A long chapter today, because I didn't want to break it up. I also chose to not tell Mrs Norris' story in the first person, for I had it first written as a separate accompanying story. It is quite shocking and sad so be warned and let me know what you think.

Chapter 26 Mrs Norris' story

"Frances Ward, leave your sister alone! You know she can't help it that she is so very plain!"
Julia knew that her mother's admonishments to her sister would have no effect. Frances would continue her sneering when their mother would not be able to hear it.
Julia sighed. Even though she was three years older than Frances, and already seventeen, she still felt inferior to her youngest sister.

In general, Frances was liked by everyone. She was lively and very beautiful. Even though she was not out yet, already men were flocking around to garner her attention. Their middle sister, Maria, was much quieter. She was also very pretty and at sixteen, having come out just recently, was quite popular among the young men in the area.

Julia herself was nothing like them. She may have started out as an impertinent little girl, but as soon as Frances started to understand things, around the age of ten, she had bullied Julia into becoming a quiet girl.
She had none of the beauty of her sisters, was rather short and plump, her hair a dull brown and difficult to put up in a nice way. She also had some skin-problems.

How she wished she could go against her sister! But her parents had spoiled their youngest and in general Frances knew how to behave in front of others. She seldom was caught in her actions against Julia. Today was the first time in quite a while.
Frances looked contrite when she replied: "Yes mama."

Tonight there was an assembly ball where Julia and Maria would go. There would be dancing and it was said that the family living in one of the biggest estates in the area, had visitors. One of which was a very handsome young baronet, who was also single.
Julia did not really have any illusions that the man would notice her, but sometimes she allowed herself to dream.

Frances tried to ruin any joy she might feel for the evening, by tantalising her. Julia had heard the words so many times that she had started to believe them. However, they still hurt. "Ah Julia, why bother going? Nobody will look at you! Nobody would want to dance with you. Your dancing is horrible, and look at your dress! Maybe you should stay at home."

Julia tried to ignore her sister and walked away. She went and got herself ready for the evening and when she had put her nicest dress on and her hair was ready, she went back downstairs. Maria was also ready to leave and so was their mother. Like every mother of daughters, she hoped they would catch the attention of the single men that would attend.

Just before they were to leave, Frances stepped on Julia's train. They all heard the sound of ripping fabric.
She had been so glad to have a beautiful dress, but now it seemed ruined! Julia turned angry at her sister. "How dare you stand on my dress! Look at what you have done!"
"I am so sorry. It was an accident. I couldn't help it." Although the tone was apologetic, Frances' eyes were not. They silently provoked her to react. For it would then be Julia who would be blamed.
"Come, come," said their mother. "It was only an accident. Let me see the damage. Ah I see. There is not much we can do now, but I daresay it is hardly visible. I think you will be fine tonight."

But it wasn't alright that evening. Maria caught the eye of the rich baronet, a Sir Thomas Bertram from Mansfield Park. He danced four dances with her and stayed near her the rest of the evening.

Julia sat down for most of the time. One older married man asked her to dance, which he always did. Julia knew it was out of pity but she couldn't refuse him, just in case someone else would approach her later.

The evening got only worse, for, when she walked over to get a drink for herself, someone bumped into her, stepped on her train and this time it ripped off. She was lucky that is was not part of the actual dress, so she was not exposed. However, her favourite dress was ruined and, while some people looked at her with pity, others laughed.

Julia felt mortified and hid the rest of the evening in one of the quieter side rooms in the building.

The ride home had Maria talking on and on about Sir Thomas and how well he danced and how rich he was.

The next few days, and after that weeks, didn't get any better. Sir Thomas visited them often and as soon as Maria turned sixteen, started to officially court her.

Julia was jealous at her sister's luck. And Frances only made it worse.

After the incident with the dress, Julia took care of what she was wearing, hoping to prevent her sister from ruining more of her clothes.

Their parents were quite strict and only allowed Maria to marry her baronet when she turned seventeen. It was strange when she moved away. Julia never had been very close to her sister, but she did miss her nonetheless.

The older Frances got, the crueller she became it seemed. She managed to persuade her parents to let her out in society at fifteen and from that moment on, Julia did not have a single moment of peace. Her sister would not only be dancing every dance at every gathering, but also managed to discourage any men that would have the slightest inclination to ask Julia for a dance.

It made Julia fuming with anger, but she did not manage to go against her sister. For so long she had been dominated by her; every attempt to change it was futile.
Julia became bitter at her life. Never anything went right. People did not seem to care much about her.

She felt slightly vindicated when Frances managed to compromise herself with a lowly marine lieutenant. How it came about never became very clear, but Frances had a friend who had family in Portsmouth. The friend had invited her to stay with her family for some weeks. The two girls had enjoyed themselves immensely, going to balls and parading at the seaside. Apparently Frances had met Bill Price on one of those dances, although he was actually below their station. He was a handsome but coarse fellow and Frances had quite shamelessly flirted with him.

