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 22 continued.
Catherine was struck however beyond her expectation by the grandeur of the Abbey as she saw it for the first time from the lawn.
The whole building enclosed a large court and two sides of the quadrangle,
Rich in Gothic ornaments,
Stood forward for admiration.
The remainder was shut off by knolls of old trees or luxurious plantations and the steep woody hills rising behind to give it shelter were beautiful even in the leafless month of March.
Catherine had seen nothing to compare with it and her feelings of delight were so strong that without waiting for any better authority she boldly burst forth in wonder and praise.
The General listened with a scenting gratitude and it seemed as if his own estimation of Northanger had waited unfixed till that hour.
The kitchen garden was next to be admired and he led the way to it across a small portion of the park.
The number of acres contained in this garden was such as Catherine could not listen to without dismay,
Being more than double the extent of all Mr.
Allen's as well as her father's including churchyard and orchard.
The walls seemed countless in number,
Endless in length,
A village of hothouses seemed to arise among them and a whole parish to be at work within the enclosure.
The General was flattered by her looks of surprise which told him almost as plainly as he soon forced her to tell him in words that she had never seen any gardens at all equal to them before and then he modestly owned that.
Without any ambition of that sort himself,
Without any solicitude about it,
He did believe them to be unrivaled in the kingdom.
If he had a hobby horse it was that,
He loved a garden,
Though careless enough in most matters of eating he loved good fruit or if he did not his friends and children did.
There were great vexations however attending such a garden as this,
The utmost care could not always secure the most valuable fruits.
The pinery had yielded only one hundred in the last year,
He said,
Mr.
Allen he supposed must feel these inconveniences as well as himself.
No,
Not at all,
Said Catherine,
Mr.
Allen does not care about the garden and he never goes into it.
With a triumphant smile of self-satisfaction the General wished he could do the same for he never entered his without being vexed in some way or another by its falling short of his plan.
How were Mr.
Allen's succession houses worked,
He wanted to know,
Describing the nature of his own as they entered them.
Mr.
Allen has only one small hot house which Mrs.
Allen has the use of for in her plants in winter and there's a fire in it every now and then.
He is a happy man,
Said the General,
With a look of very happy contempt.
Having taken Catherine into every division and let her under every wall till she was heartily weary of seeing and wondering,
The General suffered the girls at last to seize the advantage of an outer door and then expressing his wish to examine the effect of some written alterations about the tea house,
Proposed it as no unpleasant extension of their walk if Miss Morland were not tired.
But where are you going,
Eleanor,
Why do you choose that cold,
Damp path to it?
Miss Morland will get wet,
Our best way is across the park.
That is so favourite a walk of mine,
Said Miss Tilney,
I always think it best and nearest,
Perhaps it may be damp.
It was a narrow winding path through a thick grove of old Scotch firs and Catherine,
Struck by its gloomy aspect and eager to enter it,
Could not,
Even by the General's approbation,
Be kept from stepping forward.
He perceived her inclination and having again urged the plea of health in vain,
Was too polite to make further opposition.
He excused himself,
However,
From attending.
The rays of sun were not too cheerful for him,
He said,
And he would meet them by another course.
He turned away and Catherine was shocked to find how much her spirits were relieved by the separation.
The shock,
However,
Being less real than the relief,
Offered it no injury and she began to talk with easy gaiety of the delightful melancholy which such a grove inspired.
I'm particularly fond of this spot,
Said her companion with a sigh,
It was my mother's favourite walk.
Catherine had never heard Mrs Tilney mentioned in the family before,
And the interest excited by this tender remembrance showed itself directly in her altered countenance and in the attentive pause with which she waited for something more.
I used to walk here so often with her,
Added Eleanor,
Though I never loved it then as I've loved it since,
And that time indeed I used to wonder at her choice,
But her memory endears it now.
And ought it not,
Reflected Catherine,
To endear it to her husband,
Yet the General would not enter it?
Miss Tilney continuing silent,
She ventured to say,
Her death must have been a great affliction.
A great and increasing one,
Replied the other in a low voice,
I was only thirteen when it happened,
And though I felt my loss perhaps as strongly as one so young could feel it,
I did not,
I could not then know what a loss it was.
She stopped for a moment and added with great firmness,
I have no sister,
You know,
And though Henry,
Though my brothers are very affectionate and Henry's a great deal here,
Which I'm most thankful for,
It's impossible for me not to be often solitary.
To be sure you must miss him very much.
Mother would always have been present,
A mother would always have been a constant friend,
Her influence would have been beyond all other.
Was she a very charming woman,
Was she handsome,
Was there any picture of her in the Abbey,
Why had she been so passive to that grove,
Was it a dejection of spirits?
These were questions now eagerly poured forth,
The first three received a ready affirmative,
The two others were passed by,
And Catherine's interest in the deceased Mrs Tilney augmented with every question,
Whether answered or not.
Of her unhappiness in marriage,
She felt persuaded,
The General certainly had been an unkind husband,
He did not love her hawk,
Could he therefore have loved her,
And besides,
Handsome as he was,
There was something in the turn of his features which spoke,
His not having behaved well.
Her picture I suppose,
Blushing at the consummate art of her own question,
Hangs in your father's room.
No indeed,
It was intended for the drawing room,
But my father was dissatisfied with the painting,
And for some time it had no place.
Soon after her death,
I obtained it for my own and hung it in my bedchamber,
I shall be very happy to show it to you,
It is very like,
Here is another proof,
A portrait,
Very like,
Of a departed wife not valued by a husband,
He must have been dreadfully cruel to her.
Catherine attempted no longer to hide from herself the nature of the feelings,
Which in spite of all his attentions,
The General had previously excited,
And what had been terror and dislike before,
Was now absolute aversion,
Yes aversion,
His cruelty to such a charming woman made him odious,
She had often read of such characters,
Characters which Mr Allen had used to call unnatural and overdrawn,
But here was positive proof of the contrary.
Catherine had just settled upon this point,
When the end of the path brought them directly upon the General,
And in spite of all her virtuous indignation,
She found herself again obliged to walk with him,
Listen to him,
And even to smile when he smiled,
Being no longer able however to receive pleasure from the surrounding objects,
She soon began to walk with lassitude,
The General perceived it,
And with a concern for her health,
Which seemed to reproach her for her opinion of him,
Was most urgent for returning with his daughter to the house,
He would follow them in quarter of an hour,
Again they parted,
But Eleanor was called back in half a minute to receive a strict charge against taking her friend round the Abbey till his return,
This second instance of his anxiety to delay what she so much wished for,
Struck Catherine as very remarkable.
