prove
a far more worthy companion than himself; and after a time the two officers
seemed very well satisfied in going about together and discussing matters of
equal and never-failing interest, while the young people sat down upon some
timbers in the yard, or found a seat on board a vessel in the stocks which they
all went to look at. Fanny was most conveniently in want of rest. Crawford could
not have wished her more fatigued or more ready to sit down; but he could have
wished her sister away. A quick looking girl of Susan's age was the very worst
third in the world - totally different from Lady Bertram - all eyes and ears;
and there was no introducing the main point before her. He must content himself
with being only generally agreeable, and letting Susan have her share of
entertainment, with the indulgence, now and then, of a look or hint for the
better informed and conscious Fanny. Norfolk was what he had mostly to talk of;
there he had been some time, and every thing there was rising in importance from
his present schemes. Such a man could come from no place, no society, without
importing something to amuse; his journeys and his acquaintance were all of use,
and Susan was entertained in a way quite new to her. For Fanny, somewhat more
was related than the accidental agreeableness of the parties he had been in. For
her approbation, the particular reason of his going into Norfolk at all, at this
unusual time of year, was given. It had been real business, relative to the
renewal of a lease in which the welfare of a large and (he believed) industrious
family was at stake. He had suspected his agent of some underhand dealing - of
meaning to bias him against the deserving - and he had determined to go himself,
and thoroughly investigate the merits of the case. He had gone, had done even
more good than he had foreseen, had been useful to more than his first plan had
comprehended, and was now able to congratulate himself upon it, and to feel,
that in performing a duty, he had secured agreeable recollections for his own
mind. He had introduced himself to some tenants, whom he had never seen before;
he had begun making acquaintance with cottages whose very existence, though on
his own estate, had been hitherto unknown to him. This was aimed, and well
aimed, at Fanny. It was pleasing to hear him speak so properly; here, he had
been acting as he ought to do. To be the friend of the poor and oppressed!
Nothing