Murder at Mansfield Park

Baddeley, that Mrs Norris would benefit from a glass of water and some moments lying down; perhaps the footmen might attend her to the parlour? See that her
ladyship’s maid is called, and inform Mr Bertram and Mr Norris, if you would be so good, that I will beg some minutes’ conversation with them after dinner. I will be with Mr Crawford in
Sir Thomas’s room.’
    The door closed and peace restored, Maddox poured two glasses of wine, and handed one to his companion, noting, without surprise, that he held it in his right hand. He then took up a position
with his back to the fire. Crawford was standing at the French windows, looking out across the park; the sky was beginning to darken, but it would still be possible for him to make out the
alterations that had already been imposed on the landscape at his behest; the transformation about to be wrought inside the house might prove to be even more momentous. Maddox wondered how long it
would be before the news of Miss Price’s scandalous marriage had spread throughout the whole household, and made a wager with himself that the last and least of the housemaids would know the
whole sorry story long before most of the family had the first notion of the truth about to burst upon them. He wondered, likewise, whether he might now be on the point of elucidating this
unfortunate affair, but abstained from assailing his companion with questions, however much he wished to do so. He had long since learned the power of silence, and knew that most men would hurry to
fill such a void, rather than allow it to prolong to the point of discomfiture. He was not mistaken; Henry Crawford stood the trial longer than most men Maddox had known in his position, but it was
he who broke the silence at last.
    ‘You will expect me to be particular.’
    Maddox took out his snuff-box and tapped it against the mantel. ‘Naturally. If you would be so good.’
    ‘Very well,’ Crawford said steadily, taking a seat before the fire. ‘I will be as meticulous as possible.’
    He was as good as his word. It was more than half an hour before he concluded his narration; from the first meeting in the garden, to the hiring of the carriage, the nights on the road as man
and wife, the taking of the lodgings in Portman-square, and the wedding at St Mary Le Bone, on a bright sunny morning barely two weeks before.
    ‘So what occurred thereafter?’ said Maddox, after a pause. ‘Listening to what you say, one would be led to expect this story to have a happy ending, however inauspicious its
commencement. How came it that Mrs Crawford returned here alone?’
    Henry got to his feet, and began to pace about the room.
    ‘I have already endeavoured to explain this once today, but to no avail. The simple answer is that I do not know. I woke one morning to find her gone. There was no note, no explanation, no
indication as to her intentions.’
    ‘And when, precisely, was this?’
    ‘A week ago. To the day.’
    ‘I see,’ said Maddox thoughtfully. ‘But what I do not at present see, is why—given that Mrs Crawford arrived here so soon thereafter—you yourself have not
seen fit to make an appearance before now.’
    ‘I had no conception that she would choose to return here, of all places. She abominated this house, and despised most of the people in it. To be frank with you, sir, I find it utterly
incomprehensible.’
    Maddox took a pinch of snuff, and held his companion’s gaze for a moment. ‘May I ask what you have been doing, in the intervening period?’
    Henry threw himself once again into his chair, and Maddox took note that, consciously or not, Crawford had elected a posture that obviated any need for him to meet his questioner’s eye,
unless he actively wished to do so.
    ‘I have been searching for her,’ he said, with a frown. ‘I spent two fruitless days scouring London, before resorting to the dispatch of messengers to Bath and Brighton, and
any other place of pleasure that might have offered her similar novelty or enlargement of society. She did not lack money, and could have taken the best house in town, wherever she lighted upon.
Nor would she have seen any necessity for the slightest discretion or subterfuge. I calculated that this fact alone would assist me in finding her. But it was hopeless. I could discover
nothing.’
    ‘And you conducted these enquiries where, exactly?’
    ‘From our lodgings in Portman-square.’
    ‘So I take it you come directly from