CHAPTER 12

"Mrs. Allen," said Catherine the next morning, "will there be any harm

in my calling on Miss Tilney today? I shall not be easy till I have

explained everything."

"Go, by all means, my dear; only put on a white gown; Miss Tilney always

wears white."

Catherine cheerfully complied, and being properly equipped, was more

impatient than ever to be at the pump-room, that she might inform

herself of General Tilney's lodgings, for though she believed they were

in Milsom Street, she was not certain of the house, and Mrs. Allen's

wavering convictions only made it more doubtful. To Milsom Street she

was directed, and having made herself perfect in the number, hastened

away with eager steps and a beating heart to pay her visit, explain her

conduct, and be forgiven; tripping lightly through the church-yard, and

resolutely turning away her eyes, that she might not be obliged to

see her beloved Isabella and her dear family, who, she had reason to

believe, were in a shop hard by. She reached the house without any

impediment, looked at the number, knocked at the door, and inquired for

Miss Tilney. The man believed Miss Tilney to be at home, but was not

quite certain. Would she be pleased to send up her name? She gave her

card. In a few minutes the servant returned, and with a look which did

not quite confirm his words, said he had been mistaken, for that Miss

Tilney was walked out. Catherine, with a blush of mortification, left

the house. She felt almost persuaded that Miss Tilney was at home, and

too much offended to admit her; and as she retired down the street,

could not withhold one glance at the drawing-room windows, in

expectation of seeing her there, but no one appeared at them. At the

bottom of the street, however, she looked back again, and then, not at a

window, but issuing from the door, she saw Miss Tilney herself. She was

followed by a gentleman, whom Catherine believed to be her father,

and they turned up towards Edgar's Buildings. Catherine, in deep

mortification, proceeded on her way. She could almost be angry herself

at such angry incivility; but she checked the resentful sensation; she

remembered her own ignorance. She knew not how such an offence as hers

might be classed by the laws of worldly politeness, to what a degree

of unforgivingness it might with propriety lead, nor to what rigours of

rudeness in return it might justly make her amenable.

Dejected and humbled, she had even some thoughts of not going with the

others to the theatre that night; but it must be confessed that they

were not of long continuance, for she soon recollected, in the first

place, that she was without any excuse for staying at home; and, in the

second, that it was a play she wanted very much to see. To the theatre

accordingly they all went; no Tilneys appeared to plague or please her;

she feared that, amongst the many perfections of the family, a fondness

for plays was not to be ranked; but perhaps it was because they were

habituated to the finer performances of the London stage, which she

knew, on Isabella's authority, rendered everything else of the kind

"quite horrid." She was not deceived in her own expectation of pleasure;

the comedy so well suspended her care that no one, observing her during

the first four acts, would have supposed she had any wretchedness about

her. On the beginning of the fifth, however, the sudden view of Mr.

Henry Tilney and his father, joining a party in the opposite box,

recalled her to anxiety and distress. The stage could no longer excite

genuine merriment--no longer keep her whole attention. Every other look

upon an average was directed towards the opposite box; and, for the

space of two entire scenes, did she thus watch Henry Tilney, without

being once able to catch his eye. No longer could he be suspected of

indifference for a play; his notice was never withdrawn from the stage

during two whole scenes. At length, however, he did look towards her,

and he bowed--but such a bow! No smile, no continued observance attended

it; his eyes were immediately returned to their former direction.

Catherine was restlessly miserable; she could almost have run round to

the box in which he sat and forced him to hear her explanation. Feelings

rather natural than heroic possessed her; instead of considering her

own dignity injured by this ready condemnation--instead of proudly

resolving, in conscious innocence, to show her resentment towards him

who could harbour a doubt of it, to leave to him all the trouble

of seeking an explanation, and to enlighten him on the past only by

avoiding his sight, or flirting with somebody else--she took to herself

all the shame of misconduct, or at least of its appearance, and was only

eager for an opportunity of explaining its cause.

The play concluded--the curtain fell--Henry Tilney was no longer to be

seen where he had hitherto sat, but his father remained, and perhaps he

might be now coming round to their box. She was right; in a few minutes

he appeared, and, making his way through the then thinning rows, spoke

with like calm politeness to Mrs. Allen and her friend. Not with such

calmness was he answered by the latter: "Oh! Mr. Tilney, I have been

quite wild to speak to you, and make my apologies. You must have thought

me so rude; but indeed it was not my own fault, was it, Mrs. Allen?

Did not they tell me that Mr. Tilney and his sister were gone out in a

phaeton together? And then what could I do? But I had ten thousand times

rather have been with you; now had not I, Mrs. Allen?"

