Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty

Catherine was not by nature a sitter, but she was not by nature very industrious.But whatever shortcomings she had had in the past, her mother could now perceive that they were greatly aggravated.No matter whether she was sitting quietly or doing any work, she couldn't last even ten minutes. She always wandered around in the garden or orchard, as if she didn't want to do anything except walk around.It seemed that she would rather wander about the house than spend a moment in the living room.Her depression, however, was much more variable.Her loitering and indolence were only further developments of old habits, but her silence and melancholy were the exact opposite of her former disposition.

For the first two days Mrs. Morland let it go without saying a word.But after the third night's rest, when Catherine had not regained her spirits, still refused to engage in business, or to do any sewing, Mrs. Morland could bear it no longer, and gently reproached her daughter several times. Sentence: My dear Catherine, I am afraid you are going to become Miss Jiao.If poor Richard had you alone, I wonder when his scarf will be finished.Your mind is full of Bass, but you have to have a time in everything, sometimes to dance, to see a play, and sometimes to work.You've had enough fun, now it's time to get down to business.

Catherine immediately took up her needle and thread, and said in a despondent tone: "I'm not thinking of Bath all the time." Then you are worrying about General Tierney.What a fool of you, because nine times out of ten you will never see him again.You should never trouble yourself over such trivial matters.After a little silence: Catherine, I hope you don't think your home is bad because it's not as grand as Northanger Abbey.If this is the case, doesn't it mean that your trip is broken.You should always be content wherever you are, especially in your own home, where you must spend most of your time.I don't like to listen to you talking about the baguettes at Northanger Abbey at breakfast.

Seriously, I'm not interested in that kind of bread.I eat everything the same. There's a book upstairs with a good article about some young girls who hate their homes because they've got rich friends.I think it's Der Spiegel.Someday I will find it out for you, it will definitely be good for you. Catherine said nothing more.She wanted to do what was right, so she buried herself in her work.But after a few minutes, he became listless again unknowingly, because he was tired and irritable, and his body kept turning on the chair, turning more times than moving the needle.Mrs. Morland watched her daughter fall ill again.Finding that Catherine's dreamy discontented look fully confirmed her conviction that her melancholy was due to her inability to live in poverty, she hastened from the room to fetch the book, impatient to be cured of this dreadful malady at once.It took her a long time to find the book, and then she got bogged down by chores, and it was a quarter of an hour before she came downstairs with the book she had so much hoped for.

While she was busy upstairs, she made a lot of noise and heard nothing downstairs, so she didn't know that a visitor had arrived in the last few minutes.As soon as she entered the room, she saw a young man whom she had never met before.The man immediately stood up respectfully, and the daughter introduced coyly, "This is Henry.Mr Tierney.Then Mr. Tilney, with a very sensitive and embarrassed air, began to explain his purpose.He confessed that, in view of what had happened, he had no right to expect to be welcomed at Fullerton, and that he had ventured to come because he was anxious to know whether Miss Moran had arrived home safely.Fortunately, he was not listening to a partial grudge.Mrs. Morland, who did not confound Henry and his sister with their father's wicked conduct, always had a fondness for the two brothers and sisters.She liked Henry's appearance very much, and received him at once with simplicity and sincerity of affection.Thank him for caring so much about his daughter and reassuring him that as long as he is her child's friend, no one is unwelcome at her house.She also begged the guests not to mention anything about the past.

Henry complied with this entreaty without hesitation, for, though he was greatly relieved by Mrs. Morland's unexpected leniency, it was true at the moment that he could not speak of the past.He therefore returned to his seat in silence, and answered Mrs. Moran's homely remarks about the weather and the roads with great civility.At this time, Catherine was anxious, excited, happy, excited, and said nothing.But seeing her rosy cheeks and shining eyes, the mother could not help believing that this kind visit would at least restore her daughter's peace of mind.Therefore, she happily put down the "Der Spiegel" magazine, planning to read it later.

