10 Cont. Northanger Abbey - Read By Stephanie Poppins

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Chapter 10 continued.

Catherine ended the rooms on Thursday evening with feelings very different from what had attended her this other Monday before.

She had then been exulting in her engagement to Thorpe and was now chiefly anxious to avoid his sight lest he should engage her again,

For though she could not,

Dared not expect that Mr Tilney should ask her a third time to dance,

Her wishes,

Hopes and plans all centred in nothing less.

Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment,

For every young lady has at some time or another known the same agitation.

All have been,

Or at least have believed themselves to be,

In danger from the pursuit of someone whom they wish to avoid,

And all have been anxious for the attentions of someone whom they wish to please.

As soon as they were joined by the Thorpes,

Catherine's agony began.

She fidgeted about if John Thorpe came towards her,

And hid herself as much as possible from his view,

And when he spoke to her,

She pretended not to hear him.

The cotillions were over,

The country dancing beginning,

And she saw nothing of the Tilneys.

"'Do not be frightened,

My dear Catherine,

' whispered Isabella,

"'but I'm really going to dance with your brother again.

I declare positively it's quite shocking.

I tell him he ought to be ashamed of himself,

But you and John must keep us in countenance.

Make haste,

My dear creature,

And come to us.

John has just walked off,

But he will be back in a moment.

'" Catherine had neither the time nor the inclination to answer.

The others walked away,

John Thorpe was still in view,

And she gave herself up for lost.

That she might not appear,

However,

To observe or expect him,

She kept her eyes intently fixed on her fan,

And a self-condemnation for her folly in supposing that among such a crowd they should even meet with the Tilneys in any reasonable time,

Had just passed through her mind when she suddenly found herself addressed and again solicited to dance by Mr.

Tilney himself.

With what sparkling eyes and ready motion she granted his request,

And with how pleasing a flutter of heart she went with him to the set may be easily imagined.

To escape,

And as she believed so narrowly escape,

John Thorpe,

And to be asked so immediately on his joining her,

Asked by Mr.

Tilney,

As if he'd sought her on purpose,

It did not appear to her that life could supply any greater felicity.

Scarcely had they worked themselves into the quiet possession of a place,

However,

When her attention was claimed by John Thorpe,

Who stood behind her.

"'Hey there,

Miss Morland,

' said he.

"'What is the meaning of this?

I thought you and I were to dance together.

' "'I wonder why you should think so,

For you never ask me.

' "'That's a good one,

By Jove.

I asked you as soon as I came into the room,

And I was just going to ask you again,

But when I turned round you were gone.

This is a cursed,

Shabby trick.

I only came for the sake of dancing with you,

And I firmly believed you were engaged to me ever since Monday.

"'Yes,

I remember I asked you while you were waiting in the lobby for your cloak,

And here have I been telling all my acquaintance I was going to dance with the prettiest girl in the room,

And when they see you standing up with someone else,

They'll quiz me famously.

"'Oh no,

They will never think of me after such a description as that.

' "'By heavens,

If they do not,

I'll kick them out of the room for blockheads.

What chap are you here?

' Catherine satisfied his curiosity.

"'Tell me,

' he repeated.

"'I do not know him.

"'A good figure of a man,

Well put together.

"'Does he want a horse?

"'Here is a friend of mine,

Sam Fletcher.

"'He's got one to sell that would suit anybody.

"'A famous,

Clever animal for the road.

"'Only forty guineas.

"'I had fifty mines to buy it myself,

For it's one of my maxims always to buy a good horse when I meet with one,

But it would not answer my purpose.

"'It would not do for the field.

"'I would give any money for a real good hunter.

"'I have three now,

The best that ever were backed.

"'I'd not take eight hundred guineas for them.

"'Fletcher and I mean to get a house in Leicester,

Against the next season.

"'It's so damn uncomfortable living in an inn.

' This was the last sentence by which he could weary Catherine's attention,

For he was then by the resistless pressure of a long string of passing ladies.

"'That gentleman would have put me out of patience had he stayed with you half a minute longer,

' said Tilney.

"'He has no business to withdraw the attention of my partner from me.

"'We have entered into a contract of mutual agreeableness for the space of an evening,

"'and all our agreeableness belongs solely to each other for that time.

"'Nobody can fasten themselves on the notice of one without injuring the rights of the other.

"'I consider country dance as an emblem of marriage.

"'Fidelity and complacence are the principal duties of both,

And those men who do not choose "'to dance or marry themselves have no business with the partners and wives of their neighbours.

' "'But they are such very different things,

' protested Catherine.

