Page:Jane Austen (Sarah Fanny Malden 1889).djvu/177

 comes too, and having fallen in love—or supposing he has—with Catherine, she receives her first offer from him, though being quite unconscious of his admiration for her, which is not very intelligibly expressed, she does not know, until later in the story, that he has offered himself. Last, but not leasts Isabella introduces Catherine to the class of novels which are to influence her mind so powerfully.

"'My dearest Catherine, what have you been doing with yourself all this morning? Have you gone on with Udolpho?'

"'Yes; I have been reading it ever since I woke; and I am got to the black veil.'

"'Are you, indeed? How delightful! Oh, I would not tell you what is behind the black veil for the world. Are you not wild to know?'

"'Oh, yes, quite; what can it be? But do not tell me; I would not be told upon any account. I know it must be a skeleton; I am sure it is Laurentina's skeleton. Oh! I am delighted with the book; I should like to spend my whole life in reading it, I assure you; if it had not been to meet you, I would not have come away from it for all the world.'

"'Dear creature! how much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho we will read The Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.'

"'Have you, indeed? How glad I am! What are they all?'

"'I will read you their names directly. Here they are in my pocket-book: Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.'