? ? ? ? "But how can that be?" said Catherine. "Are not you with her?"
? ? ? ? "Northanger is not more than half my home; I have an establishment at my own house in Woodston, which is nearly twenty miles from my father's, and some of my time is necessarily spent there."
? ? ? ? "How sorry you must be for that!"
? ? ? ? "I am always sorry to leave Eleanor."
? ? ? ? "Yes; but besides your affection for her, you must be so fond of the abbey! After being used to such a home as the abbey, an ordinary parsonage-house must be very disagreeable."
? ? ? ? He smiled, and said, "You have formed a very favourable idea of the abbey."
? ? ? ? "To be sure, I have. Is not it a fine old place, just like what one reads about?"
? ? ? ? "And are you prepared to encounter all the horrors that a building such as 'what one reads about' may produce? Have you a stout heart? Nerves fit for sliding panels and tapestry?"
? ? ? ? "Oh! yes--I do not think I should be easily frightened, because there would be so many people in the house--and besides, it has never been uninhabited and left deserted for years, and then the family come back to it unawares, without giving any notice, as generally happens.
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