Northanger Abbey 2 страница

⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 3 из 19Следующая ⇒

" Indeed I shall say no such thing. "

" Shall I tell you what you ought to say? "

" If you please. "

" I danced with a very agreeable young man,

introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation

with him--seems a most extraordinary genius--hope I may

know more of him. That, madam, is what I wish you to say. "

" But, perhaps, I keep no journal. "

" Perhaps you are not sitting in this room, and I am

not sitting by you. These are points in which a doubt is

equally possible. Not keep a journal! How are your absent

cousins to understand the tenour of your life in Bath

without one? How are the civilities and compliments of

every day to be related as they ought to be, unless noted

down every evening in a journal? How are your various

dresses to be remembered, and the particular state of

your complexion, and curl of your hair to be described

in all their diversities, without having constant recourse

to a journal? My dear madam, I am not so ignorant of

young ladies` ways as you wish to believe me; it is this

delightful habit of journaling which largely contributes

to form the easy style of writing for which ladies are

so generally celebrated. Everybody allows that the talent

of writing agreeable letters is peculiarly female.

Nature may have done something, but I am sure it must

be essentially assisted by the practice of keeping a journal. "

" I have sometimes thought, " said Catherine, doubtingly,

" whether ladies do write so much better letters than gentlemen!

That is--I should not think the superiority was always on our side. "

" As far as I have had opportunity of judging,

it appears to me that the usual style of letter-writing

among women is faultless, except in three particulars. "

" And what are they? "

" A general deficiency of subject, a total inattention

to stops, and a very frequent ignorance of grammar. "

" Upon my word! I need not have been afraid of disclaiming

the compliment. You do not think too highly of us in that way. "

" I should no more lay it down as a general rule that

women write better letters than men, than that they sing

better duets, or draw better landscapes. In every power,

of which taste is the foundation, excellence is pretty

fairly divided between the sexes. "

They were interrupted by Mrs. Allen: " My dear Catherine, "

said she, " do take this pin out of my sleeve; I am afraid it

has torn a hole already; I shall be quite sorry if it has,

for this is a favourite gown, though it cost but nine

shillings a yard. "

" That is exactly what I should have guessed

it, madam, " said Mr. Tilney, looking at the muslin.

" Do you understand muslins, sir? "

" Particularly well; I always buy my own cravats,

and am allowed to be an excellent judge; and my

sister has often trusted me in the choice of a gown.

I bought one for her the other day, and it was pronounced

to be a prodigious bargain by every lady who saw it.

I gave but five shillings a yard for it, and a true

Indian muslin. "

Mrs. Allen was quite struck by his genius. " Men commonly

take so little notice of those things, " said she; " I can

never get Mr. Allen to know one of my gowns from another.

You must be a great comfort to your sister, sir. "

" I hope I am, madam. "

" And pray, sir, what do you think of Miss Morland`s gown? "

" It is very pretty, madam, " said he, gravely examining it;

" but I do not think it will wash well; I am afraid it will fray. "

" How can you, " said Catherine, laughing, " be so--"

She had almost said " strange. "

" I am quite of your opinion, sir, " replied Mrs. Allen;

" and so I told Miss Morland when she bought it. "

" But then you know, madam, muslin always turns

to some account or other; Miss Morland will get enough

out of it for a handkerchief, or a cap, or a cloak.

Muslin can never be said to be wasted. I have heard my

sister say so forty times, when she has been extravagant

in buying more than she wanted, or careless in cutting it

to pieces. "

" Bath is a charming place, sir; there are so many

good shops here. We are sadly off in the country;

not but what we have very good shops in Salisbury,

but it is so far to go--eight miles is a long way;

Mr. Allen says it is nine, measured nine; but I am sure it

cannot be more than eight; and it is such a fag--I come

back tired to death. Now, here one can step out of doors

and get a thing in five minutes. "

Mr. Tilney was polite enough to seem interested

in what she said; and she kept him on the subject of

muslins till the dancing recommenced. Catherine feared,

as she listened to their discourse, that he indulged

himself a little too much with the foibles of others.

