[Mansfield Park by Jane Austen]@TWC D-Link bookMansfield Park CHAPTER VII 8/21
The first actual pain which Miss Crawford occasioned her was the consequence of an inclination to learn to ride, which the former caught, soon after her being settled at Mansfield, from the example of the young ladies at the Park, and which, when Edmund's acquaintance with her increased, led to his encouraging the wish, and the offer of his own quiet mare for the purpose of her first attempts, as the best fitted for a beginner that either stable could furnish.
No pain, no injury, however, was designed by him to his cousin in this offer: _she_ was not to lose a day's exercise by it.
The mare was only to be taken down to the Parsonage half an hour before her ride were to begin; and Fanny, on its being first proposed, so far from feeling slighted, was almost over-powered with gratitude that he should be asking her leave for it. Miss Crawford made her first essay with great credit to herself, and no inconvenience to Fanny.
Edmund, who had taken down the mare and presided at the whole, returned with it in excellent time, before either Fanny or the steady old coachman, who always attended her when she rode without her cousins, were ready to set forward.
The second day's trial was not so guiltless.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|