Page:Austen - Northanger Abbey. Persuasion, vol. II, 1818.djvu/238



T next morning brought the following very unexpected letter from Isabella:—

Bath, April

My dearest Catherine,

I received your two kind letters with the greatest delight, and have a thousand apologies to make for not answering them sooner. I really am quite ashamed of my idleness; but in this horrid place one can find time for nothing. I have had my pen in my hand to begin a letter to you almost every day since you left Bath, but have always been prevented by some