? What is
• 3:29:20
  the inducement most likely to act upon a person's feelings, age, situation and
• 3:29:24
  probable habits of life considered? But how should I be influenced? What would
• 3:29:30
  my inducement in acting so and so? I do not understand you, then
• 3:29:35
  we are on very unequal terms. For I understand you perfectly well. Me
• 3:29:43
  yes, I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible. Bravo. An excellent
• 3:29:48
  satire on modern language. But pray, tell me what you mean, shall
• 3:29:52
  I? Indeed, do you really desire it, but you are not aware
• 3:29:56
  of the consequences. It will involve you in a very cruel embarrassment and certainly
• 3:30:01
  bring on a disagreement between us. No, no, it shall not do
• 3:30:05
  either. I am not afraid. Well, then, I only meant that
• 3:30:09
  your attributing my brother's wish of dancing with Miss Thorpe to good nature alone convinced
• 3:30:13
  me of your being superior and good nature yourself to all the rest of the
• 3:30:18
  world. Catherine blushed and disclaimed, and the gentleman's predictions were verified. There
• 3:30:24
  was a something, however, in his words, which repaid her for the
• 3:30:26
  pain of confusion, and that something occupied her mind so much that she drew
• 3:30:31
  back for some time, forgetting to speak or to listen, and almost forgetting
• 3:30:35
  where she was till Roused by the voice of Isabella, she looked up and
• 3:30:39
  saw her with Captain Tilney, preparing to give them hands across. Isabella shrugged
• 3:30:43
  her shoulders and smiled. The only explanation of this extraordinary change which could at
• 3:30:48
  that time be given, but as it was not quite enough for Catherine's comprehension,
• 3:30:54
  she spoke her astonishment in very plain terms to her partner. I cannot
• 3:30:58
  think how it could happen. Isabella was so determined not to dance, And
• 3:31:03
  did Isabella never change her mind before? Oh? But because and your brother,
• 3:31:09
  after what you told him from me, how could he think of going
• 3:31:11
  to ask her? I cannot take surprise to myself on that head. You
• 3:31:16
  bid me be surprised on your friend's account, and therefore I am. But
• 3:31:20
  as for my brother, his conduct and the business I must own, has
• 3:31:24
  been no more than I believed him perfectly. Equal to the fairness of your
• 3:31:28
  friend was an open attraction. Her firmness, you know, could only be
• 3:31:31
  understood by yourself. You are laughing, but I assure you Isabella is very
• 3:31:35
  firm. In general. It is as much as should be said of any
• 3:31:39
  one. To be always firm must be, to be often obstinate when properly
• 3:31:45
  to relax is the trial of judgment. And without reference to my brother,
• 3:31:48
  I really think Miss Thorpe has by no means chosen ill in fixing on the
• 3:31:52
  present hour. The friends were not able to get together for any confidential discourse
• 3:31:58
  till all the dancing was over. But then as they walked about the room
• 3:32:01
  arm in arm. Isabella thus explained herself, I do not wonder at your
• 3:32:05
  surprise, and I really am fatigued to death. He is such a rattle
• 3:32:11
  amusing enough if my mind had been disengaged. But I would have given all
• 3:32:15
  the world to sit still. Then why did not you, Oh, my
• 3:32:20
  dear, it would have looked so particular, And you know how I abhorred
• 3:32:22
  doing that. I refused him as long as I possibly could, but he
• 3:32:26
  would take no denial. You have no idea how he pressed me. I
• 3:32:31
  begged him to excuse me and get some other partner, but no, not
• 3:32:33
  he after aspiring to my hand, there was nobody else in the room he
• 3:32:37
  could bear to think of. And it was not that he wanted merely to
• 3:32:41
  dance. He wanted to be with me. Oh, such nonsense. I
• 3:32:46
  told him. He had taken a very unlikely way to prevail upon me.
• 3:32:48
  For of all the things in the world, I hated fine speeches and compliments
• 3:32:54
  and so and so. Then I found there would be no peace if I
• 3:32:56
  did not stand up. Besides, I thought Missus Hughes, who introduced him,
• 3:33:01
  might take it ill if I did not. And your dear brother I
• 3:33:05
  am sure he would have been miserable if I had sat down the whole evening.
• 3:33:07
  I am so glad it is over. My spirits are quite jaded with
• 3:33:11
  listening to his nonsense and then being such a smart young fellow. I saw
• 3:33:16
  every eye was upon us. He is very handsome, indeed handsome, yes,
• 3:33:22
  I suppose he may, I dare say people would admire him in general,
• 3:33:26
  But he is not at all in my style of beauty. I hate
• 3:33:28
  a florid complexion and dark eyes in a man. However, he is very
• 3:33:33
  well, amazingly conceited. I am sure I took him down several times,
• 3:33:39
  you know, in my way. When the young ladies next met, they
• 3:33:43
  had a far more interesting subject to discuss. James Morland's second letter was then
• 3:33:46
  received, and the kind intentions of his father fully explained. A living of
• 3:33:52
  which mister Morland was himself patron and incumbent, of about four hundred pounds yearly
• 3:33:56
  value was to be resigned to his son as soon as he could be old
• 3:33:58
  enough to take it. No trifling deduction from the family income, no niggardly
• 3:34:03
  assignment to one of ten children, an a state of at least equal value.
• 3:34:07
  Moreover, was assured as his future inheritance. James expressed himself on the
• 3:34:13
  occasion with becoming gratitude, and the necessity of waiting between two and three years
• 3:34:16
  before they could marry, being, however unwelcome. No more than he had
• 3:34:20
  expected was borne by him without discontent. Catherine, whose expectations had been as
• 3:34:26
  unfixed as her ideas of her father's income, and whose judgment was now entirely
• 3:34:31
  led by her brother, felt equally well satisfied and heartily congratulated Isabella on having
• 3:34:35
  everything so pleasantly settled. It is very charming, indeed, said Isabella,
• 3:34:41
  with a grave face. Mister Morland has behaved vastly handsome, indeed, said
• 3:34:46
  the gentle missus Thorpe, looking anxiously at her daughter. I only wish I
• 3:34:50
  could do as much. One could not expect more from him, you know,
• 3:34:54
  if he finds he can do more by and by, I daresay he
• 3:34:56
  will, For I am sure he must be an ex good hearted man.
• 3:35:01
  Four hundred is but a small income to begin on. Indeed, but your
• 3:35:05
  wishes, my dear Isabella, are so moderate you do not consider how little
• 3:35:09
  you ever want, My dear, it is not on my own account I
• 3:35:11
  wish for more, but I cannot bear to be the means of injuring my
• 3:35:15
  dear Morland, making him sit down upon an income hardly enough to find one
• 3:35:20
  in the common necessities of life. For myself, it is nothing I never
• 3:35:24
  think of myself. I know you never do, my dear, and you
• 3:35:28
  will always find your reward in the affection it makes everybody feel for you.
• 3:35:31
  There never was such a young woman so beloved as you are by everybody that
• 3:35:35
  knows you. And I dare say when mister Morland sees you, my dear
• 3:35:39
  child, but do not let us distress our dear Catherine by talking of such
• 3:35:43
  things. Mister Morland has behaved so very handsome, you know. I always
• 3:35:48
  heard he was a most excellent man. And you know, my dear,
• 3:35:50
  we are not to suppose, but what if you had a suitable fortune,
• 3:35:54
  he would have come down with something more? For I am sure he must
• 3:35:56
  be a most liberal minded man. Nobody can think better of mister Morland than
• 3:36:01
  I do. I am sure. But everybody has their failing, you know,
• 3:36:05
  and everybody has a right to do what they like with their own money.
• 3:36:09
  Catherine was hurt by these insinuations. I'm very sure, said she that
• 3:36:13
  my father has promised to do as much as he can afford. Isabella recollected
• 3:36:18
  herself as to that, my sweet Catherine, there cannot be a doubt.
• 3:36:22
  And you know me well enough to be sure that a much smaller income would
• 3:36:26
  satisfy me. It is not the want of more money that makes me just
• 3:36:30
  at present a little out of spirits. I hate money, and if our
• 3:36:33
  union could take place now upon only fifty pounds a year, I should not
• 3:36:37
  have a wish unsatisfied. Ah, my Catherine, you have found me out.
• 3:36:41
  There's the sting, the long, long, endless two years and half
• 3:36:46
  that are to pass before your brother can hold the living. Yes, yes,
• 3:36:50
  my darling, Isabella, said missus Thorpe. We perfectly see into your
• 3:36:54
  heart. You have no disguise, We perfectly understand the present vexation, and
• 3:37:00
  everybody must love you the better for such a noble, honest affection. Catherine's
• 3:37:05
  uncomfortable feelings began to lessen. She endeavored to believe that the delay of the
• 3:37:09
  marriage was the only source of Isabella's regret, and when she saw her at
• 3:37:13
  their next interview as cheerful and amiable as ever, endeavored to forget that she
• 3:37:16
  had for a minute thought otherwise. James soon followed his letter and was received
• 3:37:22
  with the most gratifying kindness. End of Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen. The
• 3:37:31
  Allens had now entered on the sixth week of their stay in Bath, and
• 3:37:35
  whether it should be the last was for some time a question to which Catherine
• 3:37:39
  listened with a beating heart. To have her acquaintance with the Tilney's end so
• 3:37:43
  soon was an evil which nothing could counterbalance. Her whole happiness seemed at stake
• 3:37:48
  while the affair was in suspense and everything secured when it was determined that the
• 3:37:52
  lodging should be taken for another fortnight. What this additional fortnight was to produce
• 3:37:56
  to her, beyond the pleasure of some time seeing Henry Tilney, made but
• 3:38:00
  a small part of Catherine's speculation once or twice. Indeed, since James's engagement
• 3:38:05
  had taught her what could be done, she had got so far as to
• 3:38:07
  indulge in a secret, perhaps, but in general the felicity of being with
• 3:38:11
  him for the present bounded her views. The present was now comprised in another
• 3:38:16
  three weeks, and her happiness being certain for that period, the rest of
• 3:38:20
  her life was at such a distance as to excite but little interest. In
• 3:38:24
  the course of the morning which saw this business arranged, she visited Miss Tilney
• 3:38:28
  and poured forth her joyful feelings. It was doomed to be a day of
• 3:38:31
  trial. No sooner had she expressed her delight in mister Allen's lengthened stay,
• 3:38:35
  than Miss Tilney told her of her father's having just determined upon quitting Bath by
• 3:38:39
  the end of another week. Here was a blow. The past suspense of
• 3:38:45
  the morning had been ease and quiet, to the present disappointment. Catherine's countenance
• 3:38:50
  fell, and in a voice of most sincere concern, she echoed Miss Tilney's
• 3:38:54
  concluding words, by the end of another week, Yes, my father can
• 3:38:58
  Sayeldmby prevailed on to give the Waters what I think a fair trial. He
• 3:39:03
  has been disappointed of some friend's arrival whom he expected to meet here, and
• 3:39:07
  as he is now pretty well, is in a hurry to get home.
• 3:39:11
  I am very sorry for it, said Catherine dejectedly. If I had known
• 3:39:16
  this before, perhaps, said Miss Tilney in an embarrassed manner, you would
• 3:39:22
  be so good. It would make me very happy. If the entrance of
• 3:39:26
  her father put a stop to the civility, which Catherine was beginning to hope
• 3:39:30
  might introduce a desire of their corresponding. After addressing her with his usual politeness,
• 3:39:35
  he turned to his daughter and said, well, Eleanor, may I
• 3:39:39
  congratulate to you on being successful in your application to your fair friend. I
• 3:39:43
  was just beginning to make the request, sir, as you came in.
• 3:39:48
  Well proceed by all means. I know how much your heart is in it.
• 3:39:52
  My daughter, Miss Morland, he continued, without leaving his daughter time
• 3:39:56
  to speak, has been forming a very bold wish we leave Bath, as
• 3:40:00
  she has perhaps told you. On Saturday sunnight, a letter from my steward
• 3:40:03
  tells me that my presence is wanted at home, and being disappointed in my
• 3:40:07
  hope of seeing the Marquis of Longtown and General Courtney here some of my very
• 3:40:11
  old friends, there is nothing to detain me longer in Bath, and could
• 3:40:16
  we carry our selfish point with you we should leave it without a single regret.
• 3:40:20
  Can you, in short, be prevailed on to quit this scene of
• 3:40:24
  public triumph and oblige your friend Eleanor with your company in Gloucestershire. I am
• 3:40:28
  almost ashamed to make the request, though its presumption, would certainly appear greater
• 3:40:33
  to every creature in bath than yourself modesty such as yours, But not for
• 3:40:37
  the world would I pain it by open praise. If you can be induced
• 3:40:41
  to honor us with a visit, you will make us happy beyond expression.
• 3:40:45
  Tis true. We can offer you nothing like the gaieties of this lively place.
• 3:40:48
  We can tempt you neither by amusement nor splendor, for our mode of
• 3:40:52
  living, as you see, is plain and unpretending. Yet no endeavor shall
• 3:40:56
  be wanting on our side to make Northanger Abbey not wholly disagreeable Northanger Abbey.
• 3:41:01
  These were thrilling words and wound up Catherine's feelings to the highest point of ecstasy.
• 3:41:07
  Her grateful and gratified heart could hardly restrain its expressions within the language of
• 3:41:11
  tolerable calmness. To receive so flattering an invitation, to have her company so
• 3:41:16
  warmly solicited, everything honorable and soothing, every present enjoyment, and every future
• 3:41:22
  hope was contained in it, and her acceptance, with only the saving clause
• 3:41:26
  of Papa and Mamma's approbation, was eagerly given. I will write home directly,
• 3:41:31
  said she, And if they do not object, as I daresay they
• 3:41:35
  will not. General Tilney was not less sanguine, having already waited on her
• 3:41:39
  excellent friends in Pulteney Street and obtained their sanction of his wishes. Since they
• 3:41:45
  can consent to part with you, said he, we may expect philosophy from
• 3:41:48
  all the world. Miss Tilney was earnest, though gentle, in her secondary
• 3:41:52
  civilities, and the affair became in a few minutes as nearly settled as this
• 3:41:56
  necessary reference to Fullerton would allow. The circumstances of the morning had led Catherine's
• 3:42:03
  feelings through the varieties of suspense, security and disappointment, but they were now
• 3:42:07
  safely lodged in perfect bliss, and with spirits elated to rapture. With Henry
• 3:42:11
  atte her heart and Northanger Abbey on her lips, she hurried home to write
• 3:42:15
  her letter. Mister and Missus Morland, relying on the discretion of the friends
• 3:42:20
  to whom they had already entrusted their daughter, felt no doubt of the propriety
• 3:42:22
  of an acquaintance which had been formed under their eye, and sent therefore by
• 3:42:26
  return of post their ready consent to her visit in Gloucestershire. This indulgence,
• 3:42:31
  though not more than Catherine had hoped for, completed her conviction of being favored
• 3:42:35
  beyond every other human creature. In friends and fortune, circumstance and chance.
• 3:42:41
  Everything seemed to co operate for her advantage. By the kindest of her first
• 3:42:45
  friends, the Allens, she had been introduced into scenes where pleasures of every
• 3:42:48
  kind had met her for feelings, her preferences had each known the happiness of
• 3:42:52
  a return. Wherever she felt attachment, she had been able to create it.
• 3:42:56
  The affection of Isabella was to be secured to her in a sister.
• 3:43:00
  The Tilneys. They by whom above all she desired to be favorably thought of,
• 3:43:05
  outstripped even her wishes in the flattering measures by which their intimacy was to
• 3:43:07
  be continued. She was to be their chosen visitor. She was to be
• 3:43:11
  for weeks under the same roof with the person whose society she most prized,
• 3:43:16
  And in addition to all the rest, this roof was to be the roof
• 3:43:18
  of an abbey. Her passion for ancient edifices was next in degree to her
• 3:43:24
  passion for Henry. Tilney and castles and abbeys made usually the charm of those
• 3:43:28
  reveries which his image did not fill. To see and explore either the ramparts
• 3:43:31
  and keep of the one or the cloisters of the other had been for many
• 3:43:35
  weeks a darling wish, though to be more than the visitor of an hour
• 3:43:39
  had seemed too nearly impossible for desire. And yet this was to happen.
• 3:43:45
  With all the chances against her, of House, Hall, Place, park
• 3:43:48
  Court and cottage, Northanger turned up an abbey, and she was to be
• 3:43:52
  its inhabitant. Its long damp passages, its narrow cells, and ruined chapel
• 3:43:58
  were to be within her daily reach. And she could not entirely subdue the
• 3:44:03
  hope of some traditional legends, some awful memorials of an injured and ill fated
• 3:44:07
  nun. It was wonderful that her friends should seem so little elated by the
• 3:44:11
  possession of such a home, that the consciousness of it should be so meekly
• 3:44:15
  born. The power of early habit only could account for it. A distinction
• 3:44:20
  to which they had been born gave no pride. Their superiority of abode was
• 3:44:24
  no more to them than their superiority of person. Many were the inquiries she
• 3:44:28
  was eager to make of Miss Tilney. But so active were her thoughts that
• 3:44:31
  when these inquiries are answered, she was hardly more assured than before of Northanger
• 3:44:35
  Abbey, having been a richly endowed convent at the time of the Reformation,
• 3:44:39
  of its having fallen into the hands of an ancestor of the Tilneys, on
• 3:44:43
  its dissolution of a large portion of the ancient buildings, still making a part
• 3:44:46
  of the present dwelling, although the rest was decayed, or of its standing
• 3:44:50
  low in a valley sheltered from the north and east by rising woods of oak.
• 3:44:56
  End of Chapter seventeen, eight eighteen. With a mind thus full of
• 3:45:03
  happiness, Catherine was hardly aware that two or three days had passed away without
• 3:45:07
  her seeing Isabella for more than a few minutes together. She began first to
• 3:45:11
  be sensible of this and to sigh for her conversation as she walked along the
• 3:45:15
  pump room one morning by missus Allen's side, without anything to say or to
• 3:45:18
  hear, and scarcely had she felt a five minutes longing of friendship before the
• 3:45:24
  object of it appeared, and inviting her to a secret conference, led the
• 3:45:26
  way to a seat. This is my favorite place, said she, as
• 3:45:31
  they sat down on a bench between the doors, which commanded a tolerable view
• 3:45:35
  of everybody entering at either It is so out of the way. Catherine,
• 3:45:41
  observing that Isabella's eyes were continually bent towards one door of the other as an
• 3:45:45
  eager expectation, and remembering how often she had been falsely accused of being arch,
• 3:45:50
  thought the present a fine opportunity for being really so, and therefore Gaily
• 3:45:54
  said, do not be uneasy, Isabella. James will soon be here.
• 3:45:58
  Pshaw, my dear creature, she replied, do not think me such a
• 3:46:03
  simpleton as to be always wanting to confine him to my elbow. It would
• 3:46:07
  be hideous to be always together. We should be the jest of the place.
• 3:46:11
  And so you are going to Northanger. I am amazingly glad of it.
• 3:46:15
  It is one of the finest old places in England. I understand I
• 3:46:18
  shall depend upon a most particular description of it. You shall certainly have the
• 3:46:22
  best in my power to give. But who are you looking for? Are
• 3:46:26
  your sisters coming? I am not looking for anybody. One's eyes must be
• 3:46:31
  somewhere, And you know what a foolish trick I have of fixing mine when
• 3:46:35
  my thoughts are a hundred miles off. I am amazingly absent. I believe
• 3:46:39
  I am the most absent creature in the world. Tilney says, it is
• 3:46:43
  always the case with minds of a certain stamp. But I thought, Isabella,
• 3:46:48
  you had something in particular to tell me. Oh, yes, and
• 3:46:52
  so I have. But here is a proof of what I was saying,
• 3:46:56
  my poor head, I had quite forgot it. Well, the thing is
• 3:46:58
  this, I have just had a letter from John. You can guess the
• 3:47:03
  contents. No, indeed I cannot, My sweet love, do not be
• 3:47:07
  so abominably affected. What can he write about but yourself? You know he
• 3:47:13
  is over head and ears in love with you, with me, dear Isabella.
• 3:47:18
  Nay, my sweetest Catherine, this is being quite absurd. Modesty in
• 3:47:22
  all that is very well in its way, But really a little common honesty
• 3:47:26
  is sometimes quite as becoming. I have no idea of being so overstrained.
• 3:47:31
  It is fishing for compliments. His attentions were such as a child must have
• 3:47:35
  noticed. And it was but half an hour before he left Bath that you
• 3:47:37
  gave him the most positive encouragement. He says, so in this letter says
• 3:47:41
  that he as good as made you an offer and that you received his advances
• 3:47:45
  in the kindest way, And now he wants me to urge his suit and
• 3:47:48
  say all manner of pretty things to you. So it is in vain to
• 3:47:52
  affect ignorance. Catherine, with all the earnestness of truth, expressed her astonishment
• 3:47:58
  at such a charge, protesting her innocence of every thought of mister Thorpe's being
• 3:48:01
  in love with her, and the consequent impossibility of her having ever intended to
• 3:48:05
  encourage him as to any attentions on his side, I to declare, upon
• 3:48:11
  my honor, I never was sensible of them for a moment, except just
• 3:48:13
  his asking me to dance the first day of his coming. And as to
• 3:48:16
  making me an offer or anything like it, there must be some unaccountable mistake.
• 3:48:22
  I could not have misunderstood a thing of that kind, you know,
• 3:48:24
  And as I ever wished to be believed, I solemnly protest that no syllable
• 3:48:28
  of such a nature ever passed between us the last half hour before he went
• 3:48:33
  away. It must be all and completely a mistake, for I did not
• 3:48:37
  see him once that whole morning, but that you certainly did, for you
• 3:48:41
  spent the whole morning in Edgar's buildings. It was the day your father's consent
• 3:48:46
  came, and I am pretty sure that you and John were alone in the
• 3:48:48
  parlor some time before you left the house. Are you well If you say
• 3:48:52
  so, it was so, I dare say, but for the life of
• 3:48:56
  me, I cannot recollect it. I do remember now being you and seeing
• 3:49:01
  him, as well as the rest, but that we were ever alone for
• 3:49:03
  five minutes. However, it is not worth arguing about, for whatever might
• 3:49:07
  pass on his side. You must be convinced, by my having no recollection
• 3:49:11
  of it, that I never thought, nor expected, nor wished for anything
• 3:49:15
  of the kind from him. I am excessively concerned that he should have any
• 3:49:18
  regard for me. But indeed it has been quite unintentional on my side.
• 3:49:24
  I never had the smallest idea of it. Pray undeceive him as soon as
• 3:49:28
  you can and tell him I beg his pardon. That is, I do
• 3:49:31
  not know what I ought to say, but make him understand what I mean
• 3:49:35
  in the properest way. I would not speak disrespectfully of a brother of yours.
• 3:49:39
  Isabella, I am sure, but you know very well that if I
• 3:49:41
  could think of one man more than another, he is not the person Isabella
• 3:49:46
  was silent. My dear friend, you must not be angry with me.
• 3:49:50
  I cannot suppose your brother cares so very much about me, And you know
• 3:49:54
  we shall still be sisters. Yes, yes, with the there are more
• 3:50:01
  ways than one of our being sisters. But where am I wandering to?
• 3:50:05
  Well, my dear Catherine, The case seems to be that you are determined
• 3:50:07
  against poor John, is not it? So? I certainly cannot return his
• 3:50:13
  affection, and has certainly never meant to encourage it. Since that is the
• 3:50:18
  case, I am sure I shall not tease you any further. John desired
• 3:50:20
  me to speak to you on the subject, and therefore I have. But
• 3:50:24
  I confess, as soon as I read his letter I thought it a very
• 3:50:26
  foolish and prudent business, and not likely to promote the good of either.
• 3:50:31
  For what were you to live on? Supposing you came together? You have
• 3:50:33
  both of you something to be sure, But it is not a trifle that
• 3:50:37
  will support a family now a days. And after all that, romancers may
• 3:50:39
  say there is no doing without money. I only wonder John could think of
• 3:50:43
  it. He could not have received my last You do acquit me, then,
• 3:50:48
  of anything wrong? You are convinced that I never meant to deceive your
• 3:50:52
  brother, never suspected him of liking me till this moment. Oh As to
• 3:50:56
  that, answered Isabella laughingly, I do not pretend to determine what your thoughts
• 3:51:01
  and designs in times past may have been. All that is best known to
• 3:51:05
  yourself. A little harmless flirtation or so will occur, and one is often
• 3:51:09
  drawn on to give more encouragement than one wishes to stand by. But you
• 3:51:13
  may be assured that I am the last person in the world to judge you
• 3:51:16
  severely. All those things should be allowed for in youth and high spirits.
• 3:51:20
  What one means one day, you know, one may not mean the next.
• 3:51:24
  Circumstances change, opinions alter that. My opinion of your brother never did
• 3:51:28
  alter. It was always the same. You are describing what never happened,
• 3:51:33
  My dearest Catherine continued the other without it all. Listening to her, I
• 3:51:37
  would not, for all the world be the means of hurrying you into an
• 3:51:41
  engagement before you knew what you were about. I do not think anything would
• 3:51:45
  justify me in wishing you to sacrifice all your happiness merely to oblige my brother,
• 3:51:48
  because he is my brother, and who perhaps, after all, you
• 3:51:52
  know, might be just as happy without you. For people seldom know what
• 3:51:56
  they would be at young men especially, they are so amazingly changeable and constant.
• 3:52:01
  What I say is, why should a brother's happiness be dearer to me
• 3:52:03
  than a friend's. You know that I carry my notions of friendship pretty high.
• 3:52:07
  But above all things, my dear Catherine, do not be in a
• 3:52:11
  hurry. Take my word for it that if you are in too great a
• 3:52:13
  hurry, you will certainly live to repent it. Tilney says, there is
• 3:52:18
  nothing people are so often deceived in as the state of their own affections.
• 3:52:22
  And I believe he is very right. Ah here he comes. Never mind,
• 3:52:26
  he will not see us, I am sure. Catherine, looking up
• 3:52:30
  perceived Captain Tilney, and Isabella earnestly fixing her eye on him as she spoke,
• 3:52:35
  soon caught his notice. He approached immediately and took the seat to which
• 3:52:39
  her movements invited him. His first address made Catherine start. Though spoken low,
• 3:52:43
  she could distinguish what always to be watched and personal by proxy. Psha,
• 3:52:50
  nonsense was Isabella's answer in the same half, whisper, why do you
• 3:52:54
  put such things into my head? If I could believe it. My spirit,
• 3:52:58
  you know, is pretty in dependent. I wish your heart were independent.
• 3:53:03
  That would be enough for me. My heart. Indeed, what can
• 3:53:07
  you have to do with hearts? You men have none of you any hearts.
• 3:53:11
  If we have not hearts, we have eyes, and they give us
• 3:53:15
  torment, enough do they? I am sorry for it. I am sorry
• 3:53:20
  they find anything so disagreeable in me. I will look another way. I
• 3:53:24
  hope this pleases you, turning her back on him. I hope your eyes
• 3:53:28
  are not tormented now, never more so, for the edge of a blooming
• 3:53:33
  cheek is still in view. At once too much and too little. Catherine
• 3:53:39
  heard all this, and, quite out of countenance, could listen no longer.
• 3:53:43
  Amazed that Isabella could endure it, and jealous for her brother, she
• 3:53:48
  rose up and, saying she should join missus. Allen proposed their walking,
• 3:53:52
  but for this Isabella showed no inclination. She was so amazingly tired, and
• 3:53:56
  it was so odious to parade about the pump room. And if she move,
• 3:54:00
  oh from her seat, she should miss her sisters. She was expecting
• 3:54:01
  her sisters at every moment, so that her dearest Catherine must excuse her and
• 3:54:05
  must sit quietly down again, But Catherine could be stubborn too, and missus
• 3:54:11
  Allen just then coming up to propose their returning home, She joined her and
• 3:54:15
  walked out of the pump room, leaving Isabella still sitting with Captain Tilney.
• 3:54:18
  With much uneasiness. Did she thus leave them. It seemed to her that
• 3:54:22
  Captain Tilney was falling in love with Isabella, and Isabella unconsciously encouraging him.
• 3:54:28
  Unconsciously it must be, for Isabella's attachment to James was as certain and well
• 3:54:33
  acknowledged as her engagement. To doubt her truth or good intentions was impossible,
• 3:54:37
  and yet during the whole of their conversation her manner had been awed. She
• 3:54:41
  wished Isabella had talked more like her usual self and not so much about money,
• 3:54:46
  and had not looked so well pleased at the sight of Captain Tilney.
