Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. Edited by Claire Grogan, Broadview Press, 2002.
Fanny Price could certainly take some lessons in backbone from Catherine Morland. Torn between her first group of friends and her newer and more respectable ones, Catherine begs off from plans with the former, stating that she already has plans with Edward and Eleanor Tilney. Wanting his own way, John Thorpe seeks out Miss Tilney and lies that Catherine had a prior engagement with his group of friends, effectively letting her out of her plans with the Tilneys. When Catherine finds out, she’s furious:
“Thus passed a long ten minutes, till they were again joined by Thorpe, who, coming to them with a gayer look, said, 'Well, I have settled the matter, and now we may all go tomorrow with a safe conscience. I have been to Miss Tilney, and made your excuses.'
‘You have not!’ cried Catherine.
‘I have, upon my soul. Left her this moment. Told her you had sent me to say that, having just recollected a prior engagement of going to Clifton with us tomorrow, you could not have the pleasure of walking with her till Tuesday. She said very well, Tuesday was just as convenient to her; so there is an end of all our difficulties. A pretty good thought of mine—hey?’
Isabella’s countenance was once more all smiles and good humour, and James too looked happy again.
‘A most heavenly thought indeed! Now, my sweet Catherine, all our distresses are over; you are honourably acquitted, and we shall have a most delightful party.’
‘This will not do,’ said Catherine; ‘I cannot submit to this. I must run after Miss Tilney directly and set her right.’
Isabella, however, caught hold of one hand, Thorpe of the other, and remonstrances poured in from all three. Even James was quite angry. When everything was settled, when Miss Tilney herself said that Tuesday would suit her as well, it was quite ridiculous, quite absurd, to make any further objection.
‘I do not care. Mr. Thorpe had no business to invent any such message. If I had thought it right to put it off, I could have spoken to Miss Tilney myself. This is only doing it in a ruder way; and how do I know that Mr. Thorpe has—He may be mistaken again perhaps; he led me into one act of rudeness by his mistake on Friday. Let me go, Mr. Thorpe; Isabella, do not hold me.’
Thorpe told her it would be in vain to go after the Tilneys; they were turning the corner into Brock Street, when he had overtaken them, and were at home by this time.
‘Then I will go after them,’ said Catherine; ‘wherever they are I will go after them. It does not signify talking. If I could not be persuaded into doing what I thought wrong, I never will be tricked into it.’” (volume I, chapter 13, page 115)
This is my absolute favorite Catherine scene. She stands up for herself so ferociously and adamantly that there can be no arguing with her. Her conscience prevents her from enduring any thought that she might have wronged someone, and I think that’s very admirable -- a trait that those she is currently surrounding herself with could stand to develop.
The slipperiest thing about this encounter is that Thorpe’s conversation with Miss Tilney was likely all politeness. In Austen’s time, if you made plans with someone and something else came up that you’d rather do, politeness dictated that you had to honor the first engagement. Miss Tilney, then, probably wasn’t at all offended that Catherine had “forgotten” her previous engagement when making plans with her; she was probably perfectly gracious and understanding, because she is a good sort of girl. On Thorpe’s part, though, this maneuver was completely underhanded and uncalled for. Even if he knew how to talk about something other than himself and his own desires, Catherine never could have ended up with such a poor excuse for a man -- I don’t think her conscience would have allowed her to do that, either.
