] When I read the above - I always think that it's something she wants Catherine to ask her about - so it could be something besides having her heart broken. The text implies that a more experienced heroine's friend (and after all - in Isabella's mind, she's the heroine!;) would have forced her to communicate the why's and wherefore's of that delicate sign!

Hmmm, interesting. I've been wondering about the overlap between the narrator's and Catherine's points of view. The narrator sounds like the omniscient voice, but sometimes it seems she (Narrator) is confining herself to Catherine's POV. There was one scene especially, near the start of ch. 8, where I wasn't sure whether N. was doing another diss-the-gothics riff, or whether Catherine might actually be thinking of herself & her situation in those terms: debasement, disgrace, humiliation... Or did Catherine experience a mild version of those, and N. described them in the more lurid terms?