by Jane Austen
CHAPTER 26
From this time, the subject was frequently canvassed by the three youngpeople; and Catherine found, with some surprise, that her two youngfriends were perfectly agreed in considering Isabella's want ofconsequence and fortune as likely to throw great difficulties in the wayof her marrying their brother. Their persuasion that the general would,upon this ground alone, independent of the objection that might beraised against her character, oppose the connection, turned her feelingsmoreover with some alarm towards herself. She was as insignificant,and perhaps as portionless, as Isabella; and if the heir of the Tilneyproperty had not grandeur and wealth enough in himself, at what pointof interest were the demands of his younger brother to rest? The verypainful reflections to which this thought led could only be dispersed bya dependence on the effect of that particular partiality, which, as shewas given to understand by his words as well as his actions, she hadfrom the first been so fortunate as to excite in the general; and by arecollection of some most generous and disinterested sentiments on thesubject of money, which she had more than once heard him utter, andwhich tempted her to think his disposition in such matters misunderstoodby his children.
They were so fully convinced, however, that their brother would nothave the courage to apply in person for his father's consent, and sorepeatedly assured her that he had never in his life been less likely tocome to Northanger than at the present time, that she suffered her mindto be at ease as to the necessity of any sudden removal of her own. Butas it was not to be supposed that Captain Tilney, whenever he made hisapplication, would give his father any just idea of Isabella's conduct,it occurred to her as highly expedient that Henry should lay the wholebusiness before him as it really was, enabling the general by that meansto form a cool and impartial opinion, and prepare his objections ona fairer ground than inequality of situations. She proposed it to himaccordingly; but he did not catch at the measure so eagerly as she hadexpected. "No," said he, "my father's hands need not be strengthened,and Frederick's confession of folly need not be forestalled. He musttell his own story."
"But he will tell only half of it."
"A quarter would be enough."
A day or two passed away and brought no tidings of Captain Tilney. Hisbrother and sister knew not what to think. Sometimes it appeared tothem as if his silence would be the natural result of the suspectedengagement, and at others that it was wholly incompatible with it.The general, meanwhile, though offended every morning by Frederick'sremissness in writing, was free from any real anxiety about him, and hadno more pressing solicitude than that of making Miss Morland's time atNorthanger pass pleasantly. He often expressed his uneasiness on thishead, feared the sameness of every day's society and employments woulddisgust her with the place, wished the Lady Frasers had been in thecountry, talked every now and then of having a large party to dinner,and once or twice began even to calculate the number of young dancingpeople in the neighbourhood. But then it was such a dead time of year,no wild-fowl, no game, and the Lady Frasers were not in the country.And it all ended, at last, in his telling Henry one morning that when henext went to Woodston, they would take him by surprise there some dayor other, and eat their mutton with him. Henry was greatly honoured andvery happy, and Catherine was quite delighted with the scheme. "And whendo you think, sir, I may look forward to this pleasure? I must be atWoodston on Monday to attend the parish meeting, and shall probably beobliged to stay two or three days."
"Well, well, we will take our chance some one of those days. There isno need to fix. You are not to put yourself at all out of your way.Whatever you may happen to have in the house will be enough. I think Ican answer for the young ladies making allowance for a bachelor's table.Let me see; Monday will be a busy day with you, we will not come onMonday; and Tuesday will be a busy one with me. I expect my surveyorfrom Brockham with his report in the morning; and afterwards I cannot indecency fail attending the club. I really could not face my acquaintanceif I stayed away now; for, as I am known to be in the country, it wouldbe taken exceedingly amiss; and it is a rule with me, Miss Morland,never to give offence to any of my neighbours, if a small sacrifice oftime and attention can prevent it. They are a set of very worthy men.They have half a buck from Northanger twice a year; and I dine with themwhenever I can. Tuesday, therefore, we may say is out of the question.But on Wednesday, I think, Henry, you may expect us; and we shall bewith you early, that we may have time to look about us. Two hours andthree quarters will carry us to Woodston, I suppose; we shall be in thecarriage by ten; so, about a quarter before one on Wednesday, you maylook for us."
A ball itself could not have been more welcome to Catherine thanthis little excursion, so strong was her desire to be acquainted withWoodston; and her heart was still bounding with joy when Henry, about anhour afterwards, came booted and greatcoated into the room where sheand Eleanor were sitting, and said, "I am come, young ladies, in avery moralizing strain, to observe that our pleasures in this worldare always to be paid for, and that we often purchase them at a greatdisadvantage, giving ready-monied actual happiness for a draft on thefuture, that may not be honoured. Witness myself, at this present hour.Because I am to hope for the satisfaction of seeing you at Woodston onWednesday, which bad weather, or twenty other causes, may prevent, Imust go away directly, two days before I intended it."
"Go away!" said Catherine, with a very long face. "And why?"
"Why! How can you ask the question? Because no time is to be lost infrightening my old housekeeper out of her wits, because I must go andprepare a dinner for you, to be sure."
"Oh! Not seriously!"
"Aye, and sadly too--for I had much rather stay."
"But how can you think of such a thing, after what the general said?When he so particularly desired you not to give yourself any trouble,because anything would do."
Henry only smiled. "I am sure it is quite unnecessary upon your sister'saccount and mine. You must know it to be so; and the general made sucha point of your providing nothing extraordinary: besides, if he had notsaid half so much as he did, he has always such an excellent dinnerat home, that sitting down to a middling one for one day could notsignify."
"I wish I could reason like you, for his sake and my own. Good-bye. Astomorrow is Sunday, Eleanor, I shall not return."
