Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd Read Free Book Online Page B

as I will have to instruct the attorney to prepare the settlements, but Mrs Norris has persuaded me that he should
remain here, not only to assist my son, but also for his own happiness, at this particular time.’
    Mary struggled to contain her agitation, but the case admitted of no equivocation. All doubt was at an end. There was no other way of accounting for Sir Thomas’s words than by supposing
that preparations were now in hand for the marriage of Miss Price and Mr Norris.
    She made a hasty finish of her dealings with Maria, and exclaimed, ‘There! I have finally learned to harden my heart, and sharpen my self-command. I play for victory like a woman of
spirit, but I will only pay for it what it is worth.’
    You may imagine her surprise when she found that the game was hers after all, and returned her far more than she had expected, from what she had given to secure it.
    It was a silent walk back across the park by moonlight for the parsonage party, with each absorbed in their own private thoughts. Mary had never believed Henry’s attachment to Miss Price
to be serious, and how he might be affected by the news of her impending marriage, she could not say; she was too vexed at her own weakness and susceptibility to have much time to consider his
feelings. What had she been thinking? To allow herself to become attached to a man destined for another! She could not even claim ignorance as an excuse—the whole county had known of the
planned union, and she herself had been informed of it on the very day she arrived in Mansfield. She had been thoughtless and vain, allowing herself to fall, almost unconsciously, into an
attachment that could only injure her peace.
    The following morning she awoke to the same thoughts and meditations which had at length closed her eyes. It was impossible to think of any thing else, and she was quite amazed
at her own discomposure. Edmund was no longer the same Mr Norris to whom she had taken such an early dislike, taking for coldness and pride what was in reality only shyness and diffidence. True,
his manners required intimacy to make them pleasing, but they had enjoyed some thing nearly approaching intimacy every morning for almost a month, and now that his natural shyness was overcome, his
behaviour to her gave every indication of an open, affectionate heart. And now the advancement of his marriage, which should have confirmed him as the husband of another woman, had on the contrary,
only served to make her understand her own heart; and never had she thought she might have loved him, as she did now, when all love must be in vain.
    Remembering that they had agreed to ride again that morning, and feeling herself quite unequal to it, she sent word to the Park that she would not go out that day, and attempted to persuade
Henry to walk with her, and conduct that morning’s observations on foot.
    ‘I wish I could oblige you, my dear Mary,’ he replied, ‘but I am currently sketching plans for a Grecian temple on the hill behind the house. It is full two miles from the
parsonage, and I should not have time to complete what I have set myself to do today if I were to walk there and back. But,’ he said, smiling, ‘I would be delighted to have your company
to the stables. I hear we are to meet the celebrated Mr Rushworth tomorrow, and I am most eager to know what kind of a man to expect. I am sure the young ladies of the Park have made it their
business to discover all there is to know on such a promising subject. You must enlighten me, so I may be fully prepared.’
    Henry meant only to divert her, and at any other time he would have succeeded; she would have entered into his lively speculations as to the cut of Mr Rushworth’s frock-coat and his
preferred blend of snuff with genuine enthusiasm, for she usually took a great delight in any thing ridiculous, and in self-conceit most of all. But she had never been more at a loss to make her
feelings appear what they were not.