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Happy listening.
Chapter 12 Mrs.
Allen,
Said Catherine the next morning,
Will there be any harm in my calling on Miss Tilney today?
I shall not be easy until I have explained everything.
Go by all means,
My dear,
Only put on a white gown,
Miss Tilney always wears white.
Catherine cheerfully complied,
And being properly equipped was more impatient than ever to be at the pump room,
That she might inform herself of General Tilney's lodging,
For though she believed they were in Milsom Street,
She was not certain of the house,
And Mrs.
Allen's wavering convictions only made it more doubtful.
To Milsom Street she was directed,
And having made herself perfect in the number,
Hastened away with eager steps and a beating heart to pay her visit,
Explain her conduct,
And be forgiven,
Tripping lightly through the churchyard and resolutely turning away her eyes,
That she might not be obliged to see her beloved Isabella and her dear family,
Who she had reason to believe,
Were in a shop hard by.
She reached the house without any impediment,
Looked at the number,
Knocked at the door,
And enquired for Miss Tilney.
The man believed her to be at home,
But he was not quite certain.
Would she be pleased to send up her name?
Catherine gave her a card.
In a few moments the servant returned,
And with a look which did not quite confirm his words,
Said he had been mistaken,
For that Miss Tilney was walked out.
Catherine,
With a blush of mortification,
Left the house.
She felt almost persuaded Miss Tilney was at home,
And too much offended to admit her,
And as she retired down the street,
She could not withhold one glance at the drawing-room windows in expectation of seeing her there,
But no one appeared at them.
At the bottom of the street,
However,
She looked back again,
And then not at a window,
But issuing from the door,
She saw Miss Tilney herself.
She was followed by a gentleman,
Whom Catherine believed to be her father,
And they turned up towards Edgar's buildings.
Catherine in deep mortification proceeded on her way.
She could almost be angry herself at such incivility,
But she checked the resentful sensation and remembered her own ignorance.
She knew not how much an offence as hers might be classed by the laws of worldly politeness,
To what a degree of unforgivingness it might with propriety lead,
Nor to what rigours of rudeness in return it might justly make her amenable.
Dejected and humbled,
She had even some thoughts of not going with the others to the theatre that night,
But it must be confessed they were not of long continuance,
For she soon recollected,
In the first place,
That she was without any excuse for staying at home,
And in the second,
That it was a place she wanted very much to see.
To the theatre accordingly they all went.
No Tilneys appeared to plague or please her.
She feared that,
Amongst the many perfections of the family,
A fondness for plays was not to be ranked,
But perhaps it was because they were habituated to the finer performances of the London stage,
Which she knew,
On Isabella's authority,
Rendered everything else of the kind quite horrid.
She was not deceived in her own expectation of pleasure.
The comedy so well suspended her care that no one observing her during the first four acts would have supposed she had any wretchedness about her.
On the beginning of the fifth,
However,
The sudden view of Mr.
Henry Tilney and his father joining a party in the opposite box recalled her to anxiety and distress.
The stage could no longer excite genuine merriment,
No longer keep her whole attention.
Every other look upon an average was directed towards the opposite box,
And for the space of two entire scenes did she thus watch Henry Tilney without once being able to catch his eye.
No longer could he be suspected of indifference for a play.
His notice was never withdrawn from the stage during the two whole scenes.
At length,
However,
He did look towards her,
And he bowed,
But such a bow.
No smile,
No continued observance attended it.
His eyes were immediately returned to their former direction.
Catherine was restlessly miserable.
She could almost have run round to the box in which he sat and forced him to hear her explanation.
Feelings rather natural than heroic possessed her.
Instead of considering her own dignity injured by this ready condemnation,
Instead of proudly resolving in conscious innocence to show her resentment towards him who could harbour a doubt of it,
To leave him all the trouble of seeking an explanation,
And to enlighten him on the past only by avoiding his sight or flirting with somebody else,
She took to herself all the shame of misconduct,
Or at least of its appearance,
And was only eager for an opportunity of explaining its cause.
The play concluded.
The curtain fell.
Henry Tilney was no longer to be seen where he had hitherto sat,
But his father remained and perhaps he might now be coming round to their box.
Catherine was right.
In a few minutes he appeared,
And making his way through the then thinning rows,
Spoke with calm politeness to Mrs.
Allan and her friend.
Not with such calmness was he answered by the latter.
Oh,
Mr.
Tilney,
I've been quite wild to speak to you and make my apologies.
You must have thought me so rude,
But indeed it was not my fault.
Was it,
Mrs.
Allan?
Did they not tell me Mr.
Tilney and his sister were gone out in a futon together?
Then what could I do?
But I had ten thousand times rather of being with you.
Now had I not,
Mrs.
Allan?
" My dear,
You tumble my gown,
Was Mrs.
Allan's reply.
Her assurance,
However,
Standing sole as it did,
Was not thrown away.
It brought a more cordial,
More natural smile into his countenance,
And he replied in such a tone which retained only a little affected reserve.
We were much obliged to you at any rate for wishing us a pleasant walk after our passing you in Argyle Street.
You were so kind to look back on purpose.
But indeed I did not wish you a pleasant walk.
I never thought of such a thing,
But I begged Mr.
Thorpe earnestly to stop and called out to him as soon as ever I saw you.
Now,
Mrs.
Allan,
Did I not?
Oh,
You were not there,
But indeed I did,
And if Mr.
Thorpe would only have stopped I would have jumped out and run after you.
Is there a Henry in the world who could not be insensible to such a declaration?
Henry Tilney at least was not.
With a yet sweeter smile he said everything that needed to be said of his sister's concern,
Regret,
And dependence on Catherine's honour.
Oh,
Do not say Miss Tilney was not angry,
Cried Catherine,
Because I know she was,
For she would not see me this morning when I called.
I saw her walk out of the house the next minute after my leaving it.
I was hurt,
But not affronted.
Perhaps you did not know I'd been there.
I was not within at the time,
He said,
But I heard it from Eleanor and she's been wishing ever since to see you to explain the reason of such incivility.
Perhaps I can do it just as well.
It was nothing more than my father.
They were just preparing to walk out and he being hurried for time and not caring to have it put off,
You know,
Made such a point of her being denied.
That was all,
I do assure you.
She was very much vexed and she meant to make her apology as soon as possible.
Catherine's mind was greatly eased by this information.
Yet a something of solicitude remained,
From which sprang the following question,
Thoroughly heartless in itself,
Though rather distressing to the gentleman.
But Mr.
Tilney,
Why were you less generous than your sister?
If she felt such confidence in my good intentions and could suppose it to be only a mistake,
Why should you be so ready to take offence?
Me?
I take offence?
Nay,
I'm sure by your look when you came into the box you were angry.
Angry?
I?
I could have no right.
Well,
Nobody would have thought you had no right who saw your face.
At this,
Mr.
Tilney replied by asking her to make room for him and talking of the play.
He remained with them for some time and was only too agreeable for Catherine to be contented when he went away.
Before they parted,
However,
It was agreed that the projected walk should be taken as soon as possible.
And setting aside the misery of his quitting their box,
Catherine was,
Upon the whole,
Left one of the happiest creatures in the world.
