Julia spoke with a lightness, an irreverence, that she could hardly feel, and then, to Fanny’s mortification, she impulsively added, “but don’t you know, aunt, you will be able to congratulate Fanny before long, for she has an admirer, and he is a man of the cloth, just like dear Uncle Norris! I am sure you will approve.”
“Oh!” Fanny exclaimed. “Please, Aunt Norris, Julia is speaking in jest, in jest only. There is no—”
“The sooner you are married Fanny—if someone will have you, which I cannot but doubt—the better. I do not know which is more disgraceful, the fact that you are working for money or the—the other business,” declared her aunt.
Julia, nettled on behalf of her cousin, replied, “Mr. Edifice is also employed at the academy, and he esteems Fanny very much, doesn’t he, Fanny? He doesn’t think less of her for earning her own bread, and neither do I.”
“Well Fanny, you must do as well for yourself as you can,” returned Aunt Norris. “With all the advantages that I and dear Sir Thomas gave you, rearing you up at Mansfield Park, I trust you can make amends for your follies and your scrapes by marrying respectably!”
“Yes ma’am.”
* * * * * * *
Their visit with Aunt Norris concluded, Julia and Fanny rewarded themselves by calling on Dr. and Mrs. Grant, at Mansfield Parsonage. Mrs. Grant was half-sister to Mary Crawford Bertram, but this did not alter the respect and affection both girls felt for her; she was a good and kindly woman, seeing the best in everyone dear to her, and unable on that account to cast off a beloved sister, while at the same time feeling, in the most acute terms, the scandal and disgrace which Mary had brought to Mansfield, the Bertrams, and everyone associated with them.
Dr. Grant was likewise well-disposed toward both Miss Bertram and Miss Price, as being pretty, civil young ladies, who provided a welcome diversion during the too-long interval between his breakfast and his dinner.
Mrs. Grant took a warm interest in Fanny’s charitable work at the academy, and had many questions to pose as to the regulations of the school, the modes of instruction, the aptitude of the pupils, and Fanny’s predictions for their future, all of which caused Julia to realize that she had not felt or shown half so much genuine solicitude for Fanny’s doings in London as was demonstrated by Mrs. Grant. It had not occurred to her to ask Fanny about it!
What an admirable quality it was, Julia reflected, to be unaffectedly interested in the doings, cares, and concerns of others. And not as a gossip, or a pry, still less for the purpose of uncovering fault and weakness, but to rejoice in their successes and commiserate in their difficulties! Julia privately resolved to be less self-centred, to pay more attention to the claims of others upon her time and thoughts.
Mrs. Grant also asked very particularly after Edmund, lamented that they saw him so seldom at Mansfield, and upon Dr. Grant’s leaving them to attend to some correspondence, added quietly: “I cannot suppose that either of you girls are in communication with my unhappy sister. Mary spent the winter months in Wales but is now in London, so you might see her, Julia, should you go to town this Easter as you intend.”
“Indeed, Mrs. Grant,” said Fanny, out of the goodness of her heart, wishing to reassure the feelings of a loving sister, “I did see her briefly last autumn, and she looked to be in excellent health.”
“Thank you, Miss Price,” came the reply, with a tremulous sigh. “You are very kind. I miss Henry and Mary—so very much! She is as lost to me, as though she were also on the other side of the grave! What I would not give to have us all as we were before! But pray, do not mention what I just said to your brother. I cannot expect Edmund to—even though he is the kindest and best of men. He has not exposed her to scandal and exposure, and himself to contempt and ridicule, by asking for a divorce. I bless him for it, and hope...” but there she trailed off, for what hope could there be?
An uncomfortable silence followed, until Julia, rising awkwardly, proposed that dear Mrs. Grant show them the growth and progress of her rose garden and her shrubbery.
* * * * * * *
Of the dozens of calling cards on display on Janet Fraser’s mantelpiece the one which took pride of place, was that of Patrick, Lord Elsham, the particular friend of Mary Bertram.
It was well known that Mary Crawford had charmed the Earl, when he first met her at the home of her uncle, the Admiral. He had campaigned for a long time to make her his mistress; she had resisted, so it was said, and went into Northamptonshire with her brother.
But when Mary Crawford, now Bertram, returned to London shortly after her marriage, she admitted Lord Elsham as a visitor to her town home, in defiance of public opinion, and she vacationed at Brighton at the same time as he—without, of course, the company of Lady Elsham.
London gossips said that Lord Elsham had tired of Mary and abandoned her, leaving her without a protector. But his curricle, with its coat of arms and a full complement of groomsmen, pulled up outside of the Fraser’s town home one day that spring, and his Lordship requested and received a private audience with Mrs. Bertram.
Margaret Fraser, who tended
