@@@@@Fanny, in her pity and kindheartedness, was
@@@@@Fanny, in her pity and kindheartedness,
was at great pains to teach him how to learn, giving
him all the helps and directions in her power, trying to make an
artificial memory for him, and learning every word of his part herself,
but without his being much the forwarder
Many uncomfortable, anxious, apprehensive feelings she certainly had;
but with all these, and other claims on her time and attention, she was
as far from finding herself without employment or utility amongst them,
as without a companion in uneasiness; quite as far from having no
demand on her leisure as on her compassionThe gloom of her first
anticipations was proved to have been unfoundedShe was occasionally
useful to all; she was perhaps as much at peace as any
There was a great deal of needlework to be done, moreover, in
which her help was wanted; and that MrsNorris thought her quite
as well off as the rest, was evident by the manner in which she claimed
it—”Come, Fanny,” she cried, “these are fine times for you, but you
must not be always walking from one room to the other, and doing
the lookings-on at your ease, in this way; I want you hereI have
been slaving myself till I can hardly stand, to contrive Mr
Rushworth’s cloak without sending for any more satin; and now I
think you may give me your help in putting it togetherThere are
but three seams; you may do them in a triceIt would be lucky for
me if I had nothing but the executive part to doYou are best off, I
can tell you: but if nobody did more than you, we should not get on
very fast”
Fanny took the work very quietly, without attempting any defence;
but her kinder aunt Bertram observed on her behalf—
“One cannot wonder, sister, that Fanny should be delighted: it is
all new to her, you know; you and I used to be very fond of a play
ourselves, and so am I still; and as soon as I am a little more at
leisure, I mean to look in at their rehearsals tooWhat is the play
about, Fanny? you have never told me
“Oh! sister, pray do not ask her now; for Fanny is not one of those
who can talk and work at the same timeIt is about Lovers’ Vows
“I believe,” said Fanny to her aunt Bertram, “there will be three
acts rehearsed to-morrow evening, and that will give you an opportunity
of seeing all the actors at once
147
Jane Austen
“You had better stay till the curtain is hung,” interposed Mrs
Norris; “the curtain will be hung in a day or two—there is very little
sense in a play without a curtain—and I am much mistaken if you
do not find it draw up into very handsome festoons
Lady Bertram seemed quite resigned to waitingFanny did not
share her aunt’s composure: she thought of the morrow a great deal,
for if the three acts were rehearsed, Edmund and Miss Crawford
would then be acting together for the first time; the third act would
bring a scene between them which interested her most particularly,
and which she was longing and dreading to see how they would
performThe whole subject of it was love—a marriage of love was
to be described by the gentleman, and very little short of a declaration
of love be made by the lady
She had read and read the scene again with many painful, many
wondering emotions, and looked forward to their representation of
it as a circumstance almost too interestingShe did not believe they
had yet rehearsed it, even in private
The morrow came, the plan for the evening continued, and Fanny’s
consideration of it did not become less agitatedShe worked very
diligently under her aunt’s directions, but her diligence and her silence
concealed a very absent, anxious mind; and about noon she
made her escape with her work to the East room, that she might have
no concern in another, and, as she deemed it, most unnecessary rehearsal
of the first act, which Henry Crawford was just proposing,
desirous at once of having her time to herself, and of avoiding the
sight of MrA glimpse, as she passed through the hall, of
the two ladies walking up from the Parsonage made no change in her
wish of retreat, and she worked and meditated in the East room, undisturbed,
for a quarter of an hour, when a gentle tap at the door was
followed by the entrance of Miss Crawf