Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen (1775 1817)

A >> Austen >> Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen (1775 1817)

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CHAPTER I

About thirty years ago Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon,
with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck
to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park,
in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised
to the rank of a baronet's lady, with all the comforts
and consequences of an handsome house and large income.
All Huntingdon exclaimed on the greatness of the match,
and her uncle, the lawyer, himself, allowed her to be at least
three thousand pounds short of any equitable claim to it.
She had two sisters to be benefited by her elevation;
and such of their acquaintance as thought Miss Ward and Miss
Frances quite as handsome as Miss Maria, did not scruple
to predict their marrying with almost equal advantage.
But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune
in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.
Miss Ward, at the end of half a dozen years, found
herself obliged to be attached to the Rev. Mr. Norris,
a friend of her brother-in-law, with scarcely any
private fortune, and Miss Frances fared yet worse.
Miss Ward's match, indeed, when it came to the point,
was not contemptible: Sir Thomas being happily able
to give his friend an income in the living of Mansfield;
and Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal
felicity with very little less than a thousand a year.
But Miss Frances married, in the common phrase,
to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a lieutenant
of marines, without education, fortune, or connexions,
did it very thoroughly. She could hardly have made
a more untoward choice. Sir Thomas Bertram had interest,
which, from principle as well as pride--from a general
wish of doing right, and a desire of seeing all that were
connected with him in situations of respectability,
he would have been glad to exert for the advantage
of Lady Bertram's sister; but her husband's profession
was such as no interest could reach; and before he
had time to devise any other method of assisting them,
an absolute breach between the sisters had taken place.
It was the natural result of the conduct of each party,
and such as a very imprudent marriage almost always produces.
To save herself from useless remonstrance, Mrs. Price never
wrote to her family on the subject till actually married.
Lady Bertram, who was a woman of very tranquil feelings,
and a temper remarkably easy and indolent, would have
contented herself with merely giving up her sister,
and thinking no more of the matter; but Mrs. Norris
had a spirit of activity, which could not be satisfied
till she had written a long and angry letter to Fanny,
to point out the folly of her conduct, and threaten
her with all its possible ill consequences. Mrs. Price,
in her turn, was injured and angry; and an answer,
which comprehended each sister in its bitterness, and bestowed
such very disrespectful reflections on the pride of Sir
Thomas as Mrs. Norris could not possibly keep to herself,
put an end to all intercourse between them for a considerable
period.

Their homes were so distant, and the circles in which they
moved so distinct, as almost to preclude the means of ever
hearing of each other's existence during the eleven
following years, or, at least, to make it very wonderful
to Sir Thomas that Mrs. Norris should ever have it
in her power to tell them, as she now and then did,
in an angry voice, that Fanny had got another child.
By the end of eleven years, however, Mrs. Price could no
longer afford to cherish pride or resentment, or to lose one
connexion that might possibly assist her. A large and still
increasing family, an husband disabled for active service,
but not the less equal to company and good liquor, and a
very small income to supply their wants, made her eager
to regain the friends she had so carelessly sacrificed;
and she addressed Lady Bertram in a letter which spoke
so much contrition and despondence, such a superfluity
of children, and such a want of almost everything else,
as could not but dispose them all to a reconciliation.
She was preparing for her ninth lying-in; and after
bewailing the circumstance, and imploring their countenance
as sponsors to the expected child, she could not conceal
how important she felt they might be to the future
maintenance of the eight already in being. Her eldest
was a boy of ten years old, a fine spirited fellow,
who longed to be out in the world; but what could she do?
Was there any chance of his being hereafter useful to Sir
Thomas in the concerns of his West Indian property?
No situation would be beneath him; or what did Sir Thomas
think of Woolwich? or how could a boy be sent out to
the East?

The letter was not unproductive. It re-established
peace and kindness. Sir Thomas sent friendly
advice and professions, Lady Bertram dispatched
money and baby-linen, and Mrs. Norris wrote the letters.

