] First of all, I must say that I *really* dislike Isabella. When I read this for the first time, I was deceived by her (but not to the same extent as Catherine, as I am a *Little* more cynical,

Funny thing, this is my second read of NA and I too was deceived by her the first time. Either I'm slow witted or Isabella is devlish sly (then again, I hope there is a third option.) After this read, I cannot believe that I didn't see through her earlier (just call me Catherine.)

]This time through, I noticed significantly earlier her comments on how "constant" she is and how so much is for her own gain. Can't find it right now, but she says that twice that there is NOTHING of which she would not do for those to whom she's attached (probably not JA's exact words as that sounded very clumsy to me =), but then she is so cold and haughty to Catherine, thus giving her great pain, when Catherine doesn't fall in with *her* plans.