Northanger Abbey

by Val McDermid

  ‘I think that’s very sensible of Jamie and very generous of your parents, Cat. I wish I could do as much, but of course I’m just a poor widow. I expect Mr Morland will do more for you once he sees you settled, for he sounds a lovely man, from everything Jamie has said,’ Martha commented.

  ‘I doubt it,’ Cat said. ‘He’s only a vicar.’

  Both Martha and Bella looked at her with some puzzlement, but Bella moved on regardless. ‘But here’s the worst bit. Jamie says he thinks we should wait for a couple of years at least before we get married because he just doesn’t see how he can support both of us till he’s got his feet under the table. Even with the little bit I bring in.’

  ‘Now that does surprise me,’ Martha said. ‘It’s not like you’re ‘Now that does surprise me,’ Martha said. ‘It’s not like you’re a big spender. You’re not one of those “want, want, want” girls.’

  Bella sighed. ‘I’m not thinking of myself, I’m thinking of poor Jamie having to work so hard just to earn enough for the basics. It’s him I care about. I can manage with next to nothing.’

  Martha patted her daughter’s hand. ‘That’s just like you. So selfless. It’s such a shame that the only reward it brings you is everybody’s affection and respect. If all that love turned to money, you and Jamie would be millionaires. Frankly, I’m sure that when the Morlands meet you, Jamie’s father will find a way to help you be together as soon as possible.’

  Bella gave Cat a look freighted with an impenetrable meaning. ‘Everybody has the right to do what they want with their own money.’

  Cat didn’t know what she could say to make the truth of her family’s situation clearer. She looked to Susie for assistance, but she was staring deep into her coffee cup. ‘I’m amazed my dad’s offered this much,’ she said. ‘Honestly, he’s always made it clear we’d have to make our own way in the world.’

  ‘Dear, sweet Cat,’ Bella sighed again. ‘It’s not the lack of money that’s pissing me off – you know I despise people who are obsessed with money. It’s the waiting. Two years? I’d run off with Jamie tomorrow and to hell with the money. But your father has obviously convinced him that he needs to be cautious and save up before we can get married. Save up for what? I’d live with Jamie in a bedsit.’

  ‘Of course you would,’ Martha said stoutly. ‘You wear your heart on your sleeve, of course you’d be happy in a bedsit.’

  ‘It wouldn’t be easy for James, though, trying to prepare his cases in a bedsit,’ Cat said dubiously. ‘Couldn’t you get a better-paid job in the meantime?’ She wanted to believe Bella cared only about the delay, but there was a niggle at the back of her mind that the loss of the glamorous Chelsea life Bella had fantasised about was closer to her heart than she cared to admit.

  Bella and Martha both looked blankly at her. ‘But what would Ma do without me?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Martha said. ‘Bella’s invaluable to me. And we love working together. It’s so rare to find a job you truly love, and that’s worth more than money.’

  ‘I suppose,’ Cat said dubiously, scolding herself for nurturing such thoughts about her friend. She took herself off to the bookshop so that Bella and Martha could thrash things out to their hearts’ content while she distracted herself with the fresh display of that day’s performing authors. It was there that Ellie Tilney found her with her nose in a book of poetry.

  ‘Hi, Cat, what’re you reading?’

  ‘William Letford.’ Cat showed her. ‘His day job is a roofer, and he’s really good looking. But the best bit is that his poems are really zingy, full of life.’

  ‘That’s wild. Listen, Cat, I’ve got some really boring news.’

  Cat felt she’d had quite enough trial by news for one day, but she forced a smile. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘We’re leaving town tomorrow.’ Ellie looked on the verge of tears. ‘My father was supposed to meet up with a couple of his Falklands cronies, but they haven’t been able to make it. And the weather forecast is for a few days of scorching weather and he hates being in the city when it’s hot and stuffy, so he’s decided we’re all going back to Northanger in the morning.’

  Cat had neither the skill nor the will to hide her dismay. She couldn’t bear the prospect of not seeing Henry again. ‘Oh no, Ellie,’ she wailed. ‘I was so looking forward to spending more time with you and Henry.’