Such were its immediate effects, and within a twelvemonth
a more important advantage to Mrs. Price resulted from it.
Mrs. Norris was often observing to the others that she
could not get her poor sister and her family out of
her head, and that, much as they had all done for her,
she seemed to be wanting to do more; and at length she
could not but own it to be her wish that poor Mrs. Price
should be relieved from the charge and expense of one child
entirely out of her great number. "What if they were
among them to undertake the care of her eldest daughter,
a girl now nine years old, of an age to require more
attention than her poor mother could possibly give?
The trouble and expense of it to them would be nothing,
compared with the benevolence of the action." Lady Bertram
agreed with her instantly. "I think we cannot do better,"
said she; "let us send for the child."

Sir Thomas could not give so instantaneous and unqualified
a consent. He debated and hesitated;--it was a serious charge;--
a girl so brought up must be adequately provided for,
or there would be cruelty instead of kindness in taking
her from her family. He thought of his own four children,
of his two sons, of cousins in love, etc.;--but no sooner
had he deliberately begun to state his objections,
than Mrs. Norris interrupted him with a reply to them all,
whether stated or not.

"My dear Sir Thomas, I perfectly comprehend you, and do
justice to the generosity and delicacy of your notions,
which indeed are quite of a piece with your general conduct;
and I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety
of doing everything one could by way of providing for a
child one had in a manner taken into one's own hands;
and I am sure I should be the last person in the world to
withhold my mite upon such an occasion. Having no children
of my own, who should I look to in any little matter I
may ever have to bestow, but the children of my sisters?--
and I am sure Mr. Norris is too just--but you know I am
a woman of few words and professions. Do not let us
be frightened from a good deed by a trifle. Give a girl
an education, and introduce her properly into the world,
and ten to one but she has the means of settling well,
without farther expense to anybody. A niece of ours,
Sir Thomas, I may say, or at least of _yours_, would not
grow up in this neighbourhood without many advantages.
I don't say she would be so handsome as her cousins.
I dare say she would not; but she would be introduced into
the society of this country under such very favourable
circumstances as, in all human probability, would get her
a creditable establishment. You are thinking of your sons--
but do not you know that, of all things upon earth,
_that_ is the least likely to happen, brought up as they
would be, always together like brothers and sisters?
It is morally impossible. I never knew an instance of it.
It is, in fact, the only sure way of providing against
the connexion. Suppose her a pretty girl, and seen by Tom
or Edmund for the first time seven years hence, and I dare
say there would be mischief. The very idea of her having
been suffered to grow up at a distance from us all in poverty
and neglect, would be enough to make either of the dear,
sweet-tempered boys in love with her. But breed her up
with them from this time, and suppose her even to have the
beauty of an angel, and she will never be more to either than
a sister."

"There is a great deal of truth in what you say,"
replied Sir Thomas, "and far be it from me to throw any
fanciful impediment in the way of a plan which would be
so consistent with the relative situations of each. I only
meant to observe that it ought not to be lightly engaged in,
and that to make it really serviceable to Mrs. Price,
and creditable to ourselves, we must secure to the child,
or consider ourselves engaged to secure to her hereafter,
as circumstances may arise, the provision of a gentlewoman,
if no such establishment should offer as you are so sanguine
in expecting."

"I thoroughly understand you," cried Mrs. Norris,
"you are everything that is generous and considerate,
and I am sure we shall never disagree on this point.
Whatever I can do, as you well know, I am always ready
enough to do for the good of those I love; and, though I
could never feel for this little girl the hundredth
part of the regard I bear your own dear children,
nor consider her, in any respect, so much my own,
I should hate myself if I were capable of neglecting her.
Is not she a sister's child? and could I bear to see
her want while I had a bit of bread to give her?
My dear Sir Thomas, with all my faults I have a warm heart;
and, poor as I am, would rather deny myself the necessaries
of life than do an ungenerous thing. So, if you are not
against it, I will write to my poor sister tomorrow,
and make the proposal; and, as soon as matters are settled,
_I_ will engage to get the child to Mansfield; _you_ shall
have no trouble about it. My own trouble, you know,
I never regard. I will send Nanny to London on purpose,
and she may have a bed at her cousin the saddler's, and the
child be appointed to meet her there. They may easily get
her from Portsmouth to town by the coach, under the care
of any creditable person that may chance to be going.
I dare say there is always some reputable tradesman's wife
or other going up."

