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1Mr. Bertram set off for--------, and Miss Crawford was prepared to find a great chasm in their society, and to miss him
2decidedly in the meetings which were now becoming almost daily between the families; and on their all dining together at
3the Park soon after his going, she retook her chosen place near the bottom of the table, fully expecting to feel a most
4melancholy difference in the change of masters. It would be a very flat business, she was sure. In comparison with his
5brother, Edmund would have nothing to say. The soup would be sent round in a most spiritless manner, wine drank without
6any smiles or agreeable trifling, and the venison cut up without supplying one pleasant anecdote of any former haunch,
7or a single entertaining story, about "my friend such a one." She must try to find amusement in what was passing at the
8upper end of the table, and in observing Mr. Rushworth, who was now making his appearance at Mansfield for the first
9time since the Crawfords' arrival. He had been visiting a friend in the neighbouring county, and that friend having
10recently had his grounds laid out by an improver, Mr. Rushworth was returned with his head full of the subject, and very
11eager to be improving his own place in the same way; and though not saying much to the purpose, could talk of nothing
12else. The subject had been already handled in the drawing-room; it was revived in the dining-parlour. Miss Bertram's
13attention and opinion was evidently his chief aim; and though her deportment showed rather conscious superiority than
14any solicitude to oblige him, the mention of Sotherton Court, and the ideas attached to it, gave her a feeling of
15complacency, which prevented her from being very ungracious. "I wish you could see Compton," said he; "it is the most
16complete thing! I never saw a place so altered in my life. I told Smith I did not know where I was. The approach now, is
17one of the finest things in the country: you see the house in the most surprising manner. I declare, when I got back to
18Sotherton yesterday, it looked like a prison--quite a dismal old prison." "Oh, for shame!" cried Mrs. Norris. "A prison
19indeed? Sotherton Court is the noblest old place in the world." "It wants improvement, ma'am, beyond anything. I never
20saw a place that wanted so much improvement in my life; and it is so forlorn that I do not know what can be done with
21it." "No wonder that Mr. Rushworth should think so at present," said Mrs. Grant to Mrs. Norris, with a smile; "but
22depend upon it, Sotherton will have every improvement in time which his heart can desire." "I must try to do something
23with it," said Mr. Rushworth, "but I do not know what. I hope I shall have some good friend to help me." "Your best
24friend upon such an occasion," said Miss Bertram calmly, "would be Mr. Repton, I imagine." "That is what I was thinking
25of. As he has done so well by Smith, I think I had better have him at once. His terms are five guineas a day." "Well,
26and if they were ten," cried Mrs. Norris, "I am sure you need not regard it. The expense need not be any impediment. If
27I were you, I should not think of the expense. I would have everything done in the best style, and made as nice as
28possible. Such a place as Sotherton Court deserves everything that taste and money can do. You have space to work upon
29there, and grounds that will well reward you. For my own part, if I had anything within the fiftieth part of the size of
30Sotherton, I should be always planting and improving, for naturally I am excessively fond of it. It would be too
31ridiculous for me to attempt anything where I am now, with my little half acre. It would be quite a burlesque. But if I
32had more room, I should take a prodigious delight in improving and planting. We did a vast deal in that way at the
33Parsonage: we made it quite a different place from what it was when we first had it. You young ones do not remember much
34about it, perhaps; but if dear Sir Thomas were here, he could tell you what improvements we made: and a great deal more
35would have been done, but for poor Mr. Norris's sad state of health. He could hardly ever get out, poor man, to enjoy
36anything, and that disheartened me from doing several things that Sir Thomas and I used to talk of. If it had not been
37for that, we should have carried on the garden wall, and made the plantation to shut out the churchyard, just as Dr.
38Grant has done. We were always doing something as it was. It was only the spring twelvemonth before Mr. Norris's death
39that we put in the apricot against the stable wall, which is now grown such a noble tree, and getting to such
40perfection, sir," addressing herself then to Dr. Grant. "The tree thrives well, beyond a doubt, madam," replied Dr.
41Grant. "The soil is good; and I never pass it without regretting that the fruit should be so little worth the trouble of
42gathering." "Sir, it is a Moor Park, we bought it as a Moor Park, and it cost us--that is, it was a present from Sir
43Thomas, but I saw the bill--and I know it cost seven shillings, and was charged as a Moor Park." "You were imposed on,
44ma'am," replied Dr. Grant: "these potatoes have as much the flavour of a Moor Park apricot as the fruit from that tree.
45It is an insipid fruit at the best; but a good apricot is eatable, which none from my garden are." "The truth is,
46ma'am," said Mrs. Grant, pretending to whisper across the table to Mrs. Norris, "that Dr. Grant hardly knows what the
47natural taste of our apricot is: he is scarcely ever indulged with one, for it is so valuable a fruit; with a little
48assistance, and ours is such a remarkably large, fair sort, that what with early tarts and preserves, my cook contrives
49to get them all." Mrs. Norris, who had begun to redden, was appeased; and, for a little while, other subjects took place
50of the improvements of Sotherton. Dr. Grant and Mrs. Norris were seldom good friends; their acquaintance had begun in
51dilapidations, and their habits were totally dissimilar. After a short interruption Mr. Rushworth began again. "Smith's
52place is the admiration of all the country; and it was a mere nothing before Repton took it in hand. I think I shall
53have Repton." "Mr. Rushworth," said Lady Bertram, "if I were you, I would have a very pretty shrubbery. One likes to get
54out into a shrubbery in fine weather." Mr. Rushworth was eager to assure her ladyship of his acquiescence, and tried to
55make out something complimentary; but, between his submission to her taste, and his having always intended the same
56himself, with the superadded objects of professing attention to the comfort of ladies in general, and of insinuating
57that there was one only whom he was anxious to please, he grew puzzled, and Edmund was glad to put an end to his speech
58by a proposal of wine. Mr. Rushworth, however, though not usually a great talker, had still more to say on the subject
59next his heart. "Smith has not much above a hundred acres altogether in his grounds, which is little enough, and makes
60it more surprising that the place can have been so improved. Now, at Sotherton we have a good seven hundred, without
61reckoning the water meadows; so that I think, if so much could be done at Compton, we need not despair. There have been
62two or three fine old trees cut down, that grew too near the house, and it opens the prospect amazingly, which makes me
63think that Repton, or anybody of that sort, would certainly have the avenue at Sotherton down: the avenue that leads
64from the west front to the top of the hill, you know," turning to Miss Bertram particularly as he spoke. But Miss
65Bertram thought it most becoming to reply-- "The avenue! Oh! I do not recollect it. I really know very little of
66Sotherton." Fanny, who was sitting on the other side of Edmund, exactly opposite Miss Crawford, and who had been
67attentively listening, now looked at him, and said in a low voice-- "Cut down an avenue! What a pity! Does it not make
68you think of Cowper? 'Ye fallen avenues, once more I mourn your fate unmerited.'" He smiled as he answered, "I am afraid
69the avenue stands a bad chance, Fanny."
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