Murder at Mansfield Park

difficulties nowhere, her prudence and discretion
ensuring that they had always lived within their means. She perceived on a sudden how much she had missed him, and how different the last weeks would have been had he been there. But it was a
foolish thought: had Henry been at Mansfield, none of the events that had so oppressed her would ever have occurred.
    ‘I will go, of course, but I meant to ask if there was any thing I could do for you .’
    ‘Nothing, my dear Mary,’ he said, with a sad smile, ‘but to take yourself off to bed and get what sleep you can. You will need your strength on the morrow. Do not worry, I will
be up myself soon.’
    He watched her go, and settled down into his chair, his eyes thoughtful; and when the maid came to make up the fire in the morning, that was where she found him; in the same chair, and the same
position, hunched over a hearth that was long since cold.

 
    CHAPTER XVI
    Nothing but the assurance that her presence was both necessary and wished for would have reconciled Mary to calling on the Bertrams, after such revelations as her
brother’s return had precipitated, but she gathered her courage, and presented herself at the Park at an earlier hour than common visiting would warrant. Mrs Baddeley received her in a
rapture of gratitude, and she was glad, for once, to encounter no-one but the housemaids on her way upstairs. She had soon installed herself by Julia’s bed-side, happy to feel herself useful,
and knowing that she brought comfort to at least some of the inmates of Mansfield Park. The household was slow to stir that morning, and Mary was probably the only person, besides the servants, to
observe the departure of George Fraser. Hearing sounds on the drive she had stepped to the window, to see him emerge from the house, carrying a knapsack of such a size and bulk as anticipated at
least one night’s absence. She was watching him mount, when the door opened, and Julia’s maid entered with a pile of clean sheets for the bed. She saw Mary at the window, and stopped
for a moment at her elbow.
    ‘The footmen say he be heading towards London, and then to another place in the same direction. Some wheres beginning with N?’
    ‘Enfield,’ said Mary, her heart sinking. ‘I imagine he is going to Enfield. My brother has a house there.’
    Evans’s eyes widened. ‘So it’s true, miss! Miss Fanny—she upped and went off with your Mr Crawford! I always did say he was a lovely-looking gen’leman. Always a
smile for the likes of us—and a thank you, as well—you can’t say that for everyone who comes a-calling here.’
    The girl’s cheeks had, by now, grown very pink, and her eyes had strayed from Mary’s face. Mary sighed; she knew her brother occasionally indulged himself in harmless gallantries
with maid-servants, but she had never approved of such careless conduct, and liked it even less when it concerned girls of Polly Evans’s youth and naiveté . She was wondering
whether it was necessary to caution her, however gently, to be rather more guarded in future, when hooves sounded on the gravel, and Polly turned to the window once again, her pretty features
darkening into a frown. ‘Let’s hope that’s the last we see of that evil villain—and fair riddance. Poor Kitty Jeffries hasn’t risen from her bed since he was set loose
on her. She won’t eat, and sobs as if her heart would break.’
    Mary turned to her aghast. ‘What can you mean, Polly?’
    Polly clapped her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh miss, I shouldn’t have said nothing! She made me promise on the Bible not to tell. That Maddox, he put the fear of God on her if she so much
as breathed a word.’
    ‘But is she harmed—is she in need of a physician?’
    Polly shook her head. ‘Not now. Mrs Baddeley took a look at her, and said there was nothing broke, and the marks would heal. Don’t fret, miss,’ she said, seeing Mary’s
horrified look, ‘it’s no worse than what her pa used to do to her when he was angry and in drink. Kit’s a tough one—she’s used to it.’
    Mary felt for a chair, and sat down heavily, her mind in a tumult; what justification could there be for the use of such extremes of violence on a blameless servant? What could Maria
Bertram’s maid possibly know that would force Maddox to resort to such desperate measures to extort it from her? She looked up at Evans, who was wringing her hands in a state of extreme
agitation.
    ‘Please don’t say nothing,