• 3:54:50
  How strange that she should not perceive his admiration. Catherine longed to give her
• 3:54:54
  a hint of it, to put her on her guard and prevent all the
• 3:54:56
  pain which her too lively behavior might otherwise create, both for him and her
• 3:55:01
  brother. The compliment of John Thorpe's affection did not make amends for this thoughtlessness
• 3:55:05
  in his sister, she was almost as far from believing as from wishing it
• 3:55:09
  to be sincere, for she had not forgotten that he could mistake, and
• 3:55:13
  his assertion of the offer and of her encouragement convinced her that his mistakes could
• 3:55:16
  sometimes be very egregious in vanity. Therefore she gained but little. Her chief
• 3:55:22
  profit was in wonder. That he should think it worth his while to fancy
• 3:55:26
  himself in love with her was a matter of lively astonishment. Isabella talked of
• 3:55:31
  his attentions. She had never been sensible of any. But Isabella had said
• 3:55:35
  many things which he hoped had been spoken in haste and would never be said
• 3:55:37
  again. And upon this she was glad to rest altogether for present ease and
• 3:55:41
  comfort. End of Chapter eighteen, Chapter nineteen. A few days passed away,
• 3:55:52
  and Catherine, though not allowing herself to suspect her friend, could not
• 3:55:56
  help watching her closely. The result of her observations was not agreeable. Isabella
• 3:56:01
  seemed an altered creature when she saw her, indeed, surrounded only by their
• 3:56:05
  immediate friends in Edgar's buildings or Pulteney Street, her change of manners was so
• 3:56:09
  trifling that had it gone no farther, it might have passed unnoticed. A
• 3:56:15
  something of languid indifference, or of that boasted absence of mind, which Catherine
• 3:56:20
  had never heard of before, would occasionally come across her. But had nothing
• 3:56:24
  worse appeared, that might only have spread a new grace and inspired a warmer
• 3:56:28
  interest. But when Catherine saw her in public admitting Captain Tilney's attentions as readily
• 3:56:33
  as they were offered, and allowing him almost an equal share with James in
• 3:56:37
  her notice and smiles, the alteration became too positive to be passed over.
• 3:56:41
  What could be meant by such unsteady conduct, what her friend could be at
• 3:56:46
  was beyond her comprehension. Isabella could not be aware of the pain she was
• 3:56:50
  inflicting, but it was a degree of wilful thoughtlessness which Catherine could not but
• 3:56:56
  resent. James was the sufferer. She saw him, grave and uneasy,
• 3:57:01
  however careless of his present comfort. The woman might be who had given him
• 3:57:03
  her heart to her. It was always an object for poor Captain Tilney too.
• 3:57:09
  She was greatly concerned. Though his looks did not please her, his
• 3:57:13
  name was a passport to her good will, and she thought with sincere compassion
• 3:57:16
  of his approaching disappointment, For in spite of what she had believed herself to
• 3:57:20
  overhear in the pump room, his behavior was so incompatible with the knowledge of
• 3:57:24
  Isabella's engagement that she could not, upon reflection, imagine him aware of it.
• 3:57:28
  He might be jealous of her brother as a rival, but if more
• 3:57:31
  had seemed implied, the fault must have been in her misapprehension. She wished,
• 3:57:37
  by a gentle remonstrance, to remind Isabella of her situation and make her
• 3:57:39
  aware of this double unkindness. But for remonstrance, either opportunity or comprehension was
• 3:57:46
  always against her. If able to suggest a hint, Isabella could never understand
• 3:57:50
  it. In this distress, the intended departure of the Tilney family became her
• 3:57:54
  chief consolation. Their journey into Gloucestershire was to take place within a few days,
• 3:58:00
  and Captain Tilney's removal would at least restore peace to every heart but his
• 3:58:03
  own. But Captain Tilney had at present no intention of removing. He was
• 3:58:07
  not to be of the partied Northanger. He was to continue at Bath.
• 3:58:11
  When Catherine knew this, her resolution was directly made. She spoke to Henry
• 3:58:16
  Tilney on the subject, regretting his brother's evident partiality for Miss Thorpe and entreating
• 3:58:22
  him to make known her prior engagement. My brother does know, it,
• 3:58:26
  was Henry's answer. Does he? Then? Why does he stay here?
• 3:58:31
  He made no reply and was beginning to talk of something else, But she
• 3:58:35
  eagerly continued, why do you not persuade him to go away? The longer
• 3:58:39
  he stays, the worse it will be for him. At last? Pray
• 3:58:43
  advise him, for his own sake and for everybody's sake, to leave both
• 3:58:46
  directly. Absence will in time make him comfortable again. But he can have
• 3:58:50
  no hope here, and it is only staying to be miserable. Henry smiled
• 3:58:56
  and said, I am sure my brother would not wish to do that.
• 3:59:00
  Then you will persuade him to go away. Persuasion is not at command.
• 3:59:05
  But pardon me if I cannot even endeavor to persuade him. I have myself
• 3:59:09
  told him that Miss Thorpe is engaged. He knows what he is about and
• 3:59:13
  must be his own master. No, he does not know what he is
• 3:59:18
  about, cried Catherine. He does not know the pain he is giving my
• 3:59:22
  brother, Not that James has ever told me so, but I am sure
• 3:59:24
  he is very uncomfortable. And are you sure it is my brother's doing?
• 3:59:30
  Yes, very sure. Is it my brother's attentions to Miss Thorpe or Miss
• 3:59:35
  Thorpe's admission of them that gives the pain? Is not it the same thing?
• 3:59:41
  I think mister Morland would acknowledge a difference. No man is offended by
• 3:59:45
  another man's admiration of the woman he loves. It is the woman only who
• 3:59:48
  can make it a torment. Catherine blushed for her friend and said, Isabella
• 3:59:54
  is wrong. But I am sure she cannot mean to torment, for she
• 3:59:58
  is much at ten hatched to my brother. She has been in love with
• 4:00:01
  him ever since they first met, and while my father's consent was uncertain,
• 4:00:05
  she fretted herself almost into a fever. You know she must be attached to
• 4:00:09
  him. I understand she is in love with James and flirts with Frederick.
• 4:00:16
  Oh no, not flirts. A woman in love with one man cannot flirt
• 4:00:20
  with another. It is probable that she will neither love so well nor flirt
• 4:00:24
  so well as she might do either. Singly, the gentlemen must each give
• 4:00:28
  up a little. After a short pause, Catherine resumed with, then you
• 4:00:33
  do not believe Isabella so very much attached to my brother? I can have
• 4:00:37
  no opinion on that subject. But what can your brother mean if he knows
• 4:00:41
  her engagement? What can he mean by his behavior? You are a very
• 4:00:46
  close questioner, am I? I only ask what I want to be told.
• 4:00:52
  But do you only ask what I can be expected to tell? Yes?
• 4:00:56
  I think so, For you must know your brother's heart, my brother's
• 4:01:01
  heart as you term it on the present occasion, I assure you I can
• 4:01:03
  only guess at well well, nay, if it is to be guess work,
• 4:01:09
  let us all guess for ourselves. To be guided by second hand conjecture
• 4:01:13
  is pitiful. The premises are before you. My brother is a lively and
• 4:01:18
  perhaps sometimes a thoughtless young man. He has had about a week's acquaintance with
• 4:01:22
  your friend, and he has known her engagement almost as long as he has
• 4:01:24
  known her, well, said Catherine. After some moment's consideration, you may
• 4:01:31
  be able to guess at your brother's intentions from all this, But I am
• 4:01:33
  sure I cannot. But is not your father uncomfortable about it? Does not
• 4:01:37
  he want Captain Tilney to go away. Sure if your father were to speak
• 4:01:41
  to him, he would go. My dear Miss Morland, said Henry,
• 4:01:46
  in this amiable solicitude for your brother's comfort, May you not be a little
• 4:01:50
  mistaken? Are you not carried a little too far? Would he thank you,
• 4:01:54
  either on his own account or Miss Thorpe's, for supposing that her affection,
• 4:01:58
  or at least her good behaved, is only to be secured by her
• 4:02:01
  seeing nothing of Captain Tilney. Is he safe only in solitude? Or is
• 4:02:05
  her heart constant to him only when unsolicited by anybody else? He cannot think
• 4:02:11
  this, and you may be sure that he would not have you think it.
• 4:02:13
  I will not say, do not be uneasy, because I know that
• 4:02:18
  you also at this moment, But be as little uneasy as you can.
• 4:02:22
  You have no doubt of the mutual attachment of your brother and your friend.
• 4:02:26
  Depend upon it therefore, that real jealousy never can exist between them. Depend
• 4:02:30
  upon it that no disagreement between them can be of any duration. Their hearts
• 4:02:33
  are open to each other, as neither heart can be to you. They
• 4:02:37
  know exactly what is required and what can be borne. And you may be
• 4:02:41
  certain that one will never tease the other beyond what is known to be pleasant,
• 4:02:46
  perceiving her still to look doubtful and grave. He added, though Frederick
• 4:02:50
  does not leave Bath with us, he will probably remain but a very short
• 4:02:54
  time, perhaps only a few days behind us. His leave of absence will
• 4:02:58
  soon expire, and he might elst returned to his regiment. And what will
• 4:03:01
  then be their acquaintance. The mess room will drink Isabella Thorpe for a fortnight,
• 4:03:05
  and she will laugh with your brother over poor Tilney's passion for a month.
• 4:03:11
  Catherine would contend no longer against comfort. She had resisted its approaches during
• 4:03:16
  the whole length of a speech, but now it carried her captive. Henry
• 4:03:20
  Tilney must know best. She blamed herself for the extent of her fears,
• 4:03:24
  and resolved never to think so seriously on the subject again. Her resolution was
• 4:03:28
  supported by Isabella's behavior in their parting interview. The Thorpes spent the last evening
• 4:03:33
  of Catherine's stay in Pulteney Street, and nothing passed between the lovers to excite
• 4:03:37
  her uneasiness or make her quit them, an apprehension. James was in excellent
• 4:03:41
  spirits, and Isabella most engagingly placid her tenderness for her friend seemed rather the
• 4:03:48
  first feeling of her heart, but that at such a moment was allowable.
• 4:03:52
  And once she gave her lover a flat contradiction, and once she drew back
• 4:03:56
  her hand. But Catherine remembered Henry's instructions and placed it all to judicious affection.
• 4:04:01
  The embraces, tears and promises of the parting fair ones may be fancied.
• 4:04:07
  End of Chapter nineteen, Chapter twenty. Mister and missus Allen were sorry
• 4:04:15
  to lose their young friend, whose good humor and cheerfulness had made her a
• 4:04:18
  valuable companion, and in the promotion of whose enjoyment their own had been greatly
• 4:04:22
  increased. Her happiness in going with miss Tilney, however, prevented their wishing
• 4:04:28
  it otherwise, And as they were to remain only one more week in bath
• 4:04:31
  themselves, her quitting them now would not long be felt. Mister Allen attended
• 4:04:35
  her to Milsom Street, where she was to breakfast, and saw her seated
• 4:04:39
  with the kindest welcome among her new friends. But so great was her agitation
• 4:04:43
  in finding herself as one of the family, and so fearful was she of
• 4:04:48
  not doing exactly what was right and of not being able to preserve their good
• 4:04:52
  opinion, that in the embarrassment of the first five minutes she could almost have
• 4:04:56
  wished to return with him to Pulteney Street. Miss One's manners and Henry's smile
• 4:05:01
  soon did away some of her unpleasant feelings, but still she was far from
• 4:05:05
  being at ease, nor could the incessant attentions of the General himself entirely reassure
• 4:05:09
  her. Nay, perverse as it seemed, she doubted whether she might not
• 4:05:15
  have felt less had she been less attended to his anxiety for her comfort,
• 4:05:20
  his continual solicitations that she would eat, and his often expressed fears of her
• 4:05:24
  seeing nothing to her taste. Though never in her life before had she beheld
• 4:05:28
  half such variety on a breakfast table, made it impossible for her to forget
• 4:05:33
  for a moment that she was a visitor. She felt utterly unworthy of such
• 4:05:37
  respect, and knew not how to reply to it. Her tranquility was not
• 4:05:41
  improved by the general's impatience for the appearance of his eldest son, nor by
• 4:05:45
  the displeasure he expressed at his laziness. When Captain Tilney at last came down,
• 4:05:50
  she was quite pained by the severity of his father's reproof, which seemed
• 4:05:54
  disproportionate to the offense. And much was her concern increased when she found herself
• 4:05:58
  the principal cause of the lecture, and that his tardiness was chiefly resented from
• 4:06:03
  being disrespectful to her. This was placing her in a very uncomfortable situation,
• 4:06:07
  and she felt great compassion for Captain Tilney, without being able to hope for
• 4:06:13
  his good will. He listened to his father in silence and attempted not any
• 4:06:16
  defense, which confirmed her in fearing that the inquietude of his mind, on
• 4:06:20
  Isabella's account, might, by keeping him long sleepless, have been the real
• 4:06:26
  cause of his rising late. It was the first time of her being decidedly
• 4:06:30
  in his company, and she had hoped to be now able to form her
• 4:06:33
  opinion of him. But she had scarcely heard his voice while his father remained
• 4:06:37
  in the room, and even afterwards, so much were his spirits affected,
• 4:06:41
  she could distinguish nothing but these words in a whisper to eleanor how glad I
• 4:06:45
  shall be when you are all off. The bustle of going was not pleasant.
• 4:06:50
  The clock struck ten while the trunks were carrying down, and the General
• 4:06:54
  had fixed to be out of Milsom Street by that hour. His greatcoat,
• 4:06:58
  instead of being brought for him to put on directly, was spread out in
• 4:07:01
  the curricle in which he was to accompany his son. The middle seat of
• 4:07:05
  the chaise was not drawn out, though there were three people to go in
• 4:07:07
  it, and his daughter's maid had so crowded it with parcels that Miss Morland
• 4:07:11
  would not have room to sit. And so much was he influenced by this
• 4:07:15
  apprehension when he handed her in, that she had some difficulty in saving her
• 4:07:18
  own new writing desk from being thrown out into the street. At last,
• 4:07:22
  however, the door was closed upon the three females, and they set off
• 4:07:26
  at the sober pace in which the handsome, highly fed four horses of a
• 4:07:31
  gentleman usually perform a journey of thirty miles, such was the distance of Northanger
• 4:07:35
  from Bath, to be now divided into two equal stages. Catherine's spirits revived
• 4:07:41
  as they drove from the door, for with Miss Tilney she felt no restraint,
• 4:07:45
  and with the interest of a road entirely new to her, of an
• 4:07:48
  abbey before, and a curricle behind, she caught the last view of Bath
• 4:07:52
  without any regret, and met with every milestone before she expected it. The
• 4:07:56
  tediousness of a two hour's wait at Petty France, in which there was nothing
• 4:08:01
  to be done but to eat without being hungry, and loiter about without anything
• 4:08:03
  to see next followed, and her admiration of the style in which they traveled,
• 4:08:09
  of the fashionable chaise and four postilions handsomely liveried, rising so regularly in
• 4:08:13
  their stirrups, and numerous outriders properly mounted sunk a little under this consequent inconvenience.
• 4:08:20
  Had their party been perfectly agreeable, the delay would have been nothing but
• 4:08:24
  General Tilney, though so charming a man, seemed always a check upon his
• 4:08:28
  children's spirits, and scarcely anything was said but by himself, the observation of
• 4:08:33
  which, with his discontented whatever the inn afforded, and his angry impatience at
• 4:08:37
  the waiters, made Catherine grow every moment more in awe of him, and
• 4:08:41
  appeared to lengthen the two hours into four. At last, however, the
• 4:08:46
  order of release was given, and much was Catherine then surprised by the General's
• 4:08:50
  proposal of her taking his place in his son's curricle for the rest of the
• 4:08:54
  journey. The day was fine, and he was anxious for her, seeing
• 4:08:56
  as much of the country as possible. The remembrance of mister Allen's opinion respecting
• 4:09:03
  young men's open carriages made her blush at the mention of such a plan,
• 4:09:07
  and her first thought was to decline it. But her second was of greater
• 4:09:09
  deference for General Tilney's judgment. He could not propose anything improper for her,
• 4:09:15
  and in the course of a few minutes she found herself with Henry in the
• 4:09:18
  curricle, as happy a being as ever existed. A very short trial convinced
• 4:09:22
  her that a curricle was the prettiest equipage in the world. The chaise and
• 4:09:26
  four wheeled off with some grandeur, to be sure, but it was a
• 4:09:30
  heavy and troublesome business, and she could not easily forget its Having stopped two
• 4:09:35
  hours at Petty, France, half the time would have been enough for the
• 4:09:37
  curricle, and so nimbly were the light horses disposed to move, that had
• 4:09:41
  not the General chosen to have his own carriage lead the way, they could
• 4:09:45
  have passed it with ease in half a minute, But the merit of the
• 4:09:48
  curricle did not all belong to the horses. Henry drove so well, so
• 4:09:52
  quietly, without making any disturbance, without parading to her or swearing at them,
• 4:09:58
  so different from the o only gentleman coachman whom it was in her power
• 4:10:01
  to compare him with, And then his hat sat so well, and the
• 4:10:05
  innumerable capes of his great coat looked so becomingly important. To be driven by
• 4:10:11
  him, next to being dancing with him, was certainly the greatest happiness in
• 4:10:15
  the world. In addition to every other delight she had now that of listening
• 4:10:18
  to her own praise, of being thanked at least on his sister's account for
• 4:10:22
  her kindness in thus becoming her visitor, of hearing it ranked as real friendship
• 4:10:28
  and described as creating real gratitude. His sister, he said, was uncomfortably
• 4:10:33
  circumstance. She had no female companion, and in the frequent absence of her
• 4:10:37
  father, was sometimes without any companion at all. But how can that be,
• 4:10:43
  said, Catherine, Are not you with her? Northanger is not more
• 4:10:46
  than half my home. I have an establishment at my own house in Woodston,
• 4:10:52
  which is nearly twenty miles from my father's and some of my time is
• 4:10:54
  necessarily spent there. How sorry you must be for that. I am always
• 4:11:01
  sorry to leave Eleanor. Yes, but besides your affection for her, you
• 4:11:05
  must be so fond of the abbey. After being used to such a home
• 4:11:09
  as the abbey, an ordinary parsonage house must be very disagreeable. He smiled,
• 4:11:13
  and said, you have formed a very favorable idea of the abbey,
• 4:11:18
  To be sure I have. Is it not a fine old place, just
• 4:11:22
  like what one reads about? And are you prepared to encounter all the horrors
• 4:11:26
  that are building such as what one reads about may produce. Have you a
• 4:11:31
  stout heart, nerves fit for sliding panels and tapestry? Oh? Yes,
• 4:11:37
  I do not think I should be easily frightened, because there would be so
• 4:11:41
  many people in the house. And besides, it has never been uninhabited and
• 4:11:45
  left deserted for years and then the family come back to it unawares without giving
• 4:11:50
  any notice, as generally happens. No, certainly we shall not have to
• 4:11:54
  explore our way into a hall dimly lighted by the expiring embers of woy fire,
• 4:12:01
  nor be obliged to spread our beds on the floor of a room without
• 4:12:03
  windows, doors, or furniture. But she must be aware that when a
• 4:12:07
  young lady is, by whatever means, introduced into a dwelling of this kind,
• 4:12:11
  she is always lodged a part from the rest of the family, while
• 4:12:16
  they snugly repair to their own end of the house. She is formerly conducted
• 4:12:20
  by Dorothy, the ancient housekeeper, up a different staircase and along many gloomy
• 4:12:24
  passages into an apartment never used since some cousin or kin died in it about
• 4:12:30
  twenty years before. Can you stand such a ceremony as this? Will not
• 4:12:35
  your mind misgive you? When you find yourself in this gloomy chamber, too
• 4:12:39
  lofty and extensive for you, with only the feeble rays of a single lamp
• 4:12:43
  to take in its size, its walls hung with tapestry exhibiting figures as large
• 4:12:48
  as life, and the bed of dark green staff, all purple velvet,
• 4:12:52
  presenting even a funereal appearance, will not your heart sink within you? Oh,
• 4:12:58
  but this will not happen to me, I am sure. How fearfully
• 4:13:03
  will you examine the furniture of your apartment? And what will you discern?
• 4:13:09
  Not tables Toilette's wardrobes or drawers, but on one side perhaps the remains of
• 4:13:15
  a broken lute, on the other a ponderous chest which no efforts can open,
• 4:13:20
  And over the fireplace the portrait of some handsome warrior whose features will so
• 4:13:26
  incomprehensibly strike you that you will not be able to withdraw your eyes from it.
• 4:13:31
  Dorothy, meanwhile, no less struck by your appearance, gazes on you
• 4:13:33
  in great agitation, and drops a few unintelligible hints to raise your spirits.
• 4:13:39
  Moreover, she gives you reason to suppose that the part of the abbey you
• 4:13:43
  inhabit is undoubtedly haunted, and informs you that you will not have a single
• 4:13:46
  domestic within call. With this parting cordial, she curtsies off. You listen
• 4:13:52
  to the sound of her receding footsteps as long as the last echo can reach
• 4:13:56
  you. And when, with fainting spirits, you attempt to fasten your door,
• 4:14:01
  you discover with increased alarm that it has no lock. Oh, mister
• 4:14:07
  Tilney, how frightful. This is just like a book. But it cannot
• 4:14:11
  really happen to me. I am sure your housekeeper is not really Dorothy.
• 4:14:16
  Well, what then, nothing further to alarm, perhaps may occur the first
• 4:14:22
  night. After surmounting your unconquerable horror of the bed, you will retire to
• 4:14:28
  rest and get a few hours unquiet slumber. But on the second, or
• 4:14:33
  at Fath's, the third night after your arrival, you will probably have a
• 4:14:37
  violent storm. Peals of thunder so loud as to seem to shake the edifice
• 4:14:41
  to its foundation, will roll round the neighboring mountains, and during the frightful
• 4:14:46
  gusts of wind which accompany it, you will probably think you discern, for
• 4:14:50
  your lamp is not extinguished, one part of the hanging more violently agitated than
• 4:14:54
  the rest. Unable, of course, to repress your curiosity in so favorable
• 4:14:58
  a moment, or indulging it, you will instantly arise, and, throwing
• 4:15:01
  your dressing gown around, you, proceed to examine this mystery. After a
• 4:15:05
  very short search, you will discover a division in the tapestry so artfully constructed
• 4:15:11
  as to defy the minutest inspection, and on opening it, a door will
• 4:15:16
  immediately appear, which door, being only secured by massy bars and a padlock,
• 4:15:20
  you will, after a few efforts, succeed in opening and with your
• 4:15:24
  lamp in your hand, you will pass through it into a small vaulted room.
• 4:15:28
  No, indeed, I should be too much frightened to do any such
• 4:15:33
  thing. What not, when Dorothy has given you to understand that there is
• 4:15:37
  a secret, subterraneous communication between your apartment and the chapel of Saint Anthony,
• 4:15:41
  scarcely two miles off, could you shrink from so simple an adventure? No?
• 4:15:48
  No, you will proceed into this small vaulted room, and through this
• 4:15:52
  into several others, without perceiving anything very remarkable in either. In one,
• 4:15:56
  perhaps there may be a dagger, in another a few drops of blood,
• 4:16:00
  and in a third the remains of some instrument of torture. But there being
• 4:16:03
  nothing in all this out of the common way, and your lamp being nearly
• 4:16:07
  exhausted, you will return towards your own apartment. In repassing through the small
• 4:16:11
  vaulted room, however, your eyes will be attracted towards a large, old
• 4:16:15
  fashioned cabinet of ebony and gold, which, though narrowly examining the furniture before
• 4:16:21
  you had passed unnoticed, Impelled by an irresistible presentiment, you will eagerly advance
• 4:16:26
  to it, unlock its folding doors and search into every drawer, but for
• 4:16:30
  some time without discovering anything of importance, perhaps nothing but a considerable horde of
• 4:16:36
  diamonds. At last, however, by touching a secret spring and inner compartment
• 4:16:40
  will open. A roll of paper appears. You seize it. It contains
• 4:16:44
  many sheets of manuscript. You hasten with the precious treasure into your own chamber.
• 4:16:48
  But scarcely have you been able to decipher. Oh thou, whomsoever thou
• 4:16:53
  mayst be, into whose hands these memoirs of the wretched Matilda may fall?
• 4:16:59
  When your lamp suddenly expires in the socket and leaves you in total darkness?
• 4:17:06
  Oh no, no, do not say so. Well, go on.
• 4:17:11
  But Henry was too much amused by the interest he had raised to be able
• 4:17:15
  to carry it further. He could no longer command solemnity either of subject or
• 4:17:19
  voice, and was obliged to entreat her to use her own fancy in the
• 4:17:22
  perusal of Matilda's woes. Catherine, recollecting herself, grew ashamed of her eagerness,
• 4:17:29
  and began earnestly to assure him that her attention had been fixed without the
• 4:17:32
  smallest apprehension of really meeting with what he related, Miss Tilney, she was
• 4:17:37
  sure would never put her into such chamber as he had described. She was
• 4:17:41
  not at all afraid. As they drew near the end of their journey,
• 4:17:45
  her impatience for sight of the abbey, for some time suspended by his conversation
• 4:17:48
  on subjects very different, returned in full force, and every bend in the
• 4:17:52
  road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its massy walls of
• 4:17:56
  gray stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams
• 4:18:02
  of the sun playing in beautiful splendor on its high Gothic windows. But so
• 4:18:06
  low did the building stand that she found herself passing through the great gates of
• 4:18:10
  the lodge into the very grounds of Northanger, without having discerned even an antique
• 4:18:15
  chimney. She knew not that she had any right to be surprised, but
• 4:18:18
  there was a something in this mode of approach which she certainly had not expected
• 4:18:22
  to pass between lodges of a modern appearance, to find herself with such ease
• 4:18:26
  in the very precincts of the abbey, and driven so rapidly along a smooth
• 4:18:30
  level road of fine gravel, without obstacle, alarm, or solemnity of any
• 4:18:36
  kind struck her as odd and inconsistent. She was not long at leisure,
• 4:18:41
  however, for such considerations. A sudden scud of rain at driving full in
• 4:18:45
  her face, made it impossible for her to observe anything further, and fixed
• 4:18:48
  all her thoughts on the welfare of her new straw bonnet. And she was
• 4:18:52
  actually under the abbey walls, was springing with Henry's assistance from the carriage,
• 4:18:56
  and was beneath the shelter of the old porch, and had even passed on
• 4:19:00
  to the hall where her friend and the General were waiting to welcome her,
• 4:19:03
  without feeling one awful foreboding of future misery to herself, or one moment suspicion
• 4:19:08
  of any past scenes of horror being acted within the solemn edifice. The breeze
• 4:19:12
  had not seemed to waft the size of the murdered to her. It had
• 4:19:17
  wafted nothing worse than a thick, mizzling rain, And having given a good
• 4:19:19
  shake to her habit, she was ready to be shown into the common drawing
• 4:19:22
  room, and capable of considering where she was an abbey. Yes, it
• 4:19:29
  was delightful to be really in an abbey. But she doubted, as she
• 4:19:33
  looked round the room whether anything within her observation would have given her the consciousness
• 4:19:37
  The furniture was at all the profusion and elegance of modern taste. The fireplace,
• 4:19:42
  where she had expected the ample width and ponderous carving of former times,
• 4:19:47
  was contracted to a rumford with slaps of plain, though handsome marble, and
• 4:19:51
  ornaments over it of the prettiest English china. The windows, to which she
• 4:19:56
  looked with peculiar dependence from having heard the general talk of his preserve them in
• 4:20:00
  their Gothic form with reverential care, were yet less what her fancy had portrayed.
• 4:20:06
  To be sure, the pointed arch was preserved, the form of them
• 4:20:08
  was Gothic. They might even be casements. But every pain was so large,
• 4:20:12
  so clear, so light. To an imagination which had hoped for the
• 4:20:17
  smallest divisions and the heaviest stone work for painted glass, dirt and cobwebs,
• 4:20:22
  the difference was very distressing. The General, perceiving how her eye was employed,
• 4:20:27
  began to talk of the smallness of the room and simplicity of the furniture,
• 4:20:30
  where everything, being for daily use, pretended only to comfort et cetera,
• 4:20:36
  flattering himself, however, that there were some apartments in the abbey not
• 4:20:38
  unworth her notice, and was proceeding to mention the costly yielding of one,
• 4:20:42
  in particular, when taking out his watch, he stopped short to pronounce with
• 4:20:47
  surprise. Within twenty minutes of five this seemed the word of separation, and
• 4:20:52
  Catherine found herself hurried away by Miss Tilney in such a manner as convinced her
• 4:20:56
  that the strictest punctuality to the family hours would be expected at Northanger. Returning
• 4:21:00
  through the large and lofty hall, they ascended a broad staircase of shining oak,
• 4:21:06
  which, after many flights and many landing places, brought them upon a
• 4:21:10
  long, wide gallery. On one side, it had a range of doors,
• 4:21:14
  and it was lighted on the other by windows which Catherine had only time
• 4:21:17
  to discover looked into a quadrangle before Miss Tilney led the way into a chamber,
• 4:21:22
  and, scarcely staying to hope she would find it comfortable, left her
• 4:21:25
  with an anxious entreaty that she would make as little alteration as possible in her
• 4:21:29
  dress. End of Chapter twenty Chapter twenty one, a moment's glance was enough
• 4:21:37
  to satisfy Catherine that her apartment was very unlike the one which Henry had endeavored
• 4:21:42
  to alarm her by the description of it was by no means unreasonably large,
• 4:21:47
  and contained neither tapestry nor velvet. The walls were papered, the floor was
• 4:21:52
  carpeted. The windows were neither less perfect nor more dim than those of the
• 4:21:56
  drawing room below. The furniture, though not of the latest fashion, was
• 4:22:00
  handsome and comfortable, and the air of the room altogether far from uncheerful.
