It was so agreeable to her to see him again, and... It was so agreeable to her to see him again, and hear him talk, to
have her ear amused and her whole comprehension filled by his
narratives, that she began particularly to feel how dreadfully she
must have missed him, and how impossible it would have been for
her to bear a lengthened absenceNorris was by no means to be compared in happiness to her
sisterNot that she was incommoded by many fears of Sir Thomas’s
disapprobation when the present state of his house should be known,
for her judgment had been so blinded that, except by the instinctive
caution with which she had whisked away MrRushworth’s pink
satin cloak as her brother-in-law entered, she could hardly be said
to shew any sign of alarm; but she was vexed by the manner of his
returnIt had left her nothing to doInstead of being sent for out of
the room, and seeing him first, and having to spread the happy
news through the house, Sir Thomas, with a very reasonable dependence,
perhaps, on the nerves of his wife and children, had sought
no confidant but the butler, and had been following him almost
instantaneously into the drawing-roomNorris felt herself defrauded
of an office on which she had always depended, whether
his arrival or his death were to be the thing unfolded; and was now
trying to be in a bustle without having anything to
coco chanel jewelry bustle about,
and labouring to be important where nothing was wanted but tranquillity
and silenceWould Sir Thomas have consented to eat, she
might have gone to the housekeeper with troublesome directions,
and insulted the footmen with injunctions of despatch; but Sir Thomas
resolutely declined all dinner: he would take nothing, nothing
till tea came—he would rather wait for teaNorris was at
intervals urging something different; and in the most interesting
moment of his passage to England, when the alarm of a French
privateer was at the height, she burst through his recital with the
proposal of soup“Sure, my dear Sir Thomas, a basin of soup would
be a much better thing for you than teaDo have a basin of soup
Sir Thomas could not be provoked“Still the same anxiety for
everybody’s comfort, my dear MrsNorris,” was his answer“But
indeed I would rather have nothing but tea
157
Jane Austen
“Well, then, Lady Bertram, suppose you speak for tea directly;
suppose you hurry Baddeley a little; he seems behindhand to-night
She carried this point, and Sir Thomas’s narrative proceeded
At length there was a pauseHis immediate communications were
exhausted, and it seemed enough to be looking joyfully around him,
now at one, now at another of the beloved circle; but the pause was
not long: in the elation of her
knock off chanel earrings spirits Lady Bertram became talkative,
and what were the sensations of her children upon hearing
her say, “How do you think the young people have been amusing
themselves lately, Sir Thomas? They have been actingWe have been
all alive with acting
“Indeed! and what have you been acting?”
“Oh! they’ll tell you all about it
“The all will soon be told,” cried Tom hastily, and with affected
unconcern; “but it is not worth while to bore my father with it now
You will hear enough of it to-morrow, sirWe have just been trying,
by way of doing something, and amusing my mother, just within
the last week, to get up a few scenes, a mere trifleWe have had such
incessant rains almost since October began, that we have been nearly
confined to the house for days togetherI have hardly taken out a
gun since the 3rdTolerable sport the first three days, but there has
been no attempting anything sinceThe first day I went over
Mansfield Wood, and Edmund took the copses beyond Easton, and
we brought home six brace between us, and might each have killed
six times as many, but we respect your pheasants, sir, I assure you, as
much as you could desireI do not think you will find your woods
by any means worse stocked than they wereI never saw Mansfield
Wood so full of pheasants in my life as this yearI hope you will take
a
prada handbags sale day’s sport there yourself, sir, soon
For the present the danger was over, and Fanny’s sick feelings subsided;
but when tea was soon afterwards brought in, and Sir Thomas,
getting up, said that he found that he could not be any longer
in the house without just looking into his own dear room, every
agitation was returningHe was gone before anything had been said
to prepare him for the change he must find there; and a pause of
alarm followed his disappearanceEdmund was the first to speak—
“Something must be done,” said he
158
Mansfield Park
“It is time to think of our visitors,” said Maria, still feeling her
hand pressed to Henry Crawford’s heart, and caring little for anything
else“Where did you leave Miss Crawford, Fanny?”
Fanny told of their departure, and delivered their message
“Then poor Yates is all alone,” cried Tom“I will go and fetch himHe
will be no bad assistant when it all comes out
To the theatre he went, and reached it just in time to witness the
first meeting of his father and his friendSir Thomas had been a
good deal surprised to find candles burning in his room; and on
casting his eye round it, to see other symptoms of recent habitation
and a general air of confusion in the furnitureThe removal of the
bookcase from before the billiard-room door struck him especially,
but he had
cartier pasha watch scarcely more than time to feel astonished at all this,
before there were sounds from the billiard-room to astonish him
still fartherSome one was talking there in a very loud accent; he
did not know the voice—more than talking—almost hallooingHe
stepped to the door, rejoicing at that moment in having the means
of immediate communication, and, opening it, found himself on
the stage of a theatre, and opposed to a ranting young man, who
appeared likely to knock him down backwardsAt the very moment
of Yates perceiving Sir Thomas, and giving perhaps the very
best start he had ever given in the whole course of his rehearsals,
Tom Bertram entered at the other end of the room; and never had
he found greater difficulty in keeping his countenanceHis father’s
looks of solemnity and amazement on this his first appearance on
any stage, and the gradual metamorphosis of the impassioned Baron
Wildenheim into the well-bred and easy MrYates, making his bow
and apology to Sir Thomas Bertram, was such an exhibition, such a
piece of true acting, as he would not have lost upon any accountIt
would be the last—in all probability—the last scene on that stage;
but he was sure there could not be a finerThe house would close
with the greatest eclat
There was little time, however, for the indulgence of any images
of
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