" What are you thinking of so earnestly? " said he,

as they walked back to the ballroom; " not of your partner,

I hope, for, by that shake of the head, your meditations

are not satisfactory. "

Catherine coloured, and said, " I was not thinking

of anything. "

" That is artful and deep, to be sure; but I had

rather be told at once that you will not tell me. "

" Well then, I will not. "

" Thank you; for now we shall soon be acquainted,

as I am authorized to tease you on this subject whenever

we meet, and nothing in the world advances intimacy

so much. "

They danced again; and, when the assembly closed,

parted, on the lady`s side at least, with a strong

inclination for continuing the acquaintance. Whether she

thought of him so much, while she drank her warm wine

and water, and prepared herself for bed, as to dream of him

when there, cannot be ascertained; but I hope it was no

more than in a slight slumber, or a morning doze at most;

for if it be true, as a celebrated writer has maintained,

that no young lady can be justified in falling in love

before the gentleman`s love is declared, * it must be very

improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman

before the gentleman is first known to have dreamt of her.

How proper Mr. Tilney might be as a dreamer or a lover

had not yet perhaps entered Mr. Allen`s head, but that he

was not objectionable as a common acquaintance for his

young charge he was on inquiry satisfied; for he had early

in the evening taken pains to know who her partner was,

and had been assured of Mr. Tilney`s being a clergyman,

and of a very respectable family in Gloucestershire.

CHAPTER 4

With more than usual eagerness did Catherine hasten

to the pump-room the next day, secure within herself

of seeing Mr. Tilney there before the morning were over,

and ready to meet him with a smile; but no smile was

demanded--Mr. Tilney did not appear. Every creature in Bath,

except himself, was to be seen in the room at different

periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were

every moment passing in and out, up the steps and down;

people whom nobody cared about, and nobody wanted to see;

and he only was absent. " What a delightful place Bath is, "

said Mrs. Allen as they sat down near the great clock,

after parading the room till they were tired; " and how

pleasant it would be if we had any acquaintance here. "

This sentiment had been uttered so often in vain

that Mrs. Allen had no particular reason to hope it would

be followed with more advantage now; but we are told

to " despair of nothing we would attain, " as " unwearied

diligence our point would gain"; and the unwearied diligence

with which she had every day wished for the same thing

was at length to have its just reward, for hardly had she

been seated ten minutes before a lady of about her own age,

who was sitting by her, and had been looking at her attentively

for several minutes, addressed her with great complaisance

in these words: " I think, madam, I cannot be mistaken;

it is a long time since I had the pleasure of seeing you,

but is not your name Allen? " This question answered, as it

readily was, the stranger pronounced hers to be Thorpe;

and Mrs. Allen immediately recognized the features

of a former schoolfellow and intimate, whom she had seen

only once since their respective marriages, and that many

years ago. Their joy on this meeting was very great,

as well it might, since they had been contented to know

nothing of each other for the last fifteen years.

Compliments on good looks now passed; and, after observing

how time had slipped away since they were last together,

how little they had thought of meeting in Bath, and what

a pleasure it was to see an old friend, they proceeded

to make inquiries and give intelligence as to their

families, sisters, and cousins, talking both together,

far more ready to give than to receive information,

and each hearing very little of what the other said.

Mrs. Thorpe, however, had one great advantage as a talker,

over Mrs. Allen, in a family of children; and when she

expatiated on the talents of her sons, and the beauty of

her daughters, when she related their different situations

and views--that John was at Oxford, Edward at Merchant

Taylors`, and William at sea--and all of them more beloved

and respected in their different station than any other

three beings ever were, Mrs. Allen had no similar information

to give, no similar triumphs to press on the unwilling

and unbelieving ear of her friend, and was forced to sit

and appear to listen to all these maternal effusions,

consoling herself, however, with the discovery, which her

keen eye soon made, that the lace on Mrs. Thorpe`s

pelisse was not half so handsome as that on her own.

