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Chapter
6
The
following conversation, which took
place between the two friends in the pump-room
one morning, after an acquaintance of eight or nine
days, is given as a specimen of their very warm
attachment, and of the delicacy, discretion, originality of
thought, and literary taste which marked the reasonableness of
that attachment.
They
met by appointment; and as Isabella
had arrived nearly five minutes before her friend,
her first address naturally was, "My dearest
creature, what can have made you so late? I have been waiting
for you
at least this age!"
"Have
you, indeed! I am very sorry
for it; but really I thought I was in very good time. It is but just
one. I hope you have not been here
long?"
"Oh!
These ten ages at least. I
am sure I have been here this half hour.
But
now, let us go and sit down at the
other end of the room, and
enjoy ourselves. I have an hundred things to say to
you. In
the first place, I was so afraid it would
rain this morning, just as I wanted to set off; it looked
very showery, and that would have thrown me into
agonies! Do you know, I saw the prettiest hat you can imagine,
in a shop window in Milsom Street just now--very
like yours, only with coquelicot ribbons instead of
green; I quite longed for it.
But, my
dearest Catherine, what have
you been doing with yourself all this
morning? Have you gone on with Udolpho?"
"Yes,
I have been reading it ever
since I woke; and I am got to the black veil."
"Are
you, indeed? How delightful!
Oh! I would not tell you what is behind the black veil
for the world! Are not you wild to know?"
"Oh!
Yes, quite; what can it be?
But do not tell me--I would not be told upon any
account. I know it
must be a skeleton, I am sure it is
Laurentina's skeleton. Oh! I am delighted with the book! I
should like to spend my whole life in reading it. I assure you, if it had
not been to meet you, I would not have
come away from it for all the world."
"Dear
creature! How much I am obliged
to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we
will read the Italian together; and I have made out a
list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for
you."
"Have
you, indeed! How glad I am!
What are they all?"
"I
will read you their names directly;
here they are, in my pocketbook.
Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious
Warnings, Necromancer of the
Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those
will last us some
time."
"Yes,
pretty well; but are they all
horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?"
"Yes,
quite sure; for a particular
friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the
sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of
them. I wish
you knew Miss Andrews, you would be delighted
with her. She is netting herself the sweetest
cloak you can conceive. I think her as beautiful as an angel,
and I am so vexed with the men for not admiring her! I
scold them all amazingly about it."
"Scold
them! Do you scold them for
not admiring her?"
"Yes,
that I do. There is
nothing I would not do for those who are really my
friends. I have no
notion of loving people by halves; it is not my
nature. My attachments are always excessively
strong. I
told Captain Hunt at one of our assemblies
this winter that if he was to tease me all night, I would not
dance with him, unless he would allow Miss Andrews to be
as beautiful as an angel.
The men
think us incapable of real
friendship, you know, and I am determined to show
them the difference. Now, if I were to hear anybody speak
slightingly of you, I should fire up in a moment: but that
is not at all likely, for you are just the kind of girl to be
a great favourite with the men."
"Oh,
dear!" cried Catherine,
colouring. "How
can you say so?"
"I
know you very well; you have so
much animation, which is exactly what Miss Andrews
wants, for I must confess there is something amazingly
insipid about her. Oh! I must tell you, that just after we
parted yesterday, I saw a young man looking at you so
earnestly--I am sure he is in love with you."
Catherine coloured, and disclaimed again.
Isabella
laughed. "It is
very true, upon my
honour, but I see
how it is; you
are indifferent to everybody's admiration, except that
of one gentleman, who shall be nameless.
Nay,
I cannot blame you"--speaking more
seriously--"your feelings are
easily understood. Where the heart is really attached, I
know very well how little one can be pleased with the
attention of
anybody else. Everything is so insipid, so
uninteresting, that does not relate to the beloved object! I
can
perfectly comprehend your feelings."
"But
you should not persuade me
that I think so very much about Mr. Tilney, for perhaps I may
never see him again."
