Read Online Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons by Jane Austen, Vera Nazarian - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jane Austen, Vera Nazarian
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church-yard.”
“Well, I am amazingly glad I have got rid of them! And now, what say you to going to Edgar’s Buildings with me, and looking at my new hat?”
Catherine readily agreed. “Only,” she added, “perhaps we may overtake the two young men. Would it not appear we are following them?”
“Oh! Never mind that. If we make haste, we shall pass by them presently, and I am dying to show you my hat.”
“But if we only wait a few minutes, there will be no danger of our seeing them at all.”
“I shall not pay them any such compliment, I assure you. I have no notion of treating men with such respect. That is the way to spoil them.”
Catherine had nothing to contradict such reasoning. Therefore, to show the independence of Miss Thorpe, and her resolution of humbling the sex, they set off immediately as fast as they could walk, in pursuit of the two young men.
Chapter 7
H alf a minute conducted them through the pump-yard to the archway, opposite Union Passage. But here they were stopped. Anyone acquainted with Bath may remember the difficulties of crossing Cheap Street at this point—a street of so much traffic, that a day never passes in which parties of ladies in quest of pastry, millinery, or young men, are not detained on one side or other by carriages, horsemen, or carts.
This evil had been felt and lamented, at least three times a day, by Isabella since her residence in Bath; and she was now fated to lament it once more. For at the very moment of coming opposite to Union Passage, and within view of the two gentlemen, they were prevented crossing by the approach of a gig, driven by a most knowing-looking coachman with all the vehemence that could endanger the lives of himself, his companion, and his horse . . .
And with it came a blast of infernal uncanny heat .
“Oh, these odious gigs!” said Isabella, looking up. “How I detest them.” But this detestation, though so just, was of short duration, for she looked again and exclaimed, “Delightful! Mr. Morland and my brother!”
“Good heaven! ’Tis James!” was uttered at the same moment by Catherine. Simultaneously, the wave of unseasonal heat reached her, momentarily dispelling the cold atmosphere of her companion.
“Beware, oh, twice beware, dear child!” came the voices of the angels. “It is the other one that you must now beware, he is here! Infernal nephilim, demon children of the fallen ones, both are here to claim you, and you must resist—”
“Oh, criminy, no!” muttered Catherine. “I still don’t understand, why me?” And she hid her whisperings in a series of coughs.
As soon as the young ladies caught the young men’s eyes, the horse was immediately checked—with a violence which almost threw him on his haunches. The servant scampered up, the gentlemen jumped out, and the equipage was delivered to his care.
Catherine, by whom this meeting was wholly unexpected, received her brother with the liveliest pleasure. She noted, his one angelic guardian flew bright and eager to join her own heavenly cloud of at least a dozen (and she could distinctly hear his dulcet voice complaining not-so-dulcetly about “having to endure the constant proximity of the infernal one and his infernal heat, and oh, poor James—”).
James, being of a very amiable disposition, and sincerely attached to his sister, gave every proof on his side of equal satisfaction at seeing Catherine.
Meanwhile the searing-bright decidedly yellowish eyes of Miss Thorpe were incessantly challenging his notice. And to her his devoirs were speedily paid, with a mixture of joy and embarrassment which might have informed Catherine—had she been more expert in the development of other people’s feelings, and less simply engrossed by her own—that her brother thought her friend quite as pretty as she herself initially did. That is, until the second metaphysical veil of vision parted and she could see the horrid creature for what she truly
“Well, I am amazingly glad I have got rid of them! And now, what say you to going to Edgar’s Buildings with me, and looking at my new hat?”
Catherine readily agreed. “Only,” she added, “perhaps we may overtake the two young men. Would it not appear we are following them?”
“Oh! Never mind that. If we make haste, we shall pass by them presently, and I am dying to show you my hat.”
“But if we only wait a few minutes, there will be no danger of our seeing them at all.”
“I shall not pay them any such compliment, I assure you. I have no notion of treating men with such respect. That is the way to spoil them.”
Catherine had nothing to contradict such reasoning. Therefore, to show the independence of Miss Thorpe, and her resolution of humbling the sex, they set off immediately as fast as they could walk, in pursuit of the two young men.
Chapter 7
H alf a minute conducted them through the pump-yard to the archway, opposite Union Passage. But here they were stopped. Anyone acquainted with Bath may remember the difficulties of crossing Cheap Street at this point—a street of so much traffic, that a day never passes in which parties of ladies in quest of pastry, millinery, or young men, are not detained on one side or other by carriages, horsemen, or carts.
This evil had been felt and lamented, at least three times a day, by Isabella since her residence in Bath; and she was now fated to lament it once more. For at the very moment of coming opposite to Union Passage, and within view of the two gentlemen, they were prevented crossing by the approach of a gig, driven by a most knowing-looking coachman with all the vehemence that could endanger the lives of himself, his companion, and his horse . . .
And with it came a blast of infernal uncanny heat .
“Oh, these odious gigs!” said Isabella, looking up. “How I detest them.” But this detestation, though so just, was of short duration, for she looked again and exclaimed, “Delightful! Mr. Morland and my brother!”
“Good heaven! ’Tis James!” was uttered at the same moment by Catherine. Simultaneously, the wave of unseasonal heat reached her, momentarily dispelling the cold atmosphere of her companion.
“Beware, oh, twice beware, dear child!” came the voices of the angels. “It is the other one that you must now beware, he is here! Infernal nephilim, demon children of the fallen ones, both are here to claim you, and you must resist—”
“Oh, criminy, no!” muttered Catherine. “I still don’t understand, why me?” And she hid her whisperings in a series of coughs.
As soon as the young ladies caught the young men’s eyes, the horse was immediately checked—with a violence which almost threw him on his haunches. The servant scampered up, the gentlemen jumped out, and the equipage was delivered to his care.
Catherine, by whom this meeting was wholly unexpected, received her brother with the liveliest pleasure. She noted, his one angelic guardian flew bright and eager to join her own heavenly cloud of at least a dozen (and she could distinctly hear his dulcet voice complaining not-so-dulcetly about “having to endure the constant proximity of the infernal one and his infernal heat, and oh, poor James—”).
James, being of a very amiable disposition, and sincerely attached to his sister, gave every proof on his side of equal satisfaction at seeing Catherine.
Meanwhile the searing-bright decidedly yellowish eyes of Miss Thorpe were incessantly challenging his notice. And to her his devoirs were speedily paid, with a mixture of joy and embarrassment which might have informed Catherine—had she been more expert in the development of other people’s feelings, and less simply engrossed by her own—that her brother thought her friend quite as pretty as she herself initially did. That is, until the second metaphysical veil of vision parted and she could see the horrid creature for what she truly
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