I'll answer your questions about parody in another post when I have more time. Right now I want to go over the danger Catherine was in. Eleanor who has shown herself to be sensible was concerned about her safety. Mrs Moreland who has shown herself to be sensible is proud that Catherine was able to make the journey on her own without any problems. If they think that there is some problem, then it's a real problem. Remember that Catherine is only 17, and travelling alone in the days before the police existed. Could she be in the post carriage with only a rather savoury looking type? Or a Willoughby? It's unfamiliar terrain too. Catherine is concerned about the 70 miles in a county that's not her own, and unfamiliar towns she will have to spend time in, or possibly missing post connections and being stranded overnight in some roadside inn - something that's not hard to do when you're a teen unused to travelling. Even these days parents get paranoid about sending their teenage children overseas by themselves (my parents did with us, and we certainly found many incidents during our travels in the English midlands Henry said were so safe)