“Eleanor, I am sure Lady Alice has an excellent reason for not being here to greet you,” General Tilney said sharply. “Lady Alice is not so kept by a watch as you are accustomed to. You ought to show your friend a little more grace.”
Eleanor kept her smile in place and assured Lady Longtown that Alice did not insult her by being out of the house. “I only thought I would walk out after her if you knew where she was,” she added, refusing to give an emphatic look to her father. It would do her no good if he thought she was contradicting him.
“She is walking the orchard,” the marquess answered, already at the door with her father. “Takes after me. I am always checking on my apples.” Eleanor knewLord Longtown only walked into his orchard when the general was at Welland Hall and boasting about his pineapples.
As the gentlemen left, it fell to Lady Longtown to say several times that Eleanor was welcome to go into the orchard after her friend, Alice would not mind it at all, it was fine weather for a walk, before she could escape.
Welland Hall lacked Northanger’s steep woody hills, but one could stand near the front door and see a plantation of trees. Eleanor sought the comfort of the spring breeze and a few moments of quiet contemplation amongst the apple trees. It was nothing to her grove of Scotch firs at home, but the gardens and shrubberies were kept in almost as high order as were her father’s.
How shall I tolerate returning to Northanger with my friend gone, Henry banished, and my father’s temper worse than it has ever been?
“Is that you, Eleanor?”
She turned to see Lady Alice Kitchener running toward her, crossing between the trees before stopping on the gravel walk. Alice was a few years older than herself, a few inches taller, and had a great deal more personal beauty as far as Eleanor was concerned. She clutched her bonnet in one hand and a notebook in the other, and Eleanor stared at her friend’s bare head.
“Your hair!”
Alice touched her glossy black hair that was now cut short and frizzled prettily all round her head. “Do you like my cheveux à la Titus?”
Eleanor nodded and gave a wry smile. “Are you showing your allegiance to the Republic?”
“Enough of your history lessons, my dear. It was merely a capricious whim, although it is fashionable now. You ought to try it.”
“I already prefer my natural hair.”
Alice linked an arm through hers and led them down the walk. “Did all the old people in Bath still powder their hair?” Eleanor agreed and remarked also on the number of wigs she saw. “My parents will powder their hair until they die. I hear from my brother George that Mr Henry Tilney has cut his hair. Now when you rap your brother on the head for being teasing, you shall not have the extra laugh of covering his face with powder.”
Eleanor smiled at Alice’s high spirits. “You forget I am the younger sister, and have had little chance to knock Henry about, no matter how provoking he is.”
“True, and he is rather tall; difficult to reach his head. My mother says that Mr Tilney is not coming to Welland. I cannot imagine the general took that well.”
The same sinking feeling overtook her as it did every time that she thought of Catherine being cast from the house.Or is it because I know that when I return to Northanger, I will once again be there friendless and solitary?As calmly as she could, she described meeting Catherine in Bath and her subsequent expulsion from Northanger Abbey.
“You must not mention the circumstance in front of my father,” Eleanor pleaded. “In fact, do not mention Henry at all. The general is furious with him, and he has forbidden me from writing to Miss Morland. I told her she could direct a letter to me here, under cover to you. She is so young, and I need to know if she arrived safely.”
Alice agreed and then shook her head in disbelief. “What caused him to throw out a girl he courted away from her friends to stay with you? It sounds like he wished her for Mr Henry Tilney. Is she poor?”
“No more so than she was when we met in Bath.”
“Perhaps he learnt in London she had nothing to offer Mr Tilney, and like a gothic villain, General Tilney cast her out!” Alice’s eyes lost their focus, and Eleanor watched, amused, as her mind rapidly jumped about. “Do you think highwaymen overtook her on the road to Wiltshire?”
“You are the writer, but do not make a sensation of it. She likely arrived in one piece, perhaps a little delayed if she missed a stop, but Henry has followed to make certain of it.”
Alice’s eyes widened. “He has gone after her! What a grand romantic gesture. He defied his father to pursue his love.”
“Or he went because Henry is a gentleman and wanted to be assured of her safety and beg for her family to forgive us.”
“No, no, keep your rationality out of my romantic plot. Mr Tilney loves her.”
“Do you really think he would propose in defiance of my father’s wishes?” Alice looked as though she believed it. Such a defiance would be more in Henry’s capabilities than hers. Henry and their elder brother Frederick had control of their own money, they had incomes of their own, and could come and go as they pleased.
Whereas I cannot travel without a man, I have my privacy impinged, and the only money I have access to is the pin money my father allows me.
“You know what this could mean, my dear Eleanor? If Mr Tilney marries your friend, you could live with them.”
Eleanor stopped walking. She could never outright defy her father; it was a chilling thought. He would prohibit all letters and company until she capitulated, oppress her spirits into submission even more than he currently did, and keep her money from her. But even if she lost access to her money, she could live at Woodston with Henry and his wife. “I could leave Northanger,” she whispered.
Alice winked and linked an arm through hers again. They walked back to Welland in silence, and Eleanor thought over the prospect of breaking free from her father. If she lived with her married brother, she would still not be mistress of her own home, but she was currently one in name only so it would be no different at Woodston.