Except to the attack on Nanny's cousin, Sir Thomas no longer
made any objection, and a more respectable, though less
economical rendezvous being accordingly substituted,
everything was considered as settled, and the pleasures
of so benevolent a scheme were already enjoyed.
The division of gratifying sensations ought not,
in strict justice, to have been equal; for Sir Thomas was
fully resolved to be the real and consistent patron of the
selected child, and Mrs. Norris had not the least intention
of being at any expense whatever in her maintenance.
As far as walking, talking, and contriving reached,
she was thoroughly benevolent, and nobody knew better
how to dictate liberality to others; but her love of money
was equal to her love of directing, and she knew quite as
well how to save her own as to spend that of her friends.
Having married on a narrower income than she had been
used to look forward to, she had, from the first,
fancied a very strict line of economy necessary;
and what was begun as a matter of prudence, soon grew
into a matter of choice, as an object of that needful
solicitude which there were no children to supply.
Had there been a family to provide for, Mrs. Norris might
never have saved her money; but having no care of that kind,
there was nothing to impede her frugality, or lessen the
comfort of making a yearly addition to an income which they
had never lived up to. Under this infatuating principle,
counteracted by no real affection for her sister,
it was impossible for her to aim at more than the credit
of projecting and arranging so expensive a charity;
though perhaps she might so little know herself as to
walk home to the Parsonage, after this conversation,
in the happy belief of being the most liberal-minded
sister and aunt in the world.

When the subject was brought forward again, her views
were more fully explained; and, in reply to Lady Bertram's
calm inquiry of "Where shall the child come to first,
sister, to you or to us?" Sir Thomas heard with some
surprise that it would be totally out of Mrs. Norris's
power to take any share in the personal charge of her.
He had been considering her as a particularly welcome
addition at the Parsonage, as a desirable companion
to an aunt who had no children of her own; but he found
himself wholly mistaken. Mrs. Norris was sorry to say
that the little girl's staying with them, at least
as things then were, was quite out of the question.
Poor Mr. Norris's indifferent state of health made it
an impossibility: he could no more bear the noise of a child
than he could fly; if, indeed, he should ever get well
of his gouty complaints, it would be a different matter:
she should then be glad to take her turn, and think nothing
of the inconvenience; but just now, poor Mr. Norris
took up every moment of her time, and the very mention
of such a thing she was sure would distract him.

"Then she had better come to us," said Lady Bertram,
with the utmost composure. After a short pause Sir Thomas
added with dignity, "Yes, let her home be in this house.
We will endeavour to do our duty by her, and she will,
at least, have the advantage of companions of her own age,
and of a regular instructress."

"Very true," cried Mrs. Norris, "which are both very
important considerations; and it will be just the same
to Miss Lee whether she has three girls to teach,
or only two--there can be no difference. I only wish I
could be more useful; but you see I do all in my power.
I am not one of those that spare their own trouble;
and Nanny shall fetch her, however it may put me
to inconvenience to have my chief counsellor away for
three days. I suppose, sister, you will put the child
in the little white attic, near the old nurseries.
It will be much the best place for her, so near Miss Lee,
and not far from the girls, and close by the housemaids,
who could either of them help to dress her, you know,
and take care of her clothes, for I suppose you would not
think it fair to expect Ellis to wait on her as well as
the others. Indeed, I do not see that you could possibly
place her anywhere else."

Lady Bertram made no opposition.

"I hope she will prove a well-disposed girl,"
continued Mrs. Norris, "and be sensible of her uncommon
good fortune in having such friends."

"Should her disposition be really bad," said Sir Thomas,
"we must not, for our own children's sake, continue her
in the family; but there is no reason to expect so great
an evil. We shall probably see much to wish altered
in her, and must prepare ourselves for gross ignorance,
some meanness of opinions, and very distressing vulgarity
of manner; but these are not incurable faults; nor, I trust,
can they be dangerous for her associates. Had my daughters
been _younger_ than herself, I should have considered
the introduction of such a companion as a matter of very
serious moment; but, as it is, I hope there can be nothing
to fear for _them_, and everything to hope for _her_,
from the association."

