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Part 16: Happy Agitation

Sat, 04/16/2022 - 6:00am
"Embroidery for Fire Screen" (early 1800s, Cleveland Museum of Art)

Trifles Light as Air

A collection of one-shots based on Northanger Abbey: drabbles, flash fiction, missing scenes, and more. Title from Shakespeare's Othello, as quoted by Jane Austen in Chapter One. Now available as an eBook via Draft2Digital.

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General Tilney dismissed his son with one last command to pay their guest every courtesy.

"I may be gone upwards of a week, do not look for me before Monday next."

Henry made no answer; his father did not accept interruptions, and as only servile acceptance was expected, agreement was unnecessary. Then there was the distraction of the window, with its inviting picture of two figures walking arm in arm, their joy warm as the sunbeams surrounding them, and he was put on his mettle to attend to anything else said.

Then, smiling complacently, General Tilney dismissed him with one last command to pay their guest every courtesy.

Their parting was, for once, equally tranquil: the commanding officer confident his strategies would lead to victory ere long, the young parson secure in the knowledge that his heart's desire was approved by his closest kin. Time alone—and, of course, the lady's own approbation—would tell how soon they might all see the fruition of their deepest hopes.

Title from Chapter 31 of Northanger Abbey: "... as nothing, after all, could be more natural than Catherine’s being beloved, they soon learnt to consider it with only the happy agitation of gratified pride...."