The Visitor at Portsmouth — Mansfield Park

A week has passed since Edmund might be thought to be in town, and Fanny has heard nothing from him. Her mind runs through three different explanations for his silence. Then, about four weeks after she left Mansfield, Mr Crawford walks into the house in Portsmouth.

She finds that she can speak of Edmund to her mother, as William's friend. Mrs Price is at her best. Crawford, who has come down from Norfolk, is warm about William, and talks easily to her parents. He hints at an early walk. Fanny's father takes them to the dockyard, and Crawford watches how the two sisters would have been left to keep up as best they could. He turns the talk from Everingham to Mansfield, which brings her attention and her looks back at once.