" Here come my dear girls, " cried Mrs. Thorpe,

pointing at three smart-looking females who, arm in arm,

were then moving towards her. " My dear Mrs. Allen,

I long to introduce them; they will be so delighted to see

you: the tallest is Isabella, my eldest; is not she a fine

young woman? The others are very much admired too, but I

believe Isabella is the handsomest. "

The Miss Thorpes were introduced; and Miss Morland,

who had been for a short time forgotten, was introduced likewise.

The name seemed to strike them all; and, after speaking

to her with great civility, the eldest young lady observed

aloud to the rest, " How excessively like her brother Miss Morland is! "

" The very picture of him indeed! " cried the mother--and

" I should have known her anywhere for his sister! "

was repeated by them all, two or three times over.

For a moment Catherine was surprised; but Mrs. Thorpe

and her daughters had scarcely begun the history of their

acquaintance with Mr. James Morland, before she remembered

that her eldest brother had lately formed an intimacy

with a young man of his own college, of the name of Thorpe;

and that he had spent the last week of the Christmas

vacation with his family, near London.

The whole being explained, many obliging things were

said by the Miss Thorpes of their wish of being better

acquainted with her; of being considered as already friends,

through the friendship of their brothers, etc., which

Catherine heard with pleasure, and answered with all the

pretty expressions she could command; and, as the first

proof of amity, she was soon invited to accept an arm

of the eldest Miss Thorpe, and take a turn with her about

the room. Catherine was delighted with this extension

of her Bath acquaintance, and almost forgot Mr. Tilney

while she talked to Miss Thorpe. Friendship is certainly

the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

Their conversation turned upon those subjects,

of which the free discussion has generally much to do

in perfecting a sudden intimacy between two young

ladies: such as dress, balls, flirtations, and quizzes.

Miss Thorpe, however, being four years older than

Miss Morland, and at least four years better informed,

had a very decided advantage in discussing such points;

she could compare the balls of Bath with those of Tunbridge,

its fashions with the fashions of London; could rectify

the opinions of her new friend in many articles of

tasteful attire; could discover a flirtation between

any gentleman and lady who only smiled on each other;

and point out a quiz through the thickness of a crowd.

These powers received due admiration from Catherine,

to whom they were entirely new; and the respect which they

naturally inspired might have been too great for familiarity,

had not the easy gaiety of Miss Thorpe`s manners,

and her frequent expressions of delight on this

acquaintance with her, softened down every feeling of awe,

and left nothing but tender affection. Their increasing

attachment was not to be satisfied with half a dozen

turns in the pump-room, but required, when they all

quitted it together, that Miss Thorpe should accompany

Miss Morland to the very door of Mr. Allen`s house;

and that they should there part with a most affectionate

and lengthened shake of hands, after learning, to their

mutual relief, that they should see each other across the

theatre at night, and say their prayers in the same chapel

the next morning. Catherine then ran directly upstairs,

and watched Miss Thorpe`s progress down the street from

the drawing-room window; admired the graceful spirit

of her walk, the fashionable air of her figure and dress;

and felt grateful, as well she might, for the chance

which had procured her such a friend.

Mrs. Thorpe was a widow, and not a very rich one;

she was a good-humoured, well-meaning woman, and a

very indulgent mother. Her eldest daughter had great

personal beauty, and the younger ones, by pretending

to be as handsome as their sister, imitating her air,

and dressing in the same style, did very well.

This brief account of the family is intended to

supersede the necessity of a long and minute detail from

Mrs. Thorpe herself, of her past adventures and sufferings,

which might otherwise be expected to occupy the three or four

following chapters; in which the worthlessness of lords

and attornies might be set forth, and conversations,

which had passed twenty years before, be minutely repeated.