He went; and, it being at any time a much simpler operation to Catherineto doubt her own judgment than Henry's, she was very soon obliged togive him credit for being right, however disagreeable to her his going.But the inexplicability of the general's conduct dwelt much on herthoughts. That he was very particular in his eating, she had, by her ownunassisted observation, already discovered; but why he should sayone thing so positively, and mean another all the while, was mostunaccountable! How were people, at that rate, to be understood? Who butHenry could have been aware of what his father was at?
From Saturday to Wednesday, however, they were now to be without Henry.This was the sad finale of every reflection: and Captain Tilney's letterwould certainly come in his absence; and Wednesday she was very surewould be wet. The past, present, and future were all equally in gloom.Her brother so unhappy, and her loss in Isabella so great; and Eleanor'sspirits always affected by Henry's absence! What was there to interestor amuse her? She was tired of the woods and the shrubberies--always sosmooth and so dry; and the abbey in itself was no more to her now thanany other house. The painful remembrance of the folly it had helpedto nourish and perfect was the only emotion which could spring from aconsideration of the building. What a revolution in her ideas! She, whohad so longed to be in an abbey! Now, there was nothing so charmingto her imagination as the unpretending comfort of a well-connectedparsonage, something like Fullerton, but better: Fullerton had itsfaults, but Woodston probably had none. If Wednesday should ever come!
It did come, and exactly when it might be reasonably looked for. Itcame--it was fine--and Catherine trod on air. By ten o'clock, the chaiseand four conveyed the trio from the abbey; and, after an agreeable driveof almost twenty mil
es, they entered Woodston, a large and populousvillage, in a situation not unpleasant. Catherine was ashamed to sayhow pretty she thought it, as the general seemed to think an apologynecessary for the flatness of the country, and the size of the village;but in her heart she preferred it to any place she had ever been at,and looked with great admiration at every neat house above the rank ofa cottage, and at all the little chandler's shops which they passed. Atthe further end of the village, and tolerably disengaged from the restof it, stood the parsonage, a new-built substantial stone house, withits semicircular sweep and green gates; and, as they drove up to thedoor, Henry, with the friends of his solitude, a large Newfoundlandpuppy and two or three terriers, was ready to receive and make much ofthem.
Catherine's mind was too full, as she entered the house, for her eitherto observe or to say a great deal; and, till called on by the generalfor her opinion of it, she had very little idea of the room in which shewas sitting. Upon looking round it then, she perceived in a moment thatit was the most comfortable room in the world; but she was too guardedto say so, and the coldness of her praise disappointed him.
"We are not calling it a good house," said he. "We are not comparingit with Fullerton and Northanger--we are considering it as a mereparsonage, small and confined, we allow, but decent, perhaps, andhabitable; and altogether not inferior to the generality; or, in otherwords, I believe there are few country parsonages in England half sogood. It may admit of improvement, however. Far be it from me to sayotherwise; and anything in reason--a bow thrown out, perhaps--though,between ourselves, if there is one thing more than another my aversion,it is a patched-on bow."
Catherine did not hear enough of this speech to understand or be painedby it; and other subjects being studiously brought forward and supportedby Henry, at the same time that a tray full of refreshments wasintroduced by his servant, the general was shortly restored to hiscomplacency, and Catherine to all her usual ease of spirits.
The room in question was of a commodious, well-proportioned size, andhandsomely fitted up as a dining-parlour; and on their quitting it towalk round the grounds, she was shown, first into a smaller apartment,belonging peculiarly to the master of the house, and made unusually tidyon the occasion; and afterwards into what was to be the drawing-room,with the appearance of which, though unfurnished, Catherine wasdelighted enough even to satisfy the general. It was a prettily shapedroom, the windows reaching to the ground, and the view from thempleasant, though only over green meadows; and she expressed heradmiration at the moment with all the honest simplicity with which shefelt it. "Oh! Why do not you fit up this room, Mr. Tilney? What a pitynot to have it fitted up! It is the prettiest room I ever saw; it is theprettiest room in the world!"
"I trust," said the general, with a most satisfied smile, "that it willvery speedily be furnished: it waits only for a lady's taste!"
"Well, if it was my house, I should never sit anywhere else. Oh! What asweet little cottage there is among the trees--apple trees, too! It isthe prettiest cottage!"
"You like it--you approve it as an object--it is enough. Henry, rememberthat Robinson is spoken to about it. The cottage remains."
Such a compliment recalled all Catherine's consciousness, and silencedher directly; and, though pointedly applied to by the general for herchoice of the prevailing colour of the paper and hangings, nothing likean opinion on the subject could be drawn from her. The influence offresh objects and fresh air, however, was of great use in dissipatingthese embarrassing associations; and, having reached the ornamental partof the premises, consisting of a walk round two sides of a meadow, onwhich Henry's genius had begun to act about half a year ago, she wassufficiently recovered to think it prettier than any pleasure-ground shehad ever been in before, though there was not a shrub in it higher thanthe green bench in the corner.
A saunter into other meadows, and through part of the village, with avisit to the stables to examine some improvements, and a charming gameof play with a litter of puppies just able to roll about, brought themto four o'clock, when Catherine scarcely thought it could be three. Atfour they were to dine, and at six to set off on their return. Never hadany day passed so quickly!
She could not but observe that the abundance of the dinner did not seemto create the smallest astonishment in the general; nay, that he waseven looking at the side-table for cold meat which was not there. Hisson and daughter's observations were of a different kind. They hadseldom seen him eat so heartily at any table but his own, and neverbefore known him so little disconcerted by the melted butter's beingoiled.
At six o'clock, the general having taken his coffee, the carriage againreceived them; and so gratifying had been the tenor of his conductthroughout the whole visit, so well assured was her mind on the subjectof his expectations, that, could she have felt equally confident of thewishes of his son, Catherine would have quitted Woodston with littleanxiety as to the How or the When she might return to it.
