Fanny, whether near or from her cousins, whether...
Fanny, whether near or from her cousins, whether in the schoolroom,
the drawing-room, or the shrubbery, was equally forlorn, finding
something to fear in every person and placeShe was disheartened
by Lady Bertram’s silence, awed by Sir Thomas’s grave looks,
and quite overcome by MrsHer elder cousins
mortified her by reflections on her size, and abashed her by noticing
her shyness: Miss Lee wondered at her ignorance, and the
maid-servants sneered at her clothes; and when to these sorrows was
added the idea of the brothers and sisters among whom she had
always been important as playfellow, instructress, and nurse, the
despondence that sunk her little heart was severe
The grandeur of the house astonished, but could not console her
The rooms were too large for her to move in with ease: whatever she
touched she expected to injure, and she crept about in constant
terror of something or other; often retreating towards her own chamber
to cry; and the little girl who was spoken of in the drawingroom
when she left it at night as seeming so desirably sensible of her
peculiar good fortune, ended every day’s sorrows by sobbing herself
to sleepA week had passed in this way, and no suspicion of it conveyed
by her quiet passive manner, when she was found one morning
by her cousin Edmund, the youngest of the sons, sitting crying
on the attic stairs
“My dear little cousin,” said he, with all the gentleness of an excellent
nature, “what can be the matter?” And sitting down by her,
he was at great pains to overcome her shame in being so surprised,
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and persuade her to speak openly“Was she ill? or was anybody
angry with her? or had she quarrelled with Maria and Julia? or was
she puzzled about anything in her lesson that he silver handbags could explain? Did
she, in short, want anything he could possibly get her, or do for her?
For a long while no answer could be obtained beyond a “no, no—
not at all—no, thank you”; but he still persevered; and no sooner
had he begun to revert to her own home, than her increased sobs
explained to him where the grievance layHe tried to console her
“You are sorry to leave Mama, my dear little Fanny,” said he, “which
shows you to be a very good girl; but you must remember that you
are with relations and friends, who all love you, and wish to make
you happyLet us walk out in the park, and you shall tell me all
about your brothers and sisters
On pursuing the subject, he found that, dear as all these brothers
and sisters generally were, there was one among them who ran more
in her thoughts than the restIt was William whom she talked of
most, and wanted most to seeWilliam, the eldest, a year older than
herself, her constant companion and friend; her advocate with her
mother (of whom he was the darling) in every distress“William
did not like she should come away; he had told her he should miss
her very much indeed “But William will write to you, I dare say
“Yes, he had promised he would, but he had told her to write first
“And when shall you do it?” She hung her head and answered hesitatingly,
“she did not know; she had not any paper
“If that be all your difficulty, I will furnish you with paper and
every other material, and you may write your letter whenever you
chooseWould it make you happy to write to William?”
“Yes, very
“Then let it be done nowCome with me into the breakfast-room,
we shall find everything there, and be sure of having the room to
ourselves
“But, cousin, will it go to the post?”
“Yes, depend upon me it shall: it chanel j12 white watch shall go with the other letters;
and, as your uncle will frank it, it will cost William nothing
“My uncle!” repeated Fanny, with a frightened look
“Yes, when you have written the letter, I will take it to my father
to frank
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Fanny thought it a bold measure, but offered no further resistance;
and they went together into the breakfast-room, where
Edmund prepared her paper, and ruled her lines with all the goodwill
that her brother could himself have felt, and probably with
somewhat more exactnessHe continued with her the whole time
of her writing, to assist her with his penknife or his orthography, as
either were wanted; and added to these attentions, which she felt
very much, a kindness to her brother which delighted her beyond
all the restHe wrote with his own hand his love to his cousin William,
and sent him half a guinea under the sealFanny’s feelings on
the occasion were such as she believed herself incapable of expressing;
but her countenance and a few artless words fully conveyed all
their gratitude and delight, and her cousin began to find her an
interesting objectHe talked to her more, and, from all that she
said, was convinced of her having an affectionate heart, and a strong
desire of doing right; and he could perceive her to be farther entitled
to attention by great sensibility of her situation, and great
timidityHe had never knowingly given her pain, but he now felt
that she required more positive kindness; and with that view endeavoured,
in the first place, to lessen her fears of them all, and gave
her especially a great deal of good advice as to playing with Maria
and Julia, and being as merry as possible
From this day Fanny grew more comfortableShe felt that she had
a friend, and the kindness white chanel bag of her cousin Edmund gave her better
spirits with everybody elseThe place became less strange, and the
people less formidable; and if there were some amongst them whom
she could not cease to fear, she began at least to know their ways, and
to catch the best manner of conforming to themThe little rusticities
and awkwardnesses which had at first made grievous inroads on the
tranquillity of all, and not least of herself, necessarily wore away, and
she was no longer materially afraid to appear before her uncle, nor did
her aunt Norris’s voice make her start very muchTo her cousins she
became occasionally an acceptable companionThough unworthy,
from inferiority of age and strength, to be their constant associate,
their pleasures and schemes were sometimes of a nature to make a
third very useful, especially when that third was of an obliging, yielding
temper; and they could not but own, when their aunt inquired
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into her faults, or their brother Edmund urged her claims to their
kindness, that “Fanny was good-natured enough
Edmund was uniformly kind himself; and she had nothing worse
to endure on the part of Tom than that sort of merriment which a
young man of seventeen will always think fair with a child of ten
He was just entering into life, full of spirits, and with all the liberal
dispositions of an eldest son, who feels born only for expense and
enjoymentHis kindness to his little cousin was consistent with his
situation and rights: he made her some very pretty presents, and
laughed at her
As her appearance and spirits improved, Sir Thomas and Mrs
Norris thought with greater satisfaction of their benevolent plan;
and it was pretty soon decided between them that, though far from
clever, she showed a tractable ladies omega watches disposition, and seemed likely to give
them little troubleA mean opinion of her abilities was not confined
to themFanny could read, work, and write, but she had been
taught nothing more; and as her cousins found her ignorant of many
things with which they had been long familiar, they thought her
prodigiously stupid, and for the first two or three weeks were continually
bringing some fresh report of it into the drawing-room
“Dear mama, only think, my cousin cannot put the map of Europe
together—or my cousin cannot tell the principal rivers in Russia—
or, she never heard of Asia Minor—or she does not know the difference
between water-colours and crayons!—How strange!—Did you
ever hear anything so stupid?”
“My dear,” their considerate aunt would reply, “it is very bad, but
you must not expect everybody to be as forward and quick at learning
as yourself
“But, aunt, she is really so very ignorant!—Do you know, we asked
her last night which way she would go to get to Ireland; and she
said, she should cross to the Isle of WightShe thinks of nothing
but the Isle of Wight, and she calls it the Island, as if there were no
other island in the worldI am sure I should have been ashamed of
myself, if I had not known better long before I was so old as she is
I cannot remember the time when I did not know a great deal that
she has not the least notion of yetHow long ago it is, aunt, since
we used to repeat the chronological order of the kings of England,
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with the dates of their accession, and most of the principal events of
their reigns!”
“Yes,” added the other; “and of the Roman emperors as low as
Severus; besides a great deal of the heathen mythology, and all the
metals, semi-metals, planets, and distinguished dior rasta philosophers