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"Hoell your brother dances!" was an artless exclamation of Catherine's towards the close of their conversation, which at once surprised and amused her companion

"Henry!" she replied with a sht it very odd to heardown But I really had been engaged the whole day to Mr Thorpe" Miss Tilney could only bow

"You cannot think," added Catherine after a ain I felt so sure of his being quite gone away"

"When Henry had the pleasure of seeing you before, he was in Bath but for a couple of days He cas for us"

"That never occurred to ht helady he danced with on Monday a Miss Shes"

"I dare say she was very glad to dance Do you think her pretty?"

"Not very"

"He never comes to the pump-room, I suppose?"

"Yes, so with hes now joined theo "I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again soon," said Catherine "Shall you be at the cotillion ball tomorrow?"

"Perhaps we--Yes, I think we certainly shall"

"I alad of it, for we shall all be there" This civility was duly returned; and they parted--on Miss Tilney's side with sos, and on Catherine's, without the s explained the had answered all her hopes, and the evening of the following day was now the object of expectation, the future good What gown and what head-dress she should wear on the occasion became her chief concern She cannot be justified in it Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aireat aunt had read her a lecture on the subject only the Christht debating between her spotted and her ta but the shortness of the ti This would have been an error in judgh not uncommon, from which one of the other sex rather than her own, a brother rather than a great aunt, ht have warned her, for man only can be aware of the insensibility of s of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire; how little it is biased by the texture of their muslin, and how unsusceptible of peculiar tenderness towards the spotted, the sprigged, the mull, or the jackonet Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it Neatness and fashion are enough for the for of shabbiness or i to the latter But not one of these grave reflections troubled the tranquillity of Catherine