• 4:22:04
  Her heart instantaneously at ease. On this point, she resolved to lose no
• 4:22:08
  time in particular examination of anything, as she greatly dreaded disobliging the General by
• 4:22:14
  any delay. Her habit therefore was thrown off with all possible haste, and
• 4:22:18
  she was preparing to unpin the linen package which the chaise seat had conveyed for
• 4:22:22
  her immediate accommodation, when her eye suddenly fell on a large, high chest
• 4:22:26
  standing back in a deep process on one side of the fireplace. The sight
• 4:22:30
  of it made her start, and, forgetting everything else, she stood gazing
• 4:22:34
  on it in motionless wonder while these thoughts crossed her. This is strange.
• 4:22:40
  Indeed, I did not expect such a sight as this an immense heavy chest.
• 4:22:45
  What can it hold? Why should it be placed here? Pushed back
• 4:22:48
  too, as if meant to be out of sight. I will look into
• 4:22:52
  it, cost me what it may, I will look into it, and
• 4:22:55
  directly too, by daylight. If I stayed till evening, my candle may
• 4:22:59
  go out. She advanced and examined it closely. It was of cedar,
• 4:23:03
  curiously inlaid with some darker wood, and raised about a foot from the ground
• 4:23:08
  on a carved stand of the same. The lock was silver, though tarnished
• 4:23:12
  from age. At each end were the imperfect remains of handles, also of
• 4:23:17
  silver, broken perhaps prematurely by some strange violence. And on the center of
• 4:23:21
  the lid was a mysterious cipher in the same metal. Catherine bent over it
• 4:23:26
  intently, but without being able to distinguish anything with certainty. She could not,
• 4:23:30
  in whatever direction she took it, believe the last letter to be a
• 4:23:33
  T. And yet that it should be anything else in that house was a
• 4:23:36
  circumstance to raise no common degree of astonishment. If not originally theirs, by
• 4:23:41
  what strange events could it have fallen into the tilney family. Her fearful curiosity
• 4:23:47
  was every moment growing greater, and seizing with trembling hand the hasp of the
• 4:23:51
  lock. She resolved at all hazards to satisfy herself, at least as to
• 4:23:55
  its contents, with difficulty, for something seemed to resist her efforts. She
• 4:24:00
  raised the lid a few inches, but at that moment a sudden knocking at
• 4:24:03
  the door of the room made her starting quit her hold, and the lid
• 4:24:07
  closed with alarming violence. This ill timed intruder was Miss Tilney's maid, sent
• 4:24:11
  by her mistress to be of use to Miss Morland, and though Catherine immediately
• 4:24:15
  dismissed her, it recalled her to the sense of what she ought to be
• 4:24:18
  doing, and forced her, in spite of her anxious desire to penetrate this
• 4:24:22
  mystery, to proceed in her dressing without further delay. Her progress was not
• 4:24:26
  quick, for her thoughts and her eyes were still bent on the object so
• 4:24:30
  well calculated to interest and alarm, and though she dared not waste a moment
• 4:24:34
  upon a second attempt, she could not remain many paces from the chest.
• 4:24:38
  At length, However, having slipped one arm into her gown, her toilette
• 4:24:42
  seemed so nearly finished that the impatience of her curiosity might safely be indulged.
• 4:24:47
  One moment surely might be spared, and so desperate should be the exertion of
• 4:24:52
  her strength, that, unless secured by supernatural means, the lid, in
• 4:24:55
  one moment should be thrown back. With this spirit, she sprang forward,
• 4:25:00
  and her confidence did not deceive her. Her resolute effort threw back the lid
• 4:25:03
  and gave to her astonished eyes the view of a white cotton counterpane properly folded,
• 4:25:08
  reposing at one end of the chest in undisputed possession. She was gazing
• 4:25:14
  on with the first blush of surprise when Miss Tilney, anxious for her friend's
• 4:25:18
  being ready, entered the room, and to the rising shame of having harbored
• 4:25:22
  for some minutes an absurd expectation was then added, the shame of being caught
• 4:25:26
  in so idle a search. That is a curious old chest, is it
• 4:25:30
  not, said Miss Tilney, as Catherine hastily closed it and turned away to
• 4:25:33
  the glass. It is impossible to say how many generations it has been here,
• 4:25:38
  how it came to be first put in this room? I know not,
• 4:25:41
  but I have not had it moved because I thought it might sometimes be
• 4:25:45
  of use in holding hats and bonnets. The worst of it is that its
• 4:25:48
  weight makes it difficult to open in that corner. However, it is at
• 4:25:52
  least out of the way. Catherine had no leisure for speech, being at
• 4:25:56
  once blushing, tying her gown, and forming one eyes resolutions with the most
• 4:26:00
  violent despatch. Miss Tilney gently hinted her fear of being late, and in
• 4:26:04
  half a minute they ran downstairs together in an alarm not wholly unfounded, for
• 4:26:10
  General Tilney was pacing the drawing room, his watch in his hand, and
• 4:26:14
  having on the very instant of their entering, pulled the bell with violence,
• 4:26:17
  ordered dinner to be on table directly. Catherine trembled at the emphasis with which
• 4:26:22
  he spoke, and sat pale and breathless in a most humble mood, concerned
• 4:26:26
  for his children and detesting old chests. And the General, recovering his politeness
• 4:26:32
  as he looked at her, spent the rest of his time in scolding his
• 4:26:34
  daughter for so foolishly hurrying her fair friend, who was absolutely out of breath
• 4:26:38
  from haste, when there was not the least occasion for hurry in the world.
• 4:26:42
  But Catherine could not at all get over the double distress of having involved
• 4:26:45
  her friend in a lecture and been a great simpleton herself, till they were
• 4:26:49
  happily seated at the dinner table, when the General's complacent smiles and a good
• 4:26:53
  appetite of her own restored her to peace. The dining parlor was a noble
• 4:26:57
  room, suitable in its demension to a much larger drawing room than the one
• 4:27:02
  in common use, and fitted up in a style of luxury and expense,
• 4:27:04
  which was almost lost on the unpracticed eye of Catherine, who saw little more
• 4:27:08
  than its spaciousness and the number of their attendants. Of the former. She
• 4:27:12
  spoke aloud her admiration, and the General, with very gracious countenance, acknowledged
• 4:27:18
  that it was by no means an ill sized room, and further confessed that,
• 4:27:22
  though as careless on such subjects as most people, he did look upon
• 4:27:25
  a tolerably large eating room as one of the necessaries of life. He supposed,
• 4:27:30
  however, that she must have been used to much better sized apartments at
• 4:27:33
  mister Allen's. Now, indeed, was Catherine's honest assurance. Mister Allen's dining
• 4:27:38
  parlor was not more than half as large, and she had never seen so
• 4:27:41
  large a room as this in her life. The General's good humour increased.
• 4:27:47
  Why, as he had such rooms, he thought it would be simple not
• 4:27:49
  to make use of them, but upon his honor, he believed there might
• 4:27:52
  be more comfort in rooms of only half their size. Mister Allan's house,
• 4:27:56
  he was sure, must be exactly of the true size for rational happiness.
• 4:28:00
  The evening passed without any further disturbance, and in the occasional absence of General
• 4:28:04
  Tilney, with much positive cheerfulness. It was only in his presence that Catherine
• 4:28:10
  felt the smallest fatigue from her journey, and even then, even in moments
• 4:28:14
  of languor or restraint, a sense of general happiness preponderated, and she could
• 4:28:18
  think of her friends in Bath without one wish of being with them. The
• 4:28:22
  night was stormy. The wind had been rising at intervals the whole afternoon,
• 4:28:26
  and by the time the party broke up, it blew and rained violently.
• 4:28:30
  Catherine, as she crossed the hall, listened to the tempest with sensations of
• 4:28:34
  awe, and when she heard it rage round a corner of the ancient building
• 4:28:37
  and close with sudden fury, a distant door, felt for the first time
• 4:28:41
  that she was really in an abbey. Yes, these were characteristic sounds.
• 4:28:47
  They brought to her recollection a countless variety of dreadful situations and horrid scenes which
• 4:28:52
  such buildings had witnessed, and such storms ushered in. And most heartily did
• 4:28:56
  she rejoice in the happier circumstances attending her entrance within walls so solemn, she
• 4:29:02
  had nothing to dread from midnight assassins or drunken gallants. Henry had certainly been
• 4:29:07
  only in jest in what he had told her that morning. In a house
• 4:29:10
  so furnished and so guarded, she could have nothing to explore or to suffer,
• 4:29:15
  and might go to her bedroom as securely as if it had been her
• 4:29:17
  own chamber at Fullerton, thus wisely fortifying her mind. As she proceeded upstairs.
• 4:29:22
  She was enabled, especially on perceiving that Miss Tilney slept only two doors
• 4:29:26
  from her, to enter her room with a tolerably stout heart, and her
• 4:29:30
  spirits were immediately assisted by the cheerful blaze of a wood fire. How much
• 4:29:34
  better is this, said she as she walked to the fender. How much
• 4:29:38
  better to find a fire ready lit? Than to have to wait shivering in
• 4:29:42
  the cold till all the family are in bed, as so many poor girls
• 4:29:45
  have been obliged to do, and then to have the faithful old servant frightening
• 4:29:49
  one by coming in with a faggot. How glad I am that Northanger is
• 4:29:53
  what it is. If it had been like some other places, I do
• 4:29:56
  not know that in such a night as this I could of onset for my
• 4:30:00
  courage. But now to be sure there was nothing to alarm one. She
• 4:30:04
  looked round the room. The window curtains seemed in motion. It could be
• 4:30:08
  nothing but the violence of the wind penetrating through the divisions of the shutters.
• 4:30:12
  And as she stepped boldly forward, carelessly humming a tune to assure herself of
• 4:30:17
  its being so, peeped courageously behind each curtain, saw nothing on either low
• 4:30:22
  window seat to scare her, and on placing a hand against the shutter,
• 4:30:25
  felt the strongest conviction of the wind's force. A glance at the old chest
• 4:30:30
  as she turned away from this examination was not without its use. She scorned
• 4:30:33
  the causeless fears of an idle fancy, and began with the most happy indifference
• 4:30:37
  to prepare herself for bed. She should take her time, She should not
• 4:30:41
  hurry herself. She did not care she was the last person up in the
• 4:30:45
  house, but she would not make up her fire. That would seem cowardly,
• 4:30:48
  as if she wished for the protection of light after she were in bed.
• 4:30:52
  The fire therefore died away, and Catherine, having spent the best part
• 4:30:56
  of an hour in her arrangements, was beginning to think of stepping into bed,
• 4:31:00
  when, on giving a parting glance round the room, she was struck
• 4:31:03
  by the appearance of a high, old fashioned, black cabinet, which,
• 4:31:07
  though in a situation conspicuous enough, had never caught her notice before Henry's words.
• 4:31:14
  A description of the ebony cabinet, which was to escape her observation at
• 4:31:17
  first, immediately rushed across her. And though there could be nothing really in
• 4:31:21
  it, there was something whimsical. It was certainly a very remarkable coincidence.
• 4:31:26
  She took her candle and looked closely at the cabinet. It was not absolutely
• 4:31:30
  ebony and gold, but it was Japan, black and yellow, Japan of
• 4:31:33
  the handsomest kind, and as she held her candle, the yellow had very
• 4:31:37
  much the effect of gold. The key was in the door, and she
• 4:31:41
  had a strange fancy to look into it, not, however, with the
• 4:31:44
  smallest expectation of finding anything. But it was so very odd after what Henry
• 4:31:48
  had said. In short, she could not sleep till she had examined it.
• 4:31:52
  So, placing the candle with great caution on a chair, she seized
• 4:31:56
  the key with a very tremulous hand and tried to turn it, but it
• 4:31:59
  resisted her utmost strength. Alarmed but not discouraged, she tried it another way.
• 4:32:04
  A bolt flew, and she believed herself successful, but how strangely mysterious,
• 4:32:10
  the door was still immovable. She paused a moment in breathless wonder.
• 4:32:15
  The wind roared down the chimney, the rain beat in torrents against the windows,
• 4:32:18
  and everything seemed to speak the awfulness of her situation. To retire to
• 4:32:23
  bed, however, unsatisfied on such a point, would be in vain,
• 4:32:26
  since sleep must be impossible with the consciousness of a cabinet so mysteriously closed in
• 4:32:32
  her immediate vicinity. Again, therefore, she applied herself to the key,
• 4:32:36
  and, after moving it in every possible way for some instance, with the
• 4:32:40
  determined celerity of Hope's last effort, the door suddenly yielded to her hand.
• 4:32:44
  Her heart leaped with exultation at such a victory, and having thrown open each
• 4:32:48
  folding door, the second being secured only by bolts of less wonderful construction than
• 4:32:53
  the lock, though in that her eye could not discern anything unusual. A
• 4:32:57
  double range of small drawers appeared in view, with some larger drawers above and
• 4:33:02
  below them, and in the center a small door, closed, also with
• 4:33:06
  a lock and key, secured in all probability, a cavity of importance.
• 4:33:11
  Catherine's heart beat quick, but her courage did not fail her. With a
• 4:33:15
  cheek flushed by hope and an eye straining with curiosity, her fingers grasped the
• 4:33:19
  handle of a drawer and drew it forth. It was entirely empty. With
• 4:33:25
  less alarm and greater eagerness, she seized a second, a third, a
• 4:33:27
  fourth. Each was equally empty. Not one was left unsearched, and in
• 4:33:33
  not one was anything found. Well read in the art of concealing a treasure,
• 4:33:37
  the possibility of false linings to the drawers did not escape her, and
• 4:33:41
  she felt round each with anxious acuteness. In vain the place in the middle
• 4:33:45
  alone remained now unexplored, and though she had never from the first had the
• 4:33:49
  smallest idea of finding anything in any part of the cabinet, and was not
• 4:33:52
  in the least disappointed at her ill success thus far, it would be foolish
• 4:33:56
  not to examine it thoroughly while she was about it. It was some time,
• 4:34:00
  however, before she could unfasten the door, the same difficulty occurring in
• 4:34:04
  the management of this inner lock as of the outer. But at length it
• 4:34:07
  did open, and not vain as hitherto was her search. Her quick eyes
• 4:34:12
  directly fell on a roll of paper pushed back into the further part of the
• 4:34:17
  cavity, apparently for concealment, and her feelings at that moment were indescribable.
• 4:34:22
  Her heart fluttered, her knees trembled, and her cheeks grew pale. She
• 4:34:26
  seized with an unsteady hand the precious manuscript, for half a glance sufficed to
• 4:34:30
  ascertain written characters, and while she acknowledged with awful sensations this striking exemplification of
• 4:34:37
  what Henry had foretold, resolved instantly to peruse every line before she attempted to
• 4:34:41
  rest, the dimness of the light her candily emitted made her turn to it
• 4:34:45
  with alarm, but there was no danger of its sudden extinction. It had
• 4:34:49
  yet some hours to burn, and that she might not have any greater difficulty
• 4:34:53
  in distinguishing the writing than what its ancient date might occasion. She hastily snuffed
• 4:34:59
  it ala It was snuffed and extinguished in one A lamp could not have expired
• 4:35:03
  with more awful effect. Catherine, for a few moments, was motionless with
• 4:35:08
  horror. It was done completely. Not a remnant of light in the wick
• 4:35:12
  could give hope to the rekindling breath. Darkness, impenetrable and immovable, filled
• 4:35:17
  the room. A violent gust of wind, rising with sudden fury, added
• 4:35:22
  fresh horror to the moment. Catherine trembled from head to foot in the pause
• 4:35:26
  which succeeded, A sound like receding footsteps, and the closing of a distant
• 4:35:30
  door struck on her affrighted ear. Human nature could support no more. A
• 4:35:36
  cold sweat stood on her forehead. The manuscript fell from her hand, and
• 4:35:40
  groping her way to the bed, she jumped hastily in and sought some suspension
• 4:35:42
  of agony by creeping far underneath the clothes to close her eyes and sleep.
• 4:35:48
  That night, she felt, must be entirely out of the question. With
• 4:35:51
  a curiosity so justly awakened, and feelings in every way so agitated, repose
• 4:35:56
  must be absolutely impossible. The storm, too, a so dreadful. She
• 4:36:00
  had not been used to feel alarm from wind, but now every blast seemed
• 4:36:04
  fraught with awful intelligence. The manuscript so wonderfully found, so wonderfully accomplishing the
• 4:36:11
  morning's prediction, How was it to be accounted for? What could it contain,
• 4:36:15
  to whom could it relate by? What means could it have been so
• 4:36:18
  long concealed? And how singularly strange that it should fall to her lot to
• 4:36:22
  discover it till she had made herself mistress of its contents. However, she
• 4:36:26
  could have neither repose nor comfort, And with the sun's first rays she was
• 4:36:30
  determined to peruse it. But many were the tedious hours which must yet intervene.
• 4:36:36
  She shuddered, tossed about in her bed, and envied every quiet sleeper.
• 4:36:41
  The storms still raged and various, were the noises more terrific even than
• 4:36:45
  the wind, which struck at intervals on her startled ear. The very curtains
• 4:36:48
  of her bed seemed at one moment in motion, and at another the lock
• 4:36:52
  of her door was agitated, as if by the attempt of somebody to enter
• 4:36:56
  hollow. Murmurs seemed to creep along the gallery, and more than one once
• 4:37:00
  her blood was chilled by the sound of distant moans. Hour after hour passed
• 4:37:03
  away, and the wearied Catherine had heard three proclaimed by all the clocks in
• 4:37:08
  the house before the tempest subsided, or she unknowingly fell fast asleep end of
• 4:37:15
  chapter twenty one, Chapter twenty two. The housemaids folding back her window shutters
• 4:37:22
  at eight o'clock the next day was the sound which first roused Catherine, and
• 4:37:26
  she opened her eyes, wondering that they could ever have been closed on objects
• 4:37:32
  of cheerfulness. Her fire was already burning, and a bright morning had succeeded
• 4:37:36
  the tempest of the night. Instantaneously, with the consciousness of existence, returned
• 4:37:41
  her recollection of the manuscript, and, springing from the bed in the very
• 4:37:45
  moment of the maids going away, she eagerly collected every scattered sheet which had
• 4:37:48
  burst from the roll on its falling to the ground, and flew back to
• 4:37:52
  enjoy the luxury of their perusal. On her pillow. She now plainly saw
• 4:37:56
  that she must not expect a manuscript of equal length with the generality of what
• 4:38:00
  she had shuddered over in books. For the roll, seeming to consist entirely
• 4:38:04
  of small, disjointed sheets, was altogether but of trifling size, and much
• 4:38:10
  less than she had supposed it to be. At first, her greedy eye
• 4:38:12
  glanced rapidly over a page she started at its import Could it be possible,
• 4:38:18
  or did not her senses play her false? An inventory of linen, in
• 4:38:23
  coarse and modern characters seemed all that was before her. If the evidence of
• 4:38:29
  sight might be trusted. She held a washing bill in her hand. She
• 4:38:33
  seized another sheet and saw the same articles with little variation. A third,
• 4:38:37
  a fourth, and fifth presented nothing. New shirts, stockings, cravats,
• 4:38:42
  and waistcoats faced her in each. Two others, penned by the same hand,
• 4:38:47
  marked an expenditure scarcely more interesting in letters, hair powder, shoe string,
• 4:38:52
  and breeches ball. And the larger sheet, which had enclosed the rest,
• 4:38:56
  seemed by its first cramp line to poultice check, not mare a farrier's
• 4:39:02
  bill. Such was the collection of papers left, perhaps, as she could
• 4:39:06
  then suppose, by the negligence of a servant in the place whence she had
• 4:39:10
  taken them, which had filled her with expectation and alarm, and robbed her
• 4:39:14
  of half her night's rest. She felt humbled to the dust. Could not
• 4:39:18
  the adventure of the chest have taught her wisdom? A corner of it,
• 4:39:22
  catching her eye as she lay, seemed to rise up in judgment against her.
• 4:39:26
  Nothing could now be clearer than the absurdity of her recent fancies to suppose
• 4:39:32
  that a manuscript of many generations back could have remained undiscovered in a room such
• 4:39:36
  as that, so modern, so habitable, Or that she should be the
• 4:39:38
  first to possess the skill of unlocking a cabinet, the key of which was
• 4:39:42
  open to all. How could she have so imposed on herself? Heaven forbid
• 4:39:48
  that Henry Tilney should ever know her folly, And it was in a great
• 4:39:52
  measure his own doing. For had not the cabinet appeared so exactly to agree
• 4:39:56
  with his description of her adventures, she should never have felt the smllest curiosity
• 4:40:00
  about it. This was the only comfort that occurred. Impatient to get rid
• 4:40:06
  of those hateful evidences of her folly, those detestable papers then scattered over the
• 4:40:10
  bed, she rose directly, and folding them up as nearly as possible in
• 4:40:14
  the same shape as before, returned them to the same spot within the cabinet,
• 4:40:18
  with a very hearty wish that no untoward accident might ever bring them forward
• 4:40:22
  again to disgrace her even with herself. Why the locks should have been so
• 4:40:27
  difficult to open, however, was still something remarkable, for she could now
• 4:40:32
  manage them with perfect ease. In this there was surely something mysterious, and
• 4:40:37
  she indulged in the flattering suggestion for half a minute till the possibility of the
• 4:40:41
  doors having been at first unlocked, and of being herself its fastener darted into
• 4:40:45
  her head and cost her another blush. She got away as soon as she
• 4:40:51
  could from a room in which her conduct produced such unpleasant reflections, and found
• 4:40:55
  her way with all speed to the breakfast parlor, as it had been pointed
• 4:40:57
  out to her by Miss Tilney the evening before. Henry was alone in it,
• 4:41:02
  and his immediate hope of her having been undisturbed by the tempest with an
• 4:41:06
  arch reference to the character of the building they inhabited, was rather distressing,
• 4:41:11
  for the world. Would she not have her weakness suspected? And yet unequal
• 4:41:15
  to an absolute falsehood, was constrained to acknowledge that the wind had kept her
• 4:41:19
  awake a little. But we have had a charming morning after it, she
• 4:41:23
  added, desiring to get rid of the subject. And storms and sleeplessness are
• 4:41:27
  nothing when they are over. What beautiful hyacinths. I have just learnt to
• 4:41:33
  love a hyacinth? And how might you learn? By accident or argument?
• 4:41:40
  Your sister taught me. I cannot tell how missus Allen used to take pains
• 4:41:45
  year after year to make me like them, But I never could till I
• 4:41:48
  saw them the other day in Milsom Street. I am naturally indifferent about flowers.
• 4:41:52
  But now you love a hyacinth so much the better. You have gained
• 4:41:56
  a new source of enjoyment. And it is well to have as many holds
• 4:42:00
  upon happiness as possible. Besides, a taste for flowers is always desirable in
• 4:42:04
  your sex, as a means of getting you out of doors and tempting you
• 4:42:07
  to more frequent exercise than you would otherwise take. And though the love of
• 4:42:11
  a hyacinth may be rather domestic, who can tell the sentiment once raised?
• 4:42:15
  But you may in time come to love a rose. But I do not
• 4:42:19
  want any such pursuit to get me out of doors. The pleasure of walking
• 4:42:22
  and breathing fresh air is enough for me. And in fine, whether I
• 4:42:26
  am out more than half my time, Mamma says, I am never within
• 4:42:30
  at any rate. However, I am pleased that you have learnt to love
• 4:42:33
  a hyacinth. The mere habit of learning to love is the thing, and
• 4:42:37
  a teachableness of disposition in a young lady is a great blessing. Has my
• 4:42:41
  sister a pleasant mode of instruction. Catherine was saved the embarrassment of attempting an
• 4:42:47
  answer by the entrance of the General, whose smiling compliments announced a happy state
• 4:42:51
  of mind, but whose gentle hint of sympathetic early rising did not advance her
• 4:42:56
  composure. The elegance of the breakfast set forced itself on Catherine's notice when they
• 4:43:00
  were seated at table, and lucidly. It had been the general's choice.
• 4:43:04
  He was enchanted by her approbation of his taste, confessed it to be neat
• 4:43:08
  and simple, thought it right to encourage the manufacture of his country, and
• 4:43:12
  for his part, to his uncritical palate. The tea was as well flavored
• 4:43:17
  from the clay of Staffordshire as from that of Dresden or Salve. But this
• 4:43:21
  was quite an old set purchased two years ago. The manufacture was much improved
• 4:43:26
  since that time. He had seen some beautiful specimens when last in town,
• 4:43:30
  and had he not been perfectly without vanity of that kind, might have been
• 4:43:33
  tempted to order a new set. He trusted, however, that an opportunity
• 4:43:37
  might ere long occur of selecting one, Though not for himself, Catherine was
• 4:43:41
  probably the only one of the party who did not understand him. Shortly after
• 4:43:47
  breakfast, Henry left them for Woodston, where business required and would keep him
• 4:43:49
  two or three days. They all attended in the hall to see him mount
• 4:43:53
  his horse, and immediately on re entering the breakfast room, Catherine walked to
• 4:43:56
  a window in the hope of catching another glimpse of his This is a somewhat
• 4:44:02
  heavy call upon your brother's fortitude, observed the general to Eleanor Woodston will make
• 4:44:07
  but a somber appearance to day. Is it a pretty place? Asked Catherine,
• 4:44:12
  What say you, Eleanor speak your opinion, for ladies can best tell
• 4:44:17
  the taste of ladies in regard to places as well as men. I think
• 4:44:19
  it would be acknowledged by the most impartial eye to have many recommendations. The
• 4:44:23
  house stands among fine meadows facing the southeast, with an excellent kitchen garden in
• 4:44:29
  the same aspect the walls surrounding which I built and stocked myself about ten years
• 4:44:33
  ago for the benefit of my son. It is a family living, Miss
• 4:44:37
  Morland, and the property in the place being chiefly my own. You may
• 4:44:41
  believe I take care that it shall not be a bad one. Did Henry's
• 4:44:45
  income depend solely on this living, he would not be ill provided for.
• 4:44:48
  Perhaps it may seem odd that with only two younger children, I should think
• 4:44:52
  any profession necessary for him, and certainly there are moments when we could all
• 4:44:56
  wish him disengaged from every tie of business. But though I may not exactly
• 4:45:00
  make converts of you young ladies, I am sure your father, Miss Morland,
• 4:45:04
  would agree with me in thinking it expedient to give every young man some
• 4:45:07
  employment. The money is nothing, it is not an object, but employment
• 4:45:12
  is the thing. Even Frederick, my eldest son, you see, who
• 4:45:15
  will perhaps inherit as considerable a landed property as any private man in the county
• 4:45:21
  has his profession. The imposing effect of this last argument was equal to his
• 4:45:26
  wishes. The silence of the lady proved it to be unanswerable. Something had
• 4:45:32
  been said the evening before of her being shown over the house, and he
• 4:45:34
  now offered himself as her conductor, And though Catherine had hoped to explore it,
• 4:45:38
  accompanied only by his daughter, it was a proposal of too much happiness
• 4:45:42
  in itself, under any circumstances, not to be gladly accepted. For she
• 4:45:47
  had been already eighteen hours in the abbey, and had seen only a few
• 4:45:51
  of its rooms. The netting box, just leisurely drawn forth, was closed
• 4:45:55
  with joyful haste, and she was ready to attend him in a moment.
• 4:46:00
  And when they had gone over the house, he promised himself moreover the pleasure
• 4:46:03
  of accompanying her into the shrubberies and garden. She curtsied her acquiescence, but
• 4:46:07
  perhaps it might be more agreeable to her to make those her first object.
• 4:46:11
  The weather was at present favorable, and at this time of year the uncertainty
• 4:46:15
  was very great of its continuing. So which would she prefer he was equally
• 4:46:19
  at her service? Which did his daughter think would most accord with her fair
• 4:46:23
  friend's wishes. But he thought he could discern. Yes, he certainly read
• 4:46:27
  in Miss Mordan's eyes a judicious desire of making use of the present smiling weather.
• 4:46:33
  But when did she judge a miss the abbey would be always safe and
• 4:46:36
  dry? He yielded implicitly, and would fetch his hat and attend them in
• 4:46:40
  a moment. He left the room, and Catherine, with a disappointed anxious
• 4:46:45
  face, began to speak of her unwillingness that he should be taking them out
• 4:46:48
  of doors against his own inclination, under a mistaken idea of pleasing her.
• 4:46:52
  But she was stopped by Miss Tilney's saying, with a little confusion, I
• 4:46:56
  believe it will be wisest to take the morning while it is so fine,
• 4:47:00
  and do not be uneasy. On my father's account, he always walks out
• 4:47:03
  at this time of day. Catherine did not exactly know how this was to
• 4:47:07
  be understood. Why was Miss Tilney embarrassed? Could there be any unwillingness on
• 4:47:12
  the General's side to show her over the abbey? The proposal was his own,
• 4:47:17
  and was it not odd that he should always take his walk so early?
• 4:47:21
  Neither her father nor mister Allan did so it was certainly very provoking.
