October 18, 2025 • 16 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter thirty seven, mister Crawford gone. Sir Thomas's next object
was that he should be missed, and he entertained great
hope that his niece would find a blank in the
loss of those attentions, which at the time she had
felt or fancied an evil. She had tasted of consequence
in its most flattering form, and he did hope that
the loss of it, the sinking again into nothing, would
(00:23):
awaken very wholesome regrets in her mind. He watched her
with this idea, but he could hardly tell with what success.
He hardly knew whether there were any difference in her
spirits or not. She was always so gentle and retiring
that her emotions were beyond his discrimination. He did not
understand her. He felt that he did not, and therefore
(00:43):
applied to Edmund to tell him how she stood affected
on the present occasion, and whether she were more or
less happy than she had been. Edmond did not discern
any symptoms of regret, and thought his father a little
unreasonable in supposing the first three or four days could
produce any What chiefly surprised Edmund was that Crawford's sister,
(01:03):
the friend and companion who had been so much to her,
should not be more visibly regretted. He wondered that Fanny
spoke so seldom of her, and had so little voluntarily
to say of her concern at this separation, alas it
was this sister, this friend and companion, who was now
the chief bane of Fanny's comfort. If she could have
(01:24):
believed Mary's future fate as unconnected with Mansfield as she
was determined the brothers should be, if she could have
hoped her return thither to be as distant as she
was much inclined to think his, she would have been
light of heart. Indeed, But the more she recollected and observed,
the more deeply she was convinced that everything was now
in a fairer train for Miss Crawford's marrying Edmund than
(01:45):
it had ever been before. On his side, the inclination
was stronger, On hers, less equivocal. His objections, the scruples
of his integrity seemed all done away. Nobody could tell how,
and the doubts and hesitations of her ambition were equally
got over, and equally without apparent reason. It could only
be imputed to increasing attachment. His good and her bad
(02:09):
feelings yielded to love, and such love must unite them.
He was to go to town as soon as some
business relative to Thornton Lacey were completed, perhaps within a fortnight.
He talked of going, He loved to talk of it,
and when once with her again, Fanny could not doubt
the rest Her acceptance must be as certain as his offer.
And yet there were bad feelings still remaining, which made
(02:32):
the prospect of it most sorrowful to her. Independently, she believed,
independently of self. In their very last conversation, Miss Crawford,
in spite of some amiable sensations and much personal kindness,
had still been Miss Crawford still shown a mind led
astray and bewildered, and without any suspicion of being so darkened,
(02:53):
yet fancying itself light. She might love, but she did
not deserve Edmond by any other sentiment. Fanny believed there
was scarcely a second feeling in common between them, and
she may be forgiven by old as sages for looking
on the chance of Miss Crawford's future improvement, as nearly desperate,
for thinking that if Edmund's influence in this season of
(03:14):
love had already done so little in clearing her judgment
and regulating her notions, his worth would be finally wasted
on her. Even in years of matrimony. Experience might have
hoped more for any young people so circumstanced and impartiality
would not have denied to Miss Crawford's nature that participation
of the general nature of women, which would lead her
(03:36):
to adopt the opinions of the man she loved and
respected as her own. But as such were Fanny's persuasions,
she suffered very much from them, and could never speak
of Miss Crawford without pain. Sir Thomas meanwhile went on
with his own hopes and his own observations, still feeling
aright by all his knowledge of human nature to expect
(03:56):
to see the effect of the loss of power and
consequence on his nieces spirits and the past attentions of
the lover, producing a craving for their return. And he
was soon afterwards able to account for his not yet
completely and indubitably seeing all this by the prospect of
another visitor whose approach he could allow to be quite
enough to support the spirits he was watching. William had
(04:18):
obtained a ten days leave of absence to be given
to Northamptonshire, and was coming the happiest of lieutenants, because
the latest made to show his happiness and describe his uniform.
