‘If you are resolved on acting,’replied the persevering Edmund,‘I must hope it will be in a very small and quiet way;and I think a theatre ought not to be attempted.-It would be taking liberties with my father's house in his absence which could not be justified.’
‘For everything of that nature,I will be answerable,’-said Tom,in a decided tone.-‘His house shall not be hurt.I have quite as great an interest in being careful of his house as you can have;and as to such alterations as I was suggesting just now,such as moving a bookcase,or unlocking a door,or even as using the billiard room for the space of a week without playing at billiards in it,you might just as well suppose he would object to our sitting more in this room,and less in the breakfast-room,than we did before he went away,or to my sisters'pianoforte being moved from one side of the room to the other.-Absolute nonsense!’
‘The innovation,if not wrong as an innovation,will be wrong as an expense.’
‘Yes,the expense of such an undertaking would be prodigious!Perhaps it might cost a whole twenty pounds.-Something of a theatre we must have undoubtedly,but it will be on the simplest plan;-a green curtain and a little carpenter's work-and that's all;and as the carpenter's work may be all done at home by Christopher Jackson himself,it will be too absurd to talk of expense;-and as long as Jackson is employed,everything will be right with Sir Thomas.-Don't imagine that nobody in this house can see or judge but yourself.-Don't act yourself,if you do not like it,but don't expect to govern everybody else.’
‘No,as to acting myself,’said Edmund,‘that I absolutely protest against.’
Tom walked out of the room as he said it,and Edmund was left to sit down and stir the fire in thoughtful vexation.
Fanny,who had heard it all,and borne Edmund company in every feeling throughout the whole,now ventured to say,in her anxiety to suggest some comfort,‘Perhaps they may not be able to find any play to suit them.Your brother's taste,and your sisters',seem very different.’
‘I have no hope there,Fanny.If they persist in the scheme they will find something -I shall speak to my sisters,and try to dissuade them,and that is all I can do.’
‘I should think my aunt Norris would be on your side.’
‘I dare say she would;but she has no influence with either Tom or my sisters that could be of any use;and if I cannot convince them myself,I shall let things take their course,without attempting it through her.Family squabbling is the greatest evil of all,and we had better do anything than be altogether by the ears.’
His sisters,to whom he had an opportunity of speaking the next morning,were quite as impatient of his advice,quite as unyielding to his representation,quite as determined in the cause of pleasure,as Tom.-Their mother had no objection to the plan,and they were not in the least afraid of their father's disapprobation.-There could be no harm in what had been done in so many respectable families,and by so many women of the first consideration;and it must be scrupulousness run mad,that could see anything to censure in a plan like theirs,comprehending only brothers and sisters,and intimate friends,and which would never be heard of beyond themselves.Julia did seem inclined to admit that Maria's situation might require particular caution and delicacy-but that could not extend to her-she was at liberty;and Maria evidently considered her engagement as only raising her so much more above restraint,and leaving her less occasion than Julia,to consult either father or mother.Edmund had little to hope,but he was still urging the subject,when Henry Crawford entered the room,fresh from the Parsonage,calling out,‘No want of hands in our Theatre,Miss Bertram.No want of under strappers-My sister desires her love,and hopes to be admitted into the company,and will be happy to take the part of any old Duenna or tame Confidante,that you may not like to do yourselves.’
Maria gave Edmund a glance,which meant,‘What say you now?Can we be wrong if Mary Crawford feels the same?’And Edmund silenced,was obliged to acknowledge that the charm of acting might well carry fascination to the mind of genius;and with the ingenuity of love,to dwell more on the obliging,accommodating purport of the message than on anything else.
The scheme advanced.Opposition was vain;and as to Mrs Norris,he was mistaken in supposing she would wish to make any.She started no difficulties that were not talked down in five minutes by her eldest nephew and niece,who were all-powerful with her;and,as the whole arrangement was to bring very little expense to anybody,and none at all to herself,as she foresaw in it all the comforts of hurry,bustle and importance,and derived the immediate advantage of fancying herself obliged to leave her own house,where she had been living a month at her own cost,and take up her abode in theirs,that every hour might be spent in their service;she was,in fact,exceedingly delighted with the project.
Chapter 14
Fanny seemed nearer being right than Edmund had supposed.The business of finding a play that would suit everybody,proved to be no trifle;and the carpenter had received his orders and taken his measurements,had suggested and removed at least two sets of difficulties,and having made the necessity of an enlargement of plan and expense fully evident,was already at work,while a play was still to seek.Other preparations were also in hand.An enormous roll of green baize had arrived from Northampton,and been cut out by Mrs Norris (with a saving,by her good management,of full three quarters of a yard),and was actually forming into a curtain by the housemaids,and still the play was wanting;and as two or three days passed away in this manner,Edmund began almost to hope that none might ever be found.
