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his own. But Captain Tilney had at present no intention
of removing; he was not to be of the party to Northanger;
he was to continue at Bath. When Catherine knew this,
her resolution was directly made. She spoke to Henry Tilney
on the subject, regretting his brother's evident partiality
for Miss Thorpe, and entreating him to make known her
prior engagement.
"My brother does know it," was Henry's answer.
"Does he? Then why does he stay here?"
He made no reply, and was beginning to talk
of something else; but she eagerly continued, "Why do
not you persuade him to go away? The longer he stays,
the worse it will be for him at last. Pray advise
him for his own sake, and for everybody's sake,
to leave Bath directly. Absence will in time make
him comfortable again; but he can have no hope here,
and it is only staying to be miserable." Henry smiled
and said, "I am sure my brother would not wish to do that."
"Then you will persuade him to go away?"
"Persuasion is not at command; but pardon me, if I
cannot even endeavour to persuade him. I have myself
told him that Miss Thorpe is engaged. He knows what he
is about, and must be his own master."
"No, he does not know what he is about," cried Catherine;
"he does not know the pain he is giving my brother.
Not that James has ever told me so, but I am sure he is
very uncomfortable."
"And are you sure it is my brother's doing?"
"Yes, very sure."
"Is it my brother's attentions to Miss Thorpe,
or Miss Thorpe's admission of them, that gives the pain?"
"Is not it the same thing?"
"I think Mr. Morland would acknowledge a difference.
No man is offended by another man's admiration of the
woman he loves; it is the woman only who can make it
a torment."
Catherine blushed for her friend, and said,
"Isabella is wrong. But I am sure she cannot mean
to torment, for she is very much attached to my brother.
She has been in love with him ever since they first met,
and while my father's consent was uncertain, she fretted
herself almost into a fever. You know she must be attached
to him."
"I understand: she is in love with James, and flirts
with Frederick."
"Oh! no, not flirts. A woman in love with one man
cannot flirt with another."
"It is probable that she will neither love so well,
nor flirt so well, as she might do either singly.
The gentlemen must each give up a little."
After a short pause, Catherine resumed with,
"Then you do not believe Isabella so very much attached
to my brother?"
"I can have no opinion on that subject."
"But what can your brother mean? If he knows
her engagement, what can he mean by his behaviour?"
"You are a very close questioner."
"Am I? I only ask what I want to be told."
"But do you only ask what I can be expected to tell?"
"Yes, I think so; for you must know your brother's heart."
"My brother's heart, as you term it, on the
present occasion, I assure you I can only guess at."
"Well?"
"Well! Nay, if it is to be guesswork, let us all guess
for ourselves. To be guided by second-hand conjecture
is pitiful. The premises are before you. My brother is
a lively and perhaps sometimes a thoughtless young man;
he has had about a week's acquaintance with your friend,
and he has known her engagement almost as long as he has
known her."
"Well," said Catherine, after some moments' consideration,
"you may be able to guess at your brother's intentions from
all this; but I am sure I cannot. But is not your father
uncomfortable about it? Does not he want Captain Tilney
to go away? Sure, if your father were to speak to him,
he would go."
"My dear Miss Morland," said Henry, "in this amiable
solicitude for your brother's comfort, may you not be
a little mistaken? Are you not carried a little too far?
Would he thank you, either on his own account or Miss
Thorpe's, for supposing that her affection, or at least
her good behaviour, is only to be secured by her seeing
nothing of Captain Tilney? Is he safe only in solitude?
Or is her heart constant to him only when unsolicited
by anyone else? He cannot think this--and you may be sure
that he would not have you think it. I will not say,
'Do not be uneasy,' because I know that you are so,
at this moment; but be as little uneasy as you can.
You have no doubt of the mutual attachment of your brother
and your friend; depend upon it, therefore, that real
jealousy never can exist between them; depend upon it
that no disagreement between them can be of any duration.
Their hearts are open to each other, as neither heart can
be to you; they know exactly what is required and what can
be borne; and you may be certain that one will never tease
the other beyond what is known to be pleasant."
Perceiving her still to look doubtful and grave,
he added, "Though Frederick does not leave Bath with us,
he will probably remain but a very short time,
perhaps only a few days behind us. His leave of absence
will soon expire, and he must return to his regiment.
And what will then be their acquaintance? The mess-room
will drink Isabella Thorpe for a fortnight, and she will
laugh with your brother over poor Tilney's passion for
a month."
Catherine would contend no longer against comfort.
She had resisted its approaches during the whole length
of a speech, but it now carried her captive. Henry Tilney
must know best. She blamed herself for the extent
of her fears, and resolved never to think so seriously
on the subject again.
Her resolution was supported by Isabella's behaviour
in their parting interview. The Thorpes spent the last
evening of Catherine's stay in Pulteney Street, and nothing
passed between the lovers to excite her uneasiness,
or make her quit them in apprehension. James was in
excellent spirits, and Isabella most engagingly placid.
Her tenderness for her friend seemed rather the first feeling
of her heart; but that at such a moment was allowable;
and once she gave her lover a flat contradiction, and once
she drew back her hand; but Catherine remembered Henry's
instructions, and placed it all to judicious affection.
The embraces, tears, and promises of the parting fair
ones may be fancied.
CHAPTER 20
Mr. and Mrs. Allen were sorry to lose their young friend,
whose good humour and cheerfulness had made her a
valuable companion, and in the promotion of whose enjoyment
their own had been gently increased. Her happiness in
going with Miss Tilney, however, prevented their wishing
it otherwise; and, as they were to remain only one more
week in Bath themselves, her quitting them now would not
long be felt. Mr. Allen attended her to Milsom Street,
where she was to breakfast, and saw her seated with the
kindest welcome among her new friends; but so great was
her agitation in finding herself as one of the family,
and so fearful was she of not doing exactly what was right,
and of not being able to preserve their good opinion,
that, in the embarrassment of the first five minutes,
she could almost have wished to return with him to
Pulteney Street.
Miss Tilney's manners and Henry's smile soon did
away some of her unpleasant feelings; but still she
was far from being at ease; nor could the incessant
attentions of the general himself entirely reassure her.
Nay, perverse as it seemed, she doubted whether she
might not have felt less, had she been less attended to.
His anxiety for her comfort--his continual solicitations
that she would eat, and his often-expressed fears of her
seeing nothing to her taste--though never in her life before
had she beheld half such variety on a breakfast-table--made
it impossible for her to forget for a moment that she
was a visitor. She felt utterly unworthy of such respect,
and knew not how to reply to it. Her tranquillity was not
improved by the general's impatience for the appearance
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