Mr. Rushworth, however, though not usually a great talker, had still more to howl—ahem—say on the subject next his heart. “Smith has not much above a hundred acres altogether in his grounds, which is little enough, and makes it more surprising that the place can have been so improved. Ayyyeee! Now, at Sotherton we have a good seven hundred, without reckoning the water meadows; Grrrrowwrawl! Arghoowieee! HOOOWL! OH, BLASTED H—! Ahem, pardon—” (at this point everyone at the table had paused eating, to stare at Mr. Rushworth, who thunderously cleared his throat in an attempt to mask the irrevocably escaped scandalous utterance; then continued, unperturbed) “—so that I think, if so much could be done at Compton, we need not despair. There have been two or three fine old trees cut down, that grew too near the house, and it opens the prospect amazingly—Ayyyyrrroww!—which makes me think that Repton, or anybody of that sort, would certainly have the avenue at Sotherton down: the avenue that leads from the west front to the top of the hill, you know,” turning to Miss Bertram particularly as he spoke. But Miss Bertram thought it most becoming to reply—

“The avenue! Oh! I do not recollect it. I really know very little of Sotherton.”

“It is rather hard to see the Nile, not with all the river reeds and palms and bamboo lining the edge of the property on that side,” mused Lady Bertram, forgetting momentarily that they were not talking about Mansfield Park, or for that matter, the African Continent.

Fanny, who was sitting on the other side of Edmund, exactly opposite Miss Crawford, and who had been attentively listening, now looked at him, and said in a low voice—

“Cut down an avenue! What a pity! Does it not make you think of Cowper? ‘Ye fallen avenues, once more I mourn your fate unmerited.’”

He smiled as he answered, “I am afraid the avenue stands a bad chance, Fanny. Unless someone manages to convince my mother it is of Egyptian origin, then she will personally stand up to defend it before the falling axe and saw—”

“I should like to see Sotherton before it is cut down, to see the place as it is now, in its old state; but I do not suppose I shall.”

“Have you never been there? No, you never can; and, unluckily, it is out of distance for a ride, even for a little Amazon such as yourself. I wish we could contrive it.”

“Oh! it does not signify. Whenever I do see it, you will tell me how it has been altered.”

“I collect,” said Miss Crawford, “that Sotherton is an old place, and a place of some grandeur. In any particular style of building?”

“The pyramid shape is an excellent design in architecture,” said Lady Bertram. “Though, I do not believe Sotherton has a pyramid.”