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1"Yes, sometimes; but he has rid out this morning with my father." Mrs. Hughes now joined them, and asked Miss Tilney if
2she was ready to go. "I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again soon," said Catherine. "Shall you be at the
3cotillion ball to-morrow?" "Perhaps we--Yes, I think we certainly shall." "I am glad of it, for we shall all be there."
4This civility was duly returned; and they parted--on Miss Tilney's side with some knowledge of her new acquaintance's
5feelings, and on Catherine's, without the smallest consciousness of having explained them. She went home very happy. The
6morning had answered all her hopes, and the evening of the following day was now the object of expectation, the future
7good. What gown and what head-dress she should wear on the occasion became her chief concern. She cannot be justified in
8it. Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.
9Catherine knew all this very well; her great aunt had read her a lecture on the subject only the Christmas before; and
10yet she lay awake ten minutes on Wednesday night debating between her spotted and her tamboured muslin, and nothing but
11the shortness of the time prevented her buying a new one for the evening. This would have been an error in judgment,
12great though not uncommon, from which one of the other sex rather than her own, a brother rather than a great aunt,
13might have warned her, for man only can be aware of the insensibility of man towards a new gown. It would be mortifying
14to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is
15costly or new in their attire; how little it is biased by the texture of their muslin, and how unsusceptible of peculiar
16tenderness towards the spotted, the sprigged, the mull, or the jackonet. Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone.
17No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the
18former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter. But not one of these grave
19reflections troubled the tranquillity of Catherine. She entered the rooms on Thursday evening with feelings very
20different from what had attended her thither the Monday before. She had then been exulting in her engagement to Thorpe,
21and was now chiefly anxious to avoid his sight, lest he should engage her again; for though she could not, dared not
22expect that Mr. Tilney should ask her a third time to dance, her wishes, hopes, and plans all centred in nothing less.
23Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment, for every young lady has at some time or other known
24the same agitation. All have been, or at least all have believed themselves to be, in danger from the pursuit of someone
25whom they wished to avoid; and all have been anxious for the attentions of someone whom they wished to please. As soon
26as they were joined by the Thorpes, Catherine's agony began; she fidgeted about if John Thorpe came towards her, hid
27herself as much as possible from his view, and when he spoke to her pretended not to hear him. The cotillions were over,
28the country-dancing beginning, and she saw nothing of the Tilneys. "Do not be frightened, my dear Catherine," whispered
29Isabella, "but I am really going to dance with your brother again. I declare positively it is quite shocking. I tell him
30he ought to be ashamed of himself, but you and John must keep us in countenance. Make haste, my dear creature, and come
31to us. John is just walked off, but he will be back in a moment." Catherine had neither time nor inclination to answer.
32The others walked away, John Thorpe was still in view, and she gave herself up for lost. That she might not appear,
33however, to observe or expect him, she kept her eyes intently fixed on her fan; and a self-condemnation for her folly,
34in supposing that among such a crowd they should even meet with the Tilneys in any reasonable time, had just passed
35through her mind, when she suddenly found herself addressed and again solicited to dance, by Mr. Tilney himself. With
36what sparkling eyes and ready motion she granted his request, and with how pleasing a flutter of heart she went with him
37to the set, may be easily imagined. To escape, and, as she believed, so narrowly escape John Thorpe, and to be asked, so
38immediately on his joining her, asked by Mr. Tilney, as if he had sought her on purpose!--it did not appear to her that
39life could supply any greater felicity. Scarcely had they worked themselves into the quiet possession of a place,
40however, when her attention was claimed by John Thorpe, who stood behind her. "Heyday, Miss Morland!" said he. "What is
41the meaning of this? I thought you and I were to dance together." "I wonder you should think so, for you never asked
42me." "That is a good one, by Jove! i asked you as soon as I came into the room, and I was just going to ask you again,
43but when I turned round, you were gone! this is a cursed shabby trick! i only came for the sake of dancing with you, and
44I firmly believe you were engaged to me ever since Monday. Yes; I remember, I asked you while you were waiting in the
45lobby for your cloak. And here have I been telling all my acquaintance that I was going to dance with the prettiest girl
46in the room; and when they see you standing up with somebody else, they will quiz me famously." "Oh, no; they will never
47think of me, after such a description as that." "By heavens, if they do not, I will kick them out of the room for
48blockheads. What chap have you there?" Catherine satisfied his curiosity. "Tilney," he repeated. "Hum--I do not know
49him. A good figure of a man; well put together. Does he want a horse? Here is a friend of mine, Sam Fletcher, has got
50one to sell that would suit anybody. A famous clever animal for the road--only forty guineas. I had fifty minds to buy
51it myself, for it is one of my maxims always to buy a good horse when I meet with one; but it would not answer my
52purpose, it would not do for the field. I would give any money for a real good hunter. I have three now, the best that
53ever were backed. I would not take eight hundred guineas for them. Fletcher and I mean to get a house in Leicestershire,
54against the next season. It is so d---- uncomfortable, living at an inn." This was the last sentence by which he could
55weary Catherine's attention, for he was just then borne off by the resistless pressure of a long string of passing
56ladies. Her partner now drew near, and said, "That gentleman would have put me out of patience, had he stayed with you
57half a minute longer. He has no business to withdraw the attention of my partner from me. We have entered into a
58contract of mutual agreeableness for the space of an evening, and all our agreeableness belongs solely to each other for
59that time. Nobody can fasten themselves on the notice of one, without injuring the rights of the other. I consider a
60country-dance as an emblem of marriage. Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties of both; and those men who do
61not choose to dance or marry themselves, have no business with the partners or wives of their neighbours." "But they are
62such very different things!" "--That you think they cannot be compared together." "To be sure not. People that marry can
63never part, but must go and keep house together. People that dance only stand opposite each other in a long room for
64half an hour."
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