When, some days after, she and her friends were walking near the seaside, they met Bill again and he and a friend of his had invited the girls to a local pub. (Julia could not understand at all how they had been allowed out without a chaperone.) Now, according to the official story, someone had tripped over, which had pushed Frances right into Bill's arms in a very improper way. The parents of her friend had insisted she should marry and had written to her own father and mother about it. Frances and Bill were quickly married when she was only sixteen and Frances moved with him to Portsmouth. Julia and her family however, suspected more had happened, for William was born only seven months after the wedding.
Julia rejoiced in Frances' misfortunes of marrying so beneath her, the scandal and now having to live in poverty in an unsavoury place with a little baby.

Soon after the birth of William, Julia's father and mother died in a carriage accident. Now that her home was gone, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram took her in to live with them. Living with her sister and brother at least brought on some more luxury. Her sister had borne two sons so far, but had hired nurses to look after them.

Gradually Julia became used to living with them. Maria's indolence was already visible when she was a child, but now became even more apparent. Having married a nice man with fortune, living in wealth and having provided her husband with an heir and a spare, Lady Bertram could now indulge in doing nothing.

Julia was not one for idleness and it seemed the two sisters amplified each other's behaviour: the more indolent lady Bertram became, the more active and busy Julia became. The latter was by now mistress of the house in all but name. Her sister gladly left to her the tasks of dealing with the servants and managing the household in general.
She liked to be occupied, for it prevented her from thinking about her life. She was glad to be useful, to have some sort of a purpose.

Julia felt truly happy when Lady Bertram gave birth to a daughter. Little Maria was a very pretty and easy baby and Julia doted on her. She loved visiting the nursery to cuddle with her niece and to elicit giggles from the little girl.

Sir Thomas however, was anxious to see his sister-in-law getting married. But the area where they lived was rather quiet and there were hardly any eligible single men to be found. Even though Sir Thomas stayed often in London, his wife did not and consequently her sister also did not go.
Sir Thomas tried to think of ways that she could meet new men. He even organised a ball for her, but to no avail.

One day, when Julia was watching little Maria toddling around, she was called into her brother's office.
"Julia, do sit down please," he said. "I have some news for you. I have found a husband for you!"
"A husband?" Julia could hardly believe her ears. Was it true?

Sir Thomas nodded. "Yes. I recently gave the living of Mansfield to a Mr Norris. He is a young man and as a clergyman he ought to be married. I told him about you and he agreed to come for dinner tomorrow evening so you can meet him."

Julia was speechless. This was news indeed! She didn't know if she was sad or happy. She did want to get married of course. Even though her sister appreciated her presence in the house, she had seen Sir Thomas had become a bit weary of it and probably wanted her gone. But for so long she had accepted her fate that she would die an old maid. And now that seemed to change!
"Thank you, sir," was all she replied.

The dinner was not what she expected.
After she was introduced to Mr Norris, the rest of the meal he hardly looked at her and he didn't even speak once to her. Julia felt quite disappointed by it.
The man was rather plain and seemed to be of a sickly constitution.

After the meal Sir Thomas and Mr Norris went to the former's office and a little while later Julia was called in.
"Julia, Mr Norris would like to marry you. I have given my consent to the match."
Even though Julia was of age and would not need his consent, by the way he said it, she knew he would not take kindly to her refusing Mr Norris. She feared that he would throw her out of the house if she didn't consent.
She therefore only nodded.

Soon, after the banns were read, Julia became Mrs Norris. She was very nervous about her new life, but soon found ways to cheer herself up. She now had her own household to run. It was of course not as large as her sister's but it was her own. She made it her goal to be very moderate in her expenses and found ways to save from her household money. She actually enjoyed being the mistress of her own house.

Being a wife was not equally as pleasant. Mrs Norris saw her husband mainly during mealtimes and he hardly spoke a word, or even looked at her.
As to her wifely duties, he visited her about twice each month, did his business, and then left for his own room. Most of the times it left Julia with pain and she always dreaded the next time. Being busy in the house and with visiting the parishioners and making herself useful in other ways, made her life bearable.

When her sister became with child again, Julia went to assist Lady Bertram after the baby was born. Her little namesake was as sweet as her sister and Mrs Norris enjoyed spending time in the nursery with the two little girls.

Then she herself became with child. When she found out, she was overjoyed. She dreamed of having just as sweet a little girl as her two nieces. However, after four months she suffered a miscarriage. Mr Norris was angry with her as if it was her fault that the baby didn't survive. To make matters worse, she got a letter from Frances in Portsmouