day
you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will
never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will
never see you again if you do!'"

She began her literary work early, and at the age of sixteen she had
accumulated quite a pile of manuscripts. She wrote as some artists
paint, for the pure joy of the work, and she never allowed her name to
appear on a title page. The majority of her acquaintances did not even
suspect her of the "guilt of authorship."

She disliked "Gothic" romances, such as _The Mysteries of Udolpho_,
and she wrote _Northanger Abbey_ as a burlesque of that type. In this
story the heroine, Catherine Moreland, who has been fed on such
literature, is invited to visit Northanger Abbey in Gloucestershire,
where with an imagination "resolved on alarm," she is prepared to be
agitated by experiences of trapdoors and subterranean passages. On the
first night of her visit, a violent storm, with its mysterious noises,
serves to arouse the most characteristic "Gothic" feelings; but when
the complete awakening comes and the "visions of romance are over,"
Catherine realizes that real life is not fruitful of such horrors as
are depicted in her favorite novels.

_Pride and Prejudice_ is usually considered Jane Austen's best work,
although _Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park_, and
_Persuasion_ have their ardent admirers. In fact, there is an
increasing number of discriminating readers who enjoy almost
everything that she wrote. During the last five years of the
eighteenth century, she produced some of her best novels, although
they were not published until the period between 1811 and 1818.

The scenes of her stories are laid for the most part in small
Hampshire villages, with which she was thoroughly familiar, the
characters being taken from the middle class and the gentry with whom
she was thrown. Simple domestic episodes and ordinary people, living
somewhat monotonous and narrow lives, satisfy her. She exhibits
wonderful skill in fashioning these into slight but entertaining
narratives. In _Pride and Prejudice_, for example, she creates some
refreshing situations by opposing Philip Darcy's pride to Elizabeth
Bennet's prejudice. She manages the long-delayed reconciliation
between these two lovers with a tact that shows true genius and a
knowledge of the human heart.

[Illustration: JANE AUSTEN'S DESK.]

A strong feature of Jane Austen's novels is her subtle, careful