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Austen, Jane

"Northanger Abbey"

I have myself told him that Miss Thorpe is engaged. He knows what he is about, and must be his own master."


? ? ? ? "No, he does not know what he is about," cried Catherine; "he does not know the pain he is giving my brother. Not that James has ever told me so, but I am sure he is very uncomfortable."


? ? ? ? "And are you sure it is my brother's doing?"


? ? ? ? "Yes, very sure."


? ? ? ? "Is it my brother's attentions to Miss Thorpe, or Miss Thorpe's admission of them, that gives the pain?"


? ? ? ? "Is not it the same thing?"


? ? ? ? "I think Mr. Morland would acknowledge a difference. No man is offended by another man's admiration of the woman he loves; it is the woman only who can make it a torment."


? ? ? ? Catherine blushed for her friend, and said, "Isabella is wrong. But I am sure she cannot mean to torment, for she is very much attached to my brother. She has been in love with him ever since they first met, and while my father's consent was uncertain, she fretted herself almost into a fever. You know she must be attached to him."


? ? ? ? "I understand: she is in love with James, and flirts with Frederick."


? ? ? ? "Oh! no, not flirts. A woman in love with one man cannot flirt with another."


? ? ? ? "It is probable that she will neither love so well, nor flirt so well, as she might do either singly.


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