Mansfield Park - Chapter 34

Edmund had great things to hear on his return. Many surprises were awaiting him. The first that occurred was not least in interest: the appearance of Henry Crawford and his sister walking together through the village as he rode into it. He had concluded--he had meant them to be far distant. His absence had been extended beyond a fortnight purposely to avoid Miss Crawford. He was returning to Mansfield with spirits ready to feed on melancholy ² remembrances, and tender associations, when her own fair self was before him, leaning on her brother's arm, and he found himself receiving a welcome, unquestionably friendly, from the woman whom, two moments before, he had been thinking of as seventy miles off, and as farther, much farther, from him in inclination ³ than any distance could express., ,Her reception of him was of a sort which he could not have hoped for, had he expected to see her. Coming as he did from such a purport ⁴ fulfilled as had taken him away, he would have expected anything rather than a look of satisfaction, and words of simple, pleasant meaning. It was enough to set his heart in a glow, and to bring him home in the properest state for feeling the full value of the other joyful ⁵ surprises at hand., ,William's promotion ⁶, with all its particulars, he was soon master of; and with such a secret provision of comfort within his own breast to help the joy, he found in it a source of most gratifying sensation and unvarying cheerfulness all dinner-time., , ,Fanny suspected what was going on. They sat so much longer than usual in the dining-parlour, that she was sure they must be talking of her; and when tea at last brought them away, and she was to be seen by Edmund again, she felt dreadfully guilty. He came to her, sat down by her, took her hand, and pressed it kindly ⁷; and at that moment she thought that, but for the occupation and the scene which the tea-things afforded, she must have betrayed her emotion in some unpardonable excess., ,He was not intending, however, by such action, to be conveying to her that unqualified approbation ⁸ and encouragement which her hopes drew from it. It was designed only to express his participation ⁹ in all that interested her, and to tell her that he had been hearing what quickened every feeling of affection. He was, in fact, entirely ¹⁰ on his father's side of the question. His surprise was not so great as his father's at her refusing Crawford, because, so far from supposing her to consider him with anything like a preference, he had always believed it to be rather the reverse, and could imagine her to be taken perfectly ¹¹ unprepared, but Sir Thomas could not regard the connexion as more desirable than he did. It had every recommendation to him; and while honouring her for what she had done under the influence of her present indifference ¹², honouring her in rather stronger terms than Sir Thomas could quite echo, he was most earnest in hoping, and sanguine ¹³ in believing, that it would be a match at last, and that, united by mutual ¹⁴ affection, it would appear that their dispositions ¹⁶ were as exactly fitted to make them blessed in each other, as he was now beginning seriously to consider them. Crawford had been too precipitate ¹⁷. He had not given her time to attach herself. He had begun at the wrong end. With such powers as his, however, and such a disposition ¹⁵ as hers, Edmund trusted that everything would work out a happy conclusion. Meanwhile, he saw enough of Fanny's embarrassment ¹⁸ to make him scrupulously ¹⁹ guard against exciting it a second time, by any word, or look, or movement., ,She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。,All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中 。