Epilogue
Margaret Dashwood leaned back against the sofa and let out a long sigh of contentment as she reached over and grabbed Aunt Prudence's hand.
There had been some discord between them in the previous month, after the horrific ending of the ball.
Indeed, a great deal had happened since then, but all of it had been handled with deliberation, to the satisfaction of all; the girls were happier than they had ever been, and Margaret had begun to look past the worst of it in favor of all the good.
“You look very sentimental this evening, dear Margaret. I hope this means you have forgiven me.”
“I believe I have,” Margaret replied. “How happy we all are together—and might not have been, had it not been for…. Well, it is done, and done for the best, as you say. Just look at my girls—look at our family—look how well Norland looks at Christmas!”
Prudence smiled warmly and pressed Margaret’s hand.
“I was very low, you know, when you were cross with me. Really, I did not know just how awry it might all go—but who that was harmed was so very innocent? A few, perhaps, but those that deserve better are indeed the better for it. What is done is done now my dear, but look at where we are.”
It was true—they were a large and merry family party for the holiday. As Marianne had candidly observed that morning, all of the unpleasant members of their party had gone, and the pleasantest remained.
Mrs. Ferrars and her sons returned to London to observe their period of mourning, and took Julia and Mrs. Norris along with them.
John Dashwood had left his son in the care of Mrs. Ferrars, and sailed for Antigua immediately following his wife’s funeral.
He had arranged for his solicitors to handle the turning over of the estate in his stead, and it was all nearly settled to the satisfaction of Elinor and Edmund, and Marianne and Willoughby, though each couple was more concerned for the other, and the compromise had been a delicate business indeed.
When Lady Bertram announced that she would not be returning to Mansfield with her husband, but staying on indefinitely at Norland, at Margaret’s earnest invitation, Sir Thomas had turned over Mansfield to young Tom, his heir, and accompanied John to Antigua in a state of estrangement from his wife and children.
Tom, by all accounts, was thriving in his new role as master—Margaret had understood him to be very wild, but his proud mother boasted of his reform in the face of Sir Thomas’ ignominy.
He was expected at Norland even within the hour to complete their party, and Margaret was already in league with Lady Bertram to introduce him to his spirited cousin, Susan Price.
Maria and Edmund had been happy to stay at Norland, as well as the Crawfords, Willoughby, and Colonel Brandon.
There was a triple wedding planned for the day after Christmas, and the newlywed Crawfords, Bertrams, and Willoughbys would return from their respective honeymoons to attend the Twelfth Night Ball at Norland.
Another happy event seemed likely to follow ere long, if Colonel and Miss Crawford continued lingering under the mistletoe at every opportunity—Margaret was delighted that the dear man, who had served as an unlikely advisor to Edmund and Willoughby in the aftermath of the fateful ball, had found his happiness, at last. She was sure that the Twelfth Night would be just what he needed to raise his courage enough to speak out and secure the felicity he and Mary Crawford so well deserved.
The first occasion of celebration, however, had been Fanny Price’s birthday the day before, and the dear girl had been surprised by the arrival of her whole family from Portsmouth, at Margaret’s invitation.
There were more surprises in store for the multitude of merry Prices in their midst. When Elinor had resolved to abdicate Norland to Marianne and reside in the dower house until Edmund took the living at Amberley, dear Willoughby had decided that Norland was so far beyond what he had hoped for that his seat, Combe Magna, was entirely superfluous.
As the Prices were to become his cousins by marriage, he had drawn up papers for them to take possession of the estate on the very easiest of terms, and had no intention of brooking any refusal.
To this Margaret and Lady Bertram had added the present of several sets of fine clothes for each of the Prices to take with them when they took possession of the place, in the spirit of all that had been denied them for so very long.
In an penance of sorts, Prudence had earned some considerable good will with Margaret by intimating that she had so materially come round in favor of Fanny Price as a possible daughter-in-law as to think it would be a right thing indeed for James to sponsor some manner of education for the younger Prices, when they became his own relations.
The future was very bright indeed, and though Margaret Dashwood was not without some moments of lamentation at the first Christmas spent without her husband, she had all the comfort of two dozen friends and relations filling her beloved home with laughter, music, and every manner of domestic bliss, and every hope of seeing such a state of perfect and noisy, cheerful harmony, oft repeated for many years to come.