going with you; there can be no doubt of your having room for her.’
‘Fanny!’ repeated Mrs Norris; ‘my dear Edmund, there is no idea of her going with us. She stays with her aunt. I told Mrs Rushworth so. She is not expected.’
‘You can have no reason, I imagine, madam,’ said he, addressing his mother, ‘for wishing Fanny not to be of the party, but as it relates to yourself, to your own comfort. If you could do without her, you would not wish to keep her at home?’
‘To be sure not, but I cannot do without her.’
‘You can, if I stay at home with you, as I mean to do.’
There was a general cry out at this. ‘Yes,’ he continued, ‘there is no necessity for my going, and I mean to stay at home. Fanny has a great desire to see Sotherton. I know she wishes it very much. She has not often a gratification of the kind, and I am sure, ma’am, you would be glad to give her the pleasure now?’
‘Oh, yes! very glad, if your aunt sees no objection.’
Mrs Norris was very ready with the only objection which could remain—their having positively assured Mrs Rushworth that Fanny could not go, and the very strange appearance there would consequently be in taking her, which seemed to her a difficulty quite impossible to be got over. It must have the strangest appearance! It would be something so very unceremonious, so bordering on disrespect for Mrs Rushworth, whose own manners were such a pattern of good-breeding, and attention, that she really did not feel equal to it. Mrs Norris had no affection for Fanny, and no wish of procuring her pleasure at any time; but her opposition to Edmund now, arose more from partiality for her own scheme, because it was her own, than from anything else. She felt that she had arranged everything extremely well, and that any alteration must be for the worse. When Edmund, therefore, told her in reply, as he did when she would give him the hearing, that she need not distress herself on Mrs Rushworth’s account, because he had taken the opportunity as he walked with her through the hall of mentioning Miss Price as one who would probably be of the party, and had directly received a very sufficient invitation for his cousin, Mrs Norris was too much vexed to submit with a very good grace, and would only say, ‘Very well, very well, just as you choose; settle it your own way; I am sure I do not care about it.’
‘It seems very odd,’ said Maria, ‘that you should be staying at home instead of Fanny.’
‘I am sure she ought to be very much obliged to you,’ added Julia, hastily leaving the room as she spoke, from a consciousness that she ought to offer to stay at home herself.
‘Fanny will feel quite as grateful as the occasion requires,’ was Edmund’s only reply, and the subject dropped.
Fanny’s gratitude, when she heard the plan, was, in fact, much greater than her pleasure. She felt Edmund’s kindness with all, and more than all, the sensibility which he, unsuspicious of her fond attachment, could be aware of; but that he should forgo any enjoyment on her account gave her pain, and her own satisfaction in seeing Sotherton would be nothing without him.
The next meeting of the two Mansfield families produced another alteration in the plan, and one that was admitted with general approbation. Mrs Grant offered herself as companion for the day to Lady Bertram in lieu of her son, and Dr Grant was to join them at dinner. Lady Bertram was very well pleased to have it so, and the young ladies were in spirits again. Even Edmund was very thankful for an arrangement which restored him to his share of the party, and Mrs Norris thought it an excellent plan, and had it at her tongue’s end, and was on the point of proposing it, when Mrs Grant spoke.
Wednesday was fine, and soon after breakfast the barouche arrived, Mr Crawford driving his sisters; and as everybody was ready, there was nothing to be done but for Mrs Grant to alight, and the others to take their places. The place of all places, the envied seat, the post of honour, was unappropriated. To whose happy lot was it to fall? While each of the Miss Bertrams were meditating how best, and with the most appearance of obliging the others, to secure it, the matter was settled by Mrs Grant’s saying, as she stepped from the carriage, ‘As there are five of you, it will be better that one should sit with Henry; and as you were saying lately that you wished you could drive, Julia, I think this will be a good opportunity for you to take a lesson.’
Happy Julia! Unhappy Maria! The former was on the barouche-box in a moment, the latter took her seat within, in gloom and mortification; and the carriage drove off amid the good wishes of the two remaining ladies, and the barking of Pug in his mistress’s arms.
Their road was through a pleasant country; and Fanny, whose rides had never been extensive, was soon beyond her knowledge, and was very happy in observing all that was new, and admiring all that was pretty. She was not often invited to join in the conversation of the others, nor did she desire it. Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions; and, in observing the appearance of the country, the bearings of the roads, the difference of soil, the state of the harvest, the cottages, the cattle, the children, she found entertainment that could only have been heightened by having Edmund to speak to of what she felt. That was the only point of resemblance between her and the lady who sat by her; in everything but a value for Edmund, Miss Crawford was very unlike her. She had none of Fanny’s delicacy of taste, of mind, of feeling; she saw Nature, inanimate Nature, with little observation; her attention was all for men and women, her talents for the light and lively. In looking back after Edmund, however, when there was any stretch of road behind them, or when he gained on them in ascending a considerable hill, they were united, and a ‘There he is’ broke at the same moment from them both, more than once.
For the first seven miles Miss Bertram had very little real comfort; her prospect always ended in Mr Crawford and her sister sitting side by side, full of conversation and merriment; and to see only his expressive profile as he turned with a smile to Julia, or to catch the laugh of the other, was a perpetual source of irritation, which her own sense of propriety could but just smooth over. When Julia looked back, it was with a countenance of delight, and whenever she spoke to them, it was in the highest spirits: ‘Her view of the country was charming; she wished they could all see it,’ etc.; but her only offer of exchange was addressed to Miss Crawford, as they gained the summit of a long hill, and was not more inviting than this, ‘Here is a fine burst of country. I wish you had my seat, but I dare say you will not take it, let me press you ever so much’; and Miss Crawford could hardly answer, before they were moving again at a good pace.
When they came within the influence of Sotherton associations, it was better for Miss Bertram, who might be said to have two strings to her bow. She had Rushworth-feelings, and Crawford-feelings, and in the vicinity of Sotherton, the former had considerable effect. Mr Rushworth’s consequence was hers. She could not tell Miss Crawford that ‘Those woods belonged to Sotherton’; she could not carelessly observe that ‘She believed that it was now all Mr Rushworth’s property on each side of the road,’ without elation of heart; and it was a pleasure to increase with their approach to the capital freehold mansion, and ancient manorial residence of the family, with all its rights of court-leet and court-baron.
‘Now, we shall have no more rough road, Miss Crawford; our difficulties are over. The rest of the way is such as it ought to be. Mr Rushworth has made it since he succeeded to the estate. Here begins the village. Those cottages are really a disgrace. The church spire is reckoned remarkably handsome. I am glad the church is not so close to the great house as often happens in old places. The annoyance of the bells must be terrible. There is the Parsonage; a tidy-looking house, and I understand the clergyman and his wife are very decent people. Those are almshouses, built by some of the family. To the right is the steward’s house; he is a very respectable man. Now, we are coming to the lodge-gates; but we have nearly a mile through the park still. It is not ugly, you see, at this end; there is some fine timber, but the situation of the house is dreadful. We go down hill to it for half a mile, and it is a pity, for it would not be an ill-looking place if it had a better approach.’
Miss Crawford was not slow to admire; she pretty well guessed Miss Bertram’s feelings, and made it a point of honour to promote her enjoyment to the utmost. Mrs Norris was all delight and volubility; and even Fanny had something to say in