• 4:47:25
  She was all impatience to see the house, and had scarcely any curiosity about
• 4:47:29
  the grounds if Henry had been with them. Indeed, but now she should
• 4:47:33
  not know what was picturesque when she saw it. Such were her thoughts,
• 4:47:37
  but she kept them to herself and put on her bonnet and patient discontent.
• 4:47:41
  She was struck, however, beyond her expectation, by the grandeur of the
• 4:47:45
  abbey as she saw it for the first time. From the lawn, and
• 4:47:48
  two sides of the quadrangle, rich in Gothic ornaments, stood forward for admiration.
• 4:47:53
  The remainder was shut off by knolls of old trees or luxuriant plantations,
• 4:47:59
  and the steep woody hills rising behind to give it shelter were beautiful. Even
• 4:48:03
  in the leafless month of March. Catherine had seen nothing to compare with it,
• 4:48:07
  and her feelings of delight were so strong that, without waiting for any
• 4:48:11
  better authority, she boldly burst forth in wonder and praise. The General listened
• 4:48:17
  with assenting gratitude, and it seemed as if his own estimation of Northanger had
• 4:48:21
  waited unfixed till that hour. The kitchen garden was to be next admired,
• 4:48:26
  and he led the way to it across a small portion of the park.
• 4:48:29
  The number of acres contained in this garden was such as Catherine could not listen
• 4:48:33
  to without dismay, being more than double the extent of all mister Allen's as
• 4:48:37
  well as her father's, including churchyard and orchard. The walls seemed countless in
• 4:48:41
  number, endless in length, a village of hot houses seemed to arise among
• 4:48:47
  them, and a whole parish to be at work within the enclosure. The
• 4:48:51
  General was flattered by her looks of surprise, which told him almost as plainly
• 4:48:55
  as soon as he forced her to tell him in words, that she had
• 4:48:57
  never seen any gardens at all equal them before, And he then modestly owned
• 4:49:02
  that, without any ambition of that sort himself, without any solicitude about it,
• 4:49:07
  he did believe them to be unrivaled in the kingdom. If he had
• 4:49:10
  a hobby horse, it was that he loved a garden. Though careless enough
• 4:49:14
  in most matters of eating, he loved good fruit, or if he did
• 4:49:18
  not, his friends and children did. There were great vexations, however,
• 4:49:22
  attending such a garden as his. The utmost care could not always secure the
• 4:49:26
  most valuable fruits. The pinery had yielded only one hundred in the last year.
• 4:49:30
  Mister Allen, he supposed, must feel these inconveniences as well as himself.
• 4:49:34
  No, not at all. Mister Allen did not care about the garden,
• 4:49:38
  and never went into it with a triumphant smile of self satisfaction. The
• 4:49:44
  General wished he could do the same, for he never entered his without being
• 4:49:48
  vexed in some way or another by its falling short of his plan. How
• 4:49:52
  were mister Allen's succession houses worked, describing the nature of his own as they
• 4:49:56
  entered them. Mister Allen had only once hothouse, which Missus Allen had the
• 4:50:02
  use of for her plants in winter, and there was a fire in it
• 4:50:03
  now and then. He is a happy man, said the General, with
• 4:50:08
  a look of very happy contempt. Having taken her into every division and led
• 4:50:14
  her under every wall till she was hardly weary of seeing and wondering, he
• 4:50:18
  suffered the girls at last to seize the advantage of an outer door, and,
• 4:50:22
  then, expressing his wish to examine the effect of some recent alterations about
• 4:50:25
  the tea house, proposed it as no unpleasant extension of their walk. If
• 4:50:29
  Miss Morland were not tired, But where are you going, Eleanor why do
• 4:50:33
  you choose that cold, damp path to it? Miss Moland will get wet.
• 4:50:37
  Our best way is across the park. This is so favorite a walk
• 4:50:41
  of mine, said Miss Tilney, that I always think it the best and
• 4:50:45
  nearest way, But perhaps it may be damp. It was a narrow,
• 4:50:49
  winding path through a thick grove of old Scotch firs, and Catherine, struck
• 4:50:55
  by its gloomy aspect and eager to enter it, could not, even by
• 4:50:57
  the General's disapprobation, be kept from stepping forward. He perceived her inclination,
• 4:51:03
  and, having again urged the plea of health and vain, was too polite
• 4:51:07
  to make further opposition. He excused himself, however, from attending them.
• 4:51:11
  The rays of the sun were not too cheerful for him, and he would
• 4:51:14
  meet them by another course. He turned away, and Catherine was shocked to
• 4:51:18
  find how much her spirits were relieved by the separation. The shock, however,
• 4:51:22
  being less real than the relief, offered it no injury, and she
• 4:51:26
  began to talk with easy gaiety of the delightful melancholy which such a grove inspired.
• 4:51:30
  I am particularly fond of this spot, said her companion with a sigh.
• 4:51:36
  It was my mother's favorite walk. Catherine had never heard Missus Tilney mentioned
• 4:51:40
  in the family before, and the interest excited by this tender remembrance showed itself
• 4:51:45
  directly in her altered countenance and in the attentive pause with which she waited for
• 4:51:48
  something more. I used to walk here so often with her, added Elinor.
• 4:51:55
  Though I never loved it then, as I have loved it since at
• 4:51:57
  that time. Indeed I used to wonder her choice. But her memory endears
• 4:52:02
  it now, and ought it not, reflected Catherine to endear it to her
• 4:52:07
  husband. Yet the General would not enter it. Miss Tilney, continuing silent,
• 4:52:12
  she ventured to say her death must have been a great affliction, a
• 4:52:17
  great and increasing one, replied the other in a low voice. I was
• 4:52:22
  only thirteen when it happened, and though I felt my loss, perhaps as
• 4:52:26
  strongly as one so young could feel it, I did not. I could
• 4:52:30
  not then know what a loss it was. She stopped for a moment,
• 4:52:33
  and then added, with great firmness. I have no sister, you know.
• 4:52:37
  And though Henry, though my brother's are very affectionate, and Henry is
• 4:52:41
  a great deal here, which I am most thankful for. It is impossible
• 4:52:45
  for me not to be often solitary. To be sure, you must miss
• 4:52:49
  him very much. A mother would have been always present. A mother would
• 4:52:55
  have been a constant friend. Her influence would have been beyond all other Was
• 4:53:00
  she a very charming woman? Was she handsome? Was there any picture of
• 4:53:04
  her in the abbey? And why had she been so partial to that grove?
• 4:53:08
  Was it from dejection of spirits? Where questions now eagerly poured forth.
• 4:53:12
  The first three received a ready affirmative, The two others were passed by,
• 4:53:18
  and Catherine's interest in the deceased Missus Tilney augmented with every question, whether answered
• 4:53:22
  or not, of her unhappiness in marriage, she felt persuaded. The General
• 4:53:26
  certainly had been an unkind husband. He did not love her walk could he
• 4:53:30
  therefore have loved her? And besides handsome as he was, there was a
• 4:53:34
  something in the turn of his features which spoke his not having behaved well to
• 4:53:37
  her. Her picture, I suppose, blushing at the consummate art of her
• 4:53:42
  own question hangs in your father's rum. No, it was intended for the
• 4:53:48
  drawing room, but my father was dissatisfied with the painting, and for some
• 4:53:52
  time it had no place. Soon after her death I obtained it for my
• 4:53:56
  own and hung it in my bed chamber, where I shall be happy to
• 4:54:00
  show it to you. It is very like. Here was another proof,
• 4:54:03
  a portrait very like of a departed wife not valued by the husband. He
• 4:54:08
  must have been dreadfully cruel to her. Catherine attempted no longer to hide from
• 4:54:14
  herself the nature of the feelings which, in spite of all his attentions he
• 4:54:18
  had previously excited, and what had been terror and dislike before was now absolute
• 4:54:22
  aversion, yes, aversion. His cruelty to such a charming woman made him
• 4:54:27
  odious to her. She had often read of such characters, characters which mister
• 4:54:32
  Allen had been used to call unnatural and overdrawn. But here was proof positive
• 4:54:36
  of the contrary. She had just settled this point when the end of the
• 4:54:40
  path brought them directly upon the General, and in spite of all her virtuous
• 4:54:44
  indignation, she found herself again obliged to walk with him, listen to him,
• 4:54:48
  and even to smile when he smiled. Being no longer able, however,
• 4:54:52
  to receive pleasure from the surrounding objects. She soon began to walk with
• 4:54:56
  lassitude. The General perceived it, and with a concern for her health,
• 4:54:59
  which seemed to reproach her, for her opinion of him was most urgent for
• 4:55:03
  returning with his daughter to the house. He would follow them in a quarter
• 4:55:06
  of an hour. Again they parted, but Eleanor was called back in half
• 4:55:10
  a minute to receive a strict charge against taking her friend round the abbey till
• 4:55:12
  his return. This second instance of his anxiety to delay what she so much
• 4:55:18
  wished for, struck Catherine as very remarkable. End of chapter twenty two Chapter
• 4:55:26
  twenty three, an hour passed away before the General came in, spent on
• 4:55:30
  the part of his young guest in no very favorable consideration of his character.
• 4:55:34
  This lengthened absence, these solitary rambles, did not speak a mind to ease
• 4:55:40
  or a conscience void of approach. At length he appeared, and whatever might
• 4:55:45
  have been the gloom of his meditations, he could still smile with them.
• 4:55:48
  Miss Tilney, understanding in part of friend's curiosity to see the house, soon
• 4:55:53
  revived the subject, and her father, being a contrary to Catherine's expectations.
• 4:55:59
  Unprovided with any pretense for further delay beyond that of stopping five minutes to order
• 4:56:03
  refreshments to be in the room by their return, was at last ready to
• 4:56:07
  escort them. They set forward, and, with the grandeur of air,
• 4:56:11
  a dignified step which caught the eye, but could not shake the doubts of
• 4:56:14
  the well read Catherine. He led the way across the hall, through the
• 4:56:18
  common drawing room and one useless antechamber, into a room magnificent both in size
• 4:56:22
  and furniture, the real drawing room used only with company. Of consequence,
• 4:56:26
  it was very noble, very grand, very charming, was all that Catherine
• 4:56:32
  had to say. For her indiscriminating eyes scarcely discerned the color of the satin,
• 4:56:36
  and all minuteness of praise, all praise that had much meaning, was
• 4:56:40
  supplied by the General. The costliness or elegance of any rooms fitting up could
• 4:56:44
  be nothing to her. She cared for no furniture of a more modern date
• 4:56:48
  than the fifteenth century. When the General had satisfied his own curiosity in a
• 4:56:52
  close examination of every well known ornament, they proceeded into the library, an
• 4:56:56
  apartment in its way of equal magnificence, exhibiting a collection of books on which
• 4:57:02
  an humble man might have looked with pride. Catherine heard, admired, and
• 4:57:06
  wondered with more genuine feeling than before, gathered all that she could from this
• 4:57:10
  storehouse of knowledge by running over the titles of half a shelf, and was
• 4:57:12
  ready to proceed, But suites of apartments did not spring up with her wishes.
• 4:57:18
  Large as was the building she had already visited the greatest part. Though,
• 4:57:22
  on being told that, with the addition of the kitchen, the six
• 4:57:26
  or seven room she had now seen surrounded three sides of the court, she
• 4:57:29
  could scarcely believe it or overcome the suspicion of there being many chambers secreted.
• 4:57:33
  It was some relief, however, that they were to return to the rooms
• 4:57:37
  in common use, by passing through a few of less importance, looking into
• 4:57:41
  the court, which, with occasional passages not wholly on intricate, connected the
• 4:57:45
  different sides, and she was further soothed in her progress by being told that
• 4:57:49
  she was treading what had once been a cloister, having traces of cells pointed
• 4:57:53
  out, and observing several doors that were neither opened nor explained to her by
• 4:57:57
  finding herself successively in a billiard room and in the General's private apartment, without
• 4:58:03
  comprehending their connection or being able to turn aright when she left them, and
• 4:58:07
  lastly by passing through a dark little room owning Henry's authority, and strewed with
• 4:58:11
  his litter of books, guns, and greatcoats, from the dining room,
• 4:58:15
  of which, though already seen and always to be seen at five o'clock,
• 4:58:18
  the General could not forego the pleasure of pacing out the length for the more
• 4:58:22
  certain information of Miss Morland as to what she neither doubted nor cared for.
• 4:58:26
  They proceeded by quick communication to the kitchen, the ancient kitchen of the convent,
• 4:58:32
  rich in the massy walls and smoke of former days, and in the
• 4:58:34
  stoves and hot closets of the present. The General's improving hand had not loitered
• 4:58:40
  here. Every modern invention to facilitate the labor of the cooks had been adopted
• 4:58:44
  within this their spacious theater, and when the genius of others had failed,
• 4:58:48
  his own had often produced the perfection wanted. His endowments of this spot alone
• 4:58:52
  might at any time have placed him high among the benefactors of the convent.
• 4:58:57
  With the walls of the kitchen ended all the antiqueity of the abbey, the
• 4:59:00
  fourth side of the quadrangle having on account of its decaying state, been removed
• 4:59:04
  by the General's father, and the present erected in its place, all that
• 4:59:08
  was venerable ceased here. The new building was not only new, but declared
• 4:59:14
  itself to be so, intended only for offices, and enclosed behind stable yards.
• 4:59:18
  No uniformity of architecture had been thought necessary. Catherine could have raved at
• 4:59:23
  the hand which had swept away what must have been beyond the value of all
• 4:59:26
  the rest for the purposes of mere domestic economy, and would willingly have been
• 4:59:32
  spared the mortification of a walk through scenes so fallen had the General allowed it.
• 4:59:37
  But if he had a vanity, it was in the arrangement of his
• 4:59:38
  offices. And as he was convinced that to a mind like Miss Morland's,
• 4:59:42
  a view of the accommodations and comforts by which the labors of her inferiors were
• 4:59:47
  softened must always be gratifying, he should make no apology for leading her on.
• 4:59:52
  They took a slight survey of all, and Catherine was impressed beyond her
• 4:59:56
  expectation by their multiplicity in their convenience. The purposes for which a few shapeless
• 5:00:00
  pantries and a comfortless scullery were deemed sufficient at Fullerton, were here carried on
• 5:00:04
  in appropriate divisions, commodious and roomy. The number of servants continually appearing did
• 5:00:11
  not strike her less than the number of their offices. Wherever they went,
• 5:00:14
  some patent girl stopped to curtsey, or some footmen in diss abee sneaked off.
• 5:00:18
  Yet this was an abbey, how inexpressibly different in these domestic arrangements from
• 5:00:25
  such as she had read about from abbeys and castles, in which, though
• 5:00:27
  certainly larger than Northanger, all the dirty work of the house was to be
• 5:00:32
  done by two pair of female hands at the utmost. How they could get
• 5:00:36
  through it all had often amazed missus Allen, and when Catherine saw what was
• 5:00:40
  necessary here, she began to be amazed herself. They returned to the hall,
• 5:00:45
  that the chief staircase might be ascended, and the beauty of its wood
• 5:00:48
  and ornaments of rich carving might be pointed out. Having gained the top,
• 5:00:52
  they turned in an opposite direction from the gallery in which her room lay,
• 5:00:55
  and shortly entered one on the same plan, but superior in length and breadth.
• 5:01:00
  She was here shown successively into three large bed chambers, with their dressing
• 5:01:03
  rooms, most completely and handsomely fitted up. Everything that money and taste could
• 5:01:08
  do to give comfort and elegance to apartments had been bestowed on these, and
• 5:01:12
  being furnished within the last five years. They were perfect in all that would
• 5:01:17
  be generally pleasing, and wanting in all that could give pleasure to Catherine.
• 5:01:21
  As they were surveying the last the General, after slightly naming a few of
• 5:01:23
  the distinguished characters by whom they had been at times honored, turned with a
• 5:01:27
  smiling countenance to Catherine, and ventured to hope that henceforward some of their earliest
• 5:01:33
  tenants might be a friends from Fullerton. She felt the unexpected compliment, and
• 5:01:38
  deeply regretted the impossibility of thinking well of a man so kindly disposed towards herself,
• 5:01:44
  and so full of civility to all her family. The gallery was terminated
• 5:01:48
  by folding doors, which Miss Tilney advancing had thrown open and passed through,
• 5:01:53
  and seemed on the point of doing the same by the first door to the
• 5:01:56
  left, in another long reach of gallery, when the General, coming forwards,
• 5:02:00
  called her hastily, and as Catherine thought, rather angrily back, demanding
• 5:02:04
  whether she were going, and what was there more to be seen? Had
• 5:02:08
  not Miss Morland already seen all that could be worth her notice? And did
• 5:02:11
  she not suppose her friend might be glad of some refreshment after so much exercise.
• 5:02:15
  Miss Tilney drew back directly, and the heavy doors were closed upon the
• 5:02:19
  mortified Catherine, who, having seen in a momentary glance beyond them a narrower
• 5:02:25
  passage, more numerous openings, and symptoms of a winding staircase, believed herself
• 5:02:30
  at last within the reach of something worth her notice, and felt, as
• 5:02:33
  she unwillingly paced back the gallery, that she would rather be allowed to examine
• 5:02:37
  that end of the house than see all the finery of all the rest.
• 5:02:40
  The General's evident desire of preventing such an examination was an additional stimulant. Something
• 5:02:45
  was certainly to be concealed. Her fancy, though it had trespassed lately once
• 5:02:51
  or twice, could not mislead her here. And what that something was a
• 5:02:55
  short sentence of Miss Tilney's As they followed the General at some distance downstairs,
• 5:02:59
  seen to point out, I was going to take you into what was my
• 5:03:03
  mother's room, the room in which she died. Were all her words,
• 5:03:07
  but few as they were, they conveyed pages of intelligence to Catherine. It
• 5:03:11
  was no wonder that the General should shrink from the sight of such objects as
• 5:03:15
  that room must contain, a room, in all probability never entered by him,
• 5:03:18
  since the dreadful scene had passed, which released his suffering wife and left
• 5:03:22
  him to the stings of conscience. She ventured, when next alone with Eleanor,
• 5:03:27
  to express her wish of being permitted to see it, as well as
• 5:03:30
  all the rest of that side of the house, and Elinor promised to attend
• 5:03:33
  her there whatever they should have a convenient hour. Catherine understood her the General
• 5:03:38
  must be watched from home before that room could be entered. It remains as
• 5:03:44
  it was, I suppose, said she, in a tone of feeling,
• 5:03:48
  Yes entirely. And how long ago may it be that your mother died?
• 5:03:53
  She has been dead these nine years, and nine years, Catherine knew,
• 5:03:57
  was a trifle of time compared with what generally elapsed after the death of an
• 5:04:02
  injured wife. Before her room was put to rights you were with her,
• 5:04:06
  I suppose to the last, No, said Miss Tilney, sighing, I
• 5:04:11
  was unfortunately from home. Her illness was sudden and short, and before I
• 5:04:17
  arrived it was all over. Catherine's blood ran cold with the horrid suggestions which
• 5:04:22
  naturally sprang from these words. Could it be possible? Could Henry's father?
• 5:04:29
  And yet how many were the examples to justify even the blackest suspicions. And
• 5:04:33
  when she saw him in the evening, while she worked with her friend,
• 5:04:36
  slowly pacing the drawing room for an hour together in silent thoughtfulness, with downcast
• 5:04:41
  eyes and contracted brow, she felt secure from all possibility of wronging him.
• 5:04:45
  It was the air and attitude of a Montoni, What could more plainly speak
• 5:04:49
  the gloomy workings of a mind not wholly dead to every sense of humanity,
• 5:04:55
  in its fearful review of past scenes of guilt, unhappy man, and the
• 5:05:00
  anxiousness of her spirits directed her eyes towards his figures so repeatedly as to catch
• 5:05:03
  Miss Tilney's notice. My father, she whispered, often walks about the room
• 5:05:10
  in this way. It is nothing unusual, So much the worse thought Catherine
• 5:05:15
  such ill timed exercise was of a piece with the strange, unseasonableness of his
• 5:05:18
  morning walks, and boded nothing good after an evening, the little variety and
• 5:05:25
  seeming length of which made her peculiarly sensible of Henry's importance among them. She
• 5:05:30
  was heartily glad to be dismissed, though it was a look from the General
• 5:05:33
  not designed for her observation, which sent his daughter to the bell. When
• 5:05:37
  the butler would have lit his master's candle, however, he was forbidden.
• 5:05:40
  The latter was not going to retire. I have many pamphlets to finish,
• 5:05:45
  said he to Catherine before I can close my eyes, and perhaps may be
• 5:05:48
  poring over the affairs of the nation for hours after you are sleep. Can
• 5:05:52
  either of us be more meekly employed? My eyes will be blinding for the
• 5:05:56
  good of others, and yours preparing by rest for future mischief. But neither
• 5:06:00
  the business alleged nor the magnificent compliment could win Catherine from thinking that some very
• 5:06:06
  different object must occasion so serious a delay of proper repose to be kept up
• 5:06:11
  for hours after the family were in bed by stupid pamphlets was not very likely.
• 5:06:15
  There must be some deeper cause. Something was to be done, which
• 5:06:18
  could be done only while the household slept, And the probability that missus Tilney
• 5:06:23
  yet lived shut up for causes unknown and receiving from the pitiless hands of her
• 5:06:29
  husband a knightly supply of coarse food, was the conclusion which necessarily followed.
• 5:06:33
  Shocking as was the idea, it was at least better than a death unfairly
• 5:06:37
  hastened, as in the natural course of things, she must ere long be
• 5:06:41
  released. The suddenness of her reputed illness, the absence of her daughter,
• 5:06:45
  and probably of her other children at the time, all favored the supposition of
• 5:06:49
  her imprisonment. Its origin jealousy perhaps, or wanton cruelty was yet to be
• 5:06:55
  unraveled in revolving these matters. While she undressed, it suddenly struck her as
• 5:07:00
  not unlikely that she might that morning have passed near the very spot of this
• 5:07:04
  unfortunate woman's confinement, might have been within a few paces of the cell in
• 5:07:08
  which she languished out her days. For what part of the abbey could be
• 5:07:11
  more fitted for the purpose than that which yet bore the traces of monastic division
• 5:07:17
  in the high arched passage paved with stone, which already she had trodden with
• 5:07:21
  peculiar awe. She well remembered the doors of which the General had given no
• 5:07:25
  account to what might not those doors lead. In support of the plausibility of
• 5:07:30
  this conjecture, it further occurred to her that the forbidden gallery in which lay
• 5:07:33
  the apartments of the unfortunate missus Tilney, must be as certainly as her memory
• 5:07:37
  could guide her exactly over the suspected range of cells, and the staircase by
• 5:07:42
  the side of those apartments of which she had caught a transient glimpse communicating by
• 5:07:47
  some secret means with those cells, might well have favored the barbarous proceedings of
• 5:07:51
  her husband down that staircase. She had perhaps been conveyed in a state of
• 5:07:56
  well prepared insensibility. Catherine sometimes darted at the boldness of her own surmises,
• 5:08:02
  and sometimes hoped or feared that she had gone too far. But they were
• 5:08:06
  supported by such appearances as made their dismissal impossible, the side of the quadrangle
• 5:08:11
  in which she supposed the guilty scene to be acting, being, according to
• 5:08:15
  her belief, just opposite her own. It struck her that if judiciously watched
• 5:08:18
  some rays of light from the General's lamp might glimmer through the lower windows as
• 5:08:22
  he passed to the prison of his wife, And twice before she stepped into
• 5:08:26
  bed, she stole gently from her room to the corresponding window in the gallery
• 5:08:30
  to see if it appeared. But all abroad was dark, and it must
• 5:08:34
  yet be too early. The various ascending noises convinced her that the servants must
• 5:08:38
  still be up till midnight. She supposed it would be in vain to watch,
• 5:08:42
  But then when the clock had struck twelve and all was quiet, she
• 5:08:47
  would, if not quite appalled by darkness, steal out and look once more.
• 5:08:51
  The clock struck twelve and Catherine had been half an hour asleep. End
• 5:08:57
  of Chapter twenty three. Chapter twenty four. The next day afforded no opportunity
• 5:09:04
  for the proposed examination of the mysterious apartments. It was Sunday, and the
• 5:09:10
  whole time between morning and afternoon service was required by the General in exercise abroad
• 5:09:15
  or eating cold meat at home, and great as was Catherine's curiosity, her
• 5:09:19
  courage was not equal to a wish of exploring them after dinner, either by
• 5:09:23
  the fading light of the sky between six and seven o'clock, or by the
• 5:09:26
  yet more partial, though stronger illumination of a treacherous lamp. The day was
• 5:09:32
  unmarked, therefore, by anything to interest her imagination beyond the sight of a
• 5:09:36
  very elegant monument to the memory of Missus Tilney, which immediately fronted the family
• 5:09:41
  pew. By that her eye was instantly caught and long retained, and the
• 5:09:45
  perusal of the highly strained epitaph in which every virtue was ascribed to her by
• 5:09:49
  the inconsolable husband, who must have been, in some way or other her
• 5:09:52
  destroyer, affected her even to tears. That the general, having erected such
• 5:09:59
  a monument, should be able to face it was not, perhaps very strange.
• 5:10:03
  And yet that he could sit so boldly collected within its view, maintain
• 5:10:07
  so elevated an air, look so fearlessly around, nay, that he should
• 5:10:11
  even enter the church seemed wonderful to Catherine, not, however, that many
• 5:10:17
  instances of beings equally harded and guilt might not be produced. She could remember
• 5:10:21
  dozens who had persevered in every possible vice, going on from crime to crime,
• 5:10:26
  murdering whomsoever they chose, without any feeling of humanity. Or remorse till
• 5:10:30
  a violent death or a religious retirement closed their black career. The erection of
• 5:10:36
  the monument itself could not, in the smallest degree affect her doubts of missus
• 5:10:38
  Tilney's actual decease. Were she even to descend into the family vault where her
• 5:10:44
  ashes were supposed to slumber, were she to behold the coffin in which they
• 5:10:48
  were said to be enclosed, what could it avail in such a case.
• 5:10:51
  Catherine had read too much not to be perfectly aware of the ease with which
• 5:10:55
  a waxen figure might be introduced, and a suppositious funeral carried on the succeeding
• 5:11:00
  morning promised something better. The general's early walk, ill timed as it was
• 5:11:04
  in every other view, was favorable here, and when she knew him to
• 5:11:08
  be out of the house, she directly proposed to miss Tilney the accomplishment of
• 5:11:11
  her promise. Eleanor was ready to oblige her, and Catherine reminding her as
• 5:11:17
  they went of another promise. Their first visit, in consequence was to the
• 5:11:19
  portrait in her bed chamber. It represented a very lovely woman with a mild
• 5:11:25
  and pensive countenance, justifying so far the expectations of its new observer, but
• 5:11:30
  they were not in every respect answered. For Catherine had depended upon meeting with
• 5:11:33
  features, hair complexion that should be the very counterpart, the very image,
• 5:11:38
  if not of Henry's, of Eleanor's, the only portraits of which she had
• 5:11:41
  been in the habit of thinking, bearing always an equal resemblance of mother and
• 5:11:45
  child. A face, once taken was taken for generations. But here she
• 5:11:51
  was obliged to look and consider and study for a likeness. She contemplated it,
• 5:11:55
  however, in despite of this drawback with much emotion, and but for
• 5:11:59
  a yet stronger interest, would have left it unwillingly. Her agitation as they
• 5:12:04
  entered the Great Gallery was too much for any endeavor at discourse. She could
• 5:12:07
  only look at her companion. Eleanor's countenance was dejected yet sedate, and its
• 5:12:14
  composure spoke her inured to all the gloomy objects to which they were advancing.
• 5:12:18
  Again, she passed through the folding doors. Again, her hand was upon
• 5:12:22
  the important lock, and Catherine, hardly able to breathe was turning to close
• 5:12:26
  the former with fearful caution, when the figure, the dreaded figure of the
• 5:12:30
  General himself at the further end of the gallery stood before her the name of
• 5:12:33
  Eleanor. At the same moment, in his loudest tone, resounded through the
• 5:12:38
  building, giving to his daughter the first intimation of his presence, and to
• 5:12:41
  Catherine, terror upon terror. An attempt at concealment had been her first instinctive
• 5:12:47
  movement on perceiving him. Yet she could scarcely hope to have escaped his eye.
• 5:12:51
  And when her friend, who with an apologizing look darted hastily by her,
• 5:12:55
  had joined and disappeared with him, she ran for safety to her own
• 5:12:59
  room, and, locking herself in, believed that she should never have courage
• 5:13:02
  to go down again. She remained there at least an hour in the greatest
• 5:13:06
  agitation, deeply commiserating the state of her poor friend, and expecting a summons
• 5:13:11
  herself from the angry General to attend him in his own apartment. No summons,
• 5:13:15
  however, arrived, and at last, on seeing a carriage drive up
• 5:13:18
  to the abbey, she was emboldened to descend and meet him. Under the
• 5:13:21
  protection of visitors. The breakfast room was gay with company, and she was
• 5:13:25
  named to them by the General as the friend of his daughter, in a
• 5:13:27
  complimentary style which so well concealed his resentful ire as to make her feel secure,
• 5:13:33
  at least of life for the present, and Elinor with a command of
• 5:13:37
  countenance which did honor to her concern for his character. Taking an early occasion
• 5:13:41
  of saying to her, my father only wanted me to answer a note,
• 5:13:45
  she began to hope that she had either been unseen by the General, or
• 5:13:48
  that from some consideration of policy, she should be allowed to suppose herself.
