We haven't talked about her yet. What do you all think of her? She is such an odd duck, isn't she.

She is incredibly vague until it comes to fashion and then she is a font of knowledge. Can you imagine Catherine's impatience to be in Bath and have to wait three or four days before doing anything but shopping?

And her incessant refrain the first few days out of "I wish I had a large acquaintance here..." How frustrating that first dance must have been for our heroine to not be able to dance with - or even talk to - anyone because Mrs. Allen didn't know, or neglected to introduce herself to the Master of Ceremonies. I do think that Mr. Allen must share some blame here, for he disappeared immediately into the card room without seeing that his party were established or introduced.

My favorite Mrs. Allen bit comes after she's met Mrs. Thorpe and finds herself at a conversational disadvantage because she has no children of whom to boast, when she consoles "...herself, however, with the discovery, which her keen eye soon made, that the lace on Mrs. Thorpe's pelisse was not half so handsome as that on her own." LOL!