32 Northanger Abbey - Read By Stephanie Poppins

Northanger Abbey is the coming-of-age story of a young woman named Catherine Morland.

Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen follows Catherine Morland, a young woman with a passion for Gothic novels, as she navigates the social world of Bath and later Northanger Abbey. Her romantic imagination, fueled by her love for these novels, leads her to misinterpret the people and events around her, particularly at the Tilney family's estate.

In this episode, Catherine reveals all - much to the amusement of Eleanor and Henry.

Transcript

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 25 continued.

Catherine had not read three lines of her brother's letter before her sudden change of countenance,

And short exclamations of sorrowing wonder declared her to be receiving unpleasant news.

Henry,

Earnestly watching her through the whole letter,

Saw plainly it ended no better than it began.

He was prevented,

However,

From even looking his surprise by his father's entrance.

They went to breakfast directly,

But Catherine could hardly eat anything.

Tears filled her eyes and even ran down her cheeks as she sat.

The letter was one moment in her hand,

Then in her lap,

And then in her pocket,

And she looked as if she knew not what she did.

The general,

Between his cocoa and his newspaper,

Had luckily no leisure for noticing her,

But to the other two her distress was equally visible.

As soon as she dared leave the table she hurried away to her own room,

But the housemaids were busy in it and she was obliged to come down again.

She turned into the drawing room for privacy,

But Henry and Eleanor had likewise retreated thither and were at that moment deep in consultation about her.

She drew back trying to beg their pardon,

But was with gentle violence forced to return,

And the others withdrew after Eleanor affectionately expressed a wish of being of use or comfort to her.

After half an hour's free indulgence of grief and reflection,

Catherine felt equal to encountering her friends,

But whether she should make her distress known to them was another consideration.

Perhaps if particularly questioned she might give an idea,

Just a hint,

But not more.

To expose a friend as Isabella had been to her,

And then their own brother so closely concerned in it,

She believed she must waive the subject altogether.

Henry and Eleanor were by themselves in the breakfast room,

And each as she entered looked at her anxiously.

Catherine took her place at the table,

And after a short silence Eleanor said,

No bad news from Fullerton,

I hope,

Mr.

And Mrs.

Morland,

Your brothers and sisters?

I hope none of them are ill?

No,

I thank you.

They're very well.

My letter was from my brother at Oxford.

Nothing further was said for a few minutes,

And then,

Speaking through her tears,

She added,

I do not think I shall ever wish for a letter again.

I am sorry,

Said Henry,

Closing the book he'd just opened.

If I had suspected the letter of containing anything unwelcome,

I should have given it with very different feelings.

It contained something worse than anybody could suppose.

Poor James is so unhappy,

You will soon know why.

To have so kind-hearted,

So affectionate a sister,

Replied Henry warmly,

Must be a comfort to him under any distress.

I have one favour to beg,

Said Catherine shortly afterwards in an agitated manner.

If your brother should be coming here,

He will give me notice of it that I may go away.

Our brother?

Frederick?

Yes,

I'm sure I should be very sorry to leave you so soon,

But something's happened that would make it very dreadful for me to be in the same house with Captain Tilney.

Eleanor's work was suspended while she gazed with increasing astonishment,

But Henry began to suspect the truth,

And something in which Miss Thorpe's name was included passed his lips.

How quick you are,

Cried Catherine.

You have guessed it,

I declare.

And yet,

When we talked about it in Bath,

You little thought of its ending so.

Isabella?

No wonder now I've not heard from her.

Isabella has deserted my brother and is to marry yours.

Could you have believed there'd been such inconstancy and fickleness and everything that is bad in the world?

I hope,

So far as concerns my brother,

You're misinformed.

I hope he's not any material share in bringing on Mr.

Morland's disappointment.

His marrying Miss Thorpe is not probable.

I think you must be deceived so far.

I'm very sorry for Mr.

Morland.

Sorry anyone you love should be unhappy,

But my surprise would be greater still at Frederick's marrying her than at any other part of the story.

It is very true,

However.

You shall read James's letter yourself.

Stay.

There is one part.

