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Such was the permission upon which he had now offered her his hand

The affrighted Catherine, amidst all the terrors of expectation, as she listened to this account, could not but rejoice in the kind caution hich Henry had saved her fro her faith before he ive the particulars, and explain the s soon hardened into even a triu to accuse her of, nothing to lay to her charge, but her being the involuntary, unconscious object of a deception which his pride could not pardon, and which a better pride would have been asha less rich than he had supposed her to be Under a mistaken persuasion of her possessions and claims, he had courted her acquaintance in Bath, solicited her cohter-in-law On discovering his error, to turn her fros an inadequate proof of his resentment towards herself, and his conteeneral, perceiving his son one night at the theatre to be paying considerable attention to Miss Morland, had accidentally inquired of Thorpe if he knew more of her than her na terms with a man of General Tilney's importance, had been joyfully and proudly co at that ti Isabella, but likewise pretty well resolved uponCatherine himself, his vanity induced him to represent the family as yet more wealthy than his vanity and avarice had made him believe them With whomsoever he was, or was likely to be connected, his own consequence always required that theirs should be great, and as his intirew their fortune The expectations of his friend Morland, therefore, from the first overrated, had ever since his introduction to Isabella been gradually increasing; and by randeur of thewhat he chose to think the a his private fortune, bestowing a rich aunt, and sinking half the children, he was able to represent the whole faht For Catherine, however, the peculiar object of the general's curiosity, and his own speculations, he had yet so more in reserve, and the ten or fifteen thousand pounds which her father could give her would be a pretty addition to Mr Allen's estate Her inti handsoacied hereafter; and to speak of her therefore as the aled future heiress of Fullerton naturally followed Upon such intelligence the general had proceeded; for never had it occurred to him to doubt its authority Thorpe's interest in the fa connection with one of its members, and his own views on another (circumstances of which he boasted with almost equal openness), seemed sufficient vouchers for his truth; and to these were added the absolute facts of the Allens being wealthy and childless, of Miss Morland's being under their care, and--as soon as his acquaintance allowed hi her with parental kindness His resolution was soon for towards Miss Morland in the countenance of his son; and thankful for Mr Thorpe's communication, he al his boasted interest and ruining his dearest hopes