Murder at Mansfield Park

had come to love; for whatever the consequences such a shocking event must produce, one thing was certain:
Edmund and Fanny must be divided for ever.
    Julia sat down next to Mary, and the two of them continued in silence for a few moments, before Mary roused herself and took the girl’s hand. ‘How may I assist you? Ask me any
thing—I am at your service.’
    Julia gave a wan smile. ‘You are very good. It is every thing I can do to support my mother. Maria is no help, and as for my aunt—I truly fear she will go distracted. To have the
wedding so close—the gowns almost ready—the date all but fixed—and then this . I do not think she will ever get over it.’
    At that moment they were interrupted by noises from the drawing-room, and amid the confusion of voices the words, ‘Where is Julia? I cannot be comfortable without Julia!’ were
clearly distinguishable.
    Julia got to her feet at once. ‘My mother is calling for me. Will you do me the kindness of accompanying me? The only comfort I can offer her is to listen and console, but I fear I am in
as much need of succour, and as overwhelmed with the enormity of this shocking event, as my poor mother can be. I am sure your good sense alone would be of the greatest utility.’
    ‘Yes of course,’ said Mary, rising from her chair.
    The rest of the Bertram family were gathered in the drawing-room, but there was little appearance of unity, either in their behaviour to one another, or their positions about the room. Lady
Bertram was on the sopha, Mrs Norris had sunk into a chair on the far side of the fireplace, Maria was standing at the window, and Tom Bertram was pacing to and fro. Mary had never seen him look so
agitated, or so clearly a young man of a mere twenty-one years.
    ‘I cannot believe that she was not seen —that they were not seen. And we do not even know whom we are pursuing, which gives us but little chance of deducing where
they could be.’
    ‘I should have thought London by far the most likely,’ said Maria coolly, turning to face her family. ‘After all, in three days’ time she will be of age. Whomsoever she
has gone with, they will then have no need of a Scottish wedding to make the marriage legal—if marriage is, indeed, their object.’
    Mrs Norris groaned, and turned her face away, and it occurred to Mary, for the first time since she had heard the news, that in the distress and anxiety occasioned by Sir Thomas’s
accident, the approach of Miss Price’s birthday had gone unnoticed. She was about to come into her whole fortune, a fortune that would, by the terms of her grandfather’s will, pass to
her husband on the occasion of her marriage. Mary sighed; she did not know whether to rejoice that her brother was safely in Hertford-shire, and beyond the reach of accusation, or regret that if
Fanny’s estate was to pass out of the family in such a painful and public manner, it should not be Henry, with all his talents and merits, who was to benefit. She quickly dismissed the
thought as unworthy, at such a dreadful time, and directed her attention to the matter in hand. It seemed to her that the situation required both method and dispatch, and the longer decisive action
was delayed, the greater the likelihood that Miss Price would not be recovered until it was too late. ‘O Edmund!’ Mary thought, ‘how your family miss you now! Tom Bertram has
neither your judgment, nor your determination, but I will do what I can, if they will let me.’ She took a step further into the room. ‘Have you sent out messengers?’ she
asked.
    Tom Bertram looked up at her in some surprise. ‘I beg your pardon?’
    ‘I apologise if you consider this an intrusion, but in such a state of affairs a stander-by may be able to see things more clearly than those who are more directly affected. I have read
about such cases, and it seems to me that the best course would be to send out messengers to every inn and turnpike between here and London. Furnish the men with a description of Miss Price, and it
cannot be long before you will trace where she has gone. Likewise, Miss Price cannot have been acquainted with more than a dozen young gentlemen hereabouts; it is a matter that will require
considerable delicacy, but if any of these young men departed the neighbourhood suddenly in the last few days, it would merit further investigation.’
    Mrs Norris raised herself with difficulty in her chair. ‘Of all the impertinent,