CHAPTER 31
Mr. and Mrs. Morland's surprise on being applied to by Mr. Tilney fortheir consent to his marrying their daughter was, for a few minutes,considerable, it having never entered their heads to suspect anattachment on either side; but as nothing, after all, could be morenatural than Catherine's being beloved, they soon learnt to consider itwith only the happy agitation of gratified pride, and, as far as theyalone were concerned, had not a single objection to start. His pleasingmanners and good sense were self-evident recommendations; and havingnever heard evil of him, it was not their way to suppose any evil couldbe told. Goodwill supplying the place of experience, his characterneeded no attestation. ”Catherine would make a sad, heedless younghousekeeper to be sure,” was her mother's foreboding remark; but quickwas the consolation of there being nothing like practice.
There was but one obstacle, in short, to be mentioned; but till that onewas removed, it must be impossible for them to sanction the engagement.Their tempers were mild, but their principles were steady, and whilehis parent so expressly forbade the connection, they could not allowthemselves to encourage it. That the general should come forward tosolicit the alliance, or that he should even very heartily approve it,they were not refined enough to make any parading stipulation; butthe decent appearance of consent must be yielded, and that onceobtained--and their own hearts made them trust that it could not bevery long denied--their willing approbation was instantly to follow. Hisconsent was all that they wished for. They were no more inclined thanentitled to demand his money. Of a very considerable fortune, his sonwas, by marriage settlements, eventually secure; his present income wasan income of independence and comfort, and under every pecuniary view,it was a match beyond the claims of their daughter.
The young people could not be surprised at a decision like this. Theyfelt and they deplored--but they could not resent it; and they parted,endeavouring to hope that such a change in the general, as each believedalmost impossible, might speedily take place, to unite them again inthe fullness of privileged affection. Henry returned to what was nowhis only home, to watch over his young plantations, and extend hisimprovements for her sake, to whose share in them he looked anxiouslyforward; and Catherine remained at Fullerton to cry. Whether thetorments of absence were softened by a clandestine correspondence, letus not inquire. Mr. and Mrs. Morland never did--they had been too kindto exact any promise; and whenever Catherine received a letter, as, atthat time, happened pretty often, they always looked another way.
The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portionof Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its finalevent, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who willsee in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we areall hastening together to perfect felicity. The means by which theirearly marriage was effected can be the only doubt: what probablecircumstance could work upon a temper like the general's? Thecircumstance which chiefly availed was the marriage of his daughter witha man of fortune and consequence, which took place in the course ofthe summer--an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit of goodhumour, from which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtainedhis forgiveness of Henry, and his permission for him ”to be a fool if heliked it!”
The marriage of Eleanor Tilney, her removal from all the evils of sucha home as Northanger had been made by Henry's banishment, to the home ofher choice and the man of her choice, is an event which I expect togive general satisfaction among all her acquaintance. My own joy on theoccasion is very sincere. I know no one more entitled, by unpretendingmerit, or better prepared by habitual suffering, to receive and enjoyfelicity. Her partiality for this gentleman was not of recent origin;and he had been long withheld only by inferiority of situation fromaddressing her. His unexpected accession to title and fortune hadremoved all his difficulties; and never had the general loved hisdaughter so well in all her hours of companionship, utility, and patientendurance as when he first hailed her ”Your Ladyship!” Her husband wasreally deserving of her; independent of his peerage, his wealth, andhis attachment, being to a precision the most charming young man in theworld. Any further definition of his merits must be unnecessary; themost charming young man in the world is instantly before the imaginationof us all. Concerning the one in question, therefore, I have only toadd--aware that the rules of composition forbid the introduction of acharacter not connected with my fable--that this was the verygentleman whose negligent servant left behind him that collection ofwashing-bills, resulting from a long visit at Northanger, by which myheroine was involved in one of her most alarming adventures.
The influence of the viscount and viscountess in their brother's behalfwas assisted by that right understanding of Mr. Morland's circumstanceswhich, as soon as the general would allow himself to be informed, theywere qualified to give. It taught him that he had been scarcelymore misled by Thorpe's first boast of the family wealth than by hissubsequent malicious overthrow of it; that in no sense of the word werethey necessitous or poor, and that Catherine would have three thousandpounds. This was so material an amendment of his late expectations thatit greatly contributed to smooth the descent of his pride; and by nomeans without its effect was the private intelligence, which he was atsome pains to procure, that the Fullerton estate, being entirely atthe disposal of its present proprietor, was consequently open to everygreedy speculation.
On the strength of this, the general, soon after Eleanor's marriage,permitted his son to return to Northanger, and thence made him thebearer of his consent, very courteously worded in a page full of emptyprofessions to Mr. Morland. The event which it authorized soon followed:Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and everybody smiled;and, as this took place within a twelvemonth from the first day of theirmeeting, it will not appear, after all the dreadful delays occasioned bythe general's cruelty, that they were essentially hurt by it. To beginperfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen isto do pretty well; and professing myself moreover convinced that thegeneral's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious totheir felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it, by improving theirknowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment,I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether thetendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, orreward filial disobedience.
*Vide a letter from Mr. Richardson, No. 97, Vol. II, Rambler.
A NOTE ON THE TEXT
Northanger Abbey was written in 1797-98 under a different title. Themanuscript was revised around 1803 and sold to a London publisher,Crosbie & Co., who sold it back in 1816. The Signet Classic textis based on the first edition, published by John Murray, London, in1818--the year following Miss Austen's death. Spelling and punctuationhave been largely brought into conformity with modern British usage.