Page:Austen - Mansfield Park, vol. I, 1814.djvu/355

This page has been validated.

( 347 )

power, trying to make an artificial memory for him, and learning every word of his part herself, but without his being much the forwarder.

Many uncomfortable, anxious, apprehensive feelings she certainly had; but with all these, and other claims on her time and attention, she was as far from finding herself without employment or utility amongst them, as without a companion in uneasiness; quite as far from having no demand on her leisure as on her compassion. The gloom of her first anticipations was proved to have been unfounded. She was occasionally useful to all; she was perhaps as much at peace as any.

There was a great deal of needlework to be done moreover, in which her help was wanted, and that Mrs. Norris thought her quite as well off as the rest, was evident by the manner in which she claimed it, "Come Fanny," she cried, "these are fine times for you, but you must not be always walking from one

room