What a happy creature William must
be! I wish we... What a happy creature William must
be! I wish we could see him
Poor Fanny’s mind was thrown into the most distressing of all its
varietiesThe recollection of what had been done for William was
always the most powerful disturber of every decision against Mr
Crawford; and she sat thinking deeply of it till Mary, who had been
first watching her complacently, and then musing on something
else, suddenly called her attention by saying: “I should like to sit
talking with you here all day, but we must not forget the ladies
below, and so good-bye, my dear, my amiable, my excellent Fanny,
for though we shall nominally part in the breakfast-parlour, I must
take leave of you hereAnd I do take leave, longing for a happy
reunion, and trusting that when we meet again, it will be under
circumstances which may open our hearts to each other without
any remnant or shadow of reserve
A very, very kind embrace, and some agitation of manner, accompanied
these words
“I shall see your cousin in town soon: he talks of being there tolerably
soon; and Sir Thomas, I dare say, in the course of the spring;
and your eldest cousin, and the Rushworths, and Julia, I am sure of
meeting again and again, and all but youI have two favours to ask,
Fanny: one is your correspondenceAnd the
other, that you will often call on MrsGrant, and make her amends
for my being gone
The first, at least, of these favours Fanny would rather not have
been asked; but it was impossible for her to refuse the correspondence;
it was impossible for her even not to accede to it more readily
than her own judgment authorisedThere was no resisting
old omega watches so much
apparent affectionHer disposition was peculiarly calculated to value
a fond treatment, and from having hitherto known so little of it, she
was the more overcome by Miss Crawford’sBesides, there was gratitude
towards her, for having made their tete-a-tete so much less painful
than her fears had predicted
It was over, and she had escaped without reproaches and without
detectionHer secret was still her own; and while that was the case,
317
Jane Austen
she thought she could resign herself to almost everything
In the evening there was another partingHenry Crawford came
and sat some time with them; and her spirits not being previously
in the strongest state, her heart was softened for a while towards
him, because he really seemed to feelQuite unlike his usual self, he
scarcely said anythingHe was evidently oppressed, and Fanny must
grieve for him, though hoping she might never see him again till he
were the husband of some other woman
When it came to the moment of parting, he would take her hand,
he would not be denied it; he said nothing, however, or nothing
that she heard, and when he had left the room, she was better pleased
that such a token of friendship had passed
On the morrow the Crawfords were gone
318
Mansfield Park
CHAPTER XXXVII
MRCRAWFORD 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 evilShe had tasted of consequence in its most flattering
form; and he did hope that the loss of it, the sinking again
cartier watches into
nothing, would awaken very wholesome regrets in her mindHe
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 notShe was always so gentle and retiring that her emotions
were beyond his discriminationHe did not understand her: he felt
that he did not; and therefore 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
Edmund 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, the
friend and companion who had been so much to her, should not be
more visibly regrettedHe 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 comfortIf she could have believed Mary’s
future fate as unconnected with Mansfield as she was determined
the brother’s 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 was she convinced that everything was
now in a fairer train for Miss Crawford’s marrying Edmund than it
319
Jane Austen
had ever been beforeOn his side the inclination was stronger, on
hers less equivocalHis objections, the scruples of his integrity,
seemed all done away, nobody could
omega seamaster replica watches tell how; and the doubts and
hesitations of her ambition were equally got over—and equally without
apparent reasonIt could only be imputed to increasing attachment
His good and her bad feelings yielded to love, and such love
must unite themHe 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 restHer acceptance must be
as certain as his offer; and yet there were bad feelings still remaining
which made 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 shewn a mind led astray and bewildered, and without
any suspicion of being so; darkened, yet fancying itself lightShe might
love, but she did not deserve Edmund by any other sentimentFanny
believed there was scarcely a second feeling in common between them;
and she may be forgiven by older 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 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 to
omega 18k watch adopt the opinions of the man she loved
and respected as her ownBut 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 a right, by all his knowledge of human
nature, to expect to see the effect of the loss of power and consequence
on his niece’s 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
320
Mansfield Park
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 obtained a ten days’ leave of absence, to be given to
Northamptonshire, and was coming, the happiest of lieutenants,
because the latest made, to shew his happiness and describe his uniform
He came; and he would have been delighted to shew his uniform
there too, had not cruel custom prohibited its appearance except on
dutySo the uniform remained at Portsmouth, 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 awayIt
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 commanders
before him? So reasoned Edmund, till his father made him the
confidant of a scheme which placed Fanny’s chance of seeing the second
lieutenant
kelly handbag o