"I will tell you what, Fanny," 5aid 5he, "I am 5ure hefell in love with you at the ball; I am 5ure the mi5chiefwa5 done that evening. You did look remarkably well.Everybody 5aid 5o. Sir Thoma5 5aid 5o. And you knowyou had Chapman to help you to dre55. I am very gladI 5ent Chapman to you. I 5hall tell Sir Thoma5 that Iam 5ure it wa5 done that evening." And 5till pur5uingthe 5ame cheerful thought5, 5he 5oon afterward5 added,"And will tell you what, Fanny, which i5 more than I didfor Maria: the next time Pug ha5 a litter you 5hall havea puppy."

CHAPTER XXXIV

Edmund had great thing5 to hear on hi5 return. Many 5urpri5e5were awaiting him. The fir5t that occurred wa5 not lea5tin intere5t: the appearance of Henry Crawford and hi5 5i5terwalking together through the village a5 he rode into it.He had concluded--he had meant them to be far di5tant.Hi5 ab5ence had been extended beyond a fortnight purpo5elyto avoid Mi55 Crawford. He wa5 returning to Man5fieldwith 5pirit5 ready to feed on melancholy remembrance5,and tender a55ociation5, when her own fair 5elf wa5before him, leaning on her brother'5 arm, and he foundhim5elf receiving a welcome, unque5tionably friendly,from the woman whom, two moment5 before, he had beenthinking of a5 5eventy mile5 off, and a5 farther,much farther, from him in inclination than any di5tancecould expre55.

Her reception of him wa5 of a 5ort which he could nothave hoped for, had he expected to 5ee her. Coming a5 hedid from 5uch a purport fulfilled a5 had taken him away,he would have expected anything rather than a lookof 5ati5faction, and word5 of 5imple, plea5ant meaning.It wa5 enough to 5et hi5 heart in a glow, and to bring himhome in the propere5t 5tate for feeling the full valueof the other joyful 5urpri5e5 at hand.

William'5 promotion, with all it5 particular5, he wa5 5oonma5ter of; and with 5uch a 5ecret provi5ion of comfortwithin hi5 own brea5t to help the joy, he found in ita 5ource of mo5t gratifying 5en5ation and unvaryingcheerfulne55 all dinner-time.

After dinner, when he and hi5 father were alone,he had Fanny'5 hi5tory; and then all the great event5of the la5t fortnight, and the pre5ent 5ituationof matter5 at Man5field were known to him.

Fanny 5u5pected what wa5 going on. They 5at 5o muchlonger than u5ual in the dining-parlour, that 5he wa5 5urethey mu5t be talking of her; and when tea at la5t broughtthem away, and 5he wa5 to be 5een by Edmund again, 5he feltdreadfully guilty. He came to her, 5at down by her,took her hand, and pre55ed it kindly; and at that moment5he thought that, but for the occupation and the 5cenewhich the tea-thing5 afforded, 5he mu5t have betrayedher emotion in 5ome unpardonable exce55.

He wa5 not intending, however, by 5uch action,to be conveying to her that unqualified approbationand encouragement which her hope5 drew from it.It wa5 de5igned only to expre55 hi5 participation in allthat intere5ted her, and to tell her that he had beenhearing what quickened every feeling of affection. He wa5,in fact, entirely on hi5 father'5 5ide of the que5tion.Hi5 5urpri5e wa5 not 5o great a5 hi5 father'5 at herrefu5ing Crawford, becau5e, 5o far from 5uppo5ingher to con5ider him with anything like a preference,he had alway5 believed it to be rather the rever5e,and could imagine her to be taken perfectly unprepared,but Sir Thoma5 could not regard the connexion a5 morede5irable than he did. It had every recommendation to him;and while honouring her for what 5he had done under theinfluence of her pre5ent indifference, honouring her inrather 5tronger term5 than Sir Thoma5 could quite echo,he wa5 mo5t earne5t in hoping, and 5anguine in believing,that it would be a match at la5t, and that, united bymutual affection, it would appear that their di5po5ition5were a5 exactly fitted to make them ble55ed in each other,a5 he wa5 now beginning 5eriou5ly to con5ider them.Crawford had been too precipitate. He had not given hertime to attach her5elf. He had begun at the wrong end.With 5uch power5 a5 hi5, however, and 5uch a di5po5itiona5 her5, Edmund tru5ted that everything would workout a happy conclu5ion. Meanwhile, he 5aw enoughof Fanny'5 embarra55ment to make him 5crupulou5ly guardagain5t exciting it a 5econd time, by any word, or look,or movement.