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"

"I am afraid it was, indeed," said the more candid
Lady Bertram, who had overheard her; "I am very much afraid
she caught the headache there, for the heat was enough
to kill anybody. It was as much as I could bear myself.
Sitting and calling to Pug, and trying to keep him from
the flower-beds, was almost too much for me."

Edmund said no more to either lady; but going quietly
to another table, on which the supper-tray yet remained,
brought a glass of Madeira to Fanny, and obliged her to drink
the greater part. She wished to be able to decline it;
but the tears, which a variety of feelings created,
made it easier to swallow than to speak.

Vexed as Edmund was with his mother and aunt, he was still
more angry with himself. His own forgetfulness of her was
worse than anything which they had done. Nothing of this
would have happened had she been properly considered;
but she had been left four days together without any choice
of companions or exercise, and without any excuse for
avoiding whatever her unreasonable aunts might require.
He was ashamed to think that for four days together she had
not had the power of riding, and very seriously resolved,
however unwilling he must be to check a pleasure of Miss
Crawford's, that it should never happen again.

Fanny went to bed with her heart as full as on the first
evening of her arrival at the Park. The state of her
spirits had probably had its share in her indisposition;
for she had been feeling neglected, and been struggling
against discontent and envy for some days past.
As she leant on the sofa, to which she had retreated
that she might not be seen, the pain of her mind
had been much beyond that in her head; and the sudden
change which Edmund's kindness had then occasioned,
made her hardly know how to support herself.



CHAPTER VIII

Fanny's rides recommenced the very next day; and as it
was a pleasant fresh-feeling morning, less hot than the
weather had lately been, Edmund trusted that her losses,
both of health and pleasure, would be soon made good.
While she was gone Mr. Rushworth arrived, escorting his mother,
who came to be civil and to shew her civility especially,
in urging the execution of the plan for visiting Sotherton,
which had been started a fortnight before, and which,
in consequence of her subsequent absence from home,
had since lain dormant. Mrs. Norris and her nieces were all
well pleased with its revival, and an early day was named
and agreed to, provided Mr. Crawford should be disengaged:
the young ladies did not forget that stipulation, and though
Mrs. Norris would willingly have answered for his being so,
they would neither authorise the liberty nor run the risk;
and at last, on a hint from Miss Bertram, Mr. Rushworth
discovered that the properest thing to be done was for
him to walk down to the Parsonage directly, and call on
Mr. Crawford, and inquire whether Wednesday would suit him
or not.

Before his return Mrs. Grant and Miss Crawford came in.

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