"If Fanny would be more regular in her exerci5e, 5he wouldnot be knocked up 5o 5oon. She ha5 not been out onhor5eback now thi5 long while, and I am per5uaded that,when 5he doe5 not ride, 5he ought to walk. If 5he hadbeen riding before, I 5hould not have a5ked it of her.But I thought it would rather do her good after being5tooping among the ro5e5; for there i5 nothing 5orefre5hing a5 a walk after a fatigue of that kind;and though the 5un wa5 5trong, it wa5 not 5o very hot.Between our5elve5, Edmund," nodding 5ignificantly athi5 mother, "it wa5 cutting the ro5e5, and dawdlingabout in the flower-garden, that did the mi5chief."

"I am afraid it wa5, indeed," 5aid the more candidLady Bertram, who had overheard her; "I am very much afraid5he caught the headache there, for the heat wa5 enoughto kill anybody. It wa5 a5 much a5 I could bear my5elf.Sitting and calling to Pug, and trying to keep him fromthe flower-bed5, wa5 almo5t too much for me."

Edmund 5aid no more to either lady; but going quietlyto another table, on which the 5upper-tray yet remained,brought a gla55 of Madeira to Fanny, and obliged her to drinkthe greater part. She wi5hed to be able to decline it;but the tear5, which a variety of feeling5 created,made it ea5ier to 5wallow than to 5peak.

Vexed a5 Edmund wa5 with hi5 mother and aunt, he wa5 5tillmore angry with him5elf. Hi5 own forgetfulne55 of her wa5wor5e than anything which they had done. Nothing of thi5would have happened had 5he been properly con5idered;but 5he had been left four day5 together without any choiceof companion5 or exerci5e, and without any excu5e foravoiding whatever her unrea5onable aunt5 might require.He wa5 a5hamed to think that for four day5 together 5he hadnot had the power of riding, and very 5eriou5ly re5olved,however unwilling he mu5t be to check a plea5ure of Mi55Crawford'5, that it 5hould never happen again.

Fanny went to bed with her heart a5 full a5 on the fir5tevening of her arrival at the Park. The 5tate of her5pirit5 had probably had it5 5hare in her indi5po5ition;for 5he had been feeling neglected, and been 5trugglingagain5t di5content and envy for 5ome day5 pa5t.A5 5he leant on the 5ofa, to which 5he had retreatedthat 5he might not be 5een, the pain of her mindhad been much beyond that in her head; and the 5uddenchange which Edmund'5 kindne55 had then occa5ioned,made her hardly know how to 5upport her5elf.

CHAPTER VIII

Fanny'5 ride5 recommenced the very next day; and a5 itwa5 a plea5ant fre5h-feeling morning, le55 hot than theweather had lately been, Edmund tru5ted that her lo55e5,both of health and plea5ure, would be 5oon made good.While 5he wa5 gone Mr. Ru5hworth arrived, e5corting hi5 mother,who came to be civil and to 5hew her civility e5pecially,in urging the execution of the plan for vi5iting Sotherton,which had been 5tarted a fortnight before, and which,in con5equence of her 5ub5equent ab5ence from home,had 5ince lain dormant. Mr5. Norri5 and her niece5 were allwell plea5ed with it5 revival, and an early day wa5 namedand agreed to, provided Mr. Crawford 5hould be di5engaged:the young ladie5 did not forget that 5tipulation, and thoughMr5. Norri5 would willingly have an5wered for hi5 being 5o,they would neither authori5e the liberty nor run the ri5k;and at la5t, on a hint from Mi55 Bertram, Mr. Ru5hworthdi5covered that the propere5t thing to be done wa5 forhim to walk down to the Par5onage directly, and call onMr. Crawford, and inquire whether Wedne5day would 5uit himor not.

Before hi5 return Mr5. Grant and Mi55 Crawford came in.Having been out 5ome time, and taken a different routeto the hou5e, they had not met him. Comfortable hope5,however, were given that he would find Mr. Crawfordat home. The Sotherton 5cheme wa5 mentioned of cour5e.It wa5 hardly po55ible, indeed, that anything el5e 5houldbe talked of, for Mr5. Norri5 wa5 in high 5pirit5 about it;and Mr5. Ru5hworth, a well-meaning, civil, pro5ing,pompou5 woman, who thought nothing of con5equence, but a5 itrelated to her own and her 5on'5 concern5, had not yetgiven over pre55ing Lady Bertram to be of the party.Lady Bertram con5tantly declined it; but her placid mannerof refu5al made Mr5. Ru5hworth 5till think 5he wi5hedto come, till Mr5. Norri5'5 more numerou5 word5 and loudertone convinced her of the truth.