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?South or north, I know a black cloud when I see...
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?South or north, I know a black cloud when I see it; and you
must not set forward while it is so threateningAnd besides, I want
to play something more to you?a very pretty piece?and your
cousin Edmund?s prime favouriteYou must stay and hear your
cousin?s favourite
Fanny felt that she must; and though she had not waited for that
sentence to be thinking of Edmund, such a memento made her
particularly awake to his idea, and she fancied him sitting in that
room again and again, perhaps in the very spot where she sat now,
listening with constant delight to the favourite air, played, as it appeared
to her, with superior tone and expression; and though pleased
with it herself, and glad to like whatever was liked by him, she was
more sincerely impatient to go away at the conclusion of it than she
had been before; and on this being evident, she was so kindly asked
to call again, to take them in her walk whenever she could, to come
and hear more of the harp, that she felt it necessary to be done, if no
objection arose at home
Such was the origin of the sort of intimacy which took place between
them within the first fortnight after the Miss Bertrams? going
away?an intimacy resulting principally from Miss Crawford?s desire
of something new, and which had little reality in Fanny?s feelings
Fanny went to her every two or three days: it seemed a kind of
fascination: she could not be easy without going, and yet it was
without loving her, without ever thinking like her, without any sense
of obligation for being sought pasha cartier watches blue face after now when nobody else was to
be had; and deriving no higher pleasure from her conversation than
occasional amusement, and that often at the expense of her judgment,
when it was raised by pleasantry on people or subjects which
she wished to be respectedShe went, however, and they sauntered
181
Jane Austen
about together many an half-hour in MrsGrant?s shrubbery, the
weather being unusually mild for the time of year, and venturing
sometimes even to sit down on one of the benches now comparatively
unsheltered, remaining there perhaps till, in the midst of some
tender ejaculation of Fanny?s on the sweets of so protracted an autumn,
they were forced, by the sudden swell of a cold gust shaking
down the last few yellow leaves about them, to jump up and walk
for warmth
?This is pretty, very pretty,? said Fanny, looking around her as
they were thus sitting together one day; ?every time I come into this
shrubbery I am more struck with its growth and beautyThree years
ago, this was nothing but a rough hedgerow along the upper side of
the field, never thought of as anything, or capable of becoming anything;
and now it is converted into a walk, and it would be difficult
to say whether most valuable as a convenience or an ornament; and
perhaps, in another three years, we may be forgetting?almost forgetting
what it was beforeHow wonderful, how very wonderful
the operations of time, and the changes of the human mind!? And
following the latter train of thought, she soon afterwards added: ?If
any one faculty of our fendi black leatrher spy bag nature may be called more wonderful than
the rest, I do think it is memoryThere seems something more
speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities
of memory, than in any other of our intelligencesThe memory
is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so
bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond
control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of
recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out
Miss Crawford, untouched and inattentive, had nothing to say;
and Fanny, perceiving it, brought back her own mind to what she
thought must interest
?It may seem impertinent in me to praise, but I must admire the
taste MrsGrant has shewn in all thisThere is such a quiet simplicity
in the plan of the walk! Not too much attempted!?
?Yes,? replied Miss Crawford carelessly, ?it does very well for a
place of this sortOne does not think of extent here; and between
ourselves, till I came to Mansfield, I had not imagined a country
parson ever aspired to a shrubbery, or anything of the kind
182
Mansfield Park
?I am so glad to see the evergreens thrive!? said Fanny, in reply
?My uncle?s gardener always says the soil here is better than his own,
and so it appears from the growth of the laurels and evergreens in
generalThe evergreen! How beautiful, how welcome, how wonderful
the evergreen! When one thinks of it, how astonishing a variety
of nature! In some countries we know the tree that sheds its leaf
is the variety, kelly bag hermes but that does not make it less amazing that the same
soil and the same sun should nurture plants differing in the first
rule and law of their existenceYou will think me rhapsodising; but
when I am out of doors, especially when I am sitting out of doors, I
am very apt to get into this sort of wondering strainOne cannot fix
one?s eyes on the commonest natural production without finding
food for a rambling fancy
?To say the truth,? replied Miss Crawford, ?I am something like
the famous Doge at the court of Lewis XIV and may declare that I
see no wonder in this shrubbery equal to seeing myself in itIf anybody
had told me a year ago that this place would be my home, that
I should be spending month after month here, as I have done, I
certainly should not have believed themI have now been here nearly
five months; and, moreover, the quietest five months I ever passed
?Too quiet for you, I believe
?I should have thought so theoretically myself, but,? and her eyes
brightened as she spoke, ?take it all and all, I never spent so happy a
summerBut then,? with a more thoughtful air and lowered voice,
?there is no saying what it may lead to
Fanny?s heart beat quick, and she felt quite unequal to surmising
or soliciting anything moreMiss Crawford, however, with renewed
animation, soon went on?
?I am conscious of being far better reconciled to a country residence
than I had ever expected to beI can even suppose it pleasant
to spend half the year in the country, under certain circumstances,
very pleasantAn elegant, louis vuitton handbags moderate-sized house in the centre of
family connexions; continual engagements among them; commanding
the first society in the neighbourhood; looked up to, perhaps, as
leading it even more than those of larger fortune, and turning from
the cheerful round of such amusements to nothing worse than a
tete-a-tete with the person one feels most agreeable in the world
183
Jane Austen
There is nothing frightful in such a picture, is there, Miss Price?
One need not envy the new MrsRushworth with such a home as
thatRushworth!? was all that Fanny attempted to say
?Come, come, it would be very un-handsome in us to be severe on
MrsRushworth, for I look forward to our owing her a great many
gay, brilliant, happy hoursI expect we shall be all very much at
Sotherton another yearSuch a match as Miss Bertram has made is
a public blessing; for the first pleasures of MrRushworth?s wife
must be to fill her house, and give the best balls in the country
Fanny was silent, and Miss Crawford relapsed into thoughtfulness,
till suddenly looking up at the end of a few minutes, she exclaimed,
?Ah! here he isRushworth, however, but
Edmund, who then appeared walking towards them with MrsI am so glad your eldest cousin is gone,
that he may be MrThere is something in the sound
of MrEdmund Bertram so formal, so pitiful, so younger-brotherlike,
that I detest it
?How differently we feel!? cried Fanny?To me, the sound of Mr
Bertram is so cold and nothing-meaning, so entirely without warmth
or character! It just stands for a gentleman, and that?s chanel bags to buy all |
Posted: 7:27 AM, Sunday, March 7, 2010 |
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