Northanger Abbey: Volume 1, Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

The next day, Catherine wants to become better acquainted with Miss Tilney and plans to seek her out in the Pump-room. She spends the morning reading her book and responding to Mrs. Allen’s idle remarks about clothing. Suddenly, John Thorpe arrives and tells Catherine to hurry and get ready to go on a drive with him, Isabella, and James. Catherine is surprised, because they had not planned to go on a drive. She gives Mrs. Allen a questioning look, but Mrs. Allen does not understand that her feedback is being sought, so Catherine asks Mrs. Allen whether she ought to go. Mrs. Allen says she should do as she likes. Catherine decides to delay her attempt to get to know Miss Tilney better and to go on the drive with the others.

Catherine goes out and greets Isabella, who complains that Catherine kept them waiting, praises the ball, and says she has so much to talk to Catherine about, but for now Catherine must hurry into John’s carriage so that they can be off. Catherine overhears Isabella tell James how much she adores her.

In the carriage, John says his horse is very wild, which frightens Catherine, who is then happily surprised to see that the horse moves quietly. John says the horse’s calmness is due to his skill as a coachman. Catherine wonders why he alarmed her if he can control his horse, and decides to stop worrying about danger and enjoy the ride.

John then asks Catherine if “old Allen is as rich as a Jew” and if he is her godfather. She says she believes him to be very rich, but that he is not her godfather. She affirms that she spends a great deal of time with the Allens. John then asks if Mr. Allen drinks a great deal. Catherine denies this vehemently. John says that people do not drink nearly enough, and brags about how much he drinks at Oxford, saying that people there drink so little that they are impressed when people at his party drink five pints each. Catherine does not understand much of what John says. She concludes that students at Oxford drink a great deal, but thinks that James surely does not.

Thorpe talks on and on about his carriage. Catherine lacks knowledge of the subject, but she agrees with whatever he says. Catherine, referring to something John said during his endless discussion of horses and carriages, asks if he really thinks that James’s carriage will break down, and he says it is very rickety and will definitely crash. Catherine is very alarmed and says they must stop James, but John responds that James will certainly be safe. Catherine is astonished by the way John can say two opposing things, but she decides that he would not let his sister and friend be exposed to danger, and that she is unlikely to get a clear answer from him. John continues talking in hyperbole about his amazing feats as a coachman and a hunter. Although he is James’s friend and Isabella’s brother, Catherine “boldly” surmises that based on how tiresome she finds his company, he may not be entirely agreeable.

When they arrive back at the Allens, Isabella expresses regret that it is too late for her to accompany Catherine in. She laments that it has been such a long time since she spent time with her “dearest Catherine.” She asks if Catherine agrees that the time passed amazingly quickly, but does not wait to listen to her friend’s answer.

Back at the Allens’, Catherine learns that Mrs. Allen ran into Mrs. Hughes in the Pump-room and then walked on the Crescent with Mr. Tilney and Miss Tilney. Mrs. Allen talked to Mrs. Hughes a great deal, but can remember little. She is not sure whether Mr. Tilney is the only son, or if the Tilneys are orphans, but she is sure their mother was rich and is now dead, because Mrs. Hughes told her that a set of pearls Mrs. Tilney received as a gift on her wedding-day have now been passed on to Miss Tilney. Disappointed to have missed this encounter, Catherine decides the drive was no substitute for failing to see the Tilneys, and that John Thorpe is “quite disagreeable.”