Now, when she
knew better how to be useful, and how to forbear, and when her
mother could be no longer occupied by the incessant demands of a
house full of little children, there would be leisure and inclination
for every comfort, and they should soon be what mother and daughter
ought to be to each other
William was almost as happy in the plan as his sisterIt would be
the greatest pleasure to him to have her there to the last moment
before he sailed, and perhaps find her there still when he came in
from his first cruiseAnd besides, he wanted her so very much to see
the Thrush before she went out of harbour?the Thrush was certainly
the finest sloop in the service?and there were several improvements
in the dockyard, too, which he quite longed to shew her
He did not scruple to add that her being at home for a while
would be a great advantage to everybody
?I do not know how it is,? said he; ?but we seem to want some of
your nice ways and orderliness at my father?sThe house is always in
confusionYou will set things going in a better way, I am sureYou
will tell my mother how it all ought to be, and you will be so useful
to Susan, and you will teach Betsey, and make the boys love and
mind youHow right and comfortable it will all be!?
By the time MrsPrice?s answer arrived, there remained but a very
few days more to be spent at Mansfield; and for part of one of those
days the young travellers were in a good deal of alarm on the subject
of their journey, for when the mode of it came to be talked of, and
MrsNorris found that all her anxiety to save her brother-in-law?s
money was vain, and that in spite of her wishes and hints for a less
expensive conveyance of Fanny, they were to travel post; when she
saw Sir Thomas http://www.irluxury.com/categorys_3_Monogram-Canvas_1.html" target="_blank actually give William notes for the purpose, she
was struck with the idea of there being room for a third in the carriage,
and suddenly seized with a strong inclination to go with them,
to go and see her poor dear sister PriceShe proclaimed her thoughts
She must say that she had more than half a mind to go with the
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young people; it would be such an indulgence to her; she had not
seen her poor dear sister Price for more than twenty years; and it
would be a help to the young people in their journey to have her
older head to manage for them; and she could not help thinking her
poor dear sister Price would feel it very unkind of her not to come
by such an opportunity
William and Fanny were horror-struck at the idea
All the comfort of their comfortable journey would be destroyed
at onceWith woeful countenances they looked at each otherTheir
suspense lasted an hour or twoNo one interfered to encourage or
dissuadeNorris was left to settle the matter by herself; and it
ended, to the infinite joy of her nephew and niece, in the recollection
that she could not possibly be spared from Mansfield Park at
present; that she was a great deal too necessary to Sir Thomas and
Lady Bertram for her to be able to answer it to herself to leave them
even for a week, and therefore must certainly sacrifice every other
pleasure to that of being useful to them
It had, in fact, occurred to her, that though taken to Portsmouth
for nothing, it would be hardly possible for her to avoid paying her
own expenses back againSo her poor dear sister Price was left to all
the disappointment of her missing such an opportunity, and another
twenty years? absence, perhaps, begun
Edmund?s plans were affected by this Portsmouth http://www.irluxury.com/scategory_21_Tiffany-Jewelry.html" target="_blank journey, this
absence of Fanny?sHe too had a sacrifice to make to Mansfield
Park as well as his auntHe had intended, about this time, to be
going to London; but he could not leave his father and mother just
when everybody else of most importance to their comfort was leaving
them; and with an effort, felt but not boasted of, he delayed for
a week or two longer a journey which he was looking forward to
with the hope of its fixing his happiness for everShe knew so much already, that she must
know everythingIt made the substance of one other confidential
discourse about Miss Crawford; and Fanny was the more affected
from feeling it to be the last time in which Miss Crawford?s name
would ever be mentioned between them with any remains of liberty
Once afterwards she was alluded to by himLady Bertram had
been telling her niece in the evening to write to her soon and often,
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Jane Austen
and promising to be a good correspondent herself; and Edmund, at
a convenient moment, then added in a whisper, ?And I shall write
to you, Fanny, when I have anything worth writing about, anything
to say that I think you will like to hear, and that you will not hear so
soon from any other quarter Had she doubted his meaning while
she listened, the glow in his face, when she looked up at him, would
have been decisive
For this letter she must try to arm herselfThat a letter from
Edmund should be a subject of terror! She began to feel that she
had not yet gone through all the changes of opinion and sentiment
which the progress of time and variation of circumstances occasion
in this world of changesThe vicissitudes of the human mind had
not yet been exhausted by her
Poor Fanny! though going as she did willingly and eagerly, the http://www.irluxury.com/categorys_103_Chanel-Necklaces_1.html" target="_blank last
evening at Mansfield Park must still be wretchednessHer heart was
completely sad at partingShe had tears for every room in the house,
much more for every beloved inhabitantShe clung to her aunt,
because she would miss her; she kissed the hand of her uncle with
struggling sobs, because she had displeased him; and as for Edmund,
she could neither speak, nor look, nor think, when the last moment
came with him; and it was not till it was over that she knew he was
giving her the affectionate farewell of a brother
All this passed overnight, for the journey was to begin very early
in the morning; and when the small, diminished party met at breakfast,
William and Fanny were talked of as already advanced one
stage
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Mansfield Park
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE NOVELTY OF TRAVELLING, and the happiness of being with William,
soon produced their natural effect on Fanny?s spirits, when
Mansfield Park was fairly left behind; and by the time their first
stage was ended, and they were to quit Sir Thomas?s carriage, she
was able to take leave of the old coachman, and send back proper
messages, with cheerful looks
Of pleasant talk between the brother and sister there was no end
Everything supplied an amusement to the high glee of William?s
mind, and he was full of frolic and joke in the intervals of their
higher-toned subjects, all of which ended, if they did not begin, in
praise of the Thrush, conjectures how she would be employed,
schemes for an action with some superior force, which (supposing
the first lieutenant out of the way, and William was not very merciful
to the first lieutenant) was to give himself the next step as soon
as possible, or speculations upon prize-money, which was to be generously
distributed at home, with http://www.irluxury.com/scategory_21_Tiffany-Jewelry.html" target="_blank only the reservation of enough to
make the little cottage comfortable, in which he and Fanny were to
pass all their middle and later life together
Fanny?s immediate concerns, as far as they involved MrCrawford,
made no part of their conversationWilliam knew what had passed,
and from his heart lamented that his sister?s feelings should be so
cold towards a man whom he must consider as the first of human
characters; but he was of an age to be all for love, and therefore
unable to blame; and knowing her wish on the subject, he would
not distress her by the slightest allusion
She had reason to suppose herself not yet forgotten by MrShe had heard repeatedly from his sister within the three
weeks which had passed since their leaving Mansfield, and in each
letter there had been a few lines from himself, warm and deter327
Jane Austen
mined like his speechesIt was a correspondence which Fanny found
quite as unpleasant as she had fearedMiss Crawford?s style of writing,
lively and affectionate, was itself an evil, independent of what
she was thus forced into reading from the brother?s pen, for Edmund
would never rest till she had read the chief of the letter to him; and
then she had to listen to his admiration of her language, and the
warmth of her attachmentsThere had, in fact, been so much of
message, of allusion, of recollection, so much of Mansfield in every
letter, that Fanny could not but suppose it meant for him to hear;
and to find herself forced into a purpose of that kind, compelled
into a correspondence which was bringing her the addresses of the
man she did not love, and obliging her to administer to the adverse
passion of the man she did, was cruelly mortifyingHere, too, her
present removal promised http://www.irluxury.com/scategory_21_Tiffany-Jewelry.html" target="_blank advanta