• 5:13:52
  So upon this trust she dared still to remain in his presence after the company
• 5:13:56
  left them, and nothing occurred to disturb it. In the course of this
• 5:14:00
  morning's reflections, she came to a resolution of making her next attempt on the
• 5:14:03
  forbidden door alone. It would be much better in every respect that Eleanor should
• 5:14:07
  know nothing of the matter, to involve her in the danger of a second
• 5:14:11
  detection. To court her into an apartment which must wring her heart. Could
• 5:14:15
  not be the office of a friend. The General's utmost anger, could not
• 5:14:18
  be to herself what it might be to a daughter. And besides, she
• 5:14:22
  thought the examination itself would be more satisfactory if made without any companion. It
• 5:14:26
  would be impossible to explain to Eleanor the suspicions from which the other had in
• 5:14:30
  all likelihood been hitherto happily exempt. Nor could she, therefore, in her
• 5:14:34
  presence, search for those proofs of the General's cruelty, which, however,
• 5:14:38
  they might yet have escaped discovery she felt confident of somewhere, drawing forth in
• 5:14:42
  the shape of some fragmented journal, continued to the last gasp of the way
• 5:14:48
  to the apartment. She was now perfectly mistress, and as she wished to
• 5:14:51
  get it over before Henry's return, who was expected on the morrow, there
• 5:14:53
  was no time to be lost. The day was bright, her courage high.
• 5:14:57
  At four o'clock, the so was now two hours above the horizon,
• 5:15:02
  and it would be only her retiring to dress half an hour earlier than usual.
• 5:15:06
  It was done, and Catherine found herself alone in the gallery before the
• 5:15:10
  clocks had ceased to strike. It was no time for thought. She hurried
• 5:15:14
  on, slipped with the least possible noise through the folding doors, and without
• 5:15:17
  stopping to look or breathe, rushed forward to the one in question. The
• 5:15:21
  lock yielded to her hand, and luckily with no sullen sounds that could alarm
• 5:15:25
  a human being. On tiptoe. She entered. The room was before her,
• 5:15:29
  but it was some minutes before she could advance another step. She beheld
• 5:15:33
  what fixed her to the spot, and agitated every feature she saw. A
• 5:15:37
  large, well proportioned apartment, a handsome dimity bed arranged as unoccupied with that
• 5:15:41
  housemaid's care, a bright bath stove, mahogany wardrobes, and neatly painted chairs
• 5:15:47
  on which the warm beams of a western sun gaily poured through two sash windows.
• 5:15:52
  Catherine had expected to have her feelings worked, and worked they were.
• 5:15:56
  Astonishment and doubt first seized them, and ashorely succeeding ray of common sense added
• 5:16:02
  some bitter emotions of shame. She could not be mistaken as to the room,
• 5:16:06
  but how grossly mistaken in everything else in miss Tilney's meaning. In her
• 5:16:10
  own calculation, this apartment, to which she had given a date so ancient,
• 5:16:14
  a position so awful, proved to be one end of what the general's
• 5:16:18
  father had built. There were two other doors in the chamber, bleeding probably
• 5:16:22
  into dressing closets, but she had no inclination to open either. Would the
• 5:16:26
  veil in which missus Tilney had last walked, or the volume in which she
• 5:16:29
  had last read, remain to tell what nothing else was allowed to whisper.
• 5:16:33
  No, whatever might have been the General's crimes, he had certainly too much
• 5:16:37
  wit to let them sue for detection. She was sick of exploring, and
• 5:16:41
  desired but to be safe in her own room, with her own heart only
• 5:16:45
  privy to its folly, And she was on the point of retreating as softly
• 5:16:48
  as she had entered, when the sound of footsteps she could hardly tell where,
• 5:16:52
  made her pause and tremble. To be found there, even by a
• 5:16:56
  servant would be unpleasant, but by the General, and he seemed always at
• 5:17:00
  hand when least wanted much worse. She listened the sound had ceased, and,
• 5:17:04
  resolving not to lose a moment, she passed through and closed the door.
• 5:17:08
  At that instant a door underneath was hastily opened. Some one seemed,
• 5:17:12
  with swift steps to ascend the stairs by the head of which she had yet
• 5:17:15
  to pass. Before she could gain the gallery, she had no power to
• 5:17:19
  move. With a feeling of terror not very definable, she fixed her eyes
• 5:17:22
  on the staircase, and in a few moments it gave Henry to her view.
• 5:17:27
  Mister Tilney, she exclaimed, in a voice of more than common astonishment.
• 5:17:32
  He looked astonished, too, good God, she continued, not attending
• 5:17:37
  to his address. How came you here? How came you up that staircase?
• 5:17:41
  How came I up that staircase? He replied, greatly surprised, because
• 5:17:47
  it is my nearest way from the stable yard to my own chamber. And
• 5:17:49
  why should I not come up it? Catherine recollected herself, blushed deeply,
• 5:17:55
  and could say no more. He seemed to be looking at her countenance for
• 5:17:59
  that explanation, which her lips did not afford. She moved on towards the
• 5:18:02
  gallery. And may I not, in my turn, said he, as
• 5:18:07
  he pushed back the folding doors, ask how you came here? This passage
• 5:18:11
  is at least as extraordinary a road from the breakfast parlor to your own apartment
• 5:18:15
  as that staircase can be from the stables to mine. I have been,
• 5:18:18
  said Catherine, looking down to see your mother's room, my mother's room?
• 5:18:25
  Is there anything extraordinary to be seen? There? No, nothing at all.
• 5:18:30
  I thought you did not mean to come back till to morrow. I
• 5:18:33
  did not expect to be able to return sooner when I went away, but
• 5:18:36
  three hours ago, I had the pleasure of finding nothing to detain me.
• 5:18:40
  You look pale. I am afraid I alarmed you by running so fast up
• 5:18:42
  those stairs. Perhaps you did not know, you were not aware of their
• 5:18:47
  leading from the offices in common use. No I was not. You have
• 5:18:52
  had a very fine day for your ride. Very and does eleanor leave you
• 5:18:57
  to find your way into all the rooms in the house by your Oh?
• 5:19:02
  No, she showed me over the greatest part on Saturday, and we were
• 5:19:06
  coming here to these rooms, but only dropping her voice. Your father was
• 5:19:10
  with us, and that prevented you, said Henry, earnestly, regarding her.
• 5:19:15
  Have you looked into all the rooms in that passage? No, I
• 5:19:19
  only wanted to see. Is not it very late? I must go and
• 5:19:23
  dress. It is only a quarter past four, showing his watch, And
• 5:19:29
  you are not now in bath, no theater, no rooms to prepare for
• 5:19:33
  half an hour at Northangham must be enough. She could not contradict it,
• 5:19:37
  and therefore suffered herself to be detained, though her dread of further questions made
• 5:19:41
  her, for the first time in their acquaintance, wished to leave him.
• 5:19:45
  They walked slowly up the gallery. Have you had any letter from Bath since
• 5:19:48
  I saw you, No, and I am very much surprised. Isabella promised
• 5:19:53
  so faithfully to write directly, promised so faithfully, a faithful promise that puzzles
• 5:20:00
  me. I have heard of a faithful performance, but a faithful promise.
• 5:20:04
  The fidelity of promising it is a power little worth knowing, however, since
• 5:20:10
  it can deceive and pain you. My mother's room is very commodious, is
• 5:20:14
  it not? Large? And cheerful looking, and the dressing closets so well
• 5:20:18
  disposed. It always strikes me as the most comfortable apartment in the house,
• 5:20:22
  and I rather wonder that Eleanor should not take it for her own. She
• 5:20:25
  sent you to look at it. I suppose no, it has been your
• 5:20:30
  own doing entirely. Catherine said nothing. After a short silence during which he
• 5:20:34
  closely observed her, he added, as there is nothing in the room in
• 5:20:38
  itself to raise curiosity. This must have proceeded from a sentiment of respect for
• 5:20:42
  my mother's character, as described by Eleanor, which does honor to her memory.
• 5:20:47
  The world. I believe never saw a better woman. But it is
• 5:20:51
  not often that a virtue can boast an interest such as this. The domestic,
• 5:20:55
  unpretending merits of a person never known do not often create that kind of
• 5:20:59
  firm and venerating tenderness which would prompt a visit like yours. Eleanor I supposed
• 5:21:03
  has talked of her a great deal, yes, a great deal. That
• 5:21:08
  is, no, not much, But what she did say was very interesting.
• 5:21:15
  Her dying so suddenly, slowly, and with hesitation, it was spoken,
• 5:21:21
  and you, none of you being at home, and your father I
• 5:21:25
  thought perhaps had not been very fond of her. And from these circumstances,
• 5:21:32
  he replied, his quick eye fixed on hers, you infer perhaps the probability
• 5:21:37
  of some negligence, some involuntarily she shook her head, Or it may be
• 5:21:42
  of something still less pardonable. She raised her eyes towards him, more fully
• 5:21:48
  than she had ever done before. My mother's illness, he continued. The
• 5:21:52
  seizure which ended in her death was sudden, the malady itself one from which
• 5:21:57
  she had often suffered a bilious fever. Its cause therefore constitutional. On the
• 5:22:03
  third day, in short, as soon as she could be prevailed upon,
• 5:22:07
  her physician attended her, a very respectable man, and one in whom she
• 5:22:10
  had always placed great confidence. Upon his opinion of her danger. Two others
• 5:22:15
  were called in the next day, and remained in almost constant attendance for four
• 5:22:18
  and twenty hours. On the fifth day, she died. During the progress
• 5:22:22
  of her disorder. Frederick and I, we were both at home, saw
• 5:22:26
  her repeatedly, and from our own observation, can bear witness to her having
• 5:22:30
  received every possible attention which could spring from the affection of those about her,
• 5:22:33
  or which her situation in life could command. Poor Eleanor was absent and at
• 5:22:38
  such a distance as to return only to see her mother in her coffin.
• 5:22:42
  But your father, said Catherine, was he afflicted for a time greatly?
• 5:22:48
  So you have erred in supposing him not attached to her. He loved her.
• 5:22:52
  I am persuaded as well as it was possible for him too. We
• 5:22:56
  have not all you know, the same tenderness of disposition. And I will
• 5:23:00
  not pretend to say that while she lived she might not often have had much
• 5:23:03
  to bear. But though his temper injured her, his judgment never did.
• 5:23:07
  His value of her was sincere, and if not permanently, he was truly
• 5:23:11
  afflicted by her death. I am very glad of it, said Catherine.
• 5:23:17
  It would have been very shocking. If I understand you rightly, you had
• 5:23:22
  formed a surmise of such horror as I have hardly words to. Dear Miss
• 5:23:26
  Morland, Consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have
• 5:23:30
  you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live.
• 5:23:36
  Remember that we are English, that we are Christians. Consult your own
• 5:23:38
  understanding, your own sense of the probable, your own observation of what is
• 5:23:42
  passing around you? Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our
• 5:23:48
  laws connive at them? Could they be perpetrated without being known? In a
• 5:23:52
  country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing,
• 5:23:55
  where every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies, and where roads
• 5:23:59
  and the newspapers lay everything open. Dearest Miss Morland, what ideas if you
• 5:24:04
  mean? Admitting? They had reached the end of the gallery, and with
• 5:24:08
  tears of shame, she ran off to her own room. End of chapter
• 5:24:15
  twenty four, Chapter twenty five, The visions of Romance were over. Catherine
• 5:24:22
  was completely awakened. Henry's address, short as it had been, had more
• 5:24:26
  thoroughly opened her eyes to the extravagance of her late fancies, than all their
• 5:24:30
  several disappointments had done. Most grievously was she humbled, most bitterly did she
• 5:24:36
  cry. It was not only with herself that she was sunk, but with
• 5:24:38
  Henry. Her folly, which now seemed even criminal, was all exposed to
• 5:24:44
  him, and he must despise her forever. The liberty which her imagination had
• 5:24:48
  dared to take with the character of his father. Could he ever forgive it?
• 5:24:52
  The absurdity of her curiosity and her fears, could they ever be forgotten?
• 5:24:57
  She hated herself more than she could express He had she thought he had
• 5:25:02
  once or twice before this fatal morning shown something like affection for her. But
• 5:25:07
  now, in short, she made herself as miserable as possible for about half
• 5:25:11
  an hour went down when the clock struck five, with a broken heart,
• 5:25:15
  and could scarcely give an intelligible answer to Eleanor's inquiry if she was well.
• 5:25:18
  The formidable Henry soon followed her into the room, and the only difference in
• 5:25:22
  his behavior to her was that he paid her rather more attention than usual.
• 5:25:26
  Catherine had never wanted comfort more, and he looked as if he was aware
• 5:25:30
  of it. The evening wore away with no abatement of this soothing politeness,
• 5:25:36
  and her spirits were gradually raised to a modest tranquility. She did not learn
• 5:25:40
  either to forget or defend the past, but she learned to hope that it
• 5:25:42
  would never transpire farther, and that it might not cost her Henry's entire regard,
• 5:25:48
  her thoughts being still chiefly fixed on what she had with such causeless terror
• 5:25:52
  felt and done. Nothing could shortly be clearer than that it had all been
• 5:25:56
  a voluntary, self created delusion, each trifling circumstance receiving importance from an imagination
• 5:26:00
  resolved on alarm, and everything forced to bend to one purpose by a mind
• 5:26:06
  which, before she entered the abbey had been craving to be frightened. She
• 5:26:10
  remembered with what feelings she had prepared for a knowledge of Northanger. She saw
• 5:26:14
  that the infatuation had been created, the mischief settled long before her quitting bath,
• 5:26:18
  and it seemed as if the whole might be traced to the influence of
• 5:26:22
  that sort of reading which she had there indulged. Charming as were all Missus
• 5:26:26
  Radcliffe's works, and charming even as were the works of all her imitators.
• 5:26:30
  It was not in them, perhaps, that human nature, at least in
• 5:26:33
  the midland counties of England, was to be looked for. Of the Alps
• 5:26:37
  and Pyrenees, with their pine forests and their vices, they might give a
• 5:26:41
  faithful delineation, and Italy, Switzerland and the south of France might be as
• 5:26:45
  fruitful in horrors as they were there represented. Catherine dared not doubt beyond her
• 5:26:49
  own country, and even of that, if hard pressed, would have yielded
• 5:26:53
  the northern and western extremities. But in the central part of England there was
• 5:26:57
  surely some security for the exist distance even of a wife not beloved. In
• 5:27:02
  the laws of the land and the manners of the age, murder was not
• 5:27:06
  tolerated. Servants were not slaves, and neither poison nor sleeping potions to be
• 5:27:10
  procured like rhubarb from every druggist. Among the Alps and Pyrenees, perhaps there
• 5:27:15
  were no mixed characters there, such as were not as spotless as an angel
• 5:27:18
  might have the dispositions of a fiend. But in England it was not so.
• 5:27:22
  Among the English, she believed, in their hearts and habits, there
• 5:27:26
  was a general though unequal mixture of good and bad. Upon this conviction,
• 5:27:30
  she would not be surprised if, even in Henry and eleanor Tilney, some
• 5:27:33
  slight imperfection might hereafter appear. And upon this conviction she need not fear to
• 5:27:38
  acknowledge some actual specks in the character of their father, who, though cleared
• 5:27:42
  from the grossly injurious suspicions which she must ever blushed, have entertained, she
• 5:27:47
  did believe, upon serious consideration, to be not perfectly amiable. Her mind
• 5:27:52
  made up on these several points, and her resolution formed of always judging and
• 5:27:56
  acting in future with the greatest good sense. She had nothing to do but
• 5:28:00
  to forgive herself and be happier than ever, and the lenient hand of time
• 5:28:04
  did much for her by insensible gradations in the course of another day. Henry's
• 5:28:08
  astonishing generosity and nobleness of conduct, in never alluding in the slightest way to
• 5:28:14
  what had passed, was of the greatest assistance to her, and sooner than
• 5:28:17
  she could have supposed it possible in the beginning of her distress, her spirits
• 5:28:21
  became absolutely comfortable and capable, as heretofore, of continual improvement by anything he
• 5:28:26
  said there were still some subjects, indeed, under which she believed they must
• 5:28:30
  always tremble, the mention of a chest or a cabinet, for instance.
• 5:28:34
  And she did not love the sight of Japan in any shape. But even
• 5:28:38
  she could allow that an occasional memento of past folly, however painful, might
• 5:28:42
  not be without use. The anxieties of common life began soon to succeed to
• 5:28:48
  the alarms of romance. Her desire of hearing from Isabella grew every day greater.
• 5:28:52
  She was quite impatient to know how the bath world went on, and
• 5:28:56
  how the rooms were attended, And especially was she anxious to be assured of
• 5:28:59
  Isabella as having matched some fine netting cotton on which she had left her intent,
• 5:29:03
  and of her continuing on the best terms with James. Her only dependence
• 5:29:07
  for information of any kind was on Isabella. James had protested against writing to
• 5:29:11
  her till his return to Oxford, and Missus Allen had given her no hopes
• 5:29:15
  of a letter till she had got back to Fullerton. But Isabella had promised
• 5:29:18
  and promised again. And when she promised a thing, she was so scrupulous
• 5:29:22
  in performing it. This made it so particularly strange for nine successive mornings,
• 5:29:27
  Catherine wondered over the repetition of a disappointment, which each morning became more severe.
• 5:29:33
  But on the tenth when she entered the breakfast room, her first object
• 5:29:37
  was a letter held out by Henry's willing hand. She thanked him as heartily
• 5:29:41
  as if he had written it himself. Tis only from James. However,
• 5:29:45
  as she looked at the direction she opened it, it was from Oxford.
• 5:29:48
  And to this purpose, Dear Catherine, though God knows a little inclination for
• 5:29:55
  writing, I think it my duty to tell you that everything is at an
• 5:29:57
  end between miss Thorpe and me. I left her and barth yesterday, never
• 5:30:03
  to see either again. I shall not enter into particulars. They would only
• 5:30:07
  pain you more. You will soon hear enough from another quarter to know where
• 5:30:11
  lies the blame, and I hope will acquit your brother of everything. But
• 5:30:14
  the folly of too easily thinking his affection returned. Thank God, I am
• 5:30:18
  undeceived in time. But it is a heavy blow after my father's consent had
• 5:30:22
  been so kindly given. But no more of this. She has made me
• 5:30:27
  miserable for ever. Let me soon hear from you. Dear Catherine, you
• 5:30:30
  are my only friend, your love I do build upon. I wish your
• 5:30:34
  visit at Northanger may be over before Captain Tilney makes his engagement known, or
• 5:30:38
  you will be uncomfortably circumstanced. Poor Thorpe is in town. I dread the
• 5:30:44
  sight of him. His honest heart would feel so much. I have written
• 5:30:48
  to him and my father. Her duplicity hurts me more than all till the
• 5:30:52
  very last. If I reasoned with her, she declared herself as much attached
• 5:30:56
  to me as ever, and laughed at my fears. I am ashamed to
• 5:30:59
  think how long I bore with it. But if ever man had reason to
• 5:31:03
  believe himself loved, I was that man. I cannot understand even now what
• 5:31:07
  she would be at for. There could be no need of my being played
• 5:31:10
  off to make a secure of Tilney. We parted at last by mutual consent,
• 5:31:15
  happy for me had we never met. I can never expect to know
• 5:31:18
  another such woman. Dearest Catherine, beware how you give your heart. Believe
• 5:31:22
  me et cetera. Catherine had not read three lines before her sudden change of
• 5:31:29
  countenance and short exclamations of sorrowing wonder declared her to be receiving unpleasant news,
• 5:31:34
  and Henry, earnestly watching her throughout the whole letter, saw plainly that it
• 5:31:37
  ended no better than it began. He was prevented, however, from even
• 5:31:41
  looking his surprise by his father's entrance. They went to breakfast directly, but
• 5:31:45
  Catherine could hardly eat anything. Tears filled her eyes and even ran down her
• 5:31:51
  cheeks as she sat. The letter was one moment in her hand, then
• 5:31:53
  in her lap, and then in her pocket, and she looked as if
• 5:31:56
  she knew not what she did. The general, between his cocoa and his
• 5:32:00
  newspaper, had luckily no leisure for noticing her, but to the other two
• 5:32:04
  her distress was equally visible. As soon as she dared leave the table,
• 5:32:07
  she hurried away to her own room, but the housemaids were busy in it,
• 5:32:11
  and she was obliged to come down again. She turned into the drawing
• 5:32:15
  room for privacy, but Henry and Eleanor had likewise retreated thither, and were
• 5:32:18
  at that moment deep in consultation about her. She drew back, trying to
• 5:32:22
  beg their pardon, but was with gentle violence forced to return, and the
• 5:32:27
  others withdrew. After Eleanor had affectionately expressed a wish of being of use or
• 5:32:32
  comfort to her. After half an hour's free indulgence of grief and reflection,
• 5:32:36
  Catherine felt equal to encountering her friends. But whether she should make her distress
• 5:32:41
  known to them was another consideration. Perhaps a particularly questioned she might just give
• 5:32:45
  an idea, just distantly hint at it, but not more to expose a
• 5:32:49
  friend, such a friend as Isabella had been to her, and then their
• 5:32:52
  own brothers so closely concerned in it, she believed she must waive the subject
• 5:32:56
  altogether. Henry and Eleanor were themselves in the breakfast room, and each,
• 5:33:02
  as she entered it, looked at her anxiously. Catherine took her place at
• 5:33:04
  the table, and after a short silence, Elinor said, no bad news
• 5:33:10
  from Fulltton. I hope, mister and missus Morland, your brothers and sisters.
• 5:33:14
  I hope they are not of them ill. No, I thank you,
• 5:33:18
  sighing as she spoke, they are all very well. My letter was
• 5:33:22
  from my brother at Oxford. Nothing further was said for a few minutes,
• 5:33:26
  and then, speaking through her tears, she added, I do not think
• 5:33:30
  I shall ever wish for a letter again. I am sorry, said Henry,
• 5:33:34
  closing the book he had just opened. If I had suspected the letter
• 5:33:38
  of containing anything unwelcome, I should have given it with very different feelings.
• 5:33:44
  It contained something worse than anybody could suppose. Poor James is so unhappy.
• 5:33:48
  You will soon know why. To have so kind hearted, so affectionate,
• 5:33:52
  a sister, replied Henry warmly, must be a comfort to him under any
• 5:33:57
  distress. I have one favor to beg said Catherine shortly afterwards, in an
• 5:34:03
  agitated manner, that if your brother should be coming here, you will give
• 5:34:07
  me notice of it that I may go away our brother Frederick. Yes,
• 5:34:15
  I am sure. I should be very sorry to leave you so soon,
• 5:34:17
  But something has happened that would make it very dreadful for me to be in
• 5:34:19
  the same house with Captain Tilney. Eleanor's work was suspended while she gazed with
• 5:34:25
  increasing astonishment. But Henry began to suspect the truth, and something in which
• 5:34:29
  Miss Thorpe's name was included passed his lips. How quick you are, cried
• 5:34:34
  Catherine. You have guessed it, I declare, And yet when we talked
• 5:34:37
  about it in Bath, you little thought of its ending. So Isabella no
• 5:34:42
  wonder now I have not heard from her. Isabella has deserted my brother and
• 5:34:47
  is to marry yours. Could you have believed there had been such inconstancy and
• 5:34:49
  fickleness and everything that is bad in the world. I hope, so far
• 5:34:55
  as concerns my brother, you are misinformed. I hope he is not at
• 5:34:57
  any material share and bring on mister Morland's disappointment. His marrying Miss Thorpe is
• 5:35:03
  not probable. I think you must be deceived so far. I am very
• 5:35:07
  sorry for mister Morland, sorry that any one you love should be unhappy.
• 5:35:11
  But my surprise would be greater at Frederick's marrying her than at any other part
• 5:35:14
  of the story. It is very true, however, you shall read James's
• 5:35:18
  letter yourself. Stay. There is one part recollecting with a blush. The
• 5:35:22
  last line, will you take the trouble of reading to us the passages which
• 5:35:27
  concern my brother? No, read it yourself, cried Catherine, whose second
• 5:35:33
  thoughts were clearer. I do not know what I was thinking of blushing again,
• 5:35:37
  that she had blushed before. James only means to give me good advice.
• 5:35:41
  He gladly received the letter, and, having read it through with close
• 5:35:44
  attention, returned it, saying, well, if it is to be so,
• 5:35:48
  I can only say that I am sorry for it. Frederick will not
• 5:35:52
  be the first man who has chosen a wife with less sense than his family
• 5:35:55
  expected. I do not envy his situation, either as a lover or a
• 5:35:59
  son. Miss Tilney, at Catherine's invitation, now read the letter likewise,
• 5:36:04
  and having expressed also her concerned surprise, began to inquire into Miss Thorpe's connections
• 5:36:08
  and fortune. Her mother is a very good sort of woman, was Catherine's
• 5:36:14
  answer. What was her father a lawyer? I believe they live at Putney.
• 5:36:19
  Are they a wealthy family? No, not very I do not believe
• 5:36:25
  Isabella has any fortune at all, but that will not signify in your family.
• 5:36:29
  Your father is so very liberal. He told me the other day that
• 5:36:32
  he only valued money as it allowed him to promote the happiness of his children.
• 5:36:36
  The brother and sister looked at each other, but said, elinor,
• 5:36:40
  after a short pause, would it be to promote his happiness to enable him
• 5:36:44
  to marry such a girl. She must be an unprincipled one, or she
• 5:36:48
  could not have used your brother so and how strange? An infatuation on Frederick's
• 5:36:52
  side, a girl who, before his eyes as violating an engagement, voluntarily
• 5:36:56
  entered into with another man. Is it not a conceivable? Henry Frederick too,
• 5:37:00
  who always wore his heart so proudly, who found no woman good enough
• 5:37:03
  to be loved. That is the most unpromising circumstance, the strongest presumption against
• 5:37:10
  him. When I think of his past declarations, I give him up.
• 5:37:14
  Moreover, I have too good an opinion of miss Thorpe's prudence to suppose that
• 5:37:17
  she would part with one gentleman before the other was secured. It is all
• 5:37:19
  over with Frederick. Indeed, he is a deceased man, defunct and understanding.
• 5:37:25
  Prepare for your sister in law, Eleanor, And such a sister in
• 5:37:27
  law as you must delight in open, candid, artless, guileless, with
• 5:37:33
  affections strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disguise, Such
• 5:37:38
  a sister in law, Henry, I should delight in, said Elinor,
• 5:37:41
  with a smile, but perhaps observed Catherine, though she has behaved so ill
• 5:37:47
  by our family, she may behave better by yours. Now she has really
• 5:37:51
  got the man she likes. She may be constant. Indeed, I am
• 5:37:55
  afraid she will replied Henry, I am afraid she will be very constant,
• 5:38:00
  and less a baronet should come in her way, that is Frederick's only chance.
• 5:38:03
  I will get the bath paper and look over the arrivals. You think
• 5:38:07
  it is all for ambition, then, and upon my word, there are
• 5:38:11
  some things that seem very like it. I cannot forget that when she first
• 5:38:15
  knew what my father would do for them, she seemed quite disappointed that it
• 5:38:18
  was not more. I never was so deceived in any one's character in my
• 5:38:22
  life before, among all the great variety that you have known and studied.
• 5:38:26
  My own disappointment and loss in her is very great. But as for poor
• 5:38:30
  James, I suppose you will hardly ever recover it. Your brother is certainly
• 5:38:34
  very much to be pitied at present, but we must not, in our
• 5:38:37
  concern for his sufferings, undervalue yours. You feel. I suppose that in
• 5:38:41
  losing Isabella you lose half yourself. You feel avoid in your heart which nothing
• 5:38:47
  else can occupy. Society is becoming irksome. And as for the amusements in
• 5:38:51
  which you were wont to share at bath, the very idea of them without
• 5:38:55
  her is abhorrand. You would not, for instance, now go to a
• 5:38:56
  ball for the world. You feel that you have no longer any friend to
• 5:39:00
  whom you can speak with, unreserve on whose regard you can place dependance,
• 5:39:04
  or whose counsel in any difficulty you could rely on. You feel all this,
• 5:39:10
  no, said Catherine, after a few moments reflection. I do not
• 5:39:15
  ought, I to say the truth, though I am hurt and grieved that
• 5:39:18
  I cannot still love her, that I am never to hear from her,
• 5:39:22
  perhaps never to see her again. I do not feel so very very much
• 5:39:26
  afflicted as one would have thought. You feel, as you always do.