Recollecting with a blush the last line.

Will you take the trouble of reading to us the passages which concern my brother?

No,

Read it yourself,

Cried Catherine,

Whose second thoughts were clearer.

I do not know what I was thinking of.

Blushing again,

As she had blushed before.

James only means to give me good advice.

Henry gladly received the letter,

And having read it through with close attention,

Returned it,

Saying,

Well,

If it's to be so,

I can only say I'm sorry for it.

Frederick will not be the first man who's chosen a wife with less sense than his family expected.

I do not envy his situation,

Either as a lover or as a son.

Miss Tilney,

At Catherine's invitation,

Now read the letter likewise,

And,

Having expressed also her concern and surprise,

Began to enquire into Miss Thorpe's connections and fortune.

Her mother is a very good sort of woman,

Was Catherine's answer.

What was her father?

A lawyer,

I believe.

They live in Putney.

Are they wealthy?

Not very.

I do not believe Isabella has any fortune at all,

But that will not signify in your family.

Your father's so very liberal.

He told me the other day he only valued money,

As it allowed him to promote the happiness of his children.

The brother and the sister looked at each other.

But,

Said Eleanor,

After a short pause,

Would it be to promote his happiness to enable him to marry such a girl?

She must be an unprincipled one,

Or she could not have used your brother so.

And how strange an infatuation on Frederick's side.

A girl who,

Before his eyes,

Is violating an engagement,

Voluntarily ended into with another man's.

Is not it inconceivable,

Henry?

Frederick,

Too,

Who always wore his heart so proudly,

Who found no woman good enough to be loved.

That is the most unpromising circumstance,

The strongest presumption against him.

When I think of his past declarations,

I give him up.

Moreover,

I have too good an opinion of Miss Thorpe's prudence to suppose she would part with one gentleman before the other was secured.

It is all over with Frederick,

Indeed.

He is a deceased man,

Defunct in understanding.

Prepare for your sister-in-law,

Eleanor,

Said Henry,

And such a sister-in-law as she must delight in.

Open,

Candid,

Artless,

Guileless,

With affection strong but simple,

Forming no pretensions and knowing no disguise.

Such a sister-in-law,

Henry,

I should delight in,

Said Eleanor with a smile.

But perhaps,

Observed Catherine,

Though she is behaved so ill by our family,

She may behave better by yours.

Now that she has really got the man she likes,

She may be constant.

Indeed,

I am afraid she will,

Replied Henry.

I am afraid she will be very constant,

Unless a baronet should come in her way.

That is Frederick's only chance.

I will get the bath-paper and look over the arrivals.

You think it is all for ambition,

Then?

And upon my word,

There are some things that seem very like it.

I cannot forget that when she first knew what my father would do for them,

She seemed quite disappointed it was not more.

I never was so deceived in anyone's character in my life before.

Among all the great variety you have known and studied.

My own disappointment and loss in her is very great,

But as for poor James,

I suppose he will hardly ever recover it.

Your brother is certainly very much to be pitied at present,

But we must not in our concern for his sufferings undervalue yours.

You feel,

I suppose,

That in losing Isabella you lose half yourself?

You feel a void in your heart which nothing else can occupy?

Society is becoming irksome,

And as for the amusements in which you will want to share a bath,

The very idea of them now without her is abhorrent,

I suppose.

You would not,

For instance,

Now go to a ball for the world?

You feel you have no longer any friend to whom you can speak with unreserved,

And on whose regard you can place dependence,

Or whose counsel in any difficulty you could rely on?

You feel all this?

" No,

" said Catherine after a few moments' reflection.

I do not,

Ought I?

To say the truth,

Though I am hurt and grieved,

That I cannot still love her,

That I am never to hear from her,

Perhaps never to see her again,

I do not feel so very,

Very much afflicted as one would have thought.

You feel as you always do,

" said Henry.

What is most to the credit of human nature?

Such feelings ought to be investigated that they may know themselves.

Catherine,

By some chance or other,

Found her spirit so very much relieved by this conversation that she could not regret herself being led on,

Though so unaccountably,

To mention the circumstance which had produced it.