"That is exactly what I think," cried Mrs. Norris,
"and what I was saying to my husband this morning.
It will be an education for the child, said I, only being
with her cousins; if Miss Lee taught her nothing, she would
learn to be good and clever from _them_."

"I hope she will not tease my poor pug," said Lady Bertram;
"I have but just got Julia to leave it alone."

"There will be some difficulty in our way, Mrs. Norris,"
observed Sir Thomas, "as to the distinction proper to be made
between the girls as they grow up: how to preserve in the
minds of my _daughters_ the consciousness of what they are,
without making them think too lowly of their cousin;
and how, without depressing her spirits too far,
to make her remember that she is not a _Miss Bertram_.
I should wish to see them very good friends, and would,
on no account, authorise in my girls the smallest degree
of arrogance towards their relation; but still they cannot
be equals. Their rank, fortune, rights, and expectations
will always be different. It is a point of great delicacy,
and you must assist us in our endeavours to choose exactly
the right line of conduct."

Mrs. Norris was quite at his service; and though she
perfectly agreed with him as to its being a most
difficult thing, encouraged him to hope that between
them it would be easily managed.

It will be readily believed that Mrs. Norris did not write
to her sister in vain. Mrs. Price seemed rather surprised
that a girl should be fixed on, when she had so many fine boys,
but accepted the offer most thankfully, assuring them of her
daughter's being a very well-disposed, good-humoured girl,
and trusting they would never have cause to throw her off.
She spoke of her farther as somewhat delicate and puny,
but was sanguine in the hope of her being materially better
for change of air. Poor woman! she probably thought
change of air might agree with many of her children.

CHAPTER II

The little girl performed her long journey in safety;
and at Northampton was met by Mrs. Norris, who thus
regaled in the credit of being foremost to welcome her,
and in the importance of leading her in to the others,
and recommending her to their kindness.

Fanny Price was at this time just ten years old,
and though there might not be much in her first appearance
to captivate, there was, at least, nothing to disgust
her relations. She was small of her age, with no
glow of complexion, nor any other striking beauty;
exceedingly timid and shy, and shrinking from notice;
but her air, though awkward, was not vulgar, her voice
was sweet, and when she spoke her countenance was pretty.
Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram received her very kindly;
and Sir Thomas, seeing how much she needed encouragement,
tried to be all that was conciliating: but he had
to work against a most untoward gravity of deportment;
and Lady Bertram, without taking half so much trouble,
or speaking one word where he spoke ten, by the mere aid
of a good-humoured smile, became immediately the less awful
character of the two.

The young people were all at home, and sustained their
share in the introduction very well, with much good humour,
and no embarrassment, at least on the part of the sons, who,
at seventeen and sixteen, and tall of their age, had all
the grandeur of men in the eyes of their little cousin.
The two girls were more at a loss from being younger
and in greater awe of their father, who addressed them
on the occasion with rather an injudicious particularity.
But they were too much used to company and praise to have
anything like natural shyness; and their confidence
increasing from their cousin's total want of it,
they were soon able to take a full survey of her face
and her frock in easy indifference.

They were a remarkably fine family, the sons very well-looking,
the daughters decidedly handsome, and all of them well-grown
and forward of their age, which produced as striking
a difference between the cousins in person, as education
had given to their address; and no one would have supposed
the girls so nearly of an age as they really were. There were
in fact but two years between the youngest and Fanny.
Julia Bertram was only twelve, and Maria but a year older.
The little visitor meanwhile was as unhappy as possible.
Afraid of everybody, ashamed of herself, and longing
for the home she had left, she knew not how to look up,
and could scarcely speak to be heard, or without crying.
Mrs. Norris had been talking to her the whole way from
Northampton of her wonderful good fortune, and the
extraordinary degree of gratitude and good behaviour
which it ought to produce, and her consciousness of
misery was therefore increased by the idea of its being
a wicked thing for her not to be happy. The fatigue,
too, of so long a journey, became soon no trifling evil.
In vain were the well-meant condescensions of Sir Thomas,
and all the officious prognostications of Mrs. Norris
that she would be a good girl; in vain did Lady Bertram
smile and make her sit on the sofa with herself and pug,
and vain was even the sight of a gooseberry tart towards
giving her comfort; she could scarcely swallow two mouthfuls
before tears interrupted her, and sleep seeming to be her
likeliest friend, she was taken to finish her sorrows in bed.