  ‘And we feel exactly the same. So, I was wondering . . . I know it’s totally out of order and totally short notice—’

  ‘There you are, Eleanor.’ General Tilney’s unmistakable clipped accent interrupted his daughter’s awkward attempt at making a request. ‘I’ve been looking all over for you girls. So, what does she have to say, Eleanor? Shall I congratulate you on managing to bring us all some delight?’

  ‘I hadn’t actually got as far as asking her, Father, because you arrived.’

  The General shook his head impatiently. ‘If you want a job doing, do it yourself. Never rely on your children, Catherine. Bear that in mind for future reference. Now, here’s the thing. Did Eleanor manage to convey the information that we are about to leave Edinburgh?’ Cat nodded. ‘She did? Good, that’s something, at least. You know, Catherine, every year, I persuade myself it will be different – that I’ll enjoy all the performances I’ve chosen to attend, that I’ll engage in nothing but brilliant conversation and that my life will be a buffoon-free zone. And every year I am proved wrong.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘I realise it’s not like this for you young people, but Edinburgh grows tedious to me. And besides, I prefer to be at Northanger when the weather is hot. The only thing that would improve matters further would be if we could persuade you to drag yourself away from the endless pleasures of the festival –’ here, he raised his eyebrows and turned his eyes heavenwards ‘– and give us all the pleasure of your company at Northanger?’

  Ellie gripped her friend’s hand. ‘Please say you will.’

  The General clapped a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. ‘I know our humble home will seem modest to you, but we will do our best to make you comfortable. There will be no galleries or theatres to amuse you, but equally there will be no opinionated idiots to annoy you or terrible performances to regret as soon as the house lights are dimmed.’ He gave her his most charming smile. ‘And we will do our best to make sure you enjoy your visit.’

  Cat could hardly credit this fulsome invitation. Not in her most detailed fantasies had she imagined being swept off to Henry’s home as an honoured guest. It was all she could do not to gibber and jabber her gratitude and delight. She wanted to caper and prance round the bookshop, prattling to passing strangers about this unexpected and flattering turn of events. Not just some casual suggestion that she might drop by, but a pressing request for her company. It held out such entrancing possibilities – thrilling, romantic, yet with a frisson of the dark and unknown. Somehow, Cat contained herself and managed simply to say, ‘That’s very kind and I’d love to come. But I have to check with my parents. And with Mr and Mrs Allen, of course.’

  The General waved a dismissive hand. ‘I spoke to Mrs Allen just now, when I was searching for you. And although obviously she’s sorry to lose your excellent company, she is perfectly willing for you to join us down in the Borders. So I think it’s pretty much a fait accompli.’

  Such a divine French accent, Cat thought as she pulled her phone from her pocket. ‘All the same,’ she said, ‘I still need to check with Mum and Dad.’

  A momentary look of displeasure flickered across the General’s face, but he gave a stiff smile. ‘Eleanor and I will take a look at the history section while you . . .’ he waggled his fingers to indicate the business of composing a text to her mother.

  Ellie Tilney wants me 2 go & stay w her at Northanger Abbey for a few days. OK with Susie. OK with you? Please say yes! Cx

  Easier to explain if she said Ellie had invited her, she thought. She didn’t want Annie thinking there was anything weird going on. Especially if Northanger turned out to b
e the vampire heaven she believed it might be.

  She perched on the arm of a sofa, hardly able to contain her impatience. Luckily for the state of her nails, her mother texted back almost immediately.

  James says she’s a lovely girl. If Susie thinks it’s OK, I’m fine with it. Don’t take advantage of their hospitality, don’t outstay your welcome and email me pix! Just googled it and it looks amazing! Have fun. We miss you. XXX BTW, we can’t wait to meet Bella, James says you two are best of friends, which is lovely for him.

  Cat almost tripped over her own feet, so eager was she to pass on the good news to the General and Ellie. ‘Splendid,’ General Tilney said. ‘I didn’t see how they could object after Mrs Allen gave the plan her thumbs up. Good. Well, you girls can sort out the details. I have business to attend to before I leave town.’ He patted both girls on the shoulder and marched out of the tent.

