Thus, Edmund continued to question the union. Sir Thomas, however, was truly happy in the prospect of an alliance so unquestionably advantageous, and of which he heard nothing but the perfectly good and agreeable. It was a connexion exactly of the right sort, and his most hearty concurrence was conveyed as soon as possible. He only conditioned that the marriage should not take place before his return, which he was again eagerly looking forward to. He wrote in April, and had strong hopes of settling everything to his entire satisfaction, and leaving Antigua before the end of the summer.

Learning this, Lady Bertram naturally became agitated with a combination of spousal joy and supernatural urgency. She dropped a gilded Horus figurine which fell on top of a clay tablet which splattered all over the floor, frightening the pug into a fit of yapping. And then Lady Bertram tore two rolls of papyrus in the process of unwrapping them before Fanny gently took the third from her trembling fingers and called for a bit of tea to calm the Egypt into its normal reposing state.

Such was the state of affairs in the month of July; and Fanny had just reached her eighteenth year, when the society of the village received an addition in the brother and sister of Mrs. Grant, a Mr. and Miss Crawford, the children of her mother by a second marriage.

They were young people of fortune. The son had a good estate in Norfolk, the daughter twenty thousand pounds. As children, their sister had been always very fond of them. But, as her own marriage had been soon followed by the death of their common parent (which left them to the care of a brother of their father, of whom Mrs. Grant knew nothing), she had scarcely seen them since. In their uncle’s house they had found a kind home. Admiral and Mrs. Crawford, though agreeing in nothing else, were united in affection for these children, and each had their favourite. The Admiral delighted in the boy, Mrs. Crawford doted on the girl; and it was the lady’s death which now obliged her protégée, after some months’ further trial at her uncle’s house, to find another home.