Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,
Your go-to podcast that offers you a calm and relaxing transition into a great night's sleep.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
And nowhere you need to go.
Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away.
This is your time and your space.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
There is nothing you need to be doing now,
And nowhere you need to go.
Happy listening.
Chapter 3 continued.
But perhaps I keep no journal,
Said Catherine to Tilney.
Perhaps you are not sitting in this room and I am not sitting by you,
He replied.
These are points in which a doubt is equally possible.
Not keep a journal.
How are your absent cousins to understand the tenor 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 a young lady's ways as you wish to believe me.
It is this delightful habit of journalising 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.
This is,
I should not think,
The superiority which is always on our side.
As far as I have had opportunity of judging it,
Said Tilney,
It appears to me 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,
Said Catherine,
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.
At this point they were interrupted by Mrs.
Allen.
My dear Catherine,
Said she,
Do take this pin out of my sleeve.
I am afraid it has dorn a hole already,
And I would be quite sorry if it has,
For this is a favourite gown,
Though it costs 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 muslin,
Sir?
Particularly well.
I always buy my own cravats,
And I am allowed to be an excellent judge.
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 this man's genius.
Men commonly take so little notice of such 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 I told Miss Morland that when she bought it.
But then,
You know,
Madam,
Muslin always turns to some account or another.
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,
And 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,
Continued Mrs.
Allen.
There are so many good shops here.
We are sadly off in the country,
But not when 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 Mrs.
Allen said,
And she kept him on the subject of muslins till the dancing recommenced.
Catherine feared,
As they 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.
I was not thinking of anything.
That is artful indeed to be sure,
He replied,
But I would rather be told at once that you would not tell me.
Well then I will not.
Thank you,
For now we shall soon be acquainted,
As I am authorised to tease you on the subject whenever we meet,
And nothing in the world advances intimacy so much.
They danced again,
And when the assembly closed they parted on the lady's side at least,
With a strong inclination for continuing the acquaintance.
Whether Catherine thought of him so much while she drank her warm wine and water and prepared herself a bed,
As to dream of him when there,
Cannot be ascertained,
But I hope it was no more than in slight slumber,
Or a morning doze at most,
For if it be,
As the 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 Allan's head,
But that he was not objectionable as a common acquaintance for his young charge,
He was on enquiry satisfied.
For he had,
Early in the evening,
Taken pains to know who Catherine's partner was,
And he 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 stairs 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 Allan,
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 Allan 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 unwary diligence our point would gain.
And the unwary 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,
Had been looking at her attentively for several minutes,
Addressed her with great complacence 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 Allan?