  ‘I’m so excited,’ Ellie said. ‘I hardly ever have anyone to stay. Usually my father is irritated by my friends and he doesn’t want them cluttering the place up, as he puts it. But he’s really taken to you in a big way.’

  ‘You can’t be more excited than I am! I’m thrilled to bits that I’m actually going to be staying in a genuine old abbey. And with my new friends.’ She pulled Ellie into a hug and spun round with her. ‘This is the best thing that’s happened to me since Susie invited me to come to Edinburgh with them. Ellie, you’ve no idea how electrifying this is compared to my usual life!’

  They quickly sorted out the arrangements for the following morning, then Ellie had to rush off to meet Henry at a live poetry slam. Cat pulled a face. ‘Rather you than me.’

  Ellie grinned. ‘We’re only going because one of the poets is an old school friend of Henry’s. See you tomorrow. But I’ll tweet you when I get the chance.’

  Cat collapsed into one of the armchairs strategically placed around the bookshop for ardent readers whose feet had had enough of Edinburgh pavements. She was the luckiest person in the world, she thought. All the constellations had lined up in her favour. First, she’d had the amazing fortune to be here in the first place, thanks to the Allens. She’d seen theatre that had literally stopped her breath, comedy that had made her laugh till she couldn’t breathe at all, and listened to authors whose words had brought life into the dullest of her days. She’d learned to dance and put her new skills into helter-skelter practice. She’d made new friends and been present at her brother’s ascension into the world of true adulthood. And she had – yes, she was going to admit it – she had fallen in love. And now she was the General’s chosen visitor, she would be cheek by jowl with the man of her dreams for as long as she was at Northanger Abbey.

  And that was the icing on the cake. Cat’s passion for atmospheric architecture was only just second to her passion for Henry. Her imagination had always been filled with images of pinnacles and buttresses, battlements and cloisters, priests’ holes and secret passages. Long before she’d ever clapped eyes on Henry, they’d been the stuff of her fantasies. Her parents had family memberships of the National Trust and English Heritage, and those tours of castles, abbeys and noble houses had wakened her appetite for more thorough exploration behind the twisted scarlet rope. And now it was within reach. She could already see herself, trepidatious in long damp passages, thrilled in narrow cells with high window slits, terrified in the ruined chapel itself.

  Cat was strangely touched by the General’s description of this bounty as ‘modest’. She was charmed by his lack of boastfulness about the quality of his home. It was a surprising humility she’d never have suspected, judging by his apparent self-confidence about everything else in his life. She wished Ellie was around so she could press her for more details about her home. When was it built? How did it come into the hands of the Tilneys? Were there legends and creepy tales from the crypt? The images she’d googled promised delicious excitement and more. But would it really be so unnerving in reality? Surely with Ellie and Henry in attendance, no matter how spooky it was, she would be safe.

  For now, she could only speculate. But before long, she would have the chance to savour every aspect of Northanger Abbey for herself. And she was determined to do just that. No matter how bloodcurdling it might be, it would be no match for Cat Morland.

  18

  In spite of her fixation on her own future, Bella was alive to the change in Cat’s mood when she returned to their table outside the Spiegeltent. ‘You look like the cat that’s got the cream,’ she said. ‘So the General found you, did he? I suppose you said yes? I suppose you’re off to Northanger Abbey in the morning?’ It was hard to ignore her air of resentment.

  ‘I had no idea they were going back so soon,’ Cat said, determined not to let Bella deflate her good mood. ‘Never mind that they’d ask me to go back with them. How lucky is that?’

  ‘All right for some. I’m going to be stuck here in Edinburgh with nobody for company but Jess and Claire. I might as well just kill myself now.’ She pouted.

  ‘But James is coming back, isn’t he? At least until he has to go back to work.’

  ‘Sweet Jamie.’ Bella dragged her eyes away from her study of the festival entrance and gazed heavenwards momentarily. ‘I miss him so much.’

