Chapter 31


Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen





Chapter 31



Mr. and Mrs. Morland’s surprise on being applied to by Mr. Tilney for their consent to his marrying
their daughter was, for a few minutes, considerable, it having never entered their heads to suspect an attachment on
either side; but as nothing, after all, could be more natural than Catherine’s being beloved, they soon learnt to
consider it with only the happy agitation of gratified pride, and, as far as they alone were concerned, had not a single
objection to start. His pleasing manners and good sense were self-evident recommendations; and having never heard evil of
him, it was not their way to suppose any evil could be told. Goodwill supplying the place of experience, his character
needed no attestation. “Catherine would make a sad, heedless young housekeeper to be sure,” was her mother’s foreboding
remark; but quick was the consolation of there being nothing like practice.


There was but one obstacle, in short, to be mentioned; but till that one was removed, it must be impossible for them
to sanction the engagement. Their tempers were mild, but their principles were steady, and while his parent so expressly
forbade the connection, they could not allow themselves to encourage it. That the general should come forward to solicit
the alliance, or that he should even very heartily approve it, they were not refined enough to make any parading
stipulation; but the decent appearance of consent must be yielded, and that once obtained — and their own hearts made
them trust that it could not be very long denied — their willing approbation was instantly to follow. His consent was all
that they wished for. They were no more inclined than entitled to demand his money. Of a very considerable fortune, his
son was, by marriage settlements, eventually secure; his present income was an 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. They felt and they deplored — but they could not
resent it; and they parted, endeavouring to hope that such a change in the general, as each believed almost impossible,
might speedily take place, to unite them again in the fullness of privileged affection. Henry returned to what was now
his only home, to watch over his young plantations, and extend his improvements for her sake, to whose share in them he
looked anxiously forward; and Catherine remained at Fullerton to cry. Whether the torments of absence were softened by a
clandestine correspondence, let us not inquire. Mr. and Mrs. Morland never did — they had been too kind to exact any
promise; and whenever Catherine received a letter, as, at that time, happened pretty often, they always looked another
way.


The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved
either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale
compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity. The means by which their
early marriage was effected can be the only doubt: what probable circumstance could work upon a temper like the
general’s? The circumstance which chiefly availed was the marriage of his daughter with a man of fortune and consequence,
which took place in the course of the summer — an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit of good humour, from
which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtained his forgiveness of Henry, and his permission for him “to be a
fool if he liked it!”


The marriage of Eleanor Tilney, her removal from all the evils of such a home as Northanger had been made by Henry’s
banishment, to the home of her choice and the man of her choice, is an event which I expect to give general satisfaction
among all her acquaintance. My own joy on the occasion is very sincere. I know no one more entitled, by unpretending
merit, or better prepared by habitual suffering, to receive and enjoy felicity. Her partiality for this gentleman was not
of recent origin; and he had been long withheld only by inferiority of situation from addressing her. His unexpected
accession to title and fortune had removed all his difficulties; and never had the general loved his daughter so well in
all her hours of companionship, utility, and patient endurance as when he first hailed her “Your Ladyship!” Her husband
was really deserving of her; independent of his peerage, his wealth, and his attachment, being to a precision the most
charming young man in the world. Any further definition of his merits must be unnecessary; the most charming young man in
the world is instantly before the imagination of us all. Concerning the one in question, therefore, I have only to add —
aware that the rules of composition forbid the introduction of a character not connected with my fable — that this was
the very gentleman whose negligent servant left behind him that collection of washing-bills, resulting from a long visit
at Northanger, by which my heroine was involved in one of her most alarming adventures.


The influence of the viscount and viscountess in their brother’s behalf was assisted by that right understanding of
Mr. Morland’s circumstances which, as soon as the general would allow himself to be informed, they were qualified to
give. It taught him that he had been scarcely more misled by Thorpe’s first boast of the family wealth than by his
subsequent malicious overthrow of it; that in no sense of the word were they necessitous or poor, and that Catherine
would have three thousand pounds. This was so material an amendment of his late expectations that it greatly contributed
to smooth the descent of his pride; and by no means without its effect was the private intelligence, which he was at some
pains to procure, that the Fullerton estate, being entirely at the disposal of its present proprietor, was consequently
open to every greedy speculation.


On the strength of this, the general, soon after Eleanor’s marriage, permitted his son to return to Northanger, and
thence made him the bearer of his consent, very courteously worded in a page full of empty professions 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 their meeting, it will not appear, after all the dreadful
delays occasioned by the general’s cruelty, that they were essentially hurt by it. To begin perfect happiness at the
respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well; and professing myself moreover convinced that the
general’s unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it,
by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment, I leave it to be settled, by
whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward
filial disobedience.




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