Northanger Abbey
Mrs. Allen
Catherine's chaperone
Catherine's kindly neighbor in Bath, who thinks of little besides gowns and muslin. She is a poor guide but a gentle soul.
Mrs. Allen is the neighbor who takes Catherine to Bath. She is good-natured, comfortable and completely absorbed in clothes: she worries about her lace in the Pump Room crowd, and she sits at the ball with no one to dance with, wishing she knew someone.
She means well, but she is not much help as a chaperone. She has no judgment about the people Catherine meets, and Henry Tilney charms her at once by knowing more about muslin than she does.
“My gown! Take care of my lace, Catherine—these people have no regard for fine muslin!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Mrs. Allen and her husband invite Catherine to Bath, and she meets her old schoolfellow Mrs. Thorpe there, which brings Isabella into Catherine's life. She is oblivious to the trouble that follows.
When Catherine leaves for Northanger Abbey, they part warmly and Catherine promises to write. Mrs. Allen drops out of the story, as cheerful and gown-minded as ever. She never learns much from anything that happens, and she remains cheerful and fond of Catherine.
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