Murder at Mansfield Park

wondered for a moment at that ‘all’, suspecting that Mrs Norris was in all likelihood experiencing quite another emotion, but she knew better than to voice such a sentiment
aloud.
    ‘All the same,’ she replied, ‘I gather from Miss Julia that following my advice has not advanced you very far.’
    Tom shook his head. ‘The messengers made every possible enquiry on this side of London, renewing them at all the turnpikes, and at the inns in St Albans and Barnet, but without any
success; no-one answering to Fanny’s description had been seen to pass through. I believe a carriage was seen early that day on the turnpike road, three miles from here, which may, or
may not, have contained the fugitives. It was travelling at speed, with the blinds drawn, and bore no livery. But beyond Northampton it cannot be traced.’
    ‘But it was going south? To London, I mean, and not to Scotland?’
    ‘Indeed. And as far as I have been able to ascertain, it was not hired any where hereabouts.’
    ‘I see,’ said Mary. ‘That suggests to me that it may have been brought especially from London for the purpose, which places the matter in a rather different light.’
    Tom stopped, and looked her in the face. ‘How so?’
    Mary sighed. ‘I believe it proves that this was not the impulse of a moment. No sudden decision, but a premeditated plan, carefully conceived. I fear that whomsoever she has gone with, has
made the most careful arrangements, and finding the two of them will be all the more difficult as a consequence. And yet she left Mansfield with nothing beyond her purse and the clothes she was
wearing. It is all so very strange!’
    Tom nodded. ‘I can only concur. But thanks to your kind hint, we have also made enquiries throughout the surrounding neighbourhood, and all the young gentlemen of our immediate
acquaintance are either in residence, or accounted for, save one. Tom Oliver is thought to be at Weymouth with a party of friends, but there was some uncertainty about his plans, and my letter to
an acquaintance in the town has not, as yet, met with a reply. It is, however, unlikely—I would be much surprised if Fanny had spoken to him more than twice in her whole life. Indeed, Miss
Crawford, at times I am almost forced to conclude that she did not elope at all, but left here alone, and under her own direction.’
    ‘But even were she the sort of young woman who might contemplate doing such a thing,’ said Mary, ‘surely she would have taken more of her belongings with her? That circumstance
alone seems to argue for the presence of a protector and companion.’
    ‘If that is indeed the case, we can, at least, remove one name from our list of possible seducers,’ replied Tom. ‘The letter I have only now received was from my father’s
friend, Mr Harding, in London. He has been making discreet investigations on our behalf, and while he has found no trace of Fanny, he was able to inform me that an engagement has just been
announced between Mr Rushworth and a Miss Knightley, who has a fortune of over thirty thousand pounds. The two families’ estates lie immediately adjoining one another in Surry, and it seems
that Mr Rushworth’s father has long hoped to unite them by means of this marriage.’
    ‘Mr Rushworth did not behave as a man who considered himself on the brink of matrimony,’ said Mary hesitantly, wondering how much Tom Bertram had noticed of what had passed between
Mr Rushworth, his sister, and Fanny. He had never struck her as particularly discerning, but the frown her words occasioned suggested that he had been rather more observant than she had previously
guessed.
    ‘No indeed,’ he said. ‘Some part of his conduct I cannot excuse. Had we known of the existence of this Miss Knightley, both Maria and Fanny might have been on their guard, and
dismissed his behaviour as mere flirtation. But whatever else we might justly accuse him of, he bore no part in Fanny’s disappearance. All the rest is irrelevant now.’
    Mary could not be so sanguine. She had seen looks exchanged between Fanny and Miss Bertram in public, and could imagine the words that might have accompanied them in private. It was clear to her
that they had never been friends, and once rivals, they had quickly become the greatest of enemies. How would Maria take this latest news from London? She might well have hoped that, with Fanny out
of the way, Mr Rushworth would be free to return to her. If so, the news of his