They sat so much longer
than usual in the... They sat so much longer
than usual in the dining-parlour, that she was sure they must be
290
Mansfield Park
talking of her; and when tea at last brought them away, and she was
to be seen by Edmund again, she felt dreadfully guiltyHe came to
her, sat down by her, took her hand, and pressed it kindly; and at
that moment she thought that, but for the occupation and the scene
which the tea-things afforded, she must have betrayed her emotion
in some unpardonable excess
He was not intending, however, by such action, to be conveying
to her that unqualified approbation and encouragement which her
hopes drew from itIt was designed only to express his participation
in all that interested her, and to tell her that he had been hearing
what quickened every feeling of affectionHe was, in fact, entirely
on his father’s side of the questionHis surprise was not so great as
his father’s at her refusing Crawford, because, so far from supposing
her to consider him with anything like a preference, he had always
believed it to be rather the reverse, and could imagine her to be
taken perfectly unprepared, but Sir Thomas could not regard the
connexion as more desirable than he didIt had every recommendation
to him; and while honouring her for what she had done
under the influence of her present indifference, honouring her in
rather stronger terms than Sir Thomas could quite echo, he was
most earnest in hoping, and sanguine in believing, that it would be
a match at last, and that, united by
see by chloe bags mutual affection, it would appear
that their dispositions were as exactly fitted to make them blessed
in each other, as he was now beginning seriously to consider them
Crawford had been too precipitateHe had not given her time to
attach herselfHe had begun at the wrong endWith such powers
as his, however, and such a disposition as hers, Edmund trusted that
everything would work out a happy conclusionMeanwhile, he saw
enough of Fanny’s embarrassment to make him scrupulously guard
against exciting it a second time, by any word, or look, or movement
Crawford called the next day, and on the score of Edmund’s return,
Sir Thomas felt himself more than licensed to ask him to stay
dinner; it was really a necessary complimentHe staid of course,
and Edmund had then ample opportunity for observing how he
sped with Fanny, and what degree of immediate encouragement for
him might be extracted from her manners; and it was so little, so
291
Jane Austen
very, very little—every chance, every possibility of it, resting upon
her embarrassment only; if there was not hope in her confusion,
there was hope in nothing else—that he was almost ready to wonder
at his friend’s perseveranceFanny was worth it all; he held her
to be worth every effort of patience, every exertion of mind, but he
did not think he could have gone on himself with any woman breathing,
without something more to warm his courage than his eyes
could discern in hersHe was very willing to hope that Crawford
saw clearer, and
omega geneve this was the most comfortable conclusion for his
friend that he could come to from all that he observed to pass before,
and at, and after dinner
In the evening a few circumstances occurred which he thought
more promisingWhen he and Crawford walked into the drawingroom,
his mother and Fanny were sitting as intently and silently at
work as if there were nothing else to care forEdmund could not
help noticing their apparently deep tranquillity
“We have not been so silent all the time,” replied his mother
“Fanny has been reading to me, and only put the book down upon
hearing you coming And sure enough there was a book on the
table which had the air of being very recently closed: a volume of
Shakespeare“She often reads to me out of those books; and she
was in the middle of a very fine speech of that man’s—what’s his
name, Fanny?—when we heard your footsteps
Crawford took the volume“Let me have the pleasure of finishing
that speech to your ladyship,” said he“I shall find it immediately
And by carefully giving way to the inclination of the leaves, he did
find it, or within a page or two, quite near enough to satisfy Lady
Bertram, who assured him, as soon as he mentioned the name of
Cardinal Wolsey, that he had got the very speechNot a look or an
offer of help had Fanny given; not a syllable for or againstAll her
attention was for her workShe seemed determined to be interested
by nothing elseBut taste was too strong in herShe could not abstract
her mind five minutes: she was forced
cartier ronde to listen; his reading
was capital, and her pleasure in good reading extremeTo good reading,
however, she had been long used: her uncle read well, her cousins
all, Edmund very well, but in MrCrawford’s reading there was
a variety of excellence beyond what she had ever met withThe
292
Mansfield Park
King, the Queen, Buckingham, Wolsey, Cromwell, all were given
in turn; for with the happiest knack, the happiest power of jumping
and guessing, he could always alight at will on the best scene, or the
best speeches of each; and whether it were dignity, or pride, or tenderness,
or remorse, or whatever were to be expressed, he could do
it with equal beautyIt was truly dramaticHis acting had first taught
Fanny what pleasure a play might give, and his reading brought all
his acting before her again; nay, perhaps with greater enjoyment,
for it came unexpectedly, and with no such drawback as she had
been used to suffer in seeing him on the stage with Miss Bertram
Edmund watched the progress of her attention, and was amused
and gratified by seeing how she gradually slackened in the needlework,
which at the beginning seemed to occupy her totally: how it
fell from her hand while she sat motionless over it, and at last, how
the eyes which had appeared so studiously to avoid him throughout
the day were turned and fixed on Crawford—fixed on him for minutes,
fixed on him, in short, till the attraction drew Crawford’s upon
her, and the book was closed, and the charm was brokenThen
black spy bag she
was shrinking again into herself, and blushing and working as hard
as ever; but it had been enough to give Edmund encouragement for
his friend, and as he cordially thanked him, he hoped to be expressing
Fanny’s secret feelings too
“That play must be a favourite with you,” said he; “you read as if
you knew it well
“It will be a favourite, I believe, from this hour,” replied Crawford;
“but I do not think I have had a volume of Shakespeare in my hand
before since I was fifteenI once saw Henry the Eighth acted, or I
have heard of it from somebody who did, I am not certain which
But Shakespeare one gets acquainted with without knowing howIt
is a part of an Englishman’s constitutionHis thoughts and beauties
are so spread abroad that one touches them everywhere; one is intimate
with him by instinctNo man of any brain can open at a good
part of one of his plays without falling into the flow of his meaning
immediately
“No doubt one is familiar with Shakespeare in a degree,” said
Edmund, “from one’s earliest yearsHis celebrated passages are
quoted by everybody; they are in half the books we open, and we all
293
Jane Austen
talk Shakespeare, use his similes, and describe with his descriptions;
but this is totally distinct from giving his sense as you gave itTo
know him in bits and scraps is common enough; to know him pretty
thoroughly is, perhaps, not uncommon; but to read him well aloud
is no everyday talent
“Sir, you do me honour,” was Crawford’s answer, with a bow of
mock
prada fairy bag grav