Northanger Abbey

As Catherine prepares for her six-week-long trip to Bath, there is very little fanfare or hubbub surrounding Catherine’s departure. The only eventful thing that happens on the trip itself is that Mrs. Allen worries she may have forgot her shoes at a previous stop. When they arrive in Bath, Catherine’s and Mrs. Allen’s first few days are filled with shopping trips, hair appointments, and beauty treatments, because Mrs. Allen adores fashion with the same intensity as Catherine adores novels.

Catherine’s makeover meets Mrs. Allen’s approval, and by the end of the first week they attend their first social event: a ball in the Upper Rooms. Mrs. Allen takes so long getting ready that they arrive late, and since Catherine does not know anybody in Bath, no one asks her to dance. Catherine feels awkward and Mrs. Allen laments the fact that everyone else in attendance is a stranger to them. Mr. Allen comes to take them home as the crowds begin to thin out, and as people depart Catherine notices that more men take note of her presence. She overhears two men call her pretty, and she leaves feeling satisfied.

One night, at a ball in the Lower Rooms, the master of ceremonies introduces Catherine to a young gentleman, perhaps twenty-five years old, named Mr. Henry Tilney. The two dance, after which they sit down to talk. Catherine thinks Henry is a handsome gentleman, and she enjoys conversing with him. Henry teases Catherine and she finds him amusing, but she worries that laughing would make her seem rude. Henry jokes that she is probably going to write about him in her journal, saying she will write about him as a strange man who bothered her with his bizarre behavior, although he hopes she would write something complimentary.

Mrs. Allen interrupts their conversation by saying she needs Catherine to help fix her sleeve. Henry and Mrs. Allen talk for some time about fabrics, and his knowledge from buying gowns for his sister impresses her. Although Catherine wonders if Henry takes too much pleasure in discussing people’s quirks, she agrees to dance with him. He asks what she is thinking about, and she blushes and says she was not thinking of anything. At the end of the ball, Catherine hopes she will see Henry again. Mr. Allen asks around about Henry and learns he is a clergyman from a respectable family in Gloucestershire.

The next day, Catherine and Mrs. Allen visit the Pump-room. Catherine searches for Henry in the crowds but does not see him. Mrs. Allen still bemoans not having any acquaintances in Bath, and at that exact moment she and Catherine are approached by her old schoolmate, Mrs. Thorpe. The two have not seen one another in about fifteen years, and appear excited by their reunion. They compliment one another’s looks, share updates on their respective families, and talk over each other the whole time. Mrs. Thorpe is a widow with six children, and she proudly lords her accomplishment of motherhood over Mrs. Allen, who has no children. Mrs. Allen comforts herself by thinking about how Mrs. Thorpe is not nearly as well-dressed as she is.

Soon, Mrs. Thorpe’s daughters join their conversation, and the eldest observes that Catherine looks like her brother. Catherine’s eldest brother James befriended their brother John, and James spent part of the Christmas holidays at the Thorpes’ house. The eldest daughter, Isabella, offers to walk around the Pump-room with Catherine, and the two begin a friendship. Isabella is older than Catherine by four years, but her demeanor is so warm and friendly that Catherine does not feel intimidated by their age difference. Isabella offers to share her knowledge of Bath, and even walks Catherine home to Mr. Allen’s door. Catherine is so excited by this new friendship that she nearly forgets about Henry.