Chapter Two #4
“John has done no worse than marry a rapacious woman—an attachment formed too quickly, and Maria has done the same with Rushworth. In this they are equal.”
“No,” Edmund cried. “John was twenty-seven years old, a man of the world. Maria was a young girl who was pressed by an over-solicitous aunt while her father was an ocean away! I do not believe you cannot see the difference, but that you will not, because you seek to convince yourself that the path of least resistance is the right way forward.”
He was on shaky ground in speaking to his father so harshly, and he stood, pacing the room just to feel the solid floor beneath his feet.
This was utter madness, and he wished he had never come into the room.
And yet, he was far from finished, for if his father wished to hear his counsel, hear it he would; Edmund could not shy from the moral obligation of urging his father toward what was right.
“Say you insist on Maria marrying Rushworth—what then? What if your worst fears come to pass, and she engages in the same manner of folly as Mary Sterling Dashwood? Say it is exactly the same, for the sake of argument—what then? Your secret is safe, and hers is vulnerable to the world’s derision.
What a way to honor the memory of Aunt Mary. ”
Tears glistened in Sir Thomas’ eyes, and Edmund began to feel his ire spent; he resumed his seat and implored his father to consider carefully.
Sir Thomas’ face contorted with agony. “Mary’s memory would hardly be served by letting her son lose everything. Our son.”
Edmund scoffed and shook his head. “You think only of him, sir.”
“No indeed, Edmund.” Sir Thomas looked gravely at him.
“In this I must think of all of you. I believe you sympathize with Maria for the sentimentality of it, which is only natural for a young man I suspect in love himself. But you must consider that. If the secret comes out, only Maria is the happier for it. My wife distressed, Mrs. Norris likely to murder, and both of my girls tainted by scandal, perhaps even dear little Fanny, if we bring her out. Even you and Tom would not be unscathed. One or perhaps both of the Crawfords might think twice about any alliance with our family. Nearly a dozen people made unhappy—and Maria affected either way.”
Edmund shook his head. It did cause him a moment’s consternation to think that his father’s scandal might damage his chances with Mary Crawford, and yet his future in the church was obstacle enough.
“You seek to rationalize your self-preservation. At any rate, why presume Mrs. Rushworth will really make the secret known? If Maria and Crawford marry quickly, the old woman would have nothing to gain in publicizing it.”
“In fact, she would. You forget, the widow Dashwood is her niece. If it is true John is not providing for the Dashwood girls, Mrs. Rushworth’s relations would have much to gain in John’s loss.”
“Might we make some provision for them? They are our cousins, after all.”
“Perhaps,” Sir Thomas said, though he appeared skeptical. “I really cannot see a way forward that does not chafe. The worst of it is, if this news gets out, poor John will learn of it from the scandal sheets. That is not how I would have wanted him to discover it.”
His father’s sympathy for John Dashwood wearied Edmund, and he wished to be going away. “There is nothing more for me to say, sir, or I shall grow redundant on the matter. You desired my counsel, and I have given it. You have but two choices, and both be unpleasant, but you must choose.”
Edmund had nearly quit the room when his father called out to him, and though he wished to be gone from his father’s presence, duty compelled him to turn around. “Sir?”
Sir Thomas looked the better for his moment of clarity. “What if there were a third way? We must go to Norland.”
“Beyond the opportunity to tell John the truth to his face, and prepare him for the worst, I cannot see what it might accomplish. As Mrs. Rushworth is connected to the Dashwoods, she might very well pursue you there.”
“Perhaps she might, and her son as well—and yet perhaps it would not be an ill thing.”
There was no greater frustration, Edmund was sure, than having one’s advice so thoroughly disregarded, and no amount of filial respect could dispel his vexation.
“Forcing Maria into his company will not change her mind about the man, and should one of the Dashwood girls offer the slightest consolation to Mr. Rushworth, his mother would have greater cause to expose John. Even if you do offer the girls some provision, Rushworth would be a prize for the taking in the wake of Maria’s rejection, and then you have as good as handed Norland over to Mrs. Rushworth.
At any rate, Crawford might pursue Maria there himself, if he is half as brazen as you apparently were in your youth.
I think it unwise to go for myriad reasons, but you must do as you will. ”
Before he could be entreated any further, Edmund hastened from the room to be alone with his wretched thoughts.