After her dinner with the Tilneys, Catherine is surprised to find that she did not have as good of a time as she expected to. Catherine later talks to Isabella about the dinner, and Isabella says the Tilney family’s behavior is prideful; she further claims Eleanor is disrespectful and Henry ignores Catherine. Catherine disagrees with her claims. Isabella says she does not wish to attend the ball that evening because she is so in love with James that she cannot think of dancing with anyone else, no matter who asks her.

That night at the ball, Henry asks Catherine to dance. His older brother, Captain Frederick Tilney, is also in attendance, and while he is handsomer than Henry, his manners are much poorer. Catherine overhears Frederick making fun of Henry for wanting to dance with her, and she decides she does not like Frederick. Frederick inquires if Catherine thinks Isabella would agree to a dance. Catherine is moved by what she thinks is a demonstration of Frederick’s empathy: he sees Isabella sitting on the sidelines without a dance partner, so he offers himself. Henry remarks that Catherine’s assumption of Frederick’s good nature reveals that she herself is more good-natured than anyone else, since she does not think of what someone else might do and only what she would do herself.