CHAPTER 5

Catherine was not so much engaged at the theatre

that evening, in returning the nods and smiles of Miss Thorpe,

though they certainly claimed much of her leisure,

as to forget to look with an inquiring eye for Mr. Tilney

in every box which her eye could reach; but she looked

in vain. Mr. Tilney was no fonder of the play than the

pump-room. She hoped to be more fortunate the next day;

and when her wishes for fine weather were answered by seeing

a beautiful morning, she hardly felt a doubt of it; for a

fine Sunday in Bath empties every house of its inhabitants,

and all the world appears on such an occasion to walk

about and tell their acquaintance what a charming day it is.

As soon as divine service was over, the Thorpes

and Allens eagerly joined each other; and after staying

long enough in the pump-room to discover that the crowd

was insupportable, and that there was not a genteel

face to be seen, which everybody discovers every Sunday

throughout the season, they hastened away to the Crescent,

to breathe the fresh air of better company. Here Catherine

and Isabella, arm in arm, again tasted the sweets of

friendship in an unreserved conversation; they talked much,

and with much enjoyment; but again was Catherine disappointed

in her hope of reseeing her partner. He was nowhere to be

met with; every search for him was equally unsuccessful,

in morning lounges or evening assemblies; neither at

the upper nor lower rooms, at dressed or undressed balls,

was he perceivable; nor among the walkers, the horsemen,

or the curricle-drivers of the morning. His name was not

in the pump-room book, and curiosity could do no more.

He must be gone from Bath. Yet he had not mentioned that

his stay would be so short! This sort of mysteriousness,

which is always so becoming in a hero, threw a fresh grace

in Catherine`s imagination around his person and manners,

and increased her anxiety to know more of him.

From the Thorpes she could learn nothing, for they had been

only two days in Bath before they met with Mrs. Allen.

It was a subject, however, in which she often indulged

with her fair friend, from whom she received every possible

encouragement to continue to think of him; and his impression

on her fancy was not suffered therefore to weaken.

Isabella was very sure that he must be a charming young man,

and was equally sure that he must have been delighted with

her dear Catherine, and would therefore shortly return.

She liked him the better for being a clergyman, " for she

must confess herself very partial to the profession";

and something like a sigh escaped her as she said it.

Perhaps Catherine was wrong in not demanding the cause

of that gentle emotion--but she was not experienced enough

in the finesse of love, or the duties of friendship,

to know when delicate raillery was properly called for,

or when a confidence should be forced.

Mrs. Allen was now quite happy--quite satisfied

with Bath. She had found some acquaintance, had been

so lucky too as to find in them the family of a most

worthy old friend; and, as the completion of good fortune,

had found these friends by no means so expensively dressed

as herself. Her daily expressions were no longer, " I wish

we had some acquaintance in Bath! " They were changed into,

" How glad I am we have met with Mrs. Thorpe! " and she was

as eager in promoting the intercourse of the two families,

as her young charge and Isabella themselves could be;

never satisfied with the day unless she spent the

chief of it by the side of Mrs. Thorpe, in what they

called conversation, but in which there was scarcely ever

any exchange of opinion, and not often any resemblance

of subject, for Mrs. Thorpe talked chiefly of her children,

and Mrs. Allen of her gowns.

The progress of the friendship between Catherine

and Isabella was quick as its beginning had been warm,

and they passed so rapidly through every gradation

of increasing tenderness that there was shortly no fresh

proof of it to be given to their friends or themselves.

They called each other by their Christian name, were always

arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each other`s train

for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set;

and if a rainy morning deprived them of other enjoyments,

they were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet

and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together.

Yes, novels; for I will not adopt that ungenerous and

impolitic custom so common with novel-writers, of degrading

by their contemptuous censure the very performances,

to the number of which they are themselves adding--joining

with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest

epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them

to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally

take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages

with disgust. Alas! If the heroine of one novel be not

patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she

expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it.

Let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions

of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel

to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which

the press now groans. Let us not desert one another;

we are an injured body. Although our productions have

afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than

those of any other literary corporation in the world,

no species of composition has been so much decried.