• 5:39:30
  What is most to the credit of human nature. Such feelings ought to be
• 5:39:34
  investigated, that they may know themselves. Catherine, by some chance or other,
• 5:39:40
  found her spirits so very much relieved by this conversation that she could not
• 5:39:42
  regret her being led on, though so unaccountably to mention the circumstance which had
• 5:39:48
  produced it. End of Chapter twenty five, Chapter twenty six. From this
• 5:39:56
  time the subject was frequently canvassed by the three young people, and Catherine found
• 5:40:00
  with some surprise that her two young friends were perfectly agreed in considering Isabella's want
• 5:40:04
  of consequence and fortune as likely to throw great difficulties in the way of her
• 5:40:08
  marrying their brother. Their persuasion that the General would, upon this ground alone,
• 5:40:14
  independent of the objection that might be raised against her character oppose the connection,
• 5:40:18
  turned her feelings moreover with some alarm towards herself. She was as insignificant
• 5:40:23
  and perhaps as portionless as Isabella. And if the heir of the Tilney property
• 5:40:27
  had not grandeur and wealth enough in himself, at what point of interest were
• 5:40:30
  the demands of his younger brother to rest. The very painful reflections to which
• 5:40:36
  this thought led could be only dispersed by dependence on the effect of that particular
• 5:40:40
  partiality, which, as she was given to understand, by his words as
• 5:40:44
  well as his actions, she had from the first been so fortunate as to
• 5:40:47
  excite in the General, and by a recollection of some most generous and disinterested
• 5:40:51
  sentiments on the subject of money, which she had more than once her to
• 5:40:53
  him utter, and which tempted her to think his disposition in such matters misunderstood
• 5:40:57
  by his children. They were so fully convinced, however, that their brother
• 5:41:02
  would not have the courage to apply in person for his father's consent, and
• 5:41:04
  so repeatedly assured her that he had never in his life been less likely to
• 5:41:08
  come to Northanger than at the present time. That she suffered her mind to
• 5:41:11
  be at ease as to the necessity of any sudden removal of her own.
• 5:41:15
  But as it was not to be supposed that Captain Tilney, whenever he made
• 5:41:19
  his application, would give his father any just idea of Isabella's conduct, it
• 5:41:23
  occurred to her as highly expedient that Henry should lay the whole business before him,
• 5:41:27
  as it really was enabling the General by that means, to form a
• 5:41:30
  cool and impartial opinion and prepare his objections on a fairer ground than inequality of
• 5:41:36
  stations. She proposed it to him accordingly, but he did not catch at
• 5:41:40
  the measure so eagerly as she had expected. No, said he, my
• 5:41:44
  father's hands need not be strengthened, and Frederick's confession of folly need not be
• 5:41:48
  forestalled. He must tell his own story, but he will only tell half
• 5:41:52
  of it a court, it would be enough. A day or two passed
• 5:41:57
  away and brought no tidings of Captain Tilney. His brother and sister knew not
• 5:42:02
  what to think. Sometimes it appeared to them as if his silence would be
• 5:42:04
  the natural result of the suspected engagement, and at others that it was wholly
• 5:42:08
  incompatible with it. The general, meanwhile, though offended every morning by Frederick's
• 5:42:12
  remissness in writing, was free from any real anxiety about him, and had
• 5:42:18
  no more pressing solicitude than that of making Miss Morland's time at Northanger pass pleasantly.
• 5:42:22
  He often expressed his uneasiness on this head, feared the sameness of every
• 5:42:26
  day's society and employments would discuss her with the place wished the Lady Frasers had
• 5:42:30
  been in the country, talked every now and then of having a large party
• 5:42:33
  to dinner, and once or twice began even to calculate the number of young
• 5:42:37
  dancing people in the neighborhood. But then it was such a dead time of
• 5:42:41
  year, no wild fowl, no game, and the Lady Frasers were not
• 5:42:45
  in the country. And it all ended at last in his telling Henry one
• 5:42:48
  morning that when he next went to Woodston, they would take him by surprise
• 5:42:52
  there some day or other and eat their mutton with him. Henry was greatly
• 5:42:56
  honored and very happy, and Catherine was quite delighted with the scheme. And
• 5:43:00
  when do you think, sir, I may look forward to this pleasure.
• 5:43:03
  I must be at Woodston on Monday to attend the parish meeting, and shall
• 5:43:06
  probably be obliged to stay two or three days. Well, well, we
• 5:43:10
  will take our chance some one of these days. There is no need to
• 5:43:12
  fix you are not to put yourself it all out of your way. Whatever
• 5:43:15
  you may happen to have in the house will be enough. I think I
• 5:43:18
  can answer for the young ladies making allowance for a bachelor's table. Let me
• 5:43:22
  see, Monday will be a busy day with you. You will not come
• 5:43:25
  on Monday, and Tuesday will be a busy one with me. I expect
• 5:43:29
  my surveyor from Brockham with his report in the morning and afterwards. I cannot
• 5:43:32
  in decency fail attending the club. I really could not face my acquaintance if
• 5:43:36
  I stayed away now, for as I am known to be in the country,
• 5:43:38
  it would be taken exceedingly amiss. And it is a rule with me,
• 5:43:41
  Miss Morland, never to give offense to any of my neighbors, if
• 5:43:45
  a small sacrifice of time and attention can prevent it. They are a set
• 5:43:48
  of very worthy men. They have half a buck from Northanger twice a year,
• 5:43:52
  and I dine with them whenever I can. Tuesday, therefore we may
• 5:43:56
  say, is out of the question. But on Wednesday, I think,
• 5:43:57
  Henry, you may expect us, and we shall be with you early that
• 5:44:02
  we may have time to look about us. Two hours and three quarters will
• 5:44:04
  carry us to Woodston. I suppose we shall be in the carriage by ten,
• 5:44:07
  so about a quarter before one on Wednesday, you may look for us.
• 5:44:11
  A ball itself could not have been more welcome to Catherine than this little
• 5:44:14
  excursion. So strong was her desire to be acquainted with Woodston, and her
• 5:44:18
  heart was still bounding with joy when Henry, about an hour afterwards, came
• 5:44:22
  booted and great coated into the room where she and Eleanor were sitting, and
• 5:44:25
  said, I am come, young ladies, in a very moralizing strain to
• 5:44:29
  observe that our pleasures in this world are always to be paid for, and
• 5:44:32
  that we often purchase them at a great disadvantage, giving ready moneyed actual happiness
• 5:44:36
  for a draft on the future that may not be honored. Witness myself at
• 5:44:41
  the present hour, because I am to hope for the satisfaction of seeing you
• 5:44:44
  at Woodston on Wednesday, which bad weather or twenty other causes may prevent.
• 5:44:48
  I must go away directly, two days before I intended it go away,
• 5:44:52
  said Catherine, with a very long face. And why why how can you
• 5:44:57
  ask the question? Because no time is to be lost in frightening my old
• 5:45:02
  housekeeper out of her wits, because I must go and prepare a dinner for
• 5:45:04
  you, to be sure, Oh not seriously, I and sadly too,
• 5:45:11
  for I'd much rather stay. But how can you think of such a thing
• 5:45:15
  after what the General said, when he so particularly desired you not to give
• 5:45:18
  yourself any trouble, because anything would do. Henry only smiled. I am
• 5:45:23
  sure it is quite unnecessary, upon your sister's account and mine. He must
• 5:45:26
  know it to be so, And the General made such a point of your
• 5:45:30
  providing nothing extraordinary. Besides, if he had not said half so much as
• 5:45:33
  he did, he's always such an excellent dinner at home that sitting down to
• 5:45:37
  a middling one for one day could not signify. I wish I could reason
• 5:45:41
  like you for his sake and my own. Good bye, as to morrow
• 5:45:45
  is Sunday, eleanor I shall not return, he went, And it being
• 5:45:49
  at any time a much simpler operation to Catherine to doubt her own judgment than
• 5:45:53
  Henry's. She was very soon obliged to give him credit for being right,
• 5:45:56
  however disagreeable to her his going. But the inexplicability of the General's conduct dwelt
• 5:46:03
  much on her thoughts. That he was very particular in his eating she had
• 5:46:07
  by her own unassisted observation already discovered. But why he should say one thing
• 5:46:11
  so positively and mean another all the while was most unaccountable. How were people
• 5:46:15
  at that rate to be understood? Who but Henry could have been aware of
• 5:46:19
  what his father was at from Saturday to Wednesday. However, they were now
• 5:46:23
  to be without Henry. This was the sad finale of every reflection. And
• 5:46:27
  Captain Tilney's letter would certainly come in his absence, and Wednesday, she was
• 5:46:32
  very sure, would be wet. The past, present, and future were
• 5:46:36
  all equally in gloom, her brother so unhappy, and her loss in Isabella
• 5:46:40
  so great, and Elinor's spirits always affected by Henry's absence, what was there
• 5:46:45
  to interest or amuse her? She was tired of the woods and the shrubberies,
• 5:46:48
  always so smooth and so dry, and the abbey in itself was no
• 5:46:52
  more to her now than any other house. The painful remembrance of the folly
• 5:46:56
  it had helped to nourish and perfect was the only emotion which could spring from
• 5:46:59
  a consideration of the building. What a revolution in her ideas. She who
• 5:47:03
  had so longed to be in an abbey. Now there was nothing so charming
• 5:47:07
  to her imagination as the unpretending comfort of a well connected parsonage, something like
• 5:47:11
  Fullerton, but better. Fullerton had its faults, but Woodston probably had none.
• 5:47:17
  If Wednesday should ever come, it did come, and exactly when it
• 5:47:21
  might be reasonably looked for it came. It was fine, and Catherine trod
• 5:47:26
  on air. By ten o'clock, the Chaise and four conveyed the two from
• 5:47:29
  the abbey, and after an agreeable drive of almost twenty miles, they entered
• 5:47:33
  Woodston, a large and populous village in a situation not unpleasant. Catherine was
• 5:47:37
  ashamed to say how pretty she thought it, as the general seemed to think
• 5:47:41
  an apology necessary for the flatness of the country and the size of the village.
• 5:47:45
  But in her heart she preferred it to any place she had ever been
• 5:47:48
  at, and looked with great admiration at every neat house above the rank of
• 5:47:52
  a cottage, and at all the little chandler's shops, which they passed.
• 5:47:56
  At the further end of the village, and tolerably disengaged from the rest of
• 5:47:59
  it, stood the parsonage, a new built, substantial stone house with its
• 5:48:03
  semi circular sweep and green gates. And as they drove up to the door,
• 5:48:07
  Henry, with the friends of his solitude, a large Newfoundland puppy and
• 5:48:11
  two or three terriers, was ready to receive and make much of them.
• 5:48:15
  Catherine's mind was too full as she entered the house for her either to observe
• 5:48:18
  or to say a great deal, And still called on by the General for
• 5:48:22
  her opinion of it, she had very little idea of the room in which
• 5:48:25
  she was sitting. Upon looking round it, then she perceived in a moment
• 5:48:27
  that it was the most comfortable room in the world, but she was too
• 5:48:30
  guarded to say so, and the coldness of her praise disappointed him. We
• 5:48:34
  are not calling it a good house, said he. We are not comparing
• 5:48:38
  it with Fullerton and Northanga. We are considering it as a mere parsonage,
• 5:48:42
  small and confined we allow, but decent perhaps, and habitable and altogether not
• 5:48:48
  inferior to the generality. Or in other words, I believe there are few
• 5:48:52
  country parsonages in England half so good it may admit of improvement. However,
• 5:48:56
  far be it from me to say otherwise, And anything in read a bow
• 5:49:00
  thrown out, perhaps, though between ourselves, if there is one thing more
• 5:49:03
  than another my aversion, it is a patched on beau. Catherine did not
• 5:49:08
  hear enough of this speech to understand or be pained by it, and other
• 5:49:12
  subjects being studiously brought forward and supported by Henry at the same time that a
• 5:49:17
  tray full of refreshments was introduced by his servant. The General was shortly restored
• 5:49:21
  to his complacency, and Catherine to all her usual ease of spirits. The
• 5:49:26
  room in question was of a commodious, well proportioned size and handsomely fitted up
• 5:49:30
  as a dining parlor, and on their quitting it to walk round the grounds,
• 5:49:33
  she was shown first into a smaller apartment belonging peculiarly to the master of
• 5:49:37
  the house and made unusually tidy on the occasion, and afterwards into what was
• 5:49:41
  to be the drawing room, with the appearance of which though unfurnished. Catherine
• 5:49:45
  was delighted enough even to satisfy the General. It was a prettily shaped room,
• 5:49:49
  the windows reaching to the ground, and the view from them pleasant,
• 5:49:52
  though only over green meadows. And she expressed her admiration at the moment with
• 5:49:56
  all the honest simplicity with which she felt it. Oh, why do not
• 5:50:00
  you fit up this room, mister Tilney, What a pity not to have
• 5:50:03
  it fitted up. It is the prettiest room that ever I saw. It
• 5:50:07
  is the prettiest room in the world, I trust, said the General,
• 5:50:11
  with a most satisfied smile, that it will be very speedily furnished. It
• 5:50:15
  waits only for a lady's taste. Well, if it is my house,
• 5:50:21
  I should never sit anywhere else. Oh, what a sweet little cottage there
• 5:50:23
  is among the trees, apple trees too. It is the prettiest cottage.
• 5:50:30
  You like it, you will prove it as an object. It is enough,
• 5:50:33
  Henry, Remember that Robinson has spoken to about it. The cottage remains
• 5:50:37
  such a complimentary called all Catherine's consciousness and silenced her directly, and though pointedly
• 5:50:42
  applied to you by the General for her choice of the prevailing color of the
• 5:50:45
  paper, and hangings, nothing like an opinion on the subject could be drawn
• 5:50:49
  from her. The influence of fresh objects and fresh air, however, was
• 5:50:52
  of great use in dissipating these embarrassing associations. And having reached the ornamental part
• 5:50:57
  of the premises consists of a walk round two sides of a meadow on which
• 5:51:02
  Henry's genius had begun to act about half a year ago. She was sufficiently
• 5:51:06
  recovered to think it prettier than any pleasure ground she had ever been in before,
• 5:51:10
  though there was not a shrub in it higher than the green bench in
• 5:51:11
  the corner. A saunter into other meadows and through part of the village,
• 5:51:15
  with a visit to the stables to examine some improvements, and a charming game
• 5:51:19
  of play with a litter of puppies just able to roll about, brought them
• 5:51:22
  to four o'clock, when Catherine scarcely thought it could be three. At four
• 5:51:26
  they were to dine, and at six to set off on their return.
• 5:51:30
  Never had any day passed so quickly. She could not but observe that the
• 5:51:33
  abundance of the dinner did not seem to create the smallest astonishment in the general
• 5:51:38
  nay, that he was even looking at the side table for cold meat,
• 5:51:41
  which was not there. His son and daughter's observations were of a different kind.
• 5:51:45
  They had seldom seen him eat so heartily at any table but his own,
• 5:51:48
  and never before known him so little disconcerted by the Melton butters being oiled.
• 5:51:53
  At six o'clock, the General having taken his coffee, the carriage again
• 5:51:57
  received them. And so gratified had been the tenor of his conduct throughout the
• 5:52:02
  whole visit, So well assured was her mind on the subject of his expectations,
• 5:52:06
  that could she have felt equally confident of the wishes of his son.
• 5:52:08
  Catherine would have quitted Woodston with little anxiety as to the how or the when
• 5:52:12
  she might return to it. End of Chapter twenty six. Chapter twenty seven.
• 5:52:22
  The next morning brought the following very unexpected letter from Isabella bath April.
• 5:52:27
  My dearest Catherine, I received your two kind letters with the greatest delight,
• 5:52:33
  and have a thousand apologies to make for not answering them sooner. I really
• 5:52:37
  am quite ashamed of my idleness, but in this horrid place one can find
• 5:52:41
  time for nothing. I have had my pen in my hand to begin a
• 5:52:45
  letter to you almost every day since you left Bath, but have always been
• 5:52:48
  prevented by some silly trifle or other. Pray write to me soon and direct
• 5:52:52
  my own home. Thank God, we leave this vile place to morrow.
• 5:52:56
  Since you went away, I have had no pleasure in it. The dust
• 5:53:00
  is beyond anything, and everybody one cares for is gone. I believe if
• 5:53:03
  I could see you, I should not mind the rest, for you are
• 5:53:07
  dearer to me than anybody can conceive. I am quite uneasy about your dear
• 5:53:11
  brother, not having heard from him since he went to Oxford, and am
• 5:53:14
  fearful of some misunderstanding. Your kind offices will set all right. He is
• 5:53:18
  the only man I ever did, or ever could love, and I trust
• 5:53:22
  you will convince him of it. The spring fashions are partly down and perhaps
• 5:53:26
  the most frightful you can imagine. I hope you spend your time pleasantly,
• 5:53:30
  but am afraid you never think of me. I will not say all that
• 5:53:33
  I could of the family you are with, because I would not be ungenerous
• 5:53:37
  or set you against those you esteem. But it is very difficult to know
• 5:53:40
  whom to trust, and young men never know their minds. Two days together,
• 5:53:44
  I rejoice to say that the young man whom of all others I particularly
• 5:53:48
  Aphoor, has left Bath. You will know from this description I must mean
• 5:53:52
  Captain Tilney, who, as you may remember, was amazingly disposed to follow
• 5:53:55
  and tease me before you went away. Afterwards he got worse, and because
• 5:54:00
  quite my shadow, many girls might have been taken in, for never were
• 5:54:03
  such attentions. But I knew the fickle sex too well. He went away
• 5:54:07
  to his regiment two days ago, and I trust I shall never be plagued
• 5:54:11
  with him again. He is the greatest Coxcomb I ever saw, and amazingly
• 5:54:15
  disagreeable. The last two days he was always by the side of Charlotte Davis.
• 5:54:19
  I pitied his taste, but took no notice of him. The last
• 5:54:22
  time we met was in Bath Street, and I turned directly into a shop
• 5:54:26
  that he might not speak to me. I would not even look at him.
• 5:54:30
  He went into the pumprim afterwards, but I would not have followed him.
• 5:54:33
  For all the world. Such contrast between him and your brother. Pray
• 5:54:37
  send me some news of the latter. I am quite unhappy about him.
• 5:54:41
  He seemed so uncomfortable when he went away with a cold or something that affected
• 5:54:45
  his spirits. I would write to him myself, but have mislaid his direction.
• 5:54:48
  And as I hinted above, I'm afraid he took something in my conduct.
• 5:54:51
  A miss pray explain everything to his satisfaction, or if he still harbors
• 5:54:56
  any doubt, a line from himself to me, or a call at Putney
• 5:54:59
  when town might set all to rights. I have not been to the rooms
• 5:55:03
  this age, nor to the play, except going in last night with the
• 5:55:06
  Hodges for a frolic at half price. They teased me into it, and
• 5:55:10
  I was determined they should not say I shut myself up. Because Tilney was
• 5:55:14
  gone. We happened to sit by the Mitchells, and they pretended to be
• 5:55:17
  quite surprised to see me out. I knew their spite. At one time
• 5:55:21
  they could not be civil to me, but now they are all friendship.
• 5:55:23
  But I am not such a fools to be taken in by them. You
• 5:55:26
  know, I have a pretty good spirit of my own. Anne Mitchell had
• 5:55:30
  tried to put on a turban like mine as I wore at the week before
• 5:55:33
  at the concert, but made wretched work of it. It happened to become
• 5:55:37
  my odd face, I believe, at least Tilney told me so at the
• 5:55:40
  time, and said every eye was upon me. But he is the last
• 5:55:42
  man whose word I would take. I wear nothing but purple. Now I
• 5:55:47
  know I look hideous in it, but no matter. It is your dear
• 5:55:49
  brother's favorite color. Loose no time, my dearest sweetest Catherine, in writing
• 5:55:55
  to him and to me, whoever am et cetera. Such a strain of
• 5:56:00
  shallow artifice could not impose even upon Catherine. Its inconsistencies, contradictions, and
• 5:56:07
  falsehood struck her from the very first. She was ashamed of Isabella and ashamed
• 5:56:11
  of having ever loved her. Her professions of attachment were now as disgusting as
• 5:56:15
  her excuses were empty, and her demands imprudent. Write to James on her
• 5:56:19
  behalf. No James should never hear Isabella's name mentioned by her again. On
• 5:56:26
  Henry's arrival from Woodston, she made known to him and Eleanor their brother's safety,
• 5:56:30
  congratulating them with sincerity on it, and reading aloud the most material passages
• 5:56:34
  of her letter with strong indignation. When she had finished it, so much
• 5:56:38
  for Isabella, she cried, and for all our intimacy. She must think
• 5:56:44
  me an idiot, or she could not have written so, but perhaps as
• 5:56:47
  has served to make her character better known to me than mine. As to
• 5:56:49
  her, I see what she has been about. She is a vain coquette,
• 5:56:53
  and her tricks, if not answered. I do not believe she had
• 5:56:56
  ever any regard, either for James or for me, and I wish which
• 5:57:00
  I had never known her. It will soon be as if you never had
• 5:57:03
  said, Henry. There is but one thing that I cannot understand. I
• 5:57:08
  see that she has had designs on Captain Tilney which have not succeeded. But
• 5:57:11
  I do not understand what Captain Tilney has been about all this time? Why
• 5:57:15
  should he pay her such attentions as to make her quarrel with my brother and
• 5:57:19
  then fly off himself. I have very little to say for Frederick's motives,
• 5:57:23
  such as I believe them to have been. He has his vanities as well
• 5:57:27
  as Miss Thorpe, and the chief difference is that, having a stronger head,
• 5:57:30
  they have not yet injured himself. If the effect of his behavior does
• 5:57:34
  not justify him with you, we had better not seek after the cause.
• 5:57:38
  Then you do not suppose he ever really cared about her. I am persuaded
• 5:57:42
  that he never did, and only made believe to do so for mischief's sake.
• 5:57:48
  Henry bowed his assent. Well, then I must say that I do
• 5:57:52
  not like him at all. Though it has turned out so well for us,
• 5:57:56
  I do not like him at all. As it happens, there is
• 5:57:59
  no great harm done, because I do not think Isabella has any heart to
• 5:58:02
  lose. But suppose he had made her very much in love with him.
• 5:58:06
  But we must first suppose Isabella to have had a heart to lose, consequently
• 5:58:10
  to have been a very different creature, and in that case she would have
• 5:58:12
  met with very different treatment. It is very right that you should stand by
• 5:58:18
  your brother, and if you would stand by yours, you would not be
• 5:58:22
  much distressed by the disappointment of Miss Thorpe. But your mind is warped by
• 5:58:25
  an innate principle of general integrity, and therefore not accessible to the cool reasonings
• 5:58:30
  of family partiality or a desire of revenge. Catherine was complimented out of further
• 5:58:36
  bitterness. Frederick could not be unpardonably guilty, while Henry made himself so agreeable.
• 5:58:41
  She resolved on not answering Isabella's letter and tried to think no more of
• 5:58:45
  it. End of Chapter twenty seven, chapter twenty eight. Soon after this,
• 5:58:52
  the General found himself obliged to go to London for a week, and
• 5:58:56
  he left Northanger earnestly regretting that any necessity should rob him even for an hour
• 5:59:00
  of Miss Morland's company, and anxiously recommending the study of her comfort and amusement
• 5:59:04
  to his children as their chief object in his absence. His departure gave Catherine
• 5:59:10
  the first experimental conviction that a loss may be sometimes again. The happiness with
• 5:59:15
  which their time now passed, every employment, voluntary, every laugh, indulged,
• 5:59:19
  every meal, a scene of ease and good humor, walking where they
• 5:59:23
  liked and when they liked, their hours, pleasures and fatigues at their own
• 5:59:27
  command, made her thoroughly sensible of the restraint which the general's presence had imposed,
• 5:59:33
  and most thankfully feel their present release from it. Such ease and such
• 5:59:37
  delights made her love the place and the people more and more every day,
• 5:59:41
  And had it not been for a dread of its soon becoming expedient to leave
• 5:59:45
  the one, and an apprehension of not being equally beloved by the other,
• 5:59:48
  she would at each moment of each day have been perfectly happy, but she
• 5:59:52
  was now in the fourth week of her visit. Before the General came home,
• 5:59:56
  the fourth week would be turned, and perhaps it might seem an intrusion
• 6:00:00
  if she stayed much longer. This was a painful consideration whenever it occurred,
• 6:00:04
  and eager to get rid of such a weight on her mind, she very
• 6:00:07
  soon resolved to speak to Eleanor about it at once, propose going away,
• 6:00:11
  and be guided in her conduct by the manner in which her proposal might be
• 6:00:15
  taken. Aware that if she gave herself much time she might feel it difficult
• 6:00:19
  to bring forward so unpleasant a subject, she took the first opportunity of being
• 6:00:23
  suddenly alone with Eleanor, and of Eleanor's being in the middle of a speech
• 6:00:27
  about something very different, to start forth her obligation of going away. Very
• 6:00:32
  soon Eleanor looked and declared herself much concerned. She had hoped for the pleasure
• 6:00:37
  of her company for a much longer time, had been misled, perhaps by
• 6:00:41
  her wishes to suppose that a much longer visit had been promised, and could
• 6:00:45
  not but think that if mister and missus Morland were rare of the pleasure it
• 6:00:48
  was to have her there, they would be too generous to hasten her return.
• 6:00:52
  Catherine explained, oh, as to that Papa and Mamma were in no
• 6:00:57
  hurry at all. As long she was happy, they would be always satisfied.
• 6:01:03
  Then why might she ask in such a hurry herself to leave them?
• 6:01:07
  Oh, because she had been there so long. Nay, if you can
• 6:01:12
  use such a word, I can urge you no, father, if you
• 6:01:15
  think it long, Oh no, I do not. Indeed, for my
• 6:01:19
  own pleasure, I could stay with you as long again. And it was
• 6:01:23
  directly settled that till she had her leaving them was not even to be thought
• 6:01:27
  of. In having this cause of uneasiness so pleasantly removed, the force of
• 6:01:32
  the other was likewise weakened. The kindness, the earnestness of Elinor's manner in
• 6:01:36
  pressing her to stay, and Henry's gratified look on being told that her stay
• 6:01:40
  was determined, were such sweet proofs of her importance with them, as left
• 6:01:45
  her only just so much solicitude as the human mind could never do comfortably without.
• 6:01:48
  She did almost always believe that Henry loved her, and quite always that
• 6:01:53
  his father and sister loved and even wished her to belong to them, and
• 6:01:56
  believing so far her doubts and anxiety were merely sportive irritations. Henry was not
• 6:02:03
  able to obey his father's injunction of remaining wholly at Northanger in attendance on the
• 6:02:07
  ladies during his absence in London, the engagements of his curate at Woodston,
• 6:02:11
  obliging him to leave them on Saturday for a couple of nights. His loss
• 6:02:15
  was not now what it had been while the General was at home. It
• 6:02:18
  lessened their gaiety, but did not ruin their comfort, and the two girls,
• 6:02:22
  agreeing in occupation and improving an intimacy, found themselves so well sufficient for
• 6:02:26
  the time to themselves that it was eleven o'clock, rather a late hour at
• 6:02:30
  the abbey. Before they quitted the supper room on the day of Henry's departure,
• 6:02:34
  they had just reached the head of the stairs when it seemed, as
• 6:02:37
  far as the thickness of the walls would allow them to judge, that a
• 6:02:41
  carriage was driving up to the door, and the next moment confirmed the idea
• 6:02:44
  by the loud noise of the house bell. After the first perturbation of surprise
• 6:02:48
  had passed away in a good Heaven, what can be the matter? It
• 6:02:52
  was quickly decided by Eleanor to be her eldest brother, whose arrival was often
• 6:02:56
  as sudden, if not quite so unseasonable, and accordingly she hurried down to
• 6:03:00
  welcome him. Catherine walked on to her chamber, making up her mind as
• 6:03:04
  well as she could to a further acquaintance with Captain Tilney, and comforting herself
• 6:03:08
  under the unpleasant impression his conduct had given her, and the persuasion of his
• 6:03:12
  being by far too fine a gentleman to approve of her, that at least
• 6:03:17
  they should not meet under such circumstances as would make their meeting materially painful.
• 6:03:21
  She trusted he would never speak of Miss Thorpe, and indeed, as he
• 6:03:25
  must by this time be ashamed of the part he had acted, there could
• 6:03:27
  be no danger of it, And as long as all mention of bath scenes
• 6:03:30
  were avoided, she thought she could behave to him very civilly in such considerations.
• 6:03:36
  Time passed away, and it was certainly in his favor that Eleanor should
• 6:03:38
  be so glad to see him and have so much to say. For half
• 6:03:41
  an hour was almost gone since its arrival, and Eleanor did not come up.
• 6:03:47
  At that moment, Catherine thought she heard her step in the gallery,
• 6:03:49
  and listened for its continuance, but all was silent. Scarcely, however,
• 6:03:53
  had she convicted her fancy of error, when the noise of something moving close
• 6:03:57
  to her door made her start. Its seemed as if some one was touching
• 6:04:00
  the very doorway, and in another moment a slight motion of the lock proved
• 6:04:03
  that some hand must be on it. She trembled a little at the idea
• 6:04:07
  of any one's approaching so cautiously, but resolving not to be again overcome by
• 6:04:11
  trivial appearances of alarm or misled by a raised imagination, she stepped quietly forward
• 6:04:18
  and opened the door. Eleanor, and only Eleanor stood there. Catherine's spirits,
• 6:04:22
  however, were tranquilized, but for the instant, for Eleanor's cheeks were
• 6:04:26
  pale, and her manner greatly agitated. Though evidently intending to come in,
• 6:04:30
  it seemed an effort to enter the room, and a still greater to speak
• 6:04:33
  when there. Catherine, supposing some uneasiness on Captain Tilney's account, could only
• 6:04:38
  express her concern by silent attention, obliged her to be seated, rubbed her
• 6:04:42
  temples of lavender water, and hung over her with affectionate solicitude. My dear
• 6:04:48
  Catherine, you must not, you must not. Indeed, were Eleanor's first
• 6:04:52
  connected words. I am quite well. This kindness distracts me. I cannot
• 6:04:57
  bear it. I come to you one such an errand errand to me.
