With the walls of the kitchen ended all the antiquity of the Abbey;the fourth side of the quadrangle having,on account of its decaying state,been removed by the General's father,and the present erected in its place.All that was venerable ceased here.The new building was not only new,but declared itself to be so;intended only for offices,and enclosed behind by stable yards,no uniformity of architecture had been thought necessary.Catherine could have raved at the hand which had swept away what must have been beyond the value of all the rest,for the purposes of mere domestic economy;and would willingly have been spared the mortification of a walk through scenes so fallen,had the General allowed it;but if he had a vanity,it was in the arrangement of his offices;and as he was convinced,that,to a mind like Miss Morland's,a view of the accommodations and comforts,by which the labours of her inferiors were softened,must always be gratifying,he should make no apology for leading her on.They took a slight survey of all;and Catherine was impressed,beyond her expectation,by their multiplicity and their convenience.The purposes for which a few shapeless pantries and a comfortless scullery were deemed sufficient at Fullerton,were here carried on in appropriate divisions,commodious and roomy.The number of servants continually appearing,did not strike her less than the number of their offices.Wherever they went,some pattened girl stopped to curtsey,or some footman in dishabille sneaked off.Yet this was an Abbey! How inexpressibly different in these domestic arrangements from such as she had read about from abbeys and castles,in which,though certainly larger than Northanger,all the dirty work of the house was to be done by two pair of female hands at the utmost.How they could get through it all,had often amazed Mrs Allen;and,when Catherine saw what was necessary here,she began to be amazed herself.
They returned to the hall,that the chief staircase might be ascended,and the beauty of its wood,and ornaments of rich carving might be pointed out:having gained the top,they turned in an opposite direction from the gallery in which her room lay,and shortly entered one on the same plan,but superior in length and breadth.She was here shown successively into three large bed chambers,with their dressing rooms,most completely and handsomely fitted up;everything that money and taste could do,to give comfort and elegance to apartments,had been bestowed on these;and,being furnished within the last five years,they were perfect in all that would be generally pleasing,and wanting in all that could give pleasure to Catherine.As they were surveying the last,the General,after slightly naming a few of the distinguished characters,by whom they had at times been honoured,turned with a smiling countenance to Catherine,and ventured to hope,that henceforward some of their earliest tenants might be ‘our friends from Fullerton.’She felt the unexpected compliment,and deeply regretted the impossibility of thinking well of a man so kindly disposed towards herself,and so full of civility to all her family.
The gallery was terminated by folding doors,which Miss Tilney,advancing,had thrown open,and passed through,and seemed on the point of doing the same by the first door to the left,in another long reach of gallery,when the General,coming forwards,called her hastily,and,as Catherine thought,rather angrily back,demanding whither she were going? And what was there more to be seen? Had not Miss Morland already seen all that could be worth her notice? And did she not suppose her friend might be glad of some refreshment after so much exercise?Miss Tilney drew back directly,and the heavy doors were closed upon the mortified Catherine,who,having seen,in a momentary glance beyond them,a narrower passage,more numerous openings,and symptoms of a winding staircase,believed herself at last within the reach of something worth her notice;and felt,as she unwillingly paced back the gallery,that she would rather be allowed to examine that end of the house,than see all the finery of all the rest. The General's evident desire of preventing such an examination was an additional stimulant.Something was certainly to be concealed;her fancy,though it had trespassed lately once or twice,could not mislead her here;and what that something was,a short sentence of Miss Tilney's,as they followed the General at some distance downstairs,seemed to point out: ‘I was going to take you into what was my mother's room the room in which she died ’were all her words;but few as they were,they conveyed pages of intelligence to Catherine.It was no wonder that the General should shrink from the sight of such objects as that room must contain;a room in all probability never entered by him since the dreadful scene had passed,which released his suffering wife,and left him to the stings of conscience.
She ventured,when next alone with Eleanor,to express her wish of being permitted to see it,as well as all the rest of that side of the house;and Eleanor promised to attend her there,whenever they should have a convenient hour.Catherine understood her: the General must be watched from home,before that room could be entered.‘It remains as it was,I suppose?’said she,in a tone of feeling.
‘Yes,entirely.’
‘And how long ago may it be that your mother died?’
‘She has been dead these nine years.’And nine years,Catherine knew was a trifle of time,compared with what generally elapsed after the death of an injured wife,before her room was put to rights.
‘You were with her,I suppose,to the last?’
‘No,’said Miss Tilney,sighing;‘I was unfortunately from home. Her illness was sudden and short;and,before I arrived it was all over.’
