Tom's Illness — Mansfield Park

A week after Edmund's return to Mansfield, Tom's immediate danger is over. Lady Bertram is easy, hearing only the best. Fanny gets a few lines from Edmund, and they show her the sickroom in a truer light than her aunt's letters do. She is inclined to hope for her cousin, except when she thinks of Miss Crawford, who would find it good luck if Edmund were the only son.

Easter comes late, and Fanny longs to be at home. She quotes Cowper: "With what intense desire she wants her home." She is surprised that Tom's sisters can stay in London so long. Then Mary writes, begging forgiveness for her silence and asking for news of Mansfield. She offers to bring Fanny back with Henry. Fanny, repelled by most of the letter, declines. She was not sent for, and would be an encumbrance.