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She would henceforth admit his attentions without any idea beyond immediate amusementIf he could so command his affections, hers should do her no harm 198 Mansfield Park CHAPTER XXIV HENRY CRAWFORD had quite made up his mind by the next morning to give another fortnight to Mansfield, and having sent for his hunters, and written a few lines of explanation to the Admiral, he looked round at his sister as he sealed and threw the letter from him, and seeing the coast clear of the rest of the family, said, with a smile, ?And how do you think I mean to amuse myself, Mary, on the days that I do not hunt? I am grown too old to go out more than three times a week; but I have a plan for the intermediate days, and what do you think it is?? ?To walk and ride with me, to be sure ?Not exactly, though I shall be happy to do both, but that would be exercise only to my body, and I must take care of my mind Besides, that would be all recreation and indulgence, without the wholesome alloy of labour, and I do not like to eat the bread of idlenessNo, my plan is to make Fanny Price in love with me ?Fanny Price! Nonsense! No, noYou ought to be satisfied with her two cousins ?But I cannot be satisfied without Fanny Price, without making a small hole in Fanny Price?s heartYou do not seem properly aware of her claims to noticeWhen we talked of her last night, you none of you seemed sensible of the wonderful improvement that has taken place in her looks within the last six weeksYou see her every day, and therefore do not notice it; but I assure you she is quite a different creature from what she was in the autumnShe was then merely a quiet, modest, not plain-looking girl, but she is now absolutely prettyI used to think she had neither complexion nor countenance; but in that soft skin of hers, so frequently tinged with a blush as it was yesterday, there is decided beauty; and from what I observed of her eyes and mouth, I do not despair of their being capable of ex199 Jane Austen pression enough when she has anything to expressAnd then, her air, her louis vuitton kabelky manner, her tout ensemble, is so indescribably improved! She must be grown two inches, at least, since October ?Phoo! phoo! This is only because there were no tall women to compare her with, and because she has got a new gown, and you never saw her so well dressed beforeShe is just what she was in October, believe meThe truth is, that she was the only girl in company for you to notice, and you must have a somebodyI have always thought her pretty?not strikingly pretty?but ?pretty enough,? as people say; a sort of beauty that grows on oneHer eyes should be darker, but she has a sweet smile; but as for this wonderful degree of improvement, I am sure it may all be resolved into a better style of dress, and your having nobody else to look at; and therefore, if you do set about a flirtation with her, you never will persuade me that it is in compliment to her beauty, or that it proceeds from anything but your own idleness and folly Her brother gave only a smile to this accusation, and soon afterwards said, ?I do not quite know what to make of Miss FannyI do not understand herI could not tell what she would be at yesterday What is her character? Is she solemn? Is she queer? Is she prudish? Why did she draw back and look so grave at me? I could hardly get her to speakI never was so long in company with a girl in my life, trying to entertain her, and succeed so ill! Never met with a girl who looked so grave on me! I must try to get the better of thisHer looks say, ?I will not like you, I am determined not to like you?; and I say she shall ?Foolish fellow! And so this is her attraction after all! This it is, her not caring about you, which gives her such a soft skin, and makes her so much taller, and produces all these charms and graces! I do desire that you will not be making her really unhappy; a little love, perhaps, may animate and do her good, but I will not have you plunge her deep, for she is as good a little creature as ever lived, and has a great deal of feeling ?It can be but for a fortnight,? said Henry; ?and if a fortnight can kill chloe paddington bags her, she must have a constitution which nothing could save No, I will not do her any harm, dear little soul! only want her to look kindly on me, to give me smiles as well as blushes, to keep a 200 Mansfield Park chair for me by herself wherever we are, and be all animation when I take it and talk to her; to think as I think, be interested in all my possessions and pleasures, try to keep me longer at Mansfield, and feel when I go away that she shall be never happy again ?Moderation itself!? said Mary?I can have no scruples nowWell, you will have opportunities enough of endeavouring to recommend yourself, for we are a great deal together And without attempting any farther remonstrance, she left Fanny to her fate, a fate which, had not Fanny?s heart been guarded in a way unsuspected by Miss Crawford, might have been a little harder than she deserved; for although there doubtless are such unconquerable young ladies of eighteen (or one should not read about them) as are never to be persuaded into love against