  ‘Is that why you can’t take your eyes off the people coming in? Do you think he’s going to sneak up and surprise you?’

  Bella sighed. ‘Honestly, Cat. As if. You make it sound like I want to be hanging on his arm every minute of the day. It would be totally hideous to be together all the time. Everybody would laugh at us behind our backs. It’s healthy for a relationship if you spend time apart, you know. Take it from me, a bloke like Henry Tilney would soon get pretty bored if you were the only company he ever had. So, no, I’m not looking out for Jamie. I’m just interested, that’s all. There might be somebody I know from London, somebody to keep me company when you go gadding off to Northanger. You have to keep me posted, sweetie. Photos and texts and tweets and emails, the lot. I’m going to be glued to your Facebook page, you lucky dog. Is it haunted?’

  Cat shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t had the chance to talk to Ellie properly about it. As soon as I know anything, you will too, I promise. The first mystery I have to get the answer to is what happened to Mrs Tilney. All I know is that she was a recluse and now she’s dead. I don’t know when or how.’ But her friend’s attention had already wandered. ‘Bella? Are you sure you’re not expecting someone?’

  With an effort, Bella dragged her eyes back to Cat. ‘My eyes have to be pointing somewhere, Cat. If I stared at you all the time, people would think we were lesbians. You know how I always need to keep an eye on what’s going on around me. Freddie says I’ve got an agile mind, that’s why my eye is always wandering. Oh, and that reminds me. I nearly forgot. I had an email from Johnny. I bet you can guess what it was about?’

  Cat would have struggled to care less, but she chose to humour her friend. ‘His outfit for the wedding?’

  ‘Hardly. Since the only thing he can talk about is you. The poor fool is head over heels in love with you.’

  ‘With me?’

  ‘Oh, stop it. Honestly, Cat, sometimes you take the whole “who, me?” thing too far. Just be straight with me and don’t keep fishing for compliments. A drunken child of two and a half would have noticed him trailing around buzzing for you. And he told me you’d been encouraging him to think you cared for him too, just before he left for London. Which, I’ll be honest, I was surprised about because I know how much you fancy Henry. But Johnny said in his email that he made it clear he wanted you to be an item and you went along with him. And I know you too well to think you would do that if you didn’t mean it, so I reckoned you must be totally over Henry. And now Johnny wants me to put in a good word for him, to remind you what a good bargain he is. He doesn’t want to be out of sight, out of mind. So don’t come the innocent with me, lady.’ Bella paused for breath and poked her none too gently in the ribs.

  ‘It never crossed my mi
nd,’ Cat said indignantly. ‘And since it never crossed my mind, how could I have encouraged him? I swear to God, Bella, I had no idea he fancied me. The only time I wondered was when he was so pushy about me dancing with him the day he arrived. But then I had other things on my mind—’

  ‘Henry Tilney.’

  ‘Yes, Henry. So I truly wasn’t paying much attention to whatever Johnny was saying. I’m just totally bemused by what his email said. I mean, I think I’d have noticed him telling me we should be an item. Cross my heart, Bella. He must be bewitched. I don’t even remember talking to him before he left for London.’

  ‘You did, I remember. It was after Jamie left. Ma dragged me off to find some fabric samples and we left you and Johnny alone in the living room. I remember thinking it was now or never if he was going to make you his girlfriend.’

  Cat blew out a deep breath. ‘If you say so. But even if we were alone, I don’t remember him saying anything that mattered. My head was full of thoughts of you and Jamie and the wedding, so I suppose I wasn’t really listening. But honestly, Bella, I never encouraged him. I never wanted him to fall in love with me, never imagined he would. So you have to explain that, whatever he thought I said, that’s not how it was. I don’t want to put him down – he’s your brother, just like Jamie and me, and soon we’ll be related so I don’t want any bad feelings. But you know how I feel about Henry. I could never even think about another man, never mind agree to be his girlfriend.’ For once, Bella was silent. ‘Don’t be cross, Bella. He’ll get over it. We can’t let a silly misunderstanding come between us.’

  ‘So you’re dead set against getting involved with him?’