Murder at Mansfield Park

out that there was another, to whom he was almost equally indebted, for bringing the full truth finally to light.’
    ‘I did very little.’
    ‘You are, once again, under-valuing your talents. It is a habit I would have cured you of, had I been given the chance.’ He paused. ‘I hear you are to remove to Lessingby with
your brother, after you are married.’
    ‘Indeed so. There is a small house on the estate that we may have—Henry tells me it sits by the side of a lake, and has its own garden leading down to the water. It is peaceful, and
the views are said to be beautiful. I think it will be exactly calculated to please us.’
    ‘And Mr Crawford will take possession of the Hall?’
    ‘He has already done so—he arrived three days ago, and will return in time for the wedding. He writes that the house is large and draughty, and the grounds are happily in great need
of improvement. I imagine he has work enough for two summers at least.’
    ‘I am glad to hear he will be so usefully employed, with so much money at his disposal, and so little to provoke him.’
    It was a strange turn of phrase, and she had seen his dark brows contract. ‘What do you mean, Mr Maddox?’
    Maddox looked at her joyful, unsuspecting face, and made a decision. Ever since Fraser’s return from Enfield, he had been debating with himself whether to tell her what his assistant had
discovered. Henry Crawford may, or may not, have killed his mistress, but he had lied from the first about his whereabouts on the day of her death. It had not been difficult for a man like Fraser
to find the old washer-woman who had claimed to have seen him, nor had it taken long to persuade her to divulge why she had decided to retract her story: Crawford had bribed her, and bribed her
very generously, considering his own straitened circumstances at the time. It was enough to make Maddox uneasy, but it was not enough to hang the man, or destroy his sister’s happiness for
ever.
    ‘It is nothing,’ he said at length. ‘A momentary distraction, that is all. You have my most sincere good wishes, Miss Crawford,’ he continued. ‘I hope Norris values
you as he should. And you are no empty-headed girl—you understand the nature of the choice you have made, and I am sure you will make the best of it, and not repine for what you might have
had.’
    ‘You do not need to pity me, Mr Maddox,’ she said with a smile. ‘I am sure I shall be quite as happy as I deserve.’
    ‘But what will you do , when you are not submerged in conjugal duties and household chores? How will you occupy yourself?’
    ‘Oh, as to that, I think I will try my hand at writing. If the book I am reading is aught to go by, there might be an opportunity there for an intelligent woman, with a modicum of wit, to
apply her mind, and even, perhaps, earn her own bread.’
    ‘I wish you luck,’ he said, as they shook hands. ‘I will scour the London booksellers in search of your name.’
    ‘I fancy I would prefer to remain merely “a lady”,’ she laughed, as he opened the carriage door, ‘but I will most assuredly send you a copy, and with the greatest
of pleasure. If I am successful, of course.’
    Three months later the happy event took place that was to take her from Mansfield, and in the course of the year that followed she pursued her plan, and sketched out a design
for a novel that might appeal to a reader such as herself. Two or three families in a country village seemed the very thing to work on, and once commenced she made rapid progress, and found to her
surprise and delight that the work was accepted by the first publisher she approached. Edmund, meanwhile, had found the beauty of the Lakes, and the glory of the scenery, most conducive to
productive reflection, and having retrospected the course of his life, the errors he had made, and the lessons he had learned, he began to consider whether he might not make himself useful to
others, and secure an income large enough to support his family, without relying on his brother-in-law’s generosity, by taking orders. It was a decision that Mary heartily approved; she had,
in fact, long wondered whether becoming a clergyman might not suit him in every respect, and do full justice to his kind heart, gentle temper, strong good sense and uprightness of mind. The
resolution taken, all that remained was to find him a suitable living, and here they were indebted to a stroke of good fortune. After talking of the