He came, and he would have been delighted to show
his uniform there too, had not cruel custom prohibited its
appearance except on duty. So the uniform remained at Portsmouth,
(04:40):
and Edmund conjectured that before Fanny had any chance of
seeing it, all its own freshness and all the freshness
of its wearer's feelings, must be worn away. It would
be sunk into a badge of disgrace. For what can
be more unbecoming or more worthless than the uniform of
a lieutenant who has been a lieutenant a year or
two and sees others made commander before him, So reasoned Edmund,
(05:02):
till his father made him the confidant of a scheme
which placed Fanny's chance of seeing the second Lieutenant of
h M. S. Thrush in all his glory in another light.
This scheme was that she should accompany her brother back
to Portsmouth and spend a little time with her own family.
It had occurred to Sir Thomas in one of his
dignified musings, as a right and desirable measure. But before
(05:25):
he absolutely made up his mind, he consulted his son Edmund,
considered it every way, and saw nothing but what was right.
The thing was good in itself and could not be
done at a better time, and he had no doubt
of it being highly agreeable to Fanny. This was enough
to determine Sir Thomas, and a decisive then, so it
shall be closed that stage of the business, Sir Thomas
(05:48):
retiring from it with some feelings of satisfaction and views
of good over and above what he had communicated to
his son. For his prime motive in sending her away
had very little to do with the priority of her
seeing her parents again, and nothing at all with any
idea of making her happy. He certainly wished her to
go willingly, but he has certainly wished her to be
(06:09):
heartily sick of home before her visit ended, and that
a little abstinence from the elegancies and luxuries of Mansfield
Park would bring her mind into a sober state and
incline her to a juster estimate of the value of
that home of greater permanence and equal comfort of which
she had the offer. It was a medicinal project upon
his niece's understanding, which he must consider, as at present diseased.
(06:34):
A residence of eight or nine years in the abode
of wealth and plenty had a little disordered. Her powers
of comparing and judging her father's house would, in all
probability teach her the value of a good income, and
he trusted that she would be the wiser and happier
woman all her life for the experiment he had devised.
Had Fanny been at all addicted to raptures, she must
(06:55):
have had a strong attack of them when she first
understood what was intended, when her uncle first made her
the offer of visiting the parents and brothers and sisters
from whom she had been divided almost half her life,
of returning for a couple of months to the scenes
of her infancy with William, for the protector and companion
of her journey, and the certainty of continuing to see
William to the last hour of his remaining on land.
(07:19):
Had she ever given way to bursts of delight, it
must have been then, for she was delighted. But her
happiness was of a quiet, deep heart swelling sort, And
though never a great talker, she was always more inclined
to silence. When feeling most strongly at the moment, she
could only thank and accept. Afterwards, when familiarized with the
(07:40):
visions of enjoyment so suddenly opened, she could speak more
largely to William and Edmund of what she felt. But
still there were emotions of tenderness that could not be
clothed in words. The remembrance of all her earliest pleasures
and of what she had suffered in being torn from them,
came over her with renewed strength, and it seemed as
if to be at home again would heal every pain
(08:02):
that had since grown out of the separation. To be
in the center of such a circle, loved by so many,
and more loved by all than she had ever been before,
to feel affection without fear or restraint, to feel herself
the equal of those who surrounded her, to be at
peace from all mention of the Crawfords, save from every
look which could be fancied a reproach on their account.
(08:24):
This was a prospect to be dwelt on with a
fondness that could be but half acknowledged. Edmond too, to
be but two months from him, and perhaps she might
be allowed to make her absence three must do her
good at a distance, unassailed by his looks or his kindness,
and save from the perpetual irritation of knowing his heart
and striving to avoid his confidence. She should be able
(08:47):
to reason herself into a proper estate. She should be
able to think of him as in London, and arranging
everything there without wretchedness. What might have been hard to
bear at Mansfield was to become a slight evil at Portsmouth.
The only drawback was the doubt of her Aunt Bertram's
being comfortable without her. She was of use to no
one else, but there she might be missed to a
(09:08):
degree that she did not like to think of. And
that part of the arrangement was indeed the hardest for
Sir Thomas to accomplish, and what only he could have
accomplished at all. But he was master at Mansfield Park.