"This is not a very promising beginning," said Mrs. Norris,
when Fanny had left the room. "After all that I said to her
as we came along, I thought she would have behaved better;
I told her how much might depend upon her acquitting
herself well at first. I wish there may not be a little
sulkiness of temper--her poor mother had a good deal;
but we must make allowances for such a child--and I
do not know that her being sorry to leave her home is
really against her, for, with all its faults, it _was_
her home, and she cannot as yet understand how much she
has changed for the better; but then there is moderation
in all things."

It required a longer time, however, than Mrs. Norris
was inclined to allow, to reconcile Fanny to the novelty
of Mansfield Park, and the separation from everybody
she had been used to. Her feelings were very acute,
and too little understood to be properly attended to.
Nobody meant to be unkind, but nobody put themselves out
of their way to secure her comfort.

The holiday allowed to the Miss Bertrams the next day,
on purpose to afford leisure for getting acquainted with,
and entertaining their young cousin, produced little union.
They could not but hold her cheap on finding that she
had but two sashes, and had never learned French; and when
they perceived her to be little struck with the duet they
were so good as to play, they could do no more than make
her a generous present of some of their least valued toys,
and leave her to herself, while they adjourned to whatever
might be the favourite holiday sport of the moment,
making artificial flowers or wasting gold paper.

Fanny, whether near or from her cousins, whether in
the schoolroom, the drawing-room, or the shrubbery,
was equally forlorn, finding something to fear in
every person and place. She was disheartened by Lady
Bertram's silence, awed by Sir Thomas's grave looks,
and quite overcome by Mrs. Norris's admonitions.
Her elder cousins mortified her by reflections on her size,
and abashed her by noticing her shyness: Miss Lee
wondered at her ignorance, and the maid-servants sneered
at her clothes; and when to these sorrows was added the idea
of the brothers and sisters among whom she had always
been important as playfellow, instructress, and nurse,
the despondence that sunk her little heart was severe.

The grandeur of the house astonished, but could not console her.
The rooms were too large for her to move in with ease:
whatever she touched she expected to injure, and she
crept about in constant terror of something or other;
often retreating towards her own chamber to cry;
and the little girl who was spoken of in the drawing-room
when she left it at night as seeming so desirably sensible
of her peculiar good fortune, ended every day's sorrows
by sobbing herself to sleep. A week had passed in this way,
and no suspicion of it conveyed by her quiet passive manner,
when she was found one morning by her cousin Edmund,
the youngest of the sons, sitting crying on the attic stairs.

"My dear little cousin," said he, with all the gentleness
of an excellent nature, "what can be the matter?" And sitting
down by her, he was at great pains to overcome her shame
in being so surprised, and persuade her to speak openly.
Was she ill? or was anybody angry with her? or had she
quarrelled with Maria and Julia? or was she puzzled
about anything in her lesson that he could explain?
Did she, in short, want anything he could possibly get her,
or do for her? For a long while no answer could be
obtained beyond a "no, no--not at all--no, thank you";
but he still persevered; and no sooner had he begun to
revert to her own home, than her increased sobs explained
to him where the grievance lay. He tried to console her.

"You are sorry to leave Mama, my dear little Fanny,"
said he, "which shows you to be a very good girl; but you
must remember that you are with relations and friends,
who all love you, and wish to make you happy. Let us walk
out in the park, and you shall tell me all about your
brothers and sisters."

On pursuing the subject, he found that, dear as all
these brothers and sisters generally were, there was one
among them who ran more in her thoughts than the rest.
It was William whom she talked of most, and wanted most
to see. William, the eldest, a year older than herself,
her constant companion and friend; her advocate with her
mother (of whom he was the darling) in every distress.
"William did not like she should come away; he had told
her he should miss her very much indeed." "But William will
write to you, I dare say." "Yes, he had promised he would,
but he had told _her_ to write first." "And when shall
you do it?" She hung her head and answered hesitatingly,
"she did not know; she had not any paper."

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