their judgment by all that talent, manner, attention, and flattery can do, I have no inclination to believe Fanny one of them, or to think that with so much tenderness of disposition, and so much taste as belonged to her, she could have escaped heart-whole from the courtship (though the courtship only of a fortnight) of such a man as Crawford, in spite of there being some previous ill opinion of him to be overcome, had not her affection been engaged elsewhereWith all the security which love of another and disesteem of him could give to the peace of mind he was attacking, his continued attentions?continued, but not obtrusive, and adapting themselves more and more to the gentleness and delicacy of her character?obliged her very soon to dislike him less than formerlyShe had by no means forgotten the past, and she thought as ill of him as ever; but she felt his powers: he was entertaining; and his manners were so improved, so polite, so seriously and blamelessly polite, that it was impossible not to be civil to him in return A very cc chanel logo earrings few days were enough to effect this; and at the end of those few days, circumstances arose which had a tendency rather to forward his views of pleasing her, inasmuch as they gave her a degree of happiness which must dispose her to be pleased with everybody William, her brother, the so long absent and dearly loved brother, was in England againShe had a letter from him herself, a few hurried happy lines, written as the ship came up Channel, and sent 201 Jane Austen into Portsmouth with the first boat that left the Antwerp at anchor in Spithead; and when Crawford walked up with the newspaper in his hand, which he had hoped would bring the first tidings, he found her trembling with joy over this letter, and listening with a glowing, grateful countenance to the kind invitation which her uncle was most collectedly dictating in reply It was but the day before that Crawford had made himself thoroughly master of the subject, or had in fact become at all aware of her having such a brother, or his being in such a ship, but the interest then excited had been very properly lively, determining him on his return to town to apply for information as to the probable period of the Antwerp?s return from the Mediterranean, etc and the good luck which attended his early examination of ship news the next morning seemed the reward of his ingenuity in finding out such a method of pleasing her, as well as of his dutiful attention to the Admiral, in having for many years taken in the paper esteemed to have the earliest naval intelligenceHe proved, however, to be too lateAll those fine first feelings, of which he had hoped to be the exciter, were already givenBut his intention, the kindness of his intention, was thankfully acknowledged: quite thankfully and warmly, for she was elevated beyond the common timidity of her mind by the flow of her love for William This dear William would soon be amongst themThere could be no doubt of his obtaining leave of absence immediately, for he was still only a midshipman; and as his parents, from living on the spot, must see by chloe bags already have seen him, and be seeing him perhaps daily, his direct holidays might with justice be instantly given to the sister, who had been his best correspondent through a period of seven years, and the uncle who had done most for his support and advancement; and accordingly the reply to her reply, fixing a very early day for his arrival, came as soon as possible; and scarcely ten days had passed since Fanny had been in the agitation of her first dinnervisit, when she found herself in an agitation of a higher nature, watching in the hall, in the lobby, on the stairs, for the first sound of the carriage which was to bring her a brother It came happily while she was thus waiting; and there being neither ceremony nor fearfulness to delay the moment of meeting, she was 202 Mansfield Park with him as he entered the house, and the first minutes of exquisite feeling had no interruption and no witnesses, unless the servants chiefly intent upon opening the proper doors could be called suchThis was exactly what Sir Thomas and Edmund had been separately conniving at, as each proved to the other by the sympathetic alacrity with which they both advised MrsNorris?s continuing where she was, instead of rushing out into the hall as soon as the noises of the arrival reached them William and Fanny soon shewed themselves; and Sir Thomas had the pleasure of receiving, in his protege, certainly a very different person from the one he had equipped seven years ago, but a young man of an open, pleasant countenance, and frank, unstudied, but feeling and respectful manners, and such as confirmed him his friend It was long before Fanny could recover from the agitating happiness of such an hour as was formed by the last thirty minutes of expectation, and the first of fruition; it was some time even before her happiness could be said to make her happy, before the disappointment inseparable from the alteration of person had vanished, and she could see in him the same William as before, and talk to him, as her heart had been yearning to do through many a past white prada bag ye