Northanger Abbey, chapter 18: Flirting with (Captain) Danger

Catherine rides the high of her latest invitation for a couple days, but the bloom of excitement wears off and she realizes that Isabella has been more or less absent. (Having Mrs. Allen as her primary source of social interaction makes her yearn for Isabella’s presence, which gives us some more insight as to why the friendship started out so strong.) Today, they meet up at the Pump-room and right away Isabella starts acting in a very ~Isabella~ way. 

They sit on a bench that she claims “is so far out of the way” of others, even though it “[commands] a tolerable view of everybody entering” the room. Cat notices how often Isabella glances at the doors and is like, is James coming? Or your sisters? And Isabella is all “Psha!” and mentions what “Tilney” has said about her “absent” mind. Wait, why does it sound like a “Tilney” knows Isabella so well all of a sudden? Cat doesn’t ask this question, which is weird, because you’d think she’d want to know what any member of the Tilney family says. Although I guess Captain Older Brother Who Laughs At Women (and Henry) doesn’t count.

Then Isabella drops the news that her own useless brother has tasked her with “urg[ing] his suit” as he believes that Cat has encouraged his offer of marriage.* This shocks Cat to her core, to which Isabella responds by accusing her of “fishing for compliments.” “His attentions were such as a child must have noticed,” she says, and wow, this really comes off as Isabella getting in a dig at Cat’s intelligence! 

Cat protests “with all the earnestness of truth” that she had no idea of John being into her, that he never made an offer in the first place. The wily Isabella reminds Cat that “you and John were alone in the parlor some time before you left the house.” (I hate how this sounds like an accusation.) Cat replies that if she has no memory of the meeting, then it made no impression on her, which kinda proves her point that she has been unaware of John’s purported feelings for her. Isabella is convinced … sort of. She reverses course, claiming that “as soon as I read his letter, I thought it a very foolish, imprudent business” since Cat and John would have little money “to live upon.” Tellingly, she assumes that Cat’s “thoughts and designs in time past may have been” different, and concludes that “[w]hat one means one day, you know, one may not mean the next.” Cat protests again, probably bewildered that Isabella seems to insist on her having a fickle affection, but Isabella prattles on about how good a friend she (Isabella) is to her (Cat) and that “Tilney says there is nothing people are so often deceived in as the state of their own affections, and I believe he is very right.”

There are more red flags covering Isabella Thorpe than on a battle map of Waterloo.

Then dashing captain walks in and sits down next to Isabella, and everything about his approach and attitude imply that they planned this meeting: “Always to be watched, in person or by proxy!” he complains. Isabella’s all, I’m a strong, independent woman who don’t need no man, and Captain Heartbreaker replies with a line that makes me barf—something about his “eyes” giving him “torment,” yada yada. Cat can’t stand seeing this, and after Isabella turns down her suggestion to walk away, she leaves with Mrs. Allen, distraught over the notion that Isabella may be “unconsciously encouraging” Captain Torment in his overtures. 

Cat reflects that “during the whole of their conversation [Isabella’s] manner had been odd” (ya don’t say!) and that was before Captain T even joined them. All of a sudden, Isabella seems to be obsessed with money and forgetful of James. But Cat retains a little good humor, as “[John Thorpe’s] fancy[ing] himself in love with her was a matter of lively astonishment.” She just thinks Isabella had an off-day, and everything will be candy and rainbows from here on out.

The Shapard Shelf: Isabella referring to the captain as “Tilney” not only “indicates a strong degree of familiarity,” but also is an “improper” way to refer to him in front of Cat (or anyone who doesn’t know the captain well). Isabella’s admonishing of Cat for appearing modest (“very well in its way, but really a little honesty is sometimes quite as becoming”) is a reflection on how Isabella views flirtation and teasing.

*This reminds me of an episode in Anne of the Island where an old schoolmate delivers a marriage proposal from her brother (a character who drives a gig and has no social skills) to Anne during a sleepover. Why he asked his sister to do this, Anne cannot figure out. Maybe to save on postage? I don’t know if L.M. Montgomery had Northanger Abbey in mind when she wrote this, but the similarities make me giggle.