"My dear, you tumble my gown," was Mrs. Allen's reply.

Her assurance, however, standing sole as it did, was not thrown away; it

brought a more cordial, more natural smile into his countenance, and

he replied in a tone which retained only a little affected reserve:

"We were much obliged to you at any rate for wishing us a pleasant walk

after our passing you in Argyle Street: you were so kind as to look back

on purpose."

"But indeed I did not wish you a pleasant walk; I never thought of such

a thing; but I begged Mr. Thorpe so earnestly to stop; I called out to

him as soon as ever I saw you; now, Mrs. Allen, did not--Oh! You were

not there; but indeed I did; and, if Mr. Thorpe would only have stopped,

I would have jumped out and run after you."

Is there a Henry in the world who could be insensible to such a

declaration? Henry Tilney at least was not. With a yet sweeter smile, he

said everything that need be said of his sister's concern, regret, and

dependence on Catherine's honour. "Oh! Do not say Miss Tilney was not

angry," cried Catherine, "because I know she was; for she would not see

me this morning when I called; I saw her walk out of the house the next

minute after my leaving it; I was hurt, but I was not affronted. Perhaps

you did not know I had been there."

"I was not within at the time; but I heard of it from Eleanor, and she

has been wishing ever since to see you, to explain the reason of such

incivility; but perhaps I can do it as well. It was nothing more than

that my father--they were just preparing to walk out, and he being

hurried for time, and not caring to have it put off--made a point of her

being denied. That was all, I do assure you. She was very much vexed,

and meant to make her apology as soon as possible."

Catherine's mind was greatly eased by this information, yet a something

of solicitude remained, from which sprang the following question,

thoroughly artless in itself, though rather distressing to the

gentleman: "But, Mr. Tilney, why were you less generous than your

sister? If she felt such confidence in my good intentions, and could

suppose it to be only a mistake, why should you be so ready to take

offence?"

"Me! I take offence!"

"Nay, I am sure by your look, when you came into the box, you were

angry."

"I angry! I could have no right."

"Well, nobody would have thought you had no right who saw your face." He

replied by asking her to make room for him, and talking of the play.

He remained with them some time, and was only too agreeable for

Catherine to be contented when he went away. Before they parted,

however, it was agreed that the projected walk should be taken as soon

as possible; and, setting aside the misery of his quitting their box,

she was, upon the whole, left one of the happiest creatures in the

world.

While talking to each other, she had observed with some surprise that

John Thorpe, who was never in the same part of the house for ten minutes

together, was engaged in conversation with General Tilney; and she felt

something more than surprise when she thought she could perceive herself

the object of their attention and discourse. What could they have to say

of her? She feared General Tilney did not like her appearance: she found

it was implied in his preventing her admittance to his daughter, rather

than postpone his own walk a few minutes. "How came Mr. Thorpe to know

your father?" was her anxious inquiry, as she pointed them out to her

companion. He knew nothing about it; but his father, like every military

man, had a very large acquaintance.

When the entertainment was over, Thorpe came to assist them in getting

out. Catherine was the immediate object of his gallantry; and, while

they waited in the lobby for a chair, he prevented the inquiry which had

travelled from her heart almost to the tip of her tongue, by asking, in

a consequential manner, whether she had seen him talking with General

Tilney: "He is a fine old fellow, upon my soul! Stout, active--looks

as young as his son. I have a great regard for him, I assure you: a

gentleman-like, good sort of fellow as ever lived."

"But how came you to know him?"

"Know him! There are few people much about town that I do not know. I

have met him forever at the Bedford; and I knew his face again today the

moment he came into the billiard-room. One of the best players we have,

by the by; and we had a little touch together, though I was almost

afraid of him at first: the odds were five to four against me; and, if

I had not made one of the cleanest strokes that perhaps ever was made in

this world--I took his ball exactly--but I could not make you understand

it without a table; however, I did beat him. A very fine fellow; as rich

as a Jew. I should like to dine with him; I dare say he gives famous

dinners. But what do you think we have been talking of? You. Yes, by

heavens! And the general thinks you the finest girl in Bath."

"Oh! Nonsense! How can you say so?"

"And what do you think I said?"--lowering his voice--"well done,

general, said I; I am quite of your mind."

Here Catherine, who was much less gratified by his admiration than by

General Tilney's, was not sorry to be called away by Mr. Allen. Thorpe,

however, would see her to her chair, and, till she entered it, continued

the same kind of delicate flattery, in spite of her entreating him to

have done.

That General Tilney, instead of disliking, should admire her, was very

delightful; and she joyfully thought that there was not one of the

family whom she need now fear to meet. The evening had done more, much

more, for her than could have been expected.