When he had really resolved on any measure, he could
always carry it through. And now, by dint of long
talking on the subject, explaining and dwelling on the duty
(09:30):
of Fanny's sometime seeing her family, he did induce his
wife to let her go, obtaining it rather from submission, however,
than conviction. For Lady Bertram was convinced of very little
more than that Sir Thomas thought Fanny ought to go,
and therefore that she must, in the calmness of her
own dressing room, in the impartial flow of her own meditations,
(09:51):
unbiased by his bewildering statements, she could not acknowledge any
necessity for Fanny's ever going near a father and mother
who had done without her so long while she was
so useful to herself. And as to the not missing her, which,
under Missus Norris's discussion, was the point attempted to be proved,
she set herself very steadily against admitting any such thing.
(10:12):
Sir Thomas had appealed to her reason, conscience, and dignity.
He called it a sacrifice and demanded it of her
goodness and self command as such. But Missus Norris wanted
to persuade her that Fanny could be very well spared,
she being ready to give up all her own time
to her as requested, and in short, could not really
be wanted or missed. That may be sister was all
(10:34):
Lady Bertram's reply, I dare say you are very right,
but I am sure I shall miss her very much.
The next step was to communicate with Portsmouth. Fanny wrote
to offer herself and her mother's answer, though short, was
so kind, a few simple lines expressed so natural and
motherly a joy in the prospect of seeing her child again,
(10:54):
as to confirm all the daughter's views of happiness in
being with her, convincing her that she should now find
a warm and affectionate friend in the mama, who had
certainly shown no remarkable fondness for her formerly. But this
she could easily suppose to have been her own fault,
or her own fancy. She had probably alienated love by
the helplessness and fretfulness of a fearful temper, or been
(11:16):
unreasonable in wanting a larger share than any one among
so many could deserve. Now, when she knew better how
to be useful and how to forbear, and when her
mother could no longer be 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.
(11:37):
William was almost as happy in the plan as his sister.
It 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 cruise. And besides, he wanted her so very
much to see the Thrush before she went out of harbor.
The Thrush was certainly the finest sloop in the service,
(11:58):
and there were several improvements in the dock yard too,
which he quite longed to show 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's. The house is always in confusion. You will
set things going in a better way. I am sure
(12:20):
you will tell my mother how it all ought to be,
and you will be so useful to Susan, and you
will teach Betsy and make the boys love and mind
you how right and comfortable it will all be. By
the time missus Price's auntswer arrived, there remained but a
very few days more to be spent at Mansfield, and
for part of one of those days the young travelers
were in a good deal of alarm on the subject
(12:42):
of their journey, for when the mode of it came
to be talked of, and missus Norris 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 actually give William notes for
the purpose, she was struck with the idea of their
being room for a third in the carriage, and suddenly
(13:03):
seized with a strong inclination to go with them, to
go and see her poor dear sister Price, she proclaimed
her thoughts. She must say that she had more than
half a mind to go with the 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
(13:24):
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 once, with woeful
countenances they looked at each other. Their suspense lasted an
hour or two. No one interfered to encourage or dissuade
(13:47):
Missus Norris 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
(14:09):
useful to them. It had in fact occurred to her
that though taken to Portsmouth for nothing, it would hardly
be possible for her to avoid paying her own expenses
back again, So 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
(14:30):
affected by this Portsmouth journey, this absence of Fanny's. He
too had a sacrifice to make to Mansfield Park as
well as his aunt. He 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
(14:50):
week or two longer a journey which he was looking
forward to with the hope of its fixing his happiness forever.
He told Fanny of it. She knew so much already
that she must know everything. It 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
(15:11):
between them with any remains of liberty. Once afterwards she
was alluded to by him. Lady Bertram had been telling
her niece in the evening to write to her soon
and often, 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
(15:33):
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 herself that
a letter from Edmund should be a subject of terror.
She began to feel that she had not yet gone
(15:53):
through all the changes of opinion and sentiment which the
progress of time and variation of circumstances occasion. In this
world of changes, the vicissitudes of the human mind had
not yet been exhausted by her. Poor Fanny, though going
as she did willingly and eagerly, the last evening at
Mansfield Park must still be wretchedness. Her heart was completely
(16:16):
sad at parting. She had tears for every room in
the house, much more for every beloved inhabitant. She clung
to her aunt because she would miss her. She kissed
the kind 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
(16:37):
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. End
of Chapter thirty seven,
Chapter thirty seven, mister Crawford gone. Sir Thomas's next object
was that he should be missed, and he entertained great
hope that his niece would find a blank in the
loss of those attentions, which at the time she had
felt or fancied an evil. She had tasted of consequence
in its most flattering form, and he did hope that
the loss of it, the sinking again into nothing, would
(00:23):
awaken very wholesome regrets in her mind. He watched her
with this idea, but he could hardly tell with what success.