• 6:05:03
  How shall I tell you? Oh? How shall I tell you? A
• 6:05:08
  new idea now darted into Catherine's mind, and turning as pale as her friend,
• 6:05:12
  she exclaimed, tis a messenger from Woodston. You are mistaken, indeed,
• 6:05:18
  returned Eleanor, looking at her most compassionately, It is no one from
• 6:05:22
  Woodston. It is my father himself. Her voice faltered and her eyes were
• 6:05:27
  turned to the ground as she mentioned his name. His unlooked for return was
• 6:05:32
  enough in itself to make Catherine's heart sink, and for a few moments she
• 6:05:34
  hardly supposed there were anything worse to be told. She said nothing, and
• 6:05:38
  Eleanor, endeavoring to collect herself and speak with firmness, but with eyes still
• 6:05:42
  cast down, soon went on, you are too good. I am sure
• 6:05:48
  to think the worse of me. For the part I am obliged to perform.
• 6:05:51
  I am indeed a most unwilling messenger. After what has so lately passed,
• 6:05:56
  so lately been settled between us, how joyfully have thankfully on my side
• 6:06:00
  as to your continuing here as I hoped for many many weeks longer. How
• 6:06:04
  can I tell you that your kindness is not to be accepted, and that
• 6:06:08
  the happiness your company has hitherto given us as to be repaid by. But
• 6:06:12
  I must not trust myself with words. My dear Catherine, we are to
• 6:06:18
  part. My father has recollected an engagement that takes our whole family away on
• 6:06:22
  Monday. We are going to Lord Longtown's near Hereford for a fortnight. Explanation
• 6:06:27
  and apology are equally impossible. I cannot attempt either, my dear Eleanor cried
• 6:06:34
  Catherine, suppressing her feelings as well as she could do. Not be so
• 6:06:37
  distressed. A second engagement must give way to a first. I am very
• 6:06:42
  very sorry we are to part so soon, and so suddenly too. But
• 6:06:47
  I am not offended. Indeed I am not. I can finish my visit
• 6:06:51
  here, you know, at any time, or I hope you will come
• 6:06:53
  to me, can you when you return from this Lord's come to Fullerton.
• 6:06:57
  It will not be in my pas, Catherine, Oh, come when you
• 6:07:02
  can. Then Eleanor made no answer, and Catherine's thoughts recurring to something more
• 6:07:07
  directly interesting. She added, thinking aloud, Monday, so soon as Monday,
• 6:07:12
  and you will go. Well, I am certain of I shall be
• 6:07:17
  able to take leave. However I need not go till just before you do.
• 6:07:21
  You know, do not be distressed, Eleanor. I can go on
• 6:07:23
  Monday very well. My father and mother's having no notice of it, is
• 6:07:26
  a very little consequence. The General will send a servant with me. I
• 6:07:30
  dare say half the way, and then I shall soon be at Salisbury.
• 6:07:33
  And then I am only nine miles from home, Ah, Catherine, were
• 6:07:37
  it settled, so it would be somewhat less intolerable, though in such common
• 6:07:42
  attentions you would have received but half what you ought. But how can I
• 6:07:47
  tell you? To Morrow morning is fixed for your leaving us, and not
• 6:07:51
  even the hour is left to your choice. The very carriage is ordered and
• 6:07:55
  will be here at seven o'clock, and no servant will be offered you,
• 6:07:59
  Catherine, and sat down breathless and speechless. I could hardly believe my senses
• 6:08:04
  when I heard it, and no displeasure, no resentment that you can feel
• 6:08:08
  at this moment. However justly great can be more than I myself. But
• 6:08:12
  I must not talk of what I felt, Oh that I could suggest anything
• 6:08:18
  in extenuation. Good God, what will your father and mother say, after
• 6:08:22
  courting you from the protection of real friends to this almost double distance from your
• 6:08:27
  home, to have you driven out of the house without the considerations even of
• 6:08:30
  decent civility. Dear dear Catherine, in being the bearer of such a message,
• 6:08:36
  I seem guilty myself of all its insult. Yet I trust you will
• 6:08:40
  acquit me. For you must have been long enough in this house to see
• 6:08:42
  that I am but a nominal mistress of it, that my real power is
• 6:08:45
  nothing. Have I offended the General, said Catherine in a faltering voice.
• 6:08:52
  Alas for my feelings is a daughter. All that I know, all that
• 6:08:57
  I answer for, is that you can have given him no just cause of
• 6:09:00
  offense. He certainly is greatly, very greatly discomposed. I have seldom seen
• 6:09:07
  him more so. His temper is not happy, and something has now occurred
• 6:09:11
  to ruffle it in an uncommon degree, some disappointment, some vexation, which
• 6:09:15
  just at this moment seems important, but which I can hardly suppose you to
• 6:09:19
  have any concern in, For how is it possible. It was with pain
• 6:09:23
  that Catherine could speak at all, and it was only for Elinor's sake that
• 6:09:26
  she attempted it, I am sure, said she. I am very sorry
• 6:09:32
  if I have offended him. It was the last thing I would willingly have
• 6:09:34
  done. But do not be unhappy, Eleanor. An engagement you know must
• 6:09:40
  be kept. I am only sorry it was not recollected sooner that I might
• 6:09:44
  have written home. But it is a very little consequence. I hope,
• 6:09:48
  I earnestly hope that to your real safety it will be of none. But
• 6:09:52
  to everything else it is of the greatest consequence. To comfort appear its propriety
• 6:09:56
  to your family, to the world. Were your friends the Allens still in
• 6:10:00
  Bath, you might go to them with comparative ease. A few hours would
• 6:10:04
  take you there. But a journey of seventy miles to be taken post by
• 6:10:08
  you at your age, alone, unattended. Oh, the journey is nothing.
• 6:10:14
  Do not think about that. And if we are to part a few
• 6:10:17
  hours sooner or later, you know makes no difference. I can be ready
• 6:10:19
  by seven, let me be called in time. Eleanor saw that she wished
• 6:10:25
  to be alone, and, believing it better for each that they should avoid
• 6:10:27
  any further conversation, now left her with I shall see you in the morning.
• 6:10:33
  Catherine's swelling heart needed relief. In Eleanor's presence, friendship and pride had
• 6:10:38
  equally restrained her tears. But no sooner was she gone than they burst forth
• 6:10:42
  in torrents, turned from the house, and in such a way, without
• 6:10:47
  any reason that could justify any apology, that could atone for the abruptness,
• 6:10:51
  the rudeness, nay, the insolence of it. Henry at a distance,
• 6:10:56
  not able even to bid him farewell, every hope, every expectationation from him
• 6:11:00
  suspended at least, and who could say how long, who could say when
• 6:11:03
  they might meet again? And all this by such a man as General Tilney,
• 6:11:07
  so polite, so well bred, and heretofore so particularly fond of her.
• 6:11:12
  It was as incomprehensible as it was mortifying and grievous. From what it
• 6:11:17
  could arise and where it would end were considerations of equal perplexity and alarm.
• 6:11:22
  The manner in which it was done so grossly uncivil, hurrying her away without
• 6:11:26
  any reference to her own convenience, or allowing her even the appearance of choice
• 6:11:30
  as to the time or mode of her traveling. Of two days the earliest
• 6:11:33
  fixed on, and of that almost the earliest hour, as if resolved to
• 6:11:37
  have her gone before he was stirring in the morning, that he might not
• 6:11:40
  be obliged even to see her. What could all this mean but an intentional
• 6:11:45
  affront by some means or other. She must have had the misfortune to offend
• 6:11:48
  him. Elinor had wished to spare her from so painful a notion. But
• 6:11:52
  Catherine could not believe it possible that any injury, or any misfortune could provoke
• 6:11:56
  such ill will against a person not connected, or at least not so pose
• 6:12:00
  to be connected with it. Heavily passed the night, sleep or repose that
• 6:12:04
  deserved the name of sleep was out of the question. That room in which
• 6:12:08
  her disturbed imagination had tormented her on her first arrival, was again the scene
• 6:12:12
  of agitated spirits and unquiet slumbers. Yet how different now the source of her
• 6:12:18
  inquietude from what it had been then, How mournfully superior in reality and substance
• 6:12:23
  her anxiety had foundation in fact, her fears and probability, and with a
• 6:12:29
  mind so occupied in the contemplation of actual and natural evil, the solitude of
• 6:12:33
  her situation, the darkness of her chamber, the antiquity of the building were
• 6:12:37
  felt and considered without the smallest emotion. And though the wind was high and
• 6:12:42
  often produced strange and sudden noises throughout the house, she heard it all as
• 6:12:47
  she lay awake, hour after hour, without curiosity or terror. Soon after
• 6:12:52
  six, Eleanor entered her room, eager to show attention or give assistance where
• 6:12:56
  it was possible, but very little remained to be done. Catherine had not
• 6:13:00
  loitered, She was almost dressed and her packing almost finished. The possibility of
• 6:13:06
  some conciliatory message from the General occurred to her as his daughter appeared. What
• 6:13:10
  so natural as that anger should pass away and repentance succeed it, And she
• 6:13:15
  only wanted to know how far after what had passed an apology might properly be
• 6:13:18
  received by her, But the knowledge would have been useless here it was not
• 6:13:22
  called for. Neither clemency nor dignity was put to the trial. Eleanor brought
• 6:13:27
  no message. Very little passed between them. On meeting, each found her
• 6:13:32
  greatest safety in silence, and few and trivial were the sentences exchanged while they
• 6:13:36
  remained upstairs, Catherine in busy agitation completing her dress, and Eleanor with more
• 6:13:41
  good will than experience, intent upon filling the trunk. When everything was done,
• 6:13:45
  they left the room, Catherine lingering only half a minute behind her friend
• 6:13:48
  to throw a parting glance on every well known cherished object, and went down
• 6:13:52
  to the breakfast parlor where breakfast was prepared. She tried to eat as well,
• 6:13:57
  to save herself from the pain of being urged as to make her friend
• 6:14:00
  comfortable, but she had no appetite and could not swallow any mouthfuls. The
• 6:14:06
  contrast between this and her last breakfast in that room gave her fresh misery and
• 6:14:10
  strengthened her distaste for everything before her. It was not four and twenty hours
• 6:14:15
  ago since they had met there to the same repast, but in circumstances how
• 6:14:18
  different. With what cheerful ease, what happy, though false security had She
• 6:14:25
  then looked around her, enjoying everything present and fearing little in future beyond Henry's
• 6:14:30
  going to Woodston for a day happy, happy breakfast, for Henry had been
• 6:14:36
  there Henry had sat by her and helped her. These reflections were long indulged,
• 6:14:41
  undisturbed by any address from her companion, who sat as deep in thought
• 6:14:45
  as herself, and the appearance of the carriage was the first thing to startle
• 6:14:48
  and recall them to the present moment. Catherine's color rose at the sight of
• 6:14:52
  it, and the indignity with which she was treated, striking at that instant
• 6:14:56
  on her mind with peculiar force, made her, for a short time sensible
• 6:15:00
  only of resentment. Eleanor seemed now impelled into resolution and speech. You must
• 6:15:06
  write to me, Catherine, she cried. You must let me hear from
• 6:15:10
  you as soon as possible, till I know you to be safe at home.
• 6:15:11
  I shall not have an hour's comfort for one letter, at all risks,
• 6:15:15
  at all hazards. I must entreat. Let me have the satisfaction of
• 6:15:19
  knowing that you are safe at Fullerton and have found your family well, And
• 6:15:23
  then till I can ask for your correspondence as I ought to do, I
• 6:15:26
  will not expect more direct to me at Lord Longtown's, and I must ask
• 6:15:32
  it under cover to Alice. No Eleanor, if you are not allowed to
• 6:15:36
  receive a letter from me. I am sure I had better not write there
• 6:15:40
  could be no doubt of my getting home safe. Eleanor only replied, I
• 6:15:45
  cannot wonder at your feelings. I will not importin you. I will trust
• 6:15:48
  your own kindness of heart when I am at a distance from you. But
• 6:15:52
  this, with the look of sorrow accompanying it, was enough to melt Catherine's
• 6:15:56
  pride in a moment, and she instantly said, oh, well, I
• 6:16:00
  will write to you. Indeed, there was yet another point which Miss Tilney
• 6:16:03
  was anxious to settle, though somewhat embarrassed in speaking of. It had occurred
• 6:16:07
  to her that after so long an absence from home, Catherine might not be
• 6:16:11
  provided with money enough for the expenses of her journey, and upon suggesting it
• 6:16:15
  to her with most affectionate offers of accommodation, it proved to be exactly the
• 6:16:19
  case. Catherine had never thought on the subject till that moment, but upon
• 6:16:23
  examining her purse, was convinced that but for this kindness of her friend,
• 6:16:26
  she might have been turned from the house without even the means of getting home,
• 6:16:30
  and that his dress in which she must have been thereby involved filling the
• 6:16:33
  minds of both scarcely another word was said by either during the time of their
• 6:16:37
  remaining together, short, however, was that time. The carriage was soon
• 6:16:41
  announced to be ready, and Catherine, instantly, rising a long and affectionate
• 6:16:45
  embrace, supplied the place of language and bidding each other adieu. And as
• 6:16:49
  they entered the hall, unable to leave the house without some mention of one
• 6:16:52
  whose name had not yet been spoken by either, she paused a moment,
• 6:16:56
  and, with quivering lips, just made it intelligible that she left her kind
• 6:17:00
  remembrance for her absent friend. But with this approach to his name, and
• 6:17:06
  at all possibility of restraining her feelings, and hiding her face as well as
• 6:17:10
  she could with her handkerchief, she darted across the hall, jumped into the
• 6:17:12
  chaise, and in a moment, was driven from the door. End of
• 6:17:18
  chapter twenty eight. Chapter twenty nine. Catherine was too wretched to be fearful.
• 6:17:25
  The journey in itself had no terrors for her, and she began it
• 6:17:29
  without either dreading its length or feeling its solitariness. Leaning back in one corner
• 6:17:33
  of the carriage. In a violent burst of tears, she was conveyed some
• 6:17:37
  miles beyond the walls of the abbey before she raised her head, and the
• 6:17:41
  highest point of ground within the park was almost closed from her view before she
• 6:17:45
  was capable of turning her eyes towards it. Unfortunately, the road she now
• 6:17:48
  traveled was the same which only ten days ago she had so happily passed along
• 6:17:52
  in going to and from Woodston, And for fourteen miles every bitter feeling was
• 6:17:57
  rendered more severe by the review objects on which she had first looked under impressions
• 6:18:02
  so different. Every mile as it brought her nearer Woodston added to her sufferings.
• 6:18:07
  And when within the distance of five she passed the turning which led to
• 6:18:11
  it, and thought of Henry so near yet so unconscious, her grief and
• 6:18:15
  agitation were excessive. The day which she had spent at that place had been
• 6:18:19
  one of the happiest of her life. It was there it was on that
• 6:18:22
  day that the General had made use of such expressions with regard to Henry,
• 6:18:26
  and herself had so spoken and so looked as to give her the most positive
• 6:18:30
  conviction of his actually wishing their marriage. Yes, only ten days ago had
• 6:18:36
  he elated her by his pointed regard, had he even confused her by his
• 6:18:40
  too significant reference. And now what had she done, or what had she
• 6:18:45
  omitted to do to merit such a change? The only offense against him of
• 6:18:49
  which she could accuse herself had been such as was scarcely possible to reach his
• 6:18:53
  knowledge. Henry and her own heart only were privy to the shocking suspicions which
• 6:18:57
  she had so idly entertain. Aimed and equally safe did she believe her secret
• 6:19:02
  with each designedly at least, Henry could not have betrayed her, if,
• 6:19:06
  indeed, by any strange mischance, his father should have gained intelligence of what
• 6:19:10
  she had dared to think and look for of her causeless fancies and injurious examinations,
• 6:19:15
  she could not wonder at any degree of his indignation if aware of her
• 6:19:18
  having viewed him as a murderer. She could not wonder at his even turning
• 6:19:22
  her from his house. But a justification so full of torture to herself,
• 6:19:26
  she trusted would not be in his power. Anxious as were all her conjectures
• 6:19:32
  on this point, it was not, however, the one on which she
• 6:19:33
  dwelt most. There was a thought yet nearer, a more prevailing, more
• 6:19:37
  impetuous concern. How would Henry think and feel and look. When he returned
• 6:19:44
  on the morrow to Northanger and heard of her being gone, was a question
• 6:19:47
  of force and interest to rise over every other, to be never ceasing,
• 6:19:51
  alternately irritating and soothing. It sometimes suggested the dread of his calm acquiescence,
• 6:19:56
  and at others was answered by the sweetest confidence in his regret and resentment.
• 6:20:00
  To the general, of course, he would not dare to speak but to
• 6:20:03
  Eleanor what might he not say to Eleanor about her? In this unceasing recurrence
• 6:20:08
  of doubts and inquiries on any one article of which her mind was incapable of
• 6:20:12
  more than momentary repose, the hours passed away, and her journey advanced much
• 6:20:17
  faster than she looked. For the pressing anxieties of thought which prevented her from
• 6:20:22
  noticing anything before her when once beyond the neighborhood of Woodston, saved her at
• 6:20:26
  the same time from watching her progress. And though no object on the road
• 6:20:30
  could engage a moment's attention, she found no stage of it Tedious from this,
• 6:20:34
  she was preserved too by another cause, by feeling no eagerness for her
• 6:20:37
  journey's conclusion, for to return in such a manner to Fullerton was almost to
• 6:20:42
  destroy the pleasure of a meeting with those she loved best, even after an
• 6:20:45
  absence such as hers an eleven weeks absence. What had she to say that
• 6:20:49
  would not humble herself and pain her family, that would not increase her own
• 6:20:53
  grief by the confession of it, extend in useless resentment, and perhaps involve
• 6:20:59
  the innocent with the guilty, and on distinguishing ill will. She could never
• 6:21:02
  do justice to Henry and Eleanor's merit, She felt it too strongly for expression,
• 6:21:07
  And should a dislike be taken against them, should they be thought of
• 6:21:10
  unfavorably on their father's account, it would cut her to the heart. With
• 6:21:15
  these feelings, she rather dreaded than sought for the first view of that well
• 6:21:18
  known spire which would announce her within twenty miles of home Salisbury. She had
• 6:21:22
  known to be her point on leaving Northanger, but after the first stage she
• 6:21:26
  had been indebted to the postmasters for the names of the places which were then
• 6:21:30
  to conduct her to it. So great had been her ignorance of her route.
• 6:21:33
  She met with nothing, however, to distress or frighten her. Her
• 6:21:37
  youth civil manners and liberal pay procured her all the attention that a traveler like
• 6:21:41
  herself could require, and stopping only to change horses, she traveled on for
• 6:21:45
  about eleven hours without accident or alarm, and between six and seven o'clock in
• 6:21:49
  the evening found herself entering Fullerton, a heroine returning at the close of her
• 6:21:56
  career to her native village. In all the triumph of recovered reputation, and
• 6:22:00
  all the dignity of a countess with a long train of noble relations in their
• 6:22:03
  several phaetons and three waiting maids in a traveling chaise and four behind her is
• 6:22:08
  an event on which the pen of the contriver may well delight to dwell.
• 6:22:11
  It gives credit to every conclusion, and the author must share in the glory
• 6:22:15
  she so liberally bestows. But my affair is widely different. I bring back
• 6:22:21
  my heroine to her home in solitude and disgrace, and no sweet elation of
• 6:22:26
  spirits can lead me into minuteness. A heroine in a hack post chaise is
• 6:22:30
  such a blow upon sentiment as no attempt at grandeur or pathos can withstand swiftly.
• 6:22:36
  Therefore shall her post boy drive through the village amid the gaze of Sunday
• 6:22:38
  groups and speedy shall be her descent from it. But whatever might be the
• 6:22:44
  distress of Catherine's mind as she thus advanced towards the parsonage, and whatever the
• 6:22:48
  humiliation of her biographer in relating it, she was preparing enjoyment of no every
• 6:22:52
  day nature for those to whom she went, first in the appearance of her
• 6:22:56
  carriage, and secondly in herself. The chaise of a traveler being a rare
• 6:23:00
  sight in Fullerton, the whole family were immediately at the window, and to
• 6:23:03
  have its stop at the sweep gate was a pleasure to brighten every eye and
• 6:23:07
  occupy every fancy, a pleasure quite unlooked for by all but the two youngest
• 6:23:11
  children, a boy and girl of six and four years old, who expected
• 6:23:15
  a brother or sister in every carriage. Happy the glance that first distinguished Catherine,
• 6:23:21
  Happy, the voice that proclaimed the discovery. But whether such happiness were
• 6:23:25
  the lawful property of George or Harriet could never be exactly understood. Her father,
• 6:23:30
  mother, Sarah, George, and Harriet all assembled at the door to
• 6:23:33
  welcome her with affectionate eagerness. Was a sight to awaken the best feelings of
• 6:23:37
  Catherine's heart, and in the embrace of each. As she stepped from the
• 6:23:41
  carriage, she found herself soothed beyond anything that she had believed possible, so
• 6:23:45
  surrounded, so caressed, she was even happy in the joyfulness of family love.
• 6:23:51
  Everything for a short time was subdued, and the pleasure of seeing her
• 6:23:55
  leaving them at first little leisure for calm curiosity. They were all seated round
• 6:23:57
  the tea table which Missus Morland had hurried for the comfort of the poor traveler,
• 6:24:02
  whose pale and jaded looks soon caught her notice. Before any inquiry so
• 6:24:06
  direct as to demand a positive answer was addressed to her. Reluctantly and with
• 6:24:11
  much hesitation. Did she then begin what might, perhaps at the end of
• 6:24:14
  half an hour, be termed by the courtesy of her hearers and explanation.
• 6:24:18
  But scarcely within that time could they at all discover the cause or collect the
• 6:24:22
  particulars of her sudden return. They were far from being an irritable race,
• 6:24:26
  far from any quickness in catching or bitterness in resenting affronts. But here,
• 6:24:30
  when the whole was unfolded, was an insult not to be overlooked, nor
• 6:24:34
  for the first half hour to be easily pardoned without suffering any romantic alarm.
• 6:24:40
  In the consideration of their daughter's long and lonely journey, mister and Missus Morland
• 6:24:44
  could not but feel that it might have been productive of much unpleasantness to her,
• 6:24:48
  that it was what they could never have voluntarily suffered, and that in
• 6:24:51
  forcing her on such a measure, General Tilney had acted neither honorably nor feelingly,
• 6:24:56
  neither as a gentleman nor as a parent. Why he had it,
• 6:25:00
  what could have provoked him to such a breach of hospitality and so suddenly turned
• 6:25:03
  all his partial regard for their daughter into actual ill will. Was a matter
• 6:25:07
  which they were at least as far from divining as Catherine herself. But it
• 6:25:11
  did not oppress them by any means. So long, and after a due
• 6:25:15
  course of useless conjecture that it was a strange business, and that he must
• 6:25:18
  be a very strange man, grew enough for all their indignation and wonder though
• 6:25:23
  Sarah indeed still indulged in the suites of incomprehensibility, exclaiming and conjecturing with youthful
• 6:25:29
  ardor my dear you give yourself a great deal of needless trouble, said her
• 6:25:33
  mother. At last depend upon it. It is something not at all worth
• 6:25:37
  understanding. I can allow for his wishing Catherine away when he recollected disengagement,
• 6:25:42
  said Sarah, But why not do it civilly. I am sorry for the
• 6:25:47
  young people returned missus Morland. They must have a sad time of it.
• 6:25:51
  But as for anything else, it is no matter. Now Catherine is safe
• 6:25:55
  at home and our comfort does not depend upon General Tilney Catherine's well, continued
• 6:26:02
  her philosophic mother. I am glad I did not know of your journey at
• 6:26:04
  the time, but now it is all over, perhaps there is no great
• 6:26:07
  harm done. It is always good for young people to be put upon exerting
• 6:26:11
  themselves. And you know, my dear Catherine, you always were a sad,
• 6:26:15
  little scatterbrained creature. But now you must have been forced to have your
• 6:26:18
  wits about you, with so much changing of chaises and so forth, and
• 6:26:22
  I hope it will appear that you have not left anything behind you in any
• 6:26:26
  of the pockets. Catherine hoped so too, and tried to feel an interest
• 6:26:30
  in her own amendment, but her spirits were quite worn down, and to
• 6:26:33
  be silent and alone, becoming soon her only wish, She readily agreed to
• 6:26:37
  her mother's next counsel of going early to bed. Her parents, seeing nothing
• 6:26:41
  in her ill looks and agitation but the natural consequence of mortified feelings and of
• 6:26:45
  the unusual exertion and fatigue of such a journey, parted from her without any
• 6:26:51
  doubt of their being soon slept away, And though when they all met the
• 6:26:53
  next morning her recovery was not equal to their hopes, they were still perfectly
• 6:26:57
  unsuspicious of their being any deeper evil. They never once thought of her heart,
• 6:27:03
  which, for the parents of a young lady of seventeen just returned from
• 6:27:06
  her first excursion from home, was odd enough. As soon as breakfast was
• 6:27:11
  over, she sat down to fulfill her promise to Miss Tilney, whose trust
• 6:27:14
  in the effect of time and distance on her friend's disposition was already justified.
• 6:27:18
  For already did Catherine reproach herself with having parted from Eleanor coldly, with having
• 6:27:22
  never enough valued her merits or kindness, and never enough commiserated her for what
• 6:27:26
  she had been yesterday. Left to endure the strength of these feelings, however,
• 6:27:30
  was far from assisting her pen and never had it been harder for her
• 6:27:33
  to write than an addressing Eleanor Tilney. To compose a letter which might at
• 6:27:37
  once do justice to her sentiments and her situation, convey gratitude without servile regret,
• 6:27:42
  be guarded without coldness, and honest without resentment, A letter which Eleanor
• 6:27:47
  might not be pained by the perusal of. And above all, what she
• 6:27:49
  might not blush herself, if Henry should chance to see, was an undertaking
• 6:27:53
  to frighten away all her powers of performance, and after long thought and much
• 6:27:57
  perplexity, to be very reef was all that she could determine on with any
• 6:28:02
  confidence of safety. The money therefore, which Eleanor had advanced was enclosed with
• 6:28:06
  little more than grateful thanks and the thousand good wishes of a most affectionate heart.
• 6:28:11
  This has been a strange acquaintance, observed missus Morland, as the letter
• 6:28:15
  was finished, soon made, and soon ended. I am sorry it happens
• 6:28:18
  so for missus Allen thought them very pretty kind of young people, and you
• 6:28:22
  were sadly out of luck too in your Isabella. Ah, poor James,
• 6:28:26
  for we must live and learn, and the next new friends you make,
• 6:28:30
  I hope will be better worth keeping. Catherine colored as she warmly answered,
• 6:28:34
  no friend can be better worth keeping than Eleanor if so, my dear,
• 6:28:40
  I daresay you will meet again some time or other. Do not be uneasy.
• 6:28:44
  It is ten to one, but you are thrown together again in the
• 6:28:45
  course of a few years, and then what a pleasure it will be.
• 6:28:49
  Missus Morland was not happy in her attempt at consolation. The hope of meeting
• 6:28:53
  again in the course of a few years could only put into Catherine's head what
• 6:28:57
  might happen within that time to make a meeting dreadful to her. She could
• 6:29:00
  never forget Henry Tilney, or think of him with less tenderness than she did
• 6:29:04
  at that moment, but he might forget her, and in that case to
• 6:29:08
  meet her eyes filled with tears as she pictured her acquaintance so renewed, and
• 6:29:12
  her mother, perceiving her comfortable suggestions to have had no good effect, proposed
• 6:29:18
  as another expedient for restoring her spirits, that they should call on Missus Allen.
