Previous  - next

"suppose you go." And in two minutes they were off.

Catherine's feelings, as she got into the carriage, were in a
very unsettled state; divided between regret for the loss of one
great pleasure, and the hope of soon enjoying another, almost its
equal in degree, however unlike in kind. She could not think the
Tilneys had acted quite well by her, in so readily giving up their
engagement, without sending her any message of excuse. It was
now but an hour later than the time fixed on for the beginning of
their walk; and, in spite of what she had heard of the prodigious
accumulation of dirt in the course of that hour, she could not
from her own observation help thinking that they might have gone
with very little inconvenience. To feel herself slighted by them
was very painful. On the other hand, the delight of exploring an
edifice like Udolpho, as her fancy represented Blaize Castle to
be, was such a counterpoise of good as might console her for almost
anything.

They passed briskly down Pulteney Street, and through Laura Place,
without the exchange of many words. Thorpe talked to his horse,
and she meditated, by turns, on broken promises and broken arches,
phaetons and false hangings, Tilneys and trap-doors. As they
entered Argyle Buildings, however, she was roused by this address
from her companion, "Who is that girl who looked at you so hard as
she went by?"

"Who? Where?"

"On the right-hand pavement -- she must be almost out of sight
now." Catherine looked round and saw Miss Tilney leaning on her
brother's arm, walking slowly down the street. She saw them both
looking back at her. "Stop, stop, Mr. Thorpe," she impatiently cried;
"it is Miss Tilney; it is indeed. How could you tell me they were
gone? Stop, stop, I will get out this moment and go to them." But
to what purpose did she speak? Thorpe only lashed his horse into
a brisker trot; the Tilneys, who had soon ceased to look after her,
were in a moment out of sight round the corner of Laura Place, and
in another moment she was herself whisked into the marketplace.
Still, however, and during the length of another street, she
entreated him to stop. "Pray, pray stop, Mr. Thorpe. I cannot go
on. I will not go on. I must go back to Miss Tilney." But Mr.
Thorpe only laughed, smacked his whip, encouraged his horse, made
odd noises, and drove on; and Catherine, angry and vexed as she
was, having no power of getting away, was obliged to give up the
point and submit. Her reproaches, however, were not spared. "How
could you deceive me so, Mr. Thorpe? How could you say that you
saw them driving up the Lansdown Road? I would not have had it
happen so for the world. They must think it so strange, so rude of
me! To go by them, too, without saying a word! You do not know
how vexed I am; I shall have no pleasure at Clifton, nor in anything
else. I had rather, ten thousand times rather, get out now, and
walk back to them.

Previous  - next