He hardly knew whether there were any difference in her
spirits or not. She was always so gentle and retiring
that her emotions were beyond his discrimination. He did not
understand her. He felt that he did not, and therefore
(00:43):
applied to Edmund to tell him how she stood affected
on the present occasion, and whether she were more or
less happy than she had been. Edmond did not discern
any symptoms of regret, and thought his father a little
unreasonable in supposing the first three or four days could
produce any What chiefly surprised Edmund was that Crawford's sister,
(01:03):
the friend and companion who had been so much to her,
should not be more visibly regretted. He wondered that Fanny
spoke so seldom of her, and had so little voluntarily
to say of her concern at this separation, alas it
was this sister, this friend and companion, who was now
the chief bane of Fanny's comfort. If she could have
(01:24):
believed Mary's future fate as unconnected with Mansfield as she
was determined the brothers should be, if she could have
hoped her return thither to be as distant as she
was much inclined to think his, she would have been
light of heart. Indeed, But the more she recollected and observed,
the more deeply she was convinced that everything was now
in a fairer train for Miss Crawford's marrying Edmund than
(01:45):
it had ever been before. On his side, the inclination
was stronger, On hers, less equivocal. His objections, the scruples
of his integrity seemed all done away. Nobody could tell how,
and the doubts and hesitations of her ambition were equally
got over, and equally without apparent reason. It could only
be imputed to increasing attachment. His good and her bad
(02:09):
feelings yielded to love, and such love must unite them.
He was to go to town as soon as some
business relative to Thornton Lacey were completed, perhaps within a fortnight.
He talked of going, He loved to talk of it,
and when once with her again, Fanny could not doubt
the rest Her acceptance must be as certain as his offer.
And yet there were bad feelings still remaining, which made
(02:32):
the prospect of it most sorrowful to her. Independently, she believed,
independently of self. In their very last conversation, Miss Crawford,
in spite of some amiable sensations and much personal kindness,
had still been Miss Crawford still shown a mind led
astray and bewildered, and without any suspicion of being so darkened,
(02:53):
yet fancying itself light. She might love, but she did
not deserve Edmond by any other sentiment. Fanny believed there
was scarcely a second feeling in common between them, and
she may be forgiven by old as sages for looking
on the chance of Miss Crawford's future improvement, as nearly desperate,
for thinking that if Edmund's influence in this season of
(03:14):
love had already done so little in clearing her judgment
and regulating her notions, his worth would be finally wasted
on her. Even in years of matrimony. Experience might have
hoped more for any young people so circumstanced and impartiality
would not have denied to Miss Crawford's nature that participation
of the general nature of women, which would lead her
(03:36):
to adopt the opinions of the man she loved and
respected as her own. But as such were Fanny's persuasions,
she suffered very much from them, and could never speak
of Miss Crawford without pain. Sir Thomas meanwhile went on
with his own hopes and his own observations, still feeling
aright by all his knowledge of human nature to expect
(03:56):
to see the effect of the loss of power and
consequence on his nieces spirits and the past attentions of
the lover, producing a craving for their return. And he
was soon afterwards able to account for his not yet
completely and indubitably seeing all this by the prospect of
another visitor whose approach he could allow to be quite
enough to support the spirits he was watching. William had
(04:18):
obtained a ten days leave of absence to be given
to Northamptonshire, and was coming the happiest of lieutenants, because
the latest made to show his happiness and describe his uniform.