"'That you think they cannot be compared together?

' "'To be sure not.

"'People that marry can never part,

But must go and keep house together.

"'People that dance only stand opposite each other in a long room for half an hour.

' "'And such is your definition of matrimony and dancing.

"'Taken in that light,

Certainly their resemblance is not striking,

But I think I could place "'them in such a view.

"'You allow that in both man has the advantage of choice,

"'women only the power of refusal.

"'That in both it is an engagement between man and woman,

Formed for the advantage of each,

"'and that when one centred into,

They belong exclusively to each other till the moment of its dissolution.

"'That it is their duty,

Each to endeavour to give each other no cause for wishing "'that he or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere,

"'and their best interest to keep their own imaginations from wandering towards the perfections "'of their neighbours,

Or fencing they should have been better off with anyone else.

"'You will allow all this,

Catherine?

' "'Yes,

To be sure.

"'As you stated,

All this sounds very well,

But still they are so very different.

"'I cannot look upon them in the same light,

Nor think the same duties belong to them.

"'In one respect,

' continued Tilney,

"'there certainly is a difference.

"'In marriage the man is supposed to provide for the support of the woman,

"'the woman to make the home agreeable to the man.

"'He is to purvey and she is to smile,

"'but in dancing their duties are exactly changed.

"'The agreeableness,

"'the compliance are expected from him "'while she furnishes the fan in the lavender water.

"'That,

I suppose,

Was the difference of duties which struck you "'as rendering the conditions incapable of comparison.

' "'Oh,

Indeed,

I never thought of that.

"'Then I am quite at a loss.

"'One thing,

However,

I must observe.

"'This disposition on your side is rather alarming.

"'You totally disallow any similarity in the obligations,

"'and may I not thence infer your notions of the duty of the dancing state,

"'and not so strict as your partner might wish?

"'Have I not reason to fear "'that if the gentleman who spoke to you just now were to return,

"'or if any other gentleman were to address you,

"'there would be nothing to restrain you from conversing with him as long as you choose?

' "'Mr Thorpe is such a very particular friend of my brother's "'that if he talks to me,

I must talk to him again,

"'but there are hardly three young men in the room besides him "'that I have any acquaintance with.

"'And is that to be my only security?

"'Nay,

I'm sure you cannot have a better,

"'for if I do not know anybody,

It's impossible for me to talk to them,

"'and besides,

I do not want to talk to anybody.

' "'Now you have given me a security worth having,

"'and I shall proceed with courage.

"'Do you find Bath as agreeable "'as when I had the honour of making the inquiry before?

' "'Yes,

Quite.

"'More so,

Indeed.

"'More so.

"'Take care,

Catherine,

"'or you will forget to be tired of it at the proper time.

"'You ought to be tired of it at the end of six weeks.

' "'I do not think I should be tired if I were to stay here six months.

' "'Bath,

Compared with London,

Has little variety,

"'and so everybody finds out every year.

"'For six weeks I allow,

Bath is pleasant enough,

"'but beyond that,

It's the most tiresome place in the world.

"'You will be told so by people of all descriptions "'who come here regularly every winter.

"'Well,

Other people must judge for themselves.

"'And those who go to London may think nothing of Bath,

"'but I,

Who live in a small retired village in the country,

"'can never find greater sameness in such a place as this "'than in my own home.

"'For here are a variety of amusements,

"'a variety of things to be seen and done all day long,

"'which I can know nothing of there.

' "'You are not fond of the country.

' "'Yes,

I am.

"'I have always lived there and always been very happy.

"'But certainly there's much more sameness in country life "'than in Bath life.

"'One day in the country is exactly like another.

"'But then you spend your time "'so much more rationally in the country.

"'Do I?

"'Do you not?

"'I do not believe there is much difference.

"'Here you are in pursuit only of amusement all day long.

"'And so I am at home.

"'Only I do not find so much of it.

"'I walk about here and I do so there.

"'But here I see a variety of people in every street,

"'and there I can only go and call on Mrs Allen.

' "'Mr Tilney was very much amused at this.

"'Only go and call on Mrs Allen,

' he repeated.

"'What a picture of intellectual poverty!

' "'However,

When you sink into this abyss again,

"'you will have more to say.

"'You will be able to talk of Bath "'and all that you did there.

' "'Oh,

Yes!

"'I shall never be in want of something to talk of again to Mrs Allen "'or anybody else,

' said Catherine.

"'I do like it here so very much.

"'If I could but have Papa,

Mama and the rest of them,

"'I suppose I should be too happy.

'"