He shook his head. “Women who have stored their minds with knowledge, who have various tastes and literary occupations, who can amuse and be amused in the conversation of well-informed people, are in no danger of becoming undesirable to a man by being too intelligent.”
He said this in a tone of placation, and Eleanor knew she had to speak plainly. All he expected of a wife’s intelligence was that she talks pleasantly on polite subjects.We cannot proceed if he thinks that the intelligence of one half of the human species is naturally—and ought to be—less than the other’s.“I believe it possible for women to be men’s equals in knowledge, and that it is only opportunity that we are lacking.”
“Ah, I see.” Sir Charles gave her a look of comprehension. “I do not think less of you for often having your nose in a history book. I understand from your father that you can play and draw. You seem to have good habits and a power of reasoning, and you can draw out your shy cousin and be pleasant with that forward Lady Alice and manage the temper of your irascible father. Those are admirable qualities for a man in my position who needs a wife who can converse with a variety of political allies and their wives.”
As they walked on, she supposed this might be the most she could expect in a husband. She could not endure months with only her father at Northanger until the London season in the hopes of meeting other men. Besides, most men of the rank and wealth that would be agreeable to her father would think like Sir Charles.
She was alternately lonely at Northanger if Henry was not there, or constantly and cruelly oppressed by her father.And now Henry is thrown out and my father is as overbearing as ever.There was no forgetting the misery of her current situation. She might be solitary at Colborne, but not be lonely, not if she had the hope of hosting her friends and being in control of her own life.
I could invite Catherine to visit me in my own home, and Henry would have the chance to spend time with her.
“Are you often in the country?” she asked abruptly. “I mean that one day in the country is often exactly like another and it can be dull.” She could hardly say that she wondered how many solitary hours she would have if she married him and he stood for Parliament.
She wondered if Sir Charles would think her comments strange, but if he did, he gave no indication.
“Colborne Park is a noble estate, and it will be more so once the grounds are improved, but the sameness of every day’s society and employments of country life disgust me with the place. Once I am elected, of course, I shall winter in town, and my wife might come as well, if she likes. Life at Colborne Park must be very like Northanger, I suppose.”
“I am often lonely, but I think that is due to my situation, not to all country life. I have few friends in my neighbourhood—just the Lady Frasers and they are often away, and no friends who visit me. My brother Henry is the person whom I see the most, and I travel little myself.”
“I say a woman’s place is at home, whether that is a house in town or in the country.”
Eleanor thought for a moment. “If I could invite whom I wished and manage that home completely, I could be content with my situation.”
“Are you in earnest?”
She refused to let her thoughts linger on Philip. “Yes.”
“Then I think we know what we are about, Miss Tilney,” he said pointedly. “Neither of us has any patience for a grand romance. Let us take the next few days to learn if you would suit me.”
“Surely you mean we ought to learn if we might suit one another.”
Sir Charles only bowed with a bemused little smile. Still, he held out his arm for her to take and tilted his head toward the path ahead of them. Eleanor pushed aside all thoughts of romance, of mutual affection, of the man she had loved since she was seventeen, and took Sir Charles’s arm.
I might often be alone if I married him, but I shall not be lonely or tyrannised.
ChapterEight
“Stupid project to some ruined castle,” Philip grumbled to himself while he collected his sheets of calculations and volumes of mathematical tables. He should be packing to return to Belleville, but General Tilney’s polite pretences to forward his own selfish inclinations had forced Philip into accompanying Eleanor on an excursion with her beau.
Somehow, Sir Charles, with no promising disposition, was the darling of everyone at Welland. The other young men liked him, the older gentlemen approved of him, and the young ladies liked him so well that Lady Alice was helping Eleanor secure him for a husband.
This was the same damned man who had implied Philip could not afford to keep his own horse. He felt a tightness in his chest as he threw his books and papers into their portfolio. He could not stand to stay and watch Eleanor court Sir Charles’s attentions, flatter him and defer to him, and yet that is exactly what General Tilney had just managed.
If Sir Charles gets into Parliament, I hope he passes a tax on clocks and watches just to insult General Tilney.
The door opened and Vaughan entered, and Philip, feeling all the frustration of not only losing Eleanor but having to watch it happen, said, “Could you not have told General Tilney that I had to leave with you tomorrow?”
Vaughan drew back, surprised, but then he laughed. “Is this about Sir Charles’s slings and arrows? Pay him no mind. Your connexions are just as good as his.”
“That is so easy for you to say when your fortune is greater than his, and you get to leave tomorrow.”
His cousin shrugged and sat. Philip felt his temper rise and said, “Sir Charles is an ill-looking fellow. Why could Miss Tilney not choose any other rich person to be her saviour from Northanger?”
“He is a handsome man, and Sir Charles has spirits that some people find charming.”
“He is a rattle!” Philip cried. “Sir Charles trifles his time away without the benefit of books or anything.” The only good thing about that was if Eleanor married him, she might often be left alone to follow any pursuit she wished without constant disparagement and unreasonable demands like she suffered under her father.
“I do not disagree that he is not a naturally amiable man, but not all men are as studious and patient as you.”