He came, and he would have been delighted to show
his uniform there too, had not cruel custom prohibited its
appearance except on duty. So the uniform remained at Portsmouth,
(04:40):
and Edmund conjectured that before Fanny had any chance of
seeing it, all its own freshness and all the freshness
of its wearer's feelings, must be worn away. It would
be sunk into a badge of disgrace. For what can
be more unbecoming or more worthless than the uniform of
a lieutenant who has been a lieutenant a year or
two and sees others made commander before him, So reasoned Edmund,
(05:02):
till his father made him the confidant of a scheme
which placed Fanny's chance of seeing the second Lieutenant of
h M. S. Thrush in all his glory in another light.
This scheme was that she should accompany her brother back
to Portsmouth and spend a little time with her own family.
It had occurred to Sir Thomas in one of his
dignified musings, as a right and desirable measure. But before
(05:25):
he absolutely made up his mind, he consulted his son Edmund,
considered it every way, and saw nothing but what was right.
The thing was good in itself and could not be
done at a better time, and he had no doubt
of it being highly agreeable to Fanny. This was enough
to determine Sir Thomas, and a decisive then, so it
shall be closed that stage of the business, Sir Thomas
(05:48):
retiring from it with some feelings of satisfaction and views
of good over and above what he had communicated to
his son. For his prime motive in sending her away
had very little to do with the priority of her
seeing her parents again, and nothing at all with any
idea of making her happy. He certainly wished her to
go willingly, but he has certainly wished her to be
(06:09):
heartily sick of home before her visit ended, and that
a little abstinence from the elegancies and luxuries of Mansfield
Park would bring her mind into a sober state and
incline her to a juster estimate of the value of
that home of greater permanence and equal comfort of which
she had the offer. It was a medicinal project upon
his niece's understanding, which he must consider, as at present diseased.
(06:34):
A residence of eight or nine years in the abode
of wealth and plenty had a little disordered. Her powers
of comparing and judging her father's house would, in all
probability teach her the value of a good income, and
he trusted that she would be the wiser and happier
woman all her life for the experiment he had devised.
Had Fanny been at all addicted to raptures, she must
(06:55):
have had a strong attack of them when she first
understood what was intended, when her uncle first made her
the offer of visiting the parents and brothers and sisters
from whom she had been divided almost half her life,
of returning for a couple of months to the scenes
of her infancy with William, for the protector and companion
of her journey, and the certainty of continuing to see
William to the last hour of his remaining on land.
(07:19):
Had she ever given way to bursts of delight, it
must have been then, for she was delighted. But her
happiness was of a quiet, deep heart swelling sort, And
though never a great talker, she was always more inclined
to silence. When feeling most strongly at the moment, she
could only thank and accept. Afterwards, when familiarized with the
(07:40):
visions of enjoyment so suddenly opened, she could speak more
largely to William and Edmund of what she felt. But
still there were emotions of tenderness that could not be
clothed in words. The remembrance of all her earliest pleasures
and of what she had suffered in being torn from them,
came over her with renewed strength, and it seemed as
if to be at home again would heal every pain
(08:02):
that had since grown out of the separation. To be
in the center of such a circle, loved by so many,
and more loved by all than she had ever been before,
to feel affection without fear or restraint, to feel herself
the equal of those who surrounded her, to be at
peace from all mention of the Crawfords, save from every
look which could be fancied a reproach on their account.
(08:24):
This was a prospect to be dwelt on with a
fondness that could be but half acknowledged. Edmond too, to
be but two months from him, and perhaps she might
be allowed to make her absence three must do her
good at a distance, unassailed by his looks or his kindness,
and save from the perpetual irritation of knowing his heart
and striving to avoid his confidence. She should be able
(08:47):
to reason herself into a proper estate. She should be
able to think of him as in London, and arranging
everything there without wretchedness. What might have been hard to
bear at Mansfield was to become a slight evil at Portsmouth.
The only drawback was the doubt of her Aunt Bertram's
being comfortable without her. She was of use to no
one else, but there she might be missed to a
(09:08):
degree that she did not like to think of. And
that part of the arrangement was indeed the hardest for
Sir Thomas to accomplish, and what only he could have
accomplished at all. But he was master at Mansfield Park.