"Not
see him again! My dearest
creature, do not talk of it.
I am
sure you would be miserable if you thought so!"
"No,
indeed, I should not. I
do not pretend to say that I was not very much pleased with
him; but while I have Udolpho to read, I feel as if
nobody could make me miserable.
Oh!
The dreadful black veil! My dear
Isabella, I am sure there must be Laurentina's
skeleton behind it."
"It
is so odd to me, that you
should never have read Udolpho before; but I suppose Mrs.
Morland objects to novels."
"No,
she does not. She
very often reads Sir Charles Grandison
herself; but new books
do not
fall in our way."
"Sir
Charles Grandison! That is an
amazing horrid book, is it not? I remember Miss Andrews could
not get through the first volume."
"It
is not like Udolpho at all; but
yet I think it is very entertaining."
"Do
you indeed! You surprise me; I
thought it had not been readable.
But,
my dearest Catherine, have you settled
what to wear on your
head tonight? I am determined at all events to be dressed
exactly like you. The men take notice of that sometimes,
you know."
"But
it does not signify if they
do," said Catherine, very innocently.
"Signify!
Oh, heavens! I make it a
rule never to mind what they say.
They
are very often amazingly
impertinent if you do not treat them with spirit,
and make them keep their distance."
"Are
they? Well, I never observed
that. They
always behave very well to me."
"Oh!
They give themselves such
airs. They
are the most conceited creatures in the
world, and think themselves of so much importance! By the
by, though I have thought of it a hundred times, I
have always forgot to ask you what is your favourite
complexion in a man. Do you like them best dark or
fair?"
"I
hardly know. I
never much thought about it. Something between both, I think. Brown--not
fair, and--and not very dark."
"Very
well, Catherine. That
is exactly he. I
have not forgot your description of Mr.
Tilney--'a brown skin, with dark eyes, and rather dark hair.'
Well,
my taste is different. I
prefer light eyes, and as to complexion--do you know--I like a
sallow better than
any other. You must not betray me, if you should
ever meet with one of your acquaintance answering that
description."
"Betray
you! What do you
mean?"
"Nay,
do not distress me. I
believe I have said too much.
Let us
drop the subject."
Catherine,
in some amazement, complied,
and after remaining a few moments silent, was on
the point of reverting to what interested her at that
time rather more than anything else in the world,
Laurentina's skeleton, when her friend prevented her, by
saying, "For heaven's sake! Let us move away from this end of
the room. Do you know, there are two odious young
men who have been staring at me this half hour. They really put me
quite out of countenance.
Let us go
and look at the arrivals. They
will hardly follow us there."
Away
they walked to the book; and while
Isabella examined the names, it was Catherine's
employment to watch the proceedings of these alarming young
men.
"They
are not coming this way, are
they? I hope they are not so impertinent as to follow
us. Pray let me
know if they are coming.
I am
determined I will not look up."
In
a few moments Catherine, with
unaffected pleasure, assured her that she need not be longer
uneasy, as the gentlemen had just left the pump-room.
"And
which way are they gone?"
said Isabella, turning hastily round.
"One
was a very good-looking young man."
"They
went towards the church-yard."
"Well,
I am amazingly glad I have
got rid of them! And now, what say you to going to Edgar's Buildings with
me, and looking at my
new hat? You
said you should like to see it."
Catherine
readily agreed. "Only,"
she added, "perhaps we may overtake the two
young men."
"Oh!
Never mind that. If
we make haste, we shall pass by them presently, and I am dying
to show you my hat."
"But
if we only wait a few minutes,
there will be no danger of our seeing them at
all."
"I
shall not pay them any such
compliment, I assure you. I have no notion of treating men
with
such respect. That is the way to spoil them."
Catherine
had nothing to oppose against
such reasoning; and therefore, to show the independence
of Miss Thorpe, and her resolution of humbling the sex,
they set off immediately as fast as they could walk,
in pursuit of the two young men.
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