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1"Dear Catherine, "Though, God knows, with little inclination for writing, I think it my duty to tell you that everything
2is at an end between Miss Thorpe and me. I left her and Bath yesterday, never to see either again. I shall not enter
3into particulars--they would only pain you more. You will soon hear enough from another quarter to know where lies the
4blame; and I hope will acquit your brother of everything but the folly of too easily thinking his affection returned.
5Thank God! i am undeceived in time! but it is a heavy blow! after my father's consent had been so kindly given--but no
6more of this. She has made me miserable forever! let me soon hear from you, dear Catherine; you are my only friend; your
7love I do build upon. I wish your visit at Northanger may be over before Captain Tilney makes his engagement known, or
8you will be uncomfortably circumstanced. Poor Thorpe is in town: I dread the sight of him; his honest heart would feel
9so much. I have written to him and my father. Her duplicity hurts me more than all; till the very last, if I reasoned
10with her, she declared herself as much attached to me as ever, and laughed at my fears. I am ashamed to think how long I
11bore with it; but if ever man had reason to believe himself loved, I was that man. I cannot understand even now what she
12would be at, for there could be no need of my being played off to make her secure of Tilney. We parted at last by mutual
13consent--happy for me had we never met! i can never expect to know such another woman! Dearest Catherine, beware how you
14give your heart. "Believe me," &c. Catherine had not read three lines before her sudden change of countenance, and short
15exclamations of sorrowing wonder, declared her to be receiving unpleasant news; and Henry, earnestly watching her
16through the whole letter, saw plainly that it ended no better than it began. He was prevented, however, from even
17looking his surprise by his father's entrance. They went to breakfast directly; but Catherine could hardly eat anything.
18Tears filled her eyes, and even ran down her cheeks as she sat. The letter was one moment in her hand, then in her lap,
19and then in her pocket; and she looked as if she knew not what she did. The General, between his cocoa and his
20newspaper, had luckily no leisure for noticing her; but to the other two her distress was equally visible. As soon as
21she dared leave the table she hurried away to her own room; but the housemaids were busy in it, and she was obliged to
22come down again. She turned into the drawing-room for privacy, but Henry and Eleanor had likewise retreated thither, and
23were at that moment deep in consultation about her. She drew back, trying to beg their pardon, but was, with gentle
24violence, forced to return; and the others withdrew, after Eleanor had affectionately expressed a wish of being of use
25or comfort to her. After half an hour's free indulgence of grief and reflection, Catherine felt equal to encountering
26her friends; but whether she should make her distress known to them was another consideration. Perhaps, if particularly
27questioned, she might just give an idea--just distantly hint at it--but not more. To expose a friend, such a friend as
28Isabella had been to her--and then their own brother so closely concerned in it! She believed she must waive the subject
29altogether. Henry and Eleanor were by themselves in the breakfast-room; and each, as she entered it, looked at her
30anxiously. Catherine took her place at the table, and, after a short silence, Eleanor said, "No bad news from Fullerton,
31I hope? Mr. and Mrs. Morland--your brothers and sisters--I hope they are none of them ill?" "No, I thank you" (sighing
32as she spoke); "they are all very well. My letter was from my brother at Oxford." Nothing further was said for a few
33minutes; and then speaking through her tears, she added, "I do not think I shall ever wish for a letter again!" "I am
34sorry," said Henry, closing the book he had just opened; "if I had suspected the letter of containing anything
35unwelcome, I should have given it with very different feelings." "It contained something worse than anybody could
36suppose! poor James is so unhappy! you will soon know why." "To have so kind-hearted, so affectionate a sister," replied
37Henry warmly, "must be a comfort to him under any distress." "I have one favour to beg," said Catherine, shortly
38afterwards, in an agitated manner, "that, if your brother should be coming here, you will give me notice of it, that I
39may go away." "Our brother! frederick!" "Yes; I am sure I should be very sorry to leave you so soon, but something has
40happened that would make it very dreadful for me to be in the same house with Captain Tilney." Eleanor's work was
41suspended while she gazed with increasing astonishment; but Henry began to suspect the truth, and something, in which
42Miss Thorpe's name was included, passed his lips. "How quick you are!" cried Catherine: "you have guessed it, I declare!
43And yet, when we talked about it in Bath, you little thought of its ending so. Isabella--no wonder now I have not heard
44from her--Isabella has deserted my brother, and is to marry yours! could you have believed there had been such
45inconstancy and fickleness, and everything that is bad in the world?" "I hope, so far as concerns my brother, you are
46misinformed. I hope he has not had any material share in bringing on Mr. Morland's disappointment. His marrying Miss
47Thorpe is not probable. I think you must be deceived so far. I am very sorry for Mr. Morland--sorry that anyone you love
48should be unhappy; but my surprise would be greater at Frederick's marrying her than at any other part of the story."
49"It is very true, however; you shall read James's letter yourself. Stay--There is one part--" recollecting with a blush
50the last line. "Will you take the trouble of reading to us the passages which concern my brother?" "No, read it
51yourself," cried Catherine, whose second thoughts were clearer. "I do not know what I was thinking of" (blushing again
52that she had blushed before); "James only means to give me good advice." He gladly received the letter, and, having read
53it through, with close attention, returned it saying, "Well, if it is to be so, I can only say that I am sorry for it.
54Frederick will not be the first man who has chosen a wife with less sense than his family expected. I do not envy his
55situation, either as a lover or a son." Miss Tilney, at Catherine's invitation, now read the letter likewise, and,
56having expressed also her concern and surprise, began to inquire into Miss Thorpe's connections and fortune. "Her mother
57is a very good sort of woman," was Catherine's answer. "What was her father?" "A lawyer, I believe. They live at
58Putney." "Are they a wealthy family?" "No, not very. I do not believe Isabella has any fortune at all: but that will not
59signify in your family. Your father is so very liberal! He told me the other day that he only valued money as it allowed
60him to promote the happiness of his children." The brother and sister looked at each other. "But," said Eleanor, after a
61short pause, "would it be to promote his happiness, to enable him to marry such a girl? She must be an unprincipled one,
62or she could not have used your brother so. And how strange an infatuation on Frederick's side! a girl who, before his
63eyes, is violating an engagement voluntarily entered into with another man! is not it inconceivable, Henry? Frederick
64too, who always wore his heart so proudly! who found no woman good enough to be loved!" "That is the most unpromising
65circumstance, the strongest presumption against him. When I think of his past declarations, I give him up. Moreover, I
66have too good an opinion of Miss Thorpe's prudence to suppose that she would part with one gentleman before the other
67was secured. It is all over with Frederick indeed! he is a deceased man--defunct in understanding. Prepare for your
68sister-in-law, Eleanor, and such a sister-in-law as you must delight in! open, candid, artless, guileless, with
69affections strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disguise." "Such a sister-in-law, Henry, I should
70delight in," said Eleanor with a smile. "But perhaps," observed Catherine, "though she has behaved so ill by our family,
71she may behave better by yours. Now she has really got the man she likes, she may be constant."
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