] On the other hand, the fact that Eleanor calls her by her Christian name and not Miss Longtown or some formal title maybe does mean that it is a person of lesser status. And we do know that Eleanor has her own lady's maid who has also met Catherine during the visit to Northanger.

I too had always thought Alice was the friend Miss Tilney was visiting, but I agree that this name issue makes that look less likely to me now.

I'm curious to know how Alice is identified on the list of characters, including offstage ones, that was compiled for the board around Christmas 2001. I don't have time to go searching for the list at the moment, but if anyone knows where it's hiding I would be very curious to see it. :-)