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Northanger Abbey-Part40_Jane Austen(1775-1817)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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and to these were added the absolute facts of the Allens



being wealthy and childless, of Miss Morland's being under

their care, and--as soon as his acquaintance allowed him



to judge--of their treating her with parental kindness.

His resolution was soon formed. Already had he discerned



a liking towards Miss Morland in the countenance of his son;

and thankful for Mr. Thorpe's communication, he almost



instantly determined to spare no pains in weakening

his boasted interest and ruining his dearest hopes.



Catherine herself could not be more ignorant at the time

of all this, than his own children. Henry and Eleanor,



perceiving nothing in her situation likely to engage their

father's particular respect, had seen with astonishment



the suddenness, continuance, and extent of his attention;

and though latterly, from some hints which had accompanied



an almost positive command to his son of doing everything

in his power to attach her, Henry was convinced of his



father's believing it to be an advantageousconnection,

it was not till the late explanation at Northanger that they



had the smallest idea of the false calculations which

had hurried him on. That they were false, the general



had learnt from the very person who had suggested them,

from Thorpe himself, whom he had chanced to meet again



in town, and who, under the influence of exactly

opposite feelings, irritated by Catherine's refusal,



and yet more by the failure of a very recent endeavour

to accomplish a reconciliation between Morland and Isabella,



convinced that they were separated forever, and spurning

a friendship which could be no longer serviceable,



hastened to contradict all that he had said before to the

advantage of the Morlands--confessed himself to have been



totally mistaken in his opinion of their circumstances

and character, misled by the rhodomontade of his friend



to believe his father a man of substance and credit,

whereas the transactions of the two or three last weeks



proved him to be neither; for after coming eagerly forward

on the first overture of a marriage between the families,



with the most liberal proposals, he had, on being

brought to the point by the shrewdness of the relator,



been constrained to acknowledge himself incapable of giving

the young people even a decent support. They were, in fact,



a necessitous family; numerous, too, almost beyond example;

by no means respected in their own neighbourhood, as he



had lately had particular opportunities of discovering;

aiming at a style of life which their fortune could not warrant;



seeking to better themselves by wealthyconnections;

a forward, bragging, scheming race.



The terrified general pronounced the name of Allen

with an inquiring look; and here too Thorpe had learnt



his error. The Allens, he believed, had lived near them

too long, and he knew the young man on whom the Fullerton



estate must devolve. The general needed no more.

Enraged with almost everybody in the world but himself,



he set out the next day for the abbey, where his performances

have been seen.



I leave it to my reader's sagacity to determine how

much of all this it was possible for Henry to communicate



at this time to Catherine, how much of it he could have

learnt from his father, in what points his own conjectures



might assist him, and what portion must yet remain to be

told in a letter from James. I have united for their case



what they must divide for mine. Catherine, at any rate,

heard enough to feel that in suspecting General Tilney of



either murdering or shutting up his wife, she had scarcely

sinned against his character, or magnified his cruelty.



Henry, in having such things to relate of his father,




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