Catherine had not read three lines before her sudden change of countenance,and short exclamations of sorrowing wonder,declared her to be receiving unpleasant news;and Henry,earnestly watching her through the whole letter,saw plainly that 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 house maids 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 had 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 just give an idea just distantly hint at it but not more.To expose a friend,such a friend as Isabella had been to her and then her 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 it,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 they are none of them ill?’
‘No,I thank you,’(sighing as she spoke,)‘they are all 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 had 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,‘that,if your brother should be coming here,you will give me notice of it,that I may go away.’
‘Our brother! Frederick!’
‘Yes;I am sure I should be very sorry to leave you so soon,but something has 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 have not heard from her Isabella has deserted my brother,and is to marry yours!Could you have believed there had been such inconstancy and fickleness,and everything that is bad in the world?’
‘I hope,so far as concerns my brother,you are misinformed.I hope he has not had 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 am very sorry for Mr Morland sorry that anyone you love should be unhappy;but my surprise would be greater 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 that she had blushed before,) ‘James only means to give me good advice.’He gladly received the letter;and,having read it through,with close attention,returned it saying,‘Well,if it is to be so,I can only say that I am sorry for it.Frederick will not be the first man who has chosen a wife with less sense than his family expected.I do not envy his situation,either as a lover or a son.’
Miss Tilney,at Catherine's invitation,now read the letter likewise;and,having expressed also her concern and surprise,began to inquire 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 at Putney.’
‘Are they a wealthy family?’
‘No,not very.I do not believe Isabella has any fortune at all:but that will not signify in your family. Your father is so very liberal!He told me the other day,that he only valued money as it allowed him to promote the happiness of his children.’The brother and 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 entered into with another man!Is not it inconceivable,Henry?Frederick too,who always wore his heart so proudly!Who found no woman good enough to be loved!’