• 6:29:22
  The two houses were only a quarter of a mile apart, and as
• 6:29:25
  they walked, Missus Morland quickly despatched all that she felt. On the score
• 6:29:29
  of James's disappointment. We are sorry for him, said she, But otherwise
• 6:29:33
  there is no harm done in the match going off, for it would not
• 6:29:36
  be a desirable thing to have him engaged to a girl whom we had not
• 6:29:38
  the smallest acquaintance with, and who was so entirely without fortune. And now
• 6:29:44
  after such behavior, we cannot think it all well of her. Just at
• 6:29:48
  present it comes hard to poor James. But that will not last for ever,
• 6:29:51
  and I daresay he will be a discreet a man all his life for
• 6:29:53
  the foolishness of his first choice. This was just such a summary view of
• 6:29:57
  the affair as Catherin could listen to. Another sentence might have endangered her complaisance
• 6:30:03
  and made her reply less rational, For soon were all her thinking powers swallowed
• 6:30:07
  up in the reflection of her own change of feelings and spirits. Since last
• 6:30:11
  she had trodden that well known road, it was not three months ago,
• 6:30:14
  since wild with joyful expectation, she had there run backwards and forwards some ten
• 6:30:18
  times a day, with a heart light, gay and independent, looking forward
• 6:30:22
  to pleasures, untasted and unalloyed, and free from the apprehension of evil,
• 6:30:26
  as from the knowledge of it three months ago had seen her all this,
• 6:30:30
  and now how altered a being did she return? She was received by the
• 6:30:36
  Allans with all the kindness which her unlooked for appearance, acting on a steady
• 6:30:40
  affection would naturally call forth. And great was their surprise, and warm their
• 6:30:44
  displeasure on hearing how she had been treated. Though Missus Morland's account of it
• 6:30:48
  was no inflated representation, no studied appeal to their passions, Catherine took us
• 6:30:52
  quite by surprise. Yesterday evening, said she She traveled all the way post
• 6:30:57
  by herself, and knew nothing of coming till Saturday night. For General Tilney,
• 6:31:02
  from some odd fancy or other, all of a sudden, grew tired
• 6:31:04
  of having her there, had almost turned her out of the house. Very
• 6:31:07
  unfriendly, certainly, and he must be a very odd man. But we
• 6:31:11
  are so glad to have her amongst us again. And it is a great
• 6:31:14
  comport to find that she is not a poor, helpless creature, but can
• 6:31:17
  shift very well for herself. Mister Allen expressed himself on the occasion with the
• 6:31:22
  reasonable resentment of a sensible friend, and Missus Allen thought his expressions quite good
• 6:31:26
  enough to be immediately made use of again. By herself. His wonder,
• 6:31:30
  his conjectures, and his explanations became in succession hers with the edition of this
• 6:31:33
  single remark, I really have not patience with the general to fill up every
• 6:31:38
  accidental pause. And I really have not patience with the General was uttered twice
• 6:31:44
  after mister Allen left the room, without any relaxation of anger or any material
• 6:31:48
  digression of thought. A more considerable degree of wandering attended the third repetition,
• 6:31:52
  and after completing the fourth, she immediately added, only think, my dear,
• 6:31:57
  of my having got that frightful, great rent, my best Mechlin so
• 6:32:00
  charmingly mended before I left Bath that one could hardly see where it was.
• 6:32:04
  I must show it to you some day or other. Bath is a nice
• 6:32:07
  place, Catherine, After all, I assure you, I did not above
• 6:32:11
  half like coming away Missus Thorpe's being there with such a comfort to us,
• 6:32:15
  was not it? You know? You and I were quite forlorn at first?
• 6:32:18
  Yes, but that did not last long, said Catherine, her eyes
• 6:32:22
  brightening at the recollection of what had first given spirit to her existence there.
• 6:32:26
  Very true, we soon met with Missus Thorpe, and then we wanted for
• 6:32:30
  nothing, My dear, do not you think these silk gloves wear very well?
• 6:32:34
  I put them on near the first time of our going to the lower
• 6:32:37
  rooms, you know, and I have worn them a great deal since.
• 6:32:40
  Do you remember that evening? Do? I? Oh? Perfectly? It
• 6:32:45
  was very agreeable, was it not. Mister Tilney drank tea with us,
• 6:32:49
  and I always thought him a great addition. He is so very agreeable.
• 6:32:53
  I have a notion you danced with him, but I am not quite sure.
• 6:32:56
  I remember I had my favorite gown on. Catherine could not answer,
• 6:33:00
  and after a short trial of other subjects, Missus Allan again returned to I
• 6:33:06
  really have not patience with the General, such an agreeable, worthy man as
• 6:33:10
  he seemed to be. I do not suppose, Missus Morland, you ever
• 6:33:12
  saw a better bred man in your life. His lodgings were taken the very
• 6:33:15
  day after he left them, Catherine, but no wonder Milsom Street, you
• 6:33:19
  know. As they walked home again, Missus Morland endeavored to impress on her
• 6:33:23
  daughter's mind the happiness of having such steady well wishers as mister and Missus Allen,
• 6:33:29
  and the very little consideration which the neglect or unkindness of slight acquaintances like
• 6:33:33
  the Tilneys ought to have with her while she could preserve the good opinion and
• 6:33:36
  affection of her earliest friends. There was a great deal of good sense in
• 6:33:40
  all this, But there are some situations of the human mind in which good
• 6:33:42
  sense has very little power. And Catherine's feelings contradicted almost every position her mother
• 6:33:48
  advanced. It was upon the behavior of these very slight acquaintances that all her
• 6:33:52
  present happiness depended. And while missus Morland was successfully confirming her own opinions by
• 6:33:57
  the justice of her own representations, Catherine was silently reflecting that now Henry must
• 6:34:02
  have arrived at Northanger, now he must have heard of her departure, and
• 6:34:06
  now perhaps they were all setting off for Hereford. End of Chapter twenty nine,
• 6:34:12
  Chapter thirty. Catherine's disposition was not naturally sedentary, nor had her habits
• 6:34:19
  been ever very industrious. But whatever might hitherto have been her defects of that
• 6:34:23
  sort, her mother could not but perceive them now to be greatly increased.
• 6:34:29
  She could neither sit still nor employ herself, for ten minutes together, walking
• 6:34:33
  round the garden and orchard again and again, as if nothing but motion was
• 6:34:37
  voluntary, and it seemed as if she could even walk about the house rather
• 6:34:41
  than remain fixed for any time in the parlor. Her loss of spirits was
• 6:34:45
  a yet greater alteration. In her rambling and her idleness. She might only
• 6:34:49
  be a caricature of herself, but in her silence and sadness she was the
• 6:34:53
  very reverse of all that she had been before. For two days, missus
• 6:34:57
  Morland allowed it to pass even without a hint. But when a third night's
• 6:35:02
  rest had neither restored her cheerfulness, improved her in useful activity, nor given
• 6:35:07
  her a greater inclination for needlework, she could no longer refrain from the gentle
• 6:35:11
  reproof of my dear Catherine. I am afraid you are growing quite a fine
• 6:35:15
  lady. I do not know when poor Richard's crabats would be done if he
• 6:35:19
  had no friend, but you. Your head runs too much upon bath.
• 6:35:23
  But there is a time for everything, a time for balls and plays,
• 6:35:27
  and a time for work. You have had a long run of amusement,
• 6:35:32
  and now you must try to be useful. Catherine took up her work directly,
• 6:35:37
  saying in a dejected voice that her head did not run upon bath much.
• 6:35:44
  Then you are fretting about General Tilney, and that is very simple of
• 6:35:47
  you. For ten to one, whether you ever see him again, you
• 6:35:49
  should never fret about trifles. After a short silence, I hope, my
• 6:35:56
  Catherine, you are not getting out of humor with home, because it is
• 6:35:59
  not so grand and Northanga. That would be turning your visit into an evil.
• 6:36:02
  Indeed, wherever you are you should always be contented, but especially at
• 6:36:07
  home, because there you must spend the most of your time. I did
• 6:36:11
  not quite like at breakfast to hear you talk so much about the French bread
• 6:36:15
  at Northanga. I am sure I do not care about the bread. It
• 6:36:18
  is all the same to me what I eat. There is a very clever
• 6:36:22
  essay in one of the books upstairs upon much such a subject about young girls
• 6:36:26
  that have been spoilt for home by great acquaintance the mirror. I think I
• 6:36:30
  will look it out for you some day or other, because I am sure
• 6:36:33
  it will do you good. Catherine said no more, and, with an
• 6:36:37
  endeavor to do right, applied to her work, but after a few minutes
• 6:36:41
  sunk again without knowing it, herself into languor and listlessness, moving herself in
• 6:36:47
  her chair from the irritation of weariness. Much oftener than she moved her needle.
• 6:36:52
  Missus Morland watched the progress of this relapse, and, seeing in her
• 6:36:55
  daughter's absent and dissatisfied look the full proof of that repining star spirit to which
• 6:37:00
  she had now begun to attribute her want of cheerfulness, hastily left the room
• 6:37:03
  to fetch the book in question, anxious to lose no time in attacking so
• 6:37:07
  dreadful a malady. It was some time before she could find what she looked
• 6:37:11
  for, and other family matters occurring to detain her. A quarter of an
• 6:37:15
  hour had elapsed ere she returned downstairs with the volume from which so much was
• 6:37:19
  hoped. Her avocations above having shut out all noise but what she created herself.
• 6:37:25
  She knew not that a visitor had arrived within the last few minutes,
• 6:37:27
  till on entering the room, the first object she beheld was a young man
• 6:37:30
  whom she had never seen before. With a look of much respect, he
• 6:37:34
  immediately rose, and, being introduced to her by her conscious daughter as mister
• 6:37:38
  Henry Tilney, with the embarrassment of real sensibility, began to apologize for his
• 6:37:44
  appearance there, acknowledging that after what had passed, he had little right to
• 6:37:48
  expect a welcome at Fullerton, and stating his impatience to be assured of miss
• 6:37:52
  Morland's having reached her home in safety as the cause of his intrusion. He
• 6:37:56
  did not address himself to an uncandid judge or a resentful heart. Far from
• 6:38:00
  comprehending him or his sister in their father's misconduct, Missus Morland had been always
• 6:38:04
  kindly disposed towards each and instantly pleased by his appearance, perceived him with the
• 6:38:10
  simple professions of unaffected benevolence, thanking him for such an attention to her daughter,
• 6:38:15
  assuring him that the friends of her children were always welcome there, and
• 6:38:18
  entreating him to say not another word of the past. He was not ill
• 6:38:22
  inclined to obey this request, for though his heart was greatly relieved by such
• 6:38:26
  unlooked for mildness, it was not just at that moment in his power to
• 6:38:30
  say anything to the purpose. Returning in silence to his seat, therefore,
• 6:38:33
  he remained for some minutes most civilly answering all Missus Morland's common remarks about the
• 6:38:38
  weather and roads. Catherine, meanwhile, the anxious agitated happy feverish, Catherine
• 6:38:45
  said not a word, but her glowing cheek and brightened eye made her mother
• 6:38:48
  trust that this good natured visit would at least set her heart at ease for
• 6:38:52
  a time, and gladly therefore did she lay aside the first volume of the
• 6:38:56
  Mirror for a future hour, desirous of mister Morland's assistance as well in giving
• 6:39:00
  encouragement, as in finding conversation for her guest, whose embarrassment on his father's
• 6:39:04
  account she earnestly pitied. Missus Morland had very early dispatched one of the children
• 6:39:10
  to summon him, but mister Morland was from home, and being thus without
• 6:39:14
  any support, at the end of a quarter of an hour, she had
• 6:39:17
  nothing to say. After a couple of minutes unbroken silence, Henry, turning
• 6:39:21
  to Catherine for the first times in her mother's entrance, asked her with sudden
• 6:39:25
  alacrity, if mister and Missus Allen were now at Fullerton, and Dohn,
• 6:39:29
  developing from amidst all her perplexity of words in reply, the meaning which one
• 6:39:33
  short syllable would have given, immediately expressed his intention of paying his respect to
• 6:39:37
  them, and with a rising color, asked her if she would have the
• 6:39:41
  goodness to show him the way you may see the house from this window,
• 6:39:45
  Sir, was information on Sarah's side, which produced only a bow of acknowledgment
• 6:39:48
  from the gentleman and a silencing nod from her mother. For Missus Morland,
• 6:39:52
  thinking it probable, as a secondary consideration in his wish of waiting on their
• 6:39:56
  worthy neighbors, that he might have some explanation to get of his father's behavior,
• 6:40:00
  which it must be more pleasant for him to communicate only to Catherine,
• 6:40:03
  would not, on any account prevent her accompanying him. They began their walk,
• 6:40:08
  and Missus Morland was not entirely mistaken in his object in wishing it some
• 6:40:12
  explanation on his father's account he had to give, But his first purpose was
• 6:40:17
  to explain himself, And before they reached mister Allen's grounds, he had done
• 6:40:21
  it so well that Catherine did not think it could ever be repeated too often.
• 6:40:25
  She was assured of his affection, and that heart in return was solicited,
• 6:40:29
  which perhaps they pretty equally knew was already entirely his own, For though
• 6:40:33
  Henry was now sincerely attached to her, though he felt and delighted in all
• 6:40:37
  the excellencies of her character, and truly loved her society. I must confess
• 6:40:41
  that his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or in other words,
• 6:40:47
  that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving
• 6:40:51
  her a serious thought. It is a new circumstance in romance, I acknowledge
• 6:40:56
  and dreadfully derogatory of an heroine's dignity. But if it as new in common
• 6:41:00
  life, the credit of a wild imagination will at least be all my own.
• 6:41:06
  A very short visit to missus Allen, in which Henry talked at random,
• 6:41:10
  without sense or connection, and Catherine, wrapped in the contemplation of her
• 6:41:14
  own unutterable happiness, scarcely opened her lips, dismissed them to the ecstasies of
• 6:41:18
  another tete a tete, and before it was suffered to close, she was
• 6:41:22
  enabled to judge how far he was sanctioned by a parental authority in his present
• 6:41:26
  application. On his return from Woodston two days before, he had been met
• 6:41:30
  near the abbey by his impatient father, hastily informed in angry terms of Miss
• 6:41:36
  Morland's departure and order to think of her. No more such was the permission
• 6:41:40
  upon which he had now offered her his hand. The affrighted Catherine, amidst
• 6:41:45
  all the terrors of expectation, as she listened to his account, could not
• 6:41:48
  but rejoice in the kind caution with which Henry had saved her from the necessity
• 6:41:52
  of a conscientious rejection by engaging her faith before he mentioned the subject, and
• 6:41:56
  as he proceeded to give the particulars and expres slaying the motives of his father's
• 6:42:00
  conduct, her feelings soon hardened into even a triumphant delight. The General had
• 6:42:06
  had nothing to accuse her of, nothing to lay to her charge, but
• 6:42:10
  her being the involuntary, unconscious object of a deception which his pride could not
• 6:42:15
  pardon, and which a better pride would have been shamed to own. She
• 6:42:18
  was guilty only of being less rich than he had supposed her to be.
• 6:42:22
  Under a mistaken persuasion of her possessions and claims, he had courted her acquaintance
• 6:42:26
  in Bath, solicited her a company at Northanger, and designed her for his
• 6:42:30
  future daughter in law. On discovering his error, to turn her from the
• 6:42:33
  house seemed the best, though to his feelings an inadequate proof of his resentment.
• 6:42:37
  Towards herself and his contempt of her family. John Thorpe had first misled
• 6:42:44
  him the General, perceiving his son one night at the theater to be paying
• 6:42:47
  considerable attention to Miss Morland, had accidentally inquired of Thorpe if he knew more
• 6:42:52
  of her than her name. Thorpe, most happy to be on speaking terms
• 6:42:55
  with the man of General, Tilney's importance, had been joyfully and proudly communicate,
• 6:43:00
  and being at that time not only in daily expectation of Morland's engaging Isabella,
• 6:43:04
  but likewise pretty well resolved upon marrying Catherine himself. His vanity induced him
• 6:43:08
  to represent the family as yet more wealthy than his vanity and avarice had made
• 6:43:14
  him believe them. With whomsoever he was or was likely to be connected,
• 6:43:18
  his own consequence always required that theirs should be great, And as his intimacy
• 6:43:22
  with any acquaintance grew, so regularly grew their fortune. The expectations of his
• 6:43:27
  friend Morland, therefore, from the first overrated, had ever since his introduction
• 6:43:32
  to Isabella, been gradually increasing, and by merely adding twice as much for
• 6:43:37
  the grandeur of the moment, by doubling what he chose to think the amount
• 6:43:40
  of mister Morland's preferment. Trebling his private fortune, bestowing a rich aunt,
• 6:43:45
  and sinking half the children, he was able to represent the whole family to
• 6:43:48
  the General in a most respectable light. For Catherine, however, the peculiar
• 6:43:52
  object of the General's curiosity and his own speculations, he had yet something more
• 6:43:57
  in reserve, and the ten or fifth eighteen thousand pounds which her father could
• 6:44:00
  give her would be a pretty addition to mister Allen's estate. Her intimacy there
• 6:44:06
  had made him seriously determine on her being handsomely legacied hereafter, and to speak
• 6:44:10
  of her therefore, as the almost acknowledged future heiress of Fullerton. Naturally followed
• 6:44:15
  upon such intelligence, the General had proceeded, for never had it occurred to
• 6:44:19
  him to doubt its authority. Thorpe's interest in the family, by his sister's
• 6:44:23
  approaching connection with one of its members, and his own views on another,
• 6:44:27
  circumstances of which he boasted with almost equal openness, seemed sufficient vouchers for his
• 6:44:32
  truth. And to these were added the absolute facts of the Allens being wealthy
• 6:44:36
  and childless, of Miss Morland's being under their care and as soon as his
• 6:44:41
  acquaintance allowed him to judge of their treating her with parental kindness, his resolution
• 6:44:45
  was soon formed. Already had he discerned a liking towards Miss Morland in the
• 6:44:49
  countenance of his son, and thankful for mister Thorpe's communication, he almost instantly
• 6:44:55
  determined to spare no pains in weakening his boasted interest and ruining his dearest hope.
• 6:45:00
  Catherine herself could not be more ignorant at the time of all this than
• 6:45:03
  his own children. Henry and Eleanor, perceiving nothing in her situation likely to
• 6:45:07
  engage their father's particular respect, had seen with astonishment the suddenness, continuance,
• 6:45:12
  and extent of his attention, and, though latterly from some hints which had
• 6:45:17
  accompanied an almost positive command to his son of doing everything in his power to
• 6:45:21
  attach her, Henry was convinced of his father's believing it to be an advantageous
• 6:45:25
  connection. It was not till the late explanation at Northanger that they had the
• 6:45:29
  smallest idea of the false calculations which had hurried him on that they were false.
• 6:45:34
  The General had learnt from the very person who had suggested them, from
• 6:45:37
  Thorpe himself, whom he had chanced to meet again in town, and who
• 6:45:41
  under the influence of exactly opposite feelings, irritated by Catherine's refusal, and yet
• 6:45:47
  more by the failure of a very recent endeavor to accomplish a reconciliation between Morland
• 6:45:52
  and Isabella, convinced that they were separated forever, and spurning a friendship which
• 6:45:56
  could be no longer serviceable, hastened to contradict all that he had said before
• 6:46:00
  to the advantage of the Morlands, confessed himself to have been totally mistaken in
• 6:46:03
  his opinion of their circumstances and character, misled by the redomantant of his friend,
• 6:46:08
  to believe his father a man of substance and credit, whereas the transactions
• 6:46:12
  of the two or three last weeks proved him to be neither. For after
• 6:46:15
  coming eagerly forward on the first overture of a marriage between the families with the
• 6:46:19
  most liberal proposals, he had, on being brought to the point by the
• 6:46:23
  shrewdness of the relator, been constrained to acknowledge himself incapable of giving the young
• 6:46:27
  people even a decent support. They were, in fact a necessitous family,
• 6:46:33
  numerous too, almost beyond example, by no means respected in their own neighborhood,
• 6:46:38
  as he had lately, had particular opportunities of discovering, aiming at a
• 6:46:41
  style of life which their fortune could not warrant, seeking to better themselves by
• 6:46:47
  wealthy connections, a forward, bragging, scheming race. The terrified general pronounced
• 6:46:52
  the name of Allan with an inquiring look. And here too, Thorpe had
• 6:46:56
  learnt his error. The Allens, he believed, had lived near them too
• 6:47:00
  long, and he knew the young man on whom the Fullerton estate must evolve.
• 6:47:03
  The General needed no more. Enraged with almost everybody in the world but
• 6:47:07
  himself, he set out the next day for the abbey, where his performances
• 6:47:11
  have been seen. I leave it to my reader's sagacity to determine how much
• 6:47:17
  of all this it was possible for Henry to communicate at this time to Catherine,
• 6:47:21
  how much of it he could have learnt from his father, in what
• 6:47:22
  point his own conjectures might assist him, and what portion must yet remain to
• 6:47:26
  be told In a letter from James, I have united for their case what
• 6:47:30
  they must divide for mine. Catherine, at any rate heard enough to feel
• 6:47:34
  that in suspecting General Tilney of either murdering or shutting up his wife, she
• 6:47:38
  had scarcely sinned against his character or magnified his cruelty. Henry, in having
• 6:47:45
  such things to relate of his father, was almost as pitiable as in their
• 6:47:48
  first avowal to himself. He blushed for the narrow minded counsel which he was
• 6:47:52
  obliged to expose. The conversation between them at Northanger had been of the most
• 6:47:56
  unfriendly kind. Henry's indignation, on hearing how Catherine had been treated, on
• 6:48:02
  comprehending his father's views and being ordered to acquiesce in them, had been open
• 6:48:06
  and bold. The General, accustomed on every ordinary occasion to give the law
• 6:48:11
  in his family, prepared for no reluctance, but of feeling no opposing desire
• 6:48:15
  that should dare to clothe itself in words, could ill Brook the opposition of
• 6:48:18
  his son steady, as the sanction of reason and the dictative conscience could make
• 6:48:22
  it. But in such a cause, his anger, though it must shock,
• 6:48:26
  could not intimidate Henry, who was sustained in his purpose by conviction of
• 6:48:30
  its justice. He felt himself bound as much an honor as an affection to
• 6:48:34
  miss Morland, and believing that heart to be his own, which he had
• 6:48:37
  been directed to gain. No unworthy retraction of a tacit consent, No reversing
• 6:48:42
  decree of an unjustifiable anger could shake his fidelity or influence the resolutions it prompted.
• 6:48:48
  He steadily refused to accompany his father into Herefordshire, an engagement formed almost
• 6:48:53
  at the moment to promote the dismissal of Catherine, and as steadily declared his
• 6:48:56
  intention of offering her his hand, the General was furious in his anger,
• 6:49:02
  and they parted in dreadful disagreement. Henry, in an agitation of mind which
• 6:49:06
  many solitary hours required to compose, had returned almost instantly to Woodston, and
• 6:49:11
  on the afternoon of the following day had begun his journey to Fullerton. End
• 6:49:17
  of chapter thirty Chapter thirty one. Mister and missus Morland's surprise, on being
• 6:49:22
  applied to by mister Tilney for their consent to his marrying their daughter, was
• 6:49:27
  for a few minutes considerable, it, having never entered their heads to suspect
• 6:49:32
  an attachment on either side, but as nothing after all could be more natural
• 6:49:36
  than Catherine's being beloved. They soon learnt to consider it with only the happy
• 6:49:40
  agitation of gratified pride, and as far as they alone were concerned, had
• 6:49:44
  not a single objection to start. His pleasing manners and good sense were self
• 6:49:48
  evident recommendations, and having never heard evil of him, it was not their
• 6:49:52
  way to suppose any evil could be told good will supplying the place of experience,
• 6:49:56
  his character needed no attestation. Catherine would make a sad, heedless young
• 6:50:02
  housekeeper, to be sure, was her mother's foreboding remark. But quick was
• 6:50:07
  the consolation of there being nothing like practice. There was but one obstacle in
• 6:50:11
  short to be mentioned. But till that one was removed, it must be
• 6:50:15
  impossible for them to sanction the engagement. Their tempers were mild, but their
• 6:50:19
  principles were steady, And while his parents so expressly forbade the connection, they
• 6:50:23
  could not allow themselves to encourage it, that the General should come forward to
• 6:50:27
  solicit the alliance, or that he should even very heartily approve it. They
• 6:50:32
  were not refined enough to make any parading stipulation, but the decent appearance consent
• 6:50:37
  must be yielded, and that once obtained, and their own hearts made them
• 6:50:41
  trust that it could not be very long denied. Their willing approbation was instantly
• 6:50:45
  to follow. His consent was all that they wished for. They were no
• 6:50:49
  more inclined than entitled to demand his money. Of a very considerable fortune.
• 6:50:53
  His son was by marriage settlements eventually secure. His present income was an income
• 6:50:59
  of indo penance and comfort, and under every pecuniary view, it was a
• 6:51:03
  match beyond the claims of their daughter. The young people could not be surprised
• 6:51:07
  at a decision like this. They felt, and they deplored, but they
• 6:51:11
  could not resent it, and they parted, endeavoring to hope that such a
• 6:51:15
  change in the general as each believed almost impossible, might speedily take place to
• 6:51:19
  unite them again in the fullness of privileged affection. Henry returned to what was
• 6:51:23
  now his only home, to watch over his young plantations and extend his improvements
• 6:51:29
  for her sake, to whose share in them. He looked anxiously forward,
• 6:51:33
  and Catherine remained at Fullerton to cry whether the torments of absence were softened by
• 6:51:37
  a clandestine correspondence. Let us not inquire, Mister and missus Morland never did.
• 6:51:42
  They had been too kind to exact any promise, and whenever Catherine received
• 6:51:45
  a letter, as at that time happened pretty often, they always looked another
• 6:51:49
  way. The anxiety which in this state of their attachment must be the portion
• 6:51:55
  of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its
• 6:51:57
  final event, can hardly extend, I fear to the bosom of my readers,
• 6:52:03
  who will see in the tell tale compression of the pages before them,
• 6:52:06
  that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity. The means by which their
• 6:52:10
  early marriage was affected can be the only doubt what probable circumstance could work upon
• 6:52:15
  a temper like the generals. The circumstance which chiefly availed was the marriage of
• 6:52:18
  his daughter with a man of fortune and consequence, which took place in the
• 6:52:22
  course of the summer, an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit
• 6:52:26
  of good humor from which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtained his
• 6:52:30
  forgiveness of Henry and his permission for him to be a fool if he liked
• 6:52:33
  it. The marriage of Eleanor Tilney, her removal from all the evils of
• 6:52:38
  such a home as Northanger, had been made by Henry's banishment to the home
• 6:52:41
  of her choice and the man of her choice is an event which I expect
• 6:52:45
  to give general satisfaction among all her acquaintance. My own joy on the occasion
• 6:52:49
  is very sincere. I know no one more entitled by unpretending merit, or
• 6:52:53
  better prepared by habitual suffering to receive and enjoy felicity her partiality. For this
• 6:53:00
  gentleman was not of recent origin, and he had been long withheld only by
• 6:53:03
  inferiority of situation from addressing her. His unexpected accession to title and fortune had
• 6:53:08
  removed all his difficulties. And never had the General loved his daughter so well
• 6:53:12
  in all her hours of companionship, utility, and patient endurance as when he
• 6:53:18
  first hailed her. Your ladyship, her husband was really deserving of her,
• 6:53:22
  independent of his peerage, his wealth, and his attachment. Being to a
• 6:53:26
  precision, the most charming young man in the world, any further definition of
• 6:53:30
  his merits must be unnecessary. The most charming young man in the world is
• 6:53:33
  instantly before the imagination of us all concerning the one in question. Therefore,
• 6:53:37
  I have only to add, aware that the rules of composition forbid the introduction
• 6:53:41
  of a character not connected with my fable, that this was the very gentleman
• 6:53:45
  whose negligent servant left behind him that collection of washing bills resulting from a long
• 6:53:51
  visit at Northanger, by which my heroine was involved in one of her most
• 6:53:53
  alarming adventures. The influence of the Viscount and Viscountess and their brother's behelf was
• 6:54:00
  assisted by that right understanding of mister Morland's circumstances, which, as soon as
• 6:54:03
  the General would allow himself to be informed, they were qualified to give.
• 6:54:07
  It taught him that he had been scarcely more misled by Thorpe's first boast of
• 6:54:11
  the family wealth than by his subsequent malicious overthrow of it, that in no
• 6:54:15
  sense of the word were they necessitous or poor, and that Catherine would have
• 6:54:18
  three thousand pounds. This was so material an amendment of his late expectations that
• 6:54:23
  it greatly contributed to smooth the descent of his bride, And by no means
• 6:54:27
  without its effect was the private intelligence which he was at some pains to procure,
• 6:54:32
  that the Fullerton estate, being entirely at the disposal of its present proprietor,
• 6:54:37
  was consequently open to every greedy speculation On the strength of this, the
• 6:54:41
  General, soon after Eleanor's marriage, permitted his son to return to Northanger,
• 6:54:47
  and thence made him the bearer of his consent, very courteously worded in a
• 6:54:51
  page full of empty professions to mister Morland. The event which it authorized soon
• 6:54:56
  followed. Henry and Catherine were married. The bells rang and everybody smiled.
• 6:55:00
  And as this took place within a twelvemonth from the first day of their meeting,
• 6:55:03
  it will not appear, after all the dreadful delays occasioned by the General's
• 6:55:07
  cruelty, that they were essentially hurt by it. To begin perfect happiness at
• 6:55:11
  the respective ages of twenty six and eighteen is to do pretty well. And
• 6:55:15
  professing myself moreover convinced that the General's unjust interference, so far from being really
• 6:55:21
  injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it, by improving their
• 6:55:26
  knowledge of each other and adding strength to their attachment. I leave it to
• 6:55:30
  be settled by whomsoever it may concern whether the tendency of this work be altogether
• 6:55:34
  to recommend parental tyranny or reward filial disobedience. End of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen,