Fanny was affected.She had not foreseen anything of this,and her feelings could seldom withstand the melancholy influence of the word ‘last’.She cried as if she had loved Miss Crawford more than she possibly could;and Miss Crawford,yet farther softened by the sight of such emotion,hung about her with fondness,and said,‘I hate to leave you.I shall see no one half so amiable where I am going.Who says we shall not be sisters?I know we shall.I feel that we are born to be connected;and those tears convince me that you feel it too,dear Fanny.’
Fanny roused herself,and replying only in part,said,‘But you are only going from one set of friends to another.You are going to a very particular friend.’
‘Yes,very true.Mrs Fraser has been my intimate friend for years.But I have not the least inclination to go near her.I can think only of the friends I am leaving;my excellent sister,yourself,and the Bertrams in general.You have all so much more heart among you,than one finds in the world at large.You all give me a feeling of being able to trust and confide in you;which,in common intercourse,one knows nothing of.I wish I had settled with Mrs Fraser not to go to her till after Easter,a much better time for the visit-but now I cannot put her off.And when I have done with her,I must go to her sister,Lady Stornaway,because she was rather my most particular friend of the two;but I have not cared much for her these three years.’
After this speech,the two girls sat many minutes silent,each thoughtful;Fanny meditating on the different sorts of friendship in the world,Mary on something of less philosophic tendency.She first spoke again.
‘How perfectly I remember my resolving to look for you upstairs;and setting off to find my way to the east room,without having an idea whereabouts it was!How well I remember what I was thinking of as I came along;and my looking in and seeing you here,sitting at this table at work;and then your cousin's astonishment when he opened the door at seeing me here!To be sure,your uncle's returning that very evening!There never was anything quite like it.’
Another short fit of abstraction followed-when,shaking it off,she thus attacked her companion.
‘Why,Fanny,you are absolutely in a reverie!Thinking,I hope,of one who is always thinking of you.Oh that I could transport you for a short time into our circle in town,that you might understand how your power over Henry is thought of there!Oh the envyings and heartburnings of dozens and dozens!The wonder,the incredulity that will be felt at hearing what you have done!For as to secrecy,Henry is quite the hero of an old romance,and glories in his chains.You should come to London,to know how to estimate your conquest.If you were to see how he is courted,and how I am courted for his sake!Now I am well aware,that I shall not be half so welcome to Mrs Fraser in consequence of his situation with you.When she comes to know the truth,she will very likely wish me in Northamptonshire again;for there is a daughter of Mr Fraser by a first wife,whom she is wild to get married,and wants Henry to take.Oh!she has been trying for him to such a degree!Innocent and quiet as you sit here,you cannot have an idea of the sensation that you will be occasioning,of the curiosity there will be to see you,of the endless questions I shall have to answer!Poor Margaret Fraser will be at me for ever about your eyes and your teeth,and how you do your hair,and who makes your shoes.I wish Margaret were married,for my poor friend's sake,for I look upon the Frasers to be about as unhappy as most other married people.And yet it was a most desirable match for Janet at the time.We were all delighted.She could not do otherwise than accept him,for he was rich,and she had nothing;but he turns out ill-tempered,and exigeant;and wants a young woman,a beautiful young woman of five-and-twenty,to be as steady as himself.And my friend does not manage him well;she does not seem to know how to make the best of it.There is a spirit of irritation,which,to say nothing worse,is certainly very ill-bred.In their house I shall call to mind the conjugal manners of Mansfield Parsonage with respect.Even Dr Grant does show a thorough confidence in my sister,and a certain consideration for her judgment,which makes one feel there is attachment;but of that I shall see nothing with the Frasers.I shall be at Mansfield for ever,Fanny.My own sister as a wife,Sir Thomas Bertram as a husband,are my standards of perfection.Poor Janet has been sadly taken in;and yet there was nothing improper on her side;she did not run into the match inconsiderately,there was no want of foresight.She took three days to consider of his proposals;and during those three days asked the advice of everybody connected with her,whose opinion was worth having;and especially applied to my late dear aunt,whose knowledge of the world made her judgment very generally and deservedly looked up to by all the young people of her acquaintance;and she was decidedly in favour of Mr Fraser.This seems as if nothing were a security for matrimonial comfort!I have not so much to say for my friend Flora,who jilted a very nice young man in the Blues,for the sake of that horrid Lord Stornaway,who has about as much sense,Fanny,as Mr Rushworth,but much worse looking,and with a blackguard character.I had my doubts at the time about her being right,for he has not even the air of a gentleman,and now,I am sure,she was wrong.By the bye,Flora Ross was dying for Henry the first winter she came out.But were I to attempt to tell you of all the women whom I have known to be in love with him,I should never have done.It is you only,you,insensible Fanny,who can think of him with any thing like indifference.But are you so insensible as you profess yourself?No,no,I see you are not.’
There was indeed so deep a blush over Fanny's face at that moment,as might warrant strong suspicion in a predisposed mind.
