Chapter 4

With m ore than usual eagerness did Catherine hasten to the pum p-room

the next day, secure within herself of seeing Mr. Tilney there before the m orning were over, and ready to m eet him with a sm ile; but no sm ile was dem anded – Mr. Tilney did not appear. Every creature in Bath, except him self, was to be seen in the room at different periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were every m om ent passing in and out, up the steps and down; people whom nobody cared about, and nobody wanted to see; and he only was absent. “What a delightful place Bath is,” said Mrs. Allen as they sat down near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired; “and how pleasant it would be if we had any acquaintance here.”

This sentim ent had been uttered so often in vain that Mrs. Allen had no

particular reason to hope it would be followed with m ore advantage now; but we are told to “despair of nothing we would attain,” as “unwearied diligence our point would gain”; and the unwearied diligence with which she had every day wished for the sam e thing was at length to have its j ust reward, for hardly had she been seated ten m inutes before a lady of about her own age, who was sitting by her, and had been looking at her attentively for several m inutes, addressed her with great com plaisance in these words: “I think, m adam , I cannot be m istaken; it is a long tim e since I had the pleasure of seeing y ou, but is not y our nam e Allen?” This question answered, as it readily was, the stranger pronounced hers to be Thorpe; and Mrs. Allen im m ediately recognized the features of a form er schoolfellow and intim ate, whom she had seen only once since their respective m arriages, and that m any y ears ago. Their j oy on this m eeting was very great, as well it m ight, since they had been contented to know nothing of each other for the last fifteen y ears. Com plim ents on good looks now passed; and, after observing how tim e had slipped away since they were last together, how little they had thought of m eeting in Bath, and what a pleasure it was to see an old friend, they proceeded to m ake inquiries and give intelligence as to their fam ilies, sisters, and cousins, talking both together, far m ore ready to give than to receive inform ation, and each hearing very little of what the other said. Mrs. Thorpe, however, had one great advantage as a talker, over Mrs. Allen, in a fam ily of children; and when she expatiated on the talents of her sons, and the beauty of her daughters, when she related their different situations and views – that John was at Oxford, Edward at Merchant Tay lors’, and William at sea – and all of them m ore beloved and respected in their different station than any other three beings ever were, Mrs. Allen had no sim ilar inform ation to give, no sim ilar trium phs to press on the unwilling and unbelieving ear of her friend, and was forced to sit and appear to listen to all these m aternal effusions, consoling herself, however, with the discovery, which her keen ey e soon m ade, that the lace on Mrs. Thorpe’s pelisse was not half so handsom e as that on her own.

“Here com e m y dear girls,” cried Mrs. Thorpe, pointing at three sm art-

looking fem ales who, arm in arm , were then m oving towards her. “My dear Mrs. Allen, I long to introduce them ; they will be so delighted to see y ou: the tallest is Isabella, m y eldest; is not she a fine y oung wom an? The others are very m uch adm ired too, but I believe Isabella is the handsom est.”

The Miss Thorpes were introduced; and Miss Morland, who had been

for a short tim e forgotten, was introduced likewise. The nam e seem ed to strike them all; and, after speaking to her with great civility, the eldest y oung lady observed aloud to the rest, “How excessively like her brother Miss Morland is!”

“The very picture of him indeed!” cried the m other – and “I should

have known her any where for his sister!” was repeated by them all, two or three tim es over. For a m om ent Catherine was surprised; but Mrs. Thorpe and her daughters had scarcely begun the history of their acquaintance with Mr. Jam es Morland, before she rem em bered that her eldest brother had lately form ed an intim acy with a y oung m an of his own college, of the nam e of Thorpe; and that he had spent the last week of the Christm as vacation with his fam ily, near London.

The whole being explained, m any obliging things were said by the Miss

Thorpes of their wish of being better acquainted with her; of being considered as already friends, through the friendship of their brothers, etc., which Catherine heard with pleasure, and answered with all the pretty expressions she could com m and; and, as the first proof of am ity, she was soon invited to accept an arm of the eldest Miss Thorpe, and take a turn with her about the room . Catherine was delighted with this ex-tension of her Bath acquaintance, and alm ost forgot Mr. Tilney while she talked to Miss Thorpe. Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

Their conversation turned upon those subj ects, of which the free

discussion has generally m uch to do in perfecting a sudden intim acy between two y oung ladies: such as dress, balls, flirtations, and quizzes. Miss Thorpe, however, being four y ears older than Miss Morland, and at least four y ears better inform ed, had a very decided advantage in discussing such points; she could com pare the balls of Bath with those of Tunbridge, its fashions with the fashions of London; could rectify the opinions of her new friend in m any articles of tasteful attire; could discover a flirtation between any gentlem an and lady who only sm iled on each other; and point out a quiz through the thickness of a crowd. These powers received due adm iration from Catherine, to whom they were entirely new; and the respect which they naturally inspired m ight have been too great for fam iliarity, had not the easy gaiety of Miss Thorpe’s m anners, and her frequent expressions of delight on this acquaintance with her, softened down every feeling of awe, and left nothing but tender affection. Their increasing attachm ent was not to be satisfied with half a dozen turns in the pum p-room , but required, when they all quitted it together, that Miss Thorpe should accom pany Miss Morland to the very door of Mr. Allen’s house; and that they should there part with a m ost affectionate and lengthened shake of hands, after learning, to their m utual relief, that they should see each other across the theatre at night, and say their pray ers in the sam e chapel the next m orning. Catherine then ran directly upstairs, and watched Miss Thorpe’s progress down the street from the drawing-room window; adm ired the graceful spirit of her walk, the fashionable air of her figure and dress; and felt grateful, as well she m ight, for the chance which had procured her such a friend.

Mrs. Thorpe was a widow, and not a very rich one; she was a good-

hum oured, well-m eaning wom an, and a very indulgent m other. Her eldest daughter had great personal beauty, and the y ounger ones, by pretending to be as handsom e as their sister, im itating her air, and dressing in the sam e sty le, did very well.

This brief account of the fam ily is intended to supersede the necessity

of a long and m inute detail from Mrs. Thorpe herself, of her past adventures and sufferings, which m ight otherwise be expected to occupy the three or four following chapters; in which the worthlessness of lords and attornies m ight be set forth, and conversations, which had passed twenty y ears before, be m inutely repeated.