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.
*Vide a letter from Mr. Richardson, No. 97, Vol. II, Rambler.