From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost

as many as our readers. And while the abilities of

the nine-hundredth abridger of the History of England,

or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some

dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior, with a paper from

the Spectator, and a chapter from Sterne, are eulogized

by a thousand pens--there seems almost a general wish

of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour

of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which

have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them.

" I am no novel-reader--I seldom look into novels--Do

not imagine that I often read novels--It is really

very well for a novel. " Such is the common cant.

" And what are you reading, Miss--? " " Oh! It is only

a novel! " replies the young lady, while she lays down her

book with affected indifference, or momentary shame.

" It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda"; or, in short,

only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind

are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of

human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties,

the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed

to the world in the best-chosen language. Now, had the same

young lady been engaged with a volume of the Spectator,

instead of such a work, how proudly would she have

produced the book, and told its name; though the chances

must be against her being occupied by any part of that

voluminous publication, of which either the matter or manner

would not disgust a young person of taste: the substance

of its papers so often consisting in the statement of

improbable circumstances, unnatural characters, and topics

of conversation which no longer concern anyone living;

and their language, too, frequently so coarse as to give

no very favourable idea of the age that could endure it.

CHAPTER 6

The following conversation, which took place

between the two friends in the pump-room one morning,

after an acquaintance of eight or nine days, is given

as a specimen of their very warm attachment, and of

the delicacy, discretion, originality of thought, and literary

taste which marked the reasonableness of that attachment.

They met by appointment; and as Isabella had arrived

nearly five minutes before her friend, her first address

naturally was, " My dearest creature, what can have made

you so late? I have been waiting for you at least this age! "

" Have you, indeed! I am very sorry for it; but really

I thought I was in very good time. It is but just one.

I hope you have not been here long? "

" Oh! These ten ages at least. I am sure I have

been here this half hour. But now, let us go and sit

down at the other end of the room, and enjoy ourselves.

I have an hundred things to say to you. In the

first place, I was so afraid it would rain this morning,

just as I wanted to set off; it looked very showery,

and that would have thrown me into agonies! Do you know,

I saw the prettiest hat you can imagine, in a shop

window in Milsom Street just now--very like yours,

only with coquelicot ribbons instead of green; I quite

longed for it. But, my dearest Catherine, what have you

been doing with yourself all this morning? Have you gone

on with Udolpho? "

" Yes, I have been reading it ever since I woke;

and I am got to the black veil. "

" Are you, indeed? How delightful! Oh! I would not

tell you what is behind the black veil for the world!

Are not you wild to know? "

" Oh! Yes, quite; what can it be? But do not tell

me--I would not be told upon any account. I know it must

be a skeleton, I am sure it is Laurentina`s skeleton.

Oh! I am delighted with the book! I should like to spend

my whole life in reading it. I assure you, if it had

not been to meet you, I would not have come away from it

for all the world. "

" Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you;

and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the

Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten

or twelve more of the same kind for you. "

" Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all? "

" I will read you their names directly; here they are,

in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont,

Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest,

Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries.

Those will last us some time. "

" Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you

sure they are all horrid? "

" Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine,

a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures

in the world, has read every one of them. I wish you

knew Miss Andrews, you would be delighted with her.

She is netting herself the sweetest cloak you can conceive.

I think her as beautiful as an angel, and I am so vexed

with the men for not admiring her! I scold them all amazingly

about it. "

" Scold them! Do you scold them for not admiring her? "

" Yes, that I do. There is nothing I would not do

for those who are really my friends. I have no notion

of loving people by halves; it is not my nature.

My attachments are always excessively strong. I told

Captain Hunt at one of our assemblies this winter that if he

was to tease me all night, I would not dance with him,

unless he would allow Miss Andrews to be as beautiful as

an angel. The men think us incapable of real friendship,

you know, and I am determined to show them the difference.

Now, if I were to hear anybody speak slightingly of you,

I should fire up in a moment: but that is not at all likely,

for you are just the kind of girl to be a great favourite

with the men. "

" Oh, dear! " cried Catherine, colouring. " How can

you say so? "

⇐ Предыдущая 1 234 5 6 7 8 9 10 Следующая ⇒