Mrs. Morland was very sorry to see her visitor embarrassed on account of his father.She hoped that Mr. Morland would come and help, both to talk to the visitor and to encourage him, so she had sent a child long ago to find her husband.It happened that Mr. Morland was not at home, and Mrs. Morland was so alone that after a quarter of an hour she had nothing to say.After two minutes of continuous silence, Henry turned his face to Catherine (it was the first time he had turned to her since Mrs. Morland entered the room), and asked her suddenly and briskly, were the Allens in Fullerton?The question that could have been answered with only one word, but Catherine said several vague words. Henry figured out the meaning of these words, and immediately expressed his desire to visit the Allen couple, and then asked Catherine with a blushing face, yes Not asking her to lead the way.You can see their house from this window, sir, Sarah pointed out.The gentleman just nodded his thanks, and the mother nodded to Sarah, telling her to shut up.

It turned out, Mrs. Morland thought, that the visitor's desire to visit her neighbour, perhaps in order to explain his father's conduct, was more convenient for her to speak to Catherine alone, and she must at any rate let Catherine accompany him. .The two of them set off, and Mrs. Moran completely misunderstood Henry's intentions.He wanted to explain his father's behavior, but his primary purpose was to explain himself.Before reaching Mr. Allen's garden, he had already explained his confession very well. Catherine felt that such words really made people never tire of hearing them.Henry professed his love to her and wooed her, both of them knowing that the heart was already his.But notwithstanding Henry's love for Catherine now, though he recognized and loved many qualities of her character, and genuinely liked her company, I must confess that his love was only a matter of gratitude.In other words, he only considered her seriously because he knew that the other party liked him.I admit that this kind of situation is not seen in romance novels, and it is really detrimental to the dignity of the heroine.However, if this situation is also unique in daily life, I can at least get a good reputation for dreaming.

They sat for a while at Mrs. Allen's house, and Henry spoke nonsense and incoherently, and Catherine was so absorbed in thinking about her unspeakable joy that she hardly spoke.After the farewell came out, they talked again in ecstatic intimacy.Before the conversation was over, Catherine could see General Tilney's attitude towards his son's proposal.Two days before, Henry had returned from Woodston, and had met his restless father near the monastery.His father hastily and furiously told him the news of Miss Morland's departure, and ordered him not to think of her any more. Now, Henry came to propose to her with such a ban.Catherine listened to these words with trepidation, but it frightened her.It pleased her, however, that, thanks to Henry's forethought, he did not bring up the matter until after his proposal, which Catherine would have had the prudence to refuse otherwise.When Henry went on to the details, explaining his father's motives, she hardened her heart, and even felt a sense of triumph.It turned out that the general had nothing to blame her for, and nothing to accuse her of, except that she had been used involuntarily and unknowingly as a tool for deception.The general's self-respect could not forgive him for being deceived in that way, and if his self-respect had been stronger he would have been ashamed to admit that he had been deceived.Catherine's only fault was that she was not as rich as the general had imagined.When he was in Bath, the general misunderstood that someone had lied about her property, so he tried his best to ingratiate himself with her, invited her to Northanger Abbey, and planned to marry her as his daughter-in-law.After he discovered his mistake, in order to express his resentment towards Catherine and his contempt for her family, he felt that the best way was to drive her away, although he felt that this was not enough to relieve his hatred.

The first is John.Thorpe lied to him.One night at the theater the General found his son courting Miss Morland, and occasionally asked Thorpe if he knew of her parentage.Thorpe, who had always enjoyed the conversation of such eminent men as General Tierney, boasted cheerfully and triumphantly.At that time, when Moran was engaged to Isabella every day, and he himself made up his mind to marry Catherine, his vanity led him to describe the Moran family as extremely rich, which was better than his own. What my vanity and greed imagined is richer.No matter who he is related to, or may be related to, he always exaggerates the status of the other party in order to raise his own value.The deeper he associates with someone, the wealth of that person will continue to grow.Thus he had overvalued at first the property which his friend Moran was to inherit, but since Morin had known Isabella his property had been steadily increasing.