When he had really resolved on any measure, he could
always carry it through. And now, by dint of long
talking on the subject, explaining and dwelling on the duty
(09:30):
of Fanny's sometime seeing her family, he did induce his
wife to let her go, obtaining it rather from submission, however,
than conviction. For Lady Bertram was convinced of very little
more than that Sir Thomas thought Fanny ought to go,
and therefore that she must, in the calmness of her
own dressing room, in the impartial flow of her own meditations,
(09:51):
unbiased by his bewildering statements, she could not acknowledge any
necessity for Fanny's ever going near a father and mother
who had done without her so long while she was
so useful to herself. And as to the not missing her, which,
under Missus Norris's discussion, was the point attempted to be proved,
she set herself very steadily against admitting any such thing.
(10:12):
Sir Thomas had appealed to her reason, conscience, and dignity.
He called it a sacrifice and demanded it of her
goodness and self command as such. But Missus Norris wanted
to persuade her that Fanny could be very well spared,
she being ready to give up all her own time
to her as requested, and in short, could not really
be wanted or missed. That may be sister was all
(10:34):
Lady Bertram's reply, I dare say you are very right,
but I am sure I shall miss her very much.
The next step was to communicate with Portsmouth. Fanny wrote
to offer herself and her mother's answer, though short, was
so kind, a few simple lines expressed so natural and
motherly a joy in the prospect of seeing her child again,
(10:54):
as to confirm all the daughter's views of happiness in
being with her, convincing her that she should now find
a warm and affectionate friend in the mama, who had
certainly shown no remarkable fondness for her formerly. But this
she could easily suppose to have been her own fault,
or her own fancy. She had probably alienated love by
the helplessness and fretfulness of a fearful temper, or been
(11:16):
unreasonable in wanting a larger share than any one among
so many could deserve. Now, when she knew better how
to be useful and how to forbear, and when her
mother could no longer be 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.
(11:37):
William was almost as happy in the plan as his sister.
It 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 cruise. And besides, he wanted her so very
much to see the Thrush before she went out of harbor.
The Thrush was certainly the finest sloop in the service,
(11:58):
and there were several improvements in the dock yard too,
which he quite longed to show 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's. The house is always in confusion. You will
set things going in a better way. I am sure
(12:20):
you will tell my mother how it all ought to be,
and you will be so useful to Susan, and you
will teach Betsy and make the boys love and mind
you how right and comfortable it will all be. By
the time missus Price's auntswer arrived, there remained but a
very few days more to be spent at Mansfield, and
for part of one of those days the young travelers
were in a good deal of alarm on the subject
(12:42):
of their journey, for when the mode of it came
to be talked of, and missus Norris 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 actually give William notes for
the purpose, she was struck with the idea of their
being room for a third in the carriage, and suddenly
(13:03):
seized with a strong inclination to go with them, to
go and see her poor dear sister Price, she proclaimed
her thoughts. She must say that she had more than
half a mind to go with the 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
(13:24):
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 once, with woeful
countenances they looked at each other. Their suspense lasted an
hour or two. No one interfered to encourage or dissuade
(13:47):
Missus Norris 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
(14:09):
useful to them. It had in fact occurred to her
that though taken to Portsmouth for nothing, it would hardly
be possible for her to avoid paying her own expenses
back again, So 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
(14:30):
affected by this Portsmouth journey, this absence of Fanny's. He
too had a sacrifice to make to Mansfield Park as
well as his aunt. He 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
(14:50):
week or two longer a journey which he was looking
forward to with the hope of its fixing his happiness forever.
He told Fanny of it. She knew so much already
that she must know everything. It 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
(15:11):
between them with any remains of liberty. Once afterwards she
was alluded to by him. Lady Bertram had been telling
her niece in the evening to write to her soon
and often, 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
(15:33):
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 herself that
a letter from Edmund should be a subject of terror.
She began to feel that she had not yet gone
(15:53):
through all the changes of opinion and sentiment which the
progress of time and variation of circumstances occasion. In this
world of changes, the vicissitudes of the human mind had
not yet been exhausted by her. Poor Fanny, though going
as she did willingly and eagerly, the last evening at
Mansfield Park must still be wretchedness. Her heart was completely
(16:16):
sad at parting. She had tears for every room in
the house, much more for every beloved inhabitant. She clung
to her aunt because she would miss her. She kissed
the kind 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
(16:37):
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. End
of Chapter thirty seven,
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