Page:Austen - Mansfield Park, vol. I, 1814.djvu/163

This page has been validated.

( 155 )

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 he 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 au-

thorize