At that time, to make it sound better, he only tripled the assets of the family, doubled the income of Mr. Moran he had promised, tripled his private property, and bestowed a rich aunt, and halved the number of children, so that the family looked very respectable in the eyes of the general.Thorpe knew that Catherine was the target of the general's inquiry and his own pursuit, so he made a special point for her: in addition to inheriting Mr. Allen's family property, her father would give her ten thousand or fifteen thousand pounds , which can be regarded as a considerable extra income.Seeing that Catherine was closely related to the Allen family, he concluded that she would inherit a large fortune from there, and then of course he said that she was Fullerton's most popular heir.The general acted on the news, for he never doubted its credibility. Thorpe's interest in the family, his sister's imminent marriage to one of its members, and his own eye for another (which he boasted equally openly), seemed plausible. Make sure he's telling the truth.Besides, the fact that the Allens were rich and childless, that Miss Moran was in their care, and that, as soon as he got acquainted with them, he felt that they treated her as a parent, was an iron fact.So he quickly made up his mind.He had already seen in his son's face that he liked Miss Moran.To thank Mr. Thorpe for the news, he made up his mind almost at once to spare no effort to kill off his boasted pleasure and dispel his wishful thinking.Catherine, like the general's two children, was kept in the dark when all this happened.Henry and Eleanor, seeing nothing in Catherine's situation to merit their father's special favor, were astonished at the sudden and constant attention which he had for her.Afterwards the General had hinted, and at the same time, almost to the point of an imperative, to his son that he should do his best to get close to Catherine, and Henry believed from this that his father must have considered the marriage a profitable one. It had never occurred to them, until recently, when the matter had been explained at Northanger Abbey, that his father was driven by miscalculations to his haste.When the general entered the city, he happened to meet Thorpe who had informed him of the situation. Thorpe told him that the situation was false. At that time, Thorpe's mood was exactly the opposite of last time. He was very annoyed by Catherine's refusal, especially the recent attempt to reconcile Moran and Isabella. He abandoned that unprofitable friendship, and hastily overturned all the previous praises of the Moran family.He confessed that his idea of ​​their family circumstances and characters was entirely wrong, that he had mistrusted his friend's boastfulness, that his father was a man of wealth, power, The results of the dealings proved that he was not the case.On his first proposal to the two families, Mr. Moran hastily agreed, and made many proposals of undeniable generosity; Young people provide a decent living allowance.In fact, they were a poor family, with a surprisingly large number of children.Thorpe had lately discovered, by strange chance, that the family was not in the least respected by their neighbours.They talk a lot about the pomp and pomp of life, even though economic power does not allow it.They are also preparing to seek out a few rich relatives to improve their situation.This family is really shameless, they are easy to talk big, and love to play tricks. The general was terrified when he heard this.He proposed Alan's name with an air of surprise.Thorpe said he was wrong on this one too.He believed that the Allen couple had been neighbors with them for so many years and knew their details long ago.Besides, he knew the young man who would inherit the Fullerton estate.The general need not listen any more.Exasperated with almost everyone but himself, he set out the next day for Northanger Abbey, where you have seen what he did. How much could Henry possibly have told these facts at the time?How many of these facts did Henry hear from his father?Which questions did he speculate on his own?Which part still needs to wait for a letter from James to explain?I leave these questions to the wise reader.For the convenience of readers, I have strung these materials together, please readers also give me convenience, and then go to disassemble them by yourself.At any rate, Catherine had heard enough of the situation to feel that her previous suspicion of the General's murder or imprisonment of his wife had not insulted his character, nor exaggerated his brutality. Henry was almost as pathetic in telling these things about his father as he was when he heard them.He could not help blushing when he had to expose his father's narrow-minded admonition.The conversation between father and son at Northanger Abbey was extremely unkind.When Henry heard that Catherine had been ill-treated, understood his father's intentions, and was forced to submit, he boldly expressed his indignation.Originally, the general had always had the final say on all ordinary matters in the family.He only thought that others would disagree with his words at most, and he never thought that anyone would dare to speak out the will of disobedience.His son's rebellion, driven by reason and conscience, had become so determined that he could not bear it.The general's wrath in this matter must have shocked Henry, but it did not frighten him, and his steadfastness was due to his belief in his own justice.He felt that he owed Miss Morland both morally and emotionally.He also believed that the heart his father had instructed him to win was now his own, and that clumsy rescissions of acquiescence, withdrawal of orders out of unwarranted annoyance, could not shake his loyalty to Catherine, nor Does not affect his resolutions made out of loyalty. Henry flatly refused to accompany his father to Herefordshire, as the appointment had been impromptu to drive Catherine away.Henry also resolutely announced that he would propose to Catherine.The general flew into a rage, and the two broke up in a hideous dispute.Henry was so agitated that it would have taken hours to recover, but he returned to Woodston at once and set off for Fullerton the next afternoon.