Fanny believed herself to derive as much innocent enjoyment from the play as any of them;-Henry Crawford acted well,and it was a pleasure to her to creep into the theatre,and attend the rehearsal of the first act-in spite of the feelings it excited in some speeches for Maria.-Maria she also thought acted well-too well;-and after the first rehearsal or two,Fanny began to be their only audience,and sometimes as prompter,sometimes as spectator-was often very useful.-As far as she could judge,Mr Crawford was considerably the best actor of all;he had more confidence than Edmund,more judgment than Tom,more talent and taste than Mr Yates.-She did not like him as a man,but she must admit him to be the best actor,and on this point there were not many who differed from her.Mr Yates,indeed,exclaimed against his tameness and insipidity-and the day came at last,when Mr Rushworth turned to her with a black look,and said,-‘Do you think there is anything so very fine in all this?For the life and soul of me,I cannot admire him;-and between ourselves,to see such an undersized,little,mean-looking man,set up for a fine actor,is very ridiculous in my opinion.’
From this moment there was a return of his former jealousy,which Maria,from increasing hopes of Crawford,was at little pains to remove;and the chances of Mr Rushworth's ever attaining to the knowledge of his two and forty speeches became much less.As to his ever making anything tolerable of them,nobody had the smallest idea of that except his mother-she,indeed,regretted that his part was not more considerable,and deferred coming over to Mansfield till they were forward enough in their rehearsal to comprehend all his scenes,but the others aspired at nothing beyond his remembering the catchword,and the first line of his speech,and being able to follow the prompter through the rest.Fanny,in her pity and kind-heartedness,was at great pains to teach him how to learn,giving him all the helps and directions in her 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 to the other and doing the lookings on,at your ease,in this way,-I want you here.-I have been slaving myself till I can hardly stand,to contrive Mr Rushworth's cloak without sending for any more satin;and now I think you may give me your help in putting it together.-There are but three seams,you may do them in a trice.-It would be lucky for me if I had nothing but the executive part to do.-You are best off,I can tell you;but if nobody did more than you,we should not get on very fast.’
Fanny took the work very quietly without attempting any defence;but her kinder aunt Bertram observed on her behalf,‘One cannot wonder,sister,that Fanny should be delighted;it is all new to her,you know,-you and I used to be very fond of a play ourselves-and so am I still;-and as soon as I am a little more at leisure,I mean to look in at their rehearsals too.What is the play about,Fanny,you have never told me?’
‘Oh!sister,pray do not ask her now;for Fanny is not one of those who can talk and work at the same time.-It is about Lovers'Vows.’
‘I believe,’said Fanny to her aunt Bertram,‘there will be three acts rehearsed tomorrow evening,and that will give you an opportunity of seeing all the actors at once.’
‘You had better stay till the curtain is hung,’interposed Mrs Norris-‘the curtain will be hung in a day or two,-there is very little sense in a play without a cur-tain-and I am much mistaken if you do not find it draw up into very handsome festoons.’
Lady Bertram seemed quite resigned to waiting.-Fanny did not share her aunt's composure;she thought of the morrow a great deal,-for if the three acts were rehearsed,Edmund and Miss Crawford would then be acting together for the first time;-the third act would bring a scene between them which interested her most particularly,and which she was longing and dreading to see how they would perform.The whole subject of it was love-a marriage of love was to be described by the gentleman,and very little short of a declaration of love be made by the lady.
She had read,and read the scene again with many painful,many wondering emotions,and looked forward to their representation of it as a circumstance almost too interesting.She did not believe they had yet rehearsed it,even in private.
The morrow came,the plan for the evening continued,and Fanny's consideration of it did not become less agitated.She worked very diligently under her aunt's directions,but her diligence and her silence concealed a very absent,anxious mind;and about noon she made her escape with her work to the East room,that she might have no concern in another,and,as she deemed it,most unnecessary rehearsal of the first act,which Henry Crawford was just proposing,desirous at once of having her time to herself,and of avoiding the sight of Mr Rushworth.A glimpse,as she passed through the hall,of the two ladies walking up from the Parsonage,made no change in her wish of retreat,and she worked and meditated in the East room,undisturbed,for a quarter of an hour,when a gentle tap at the door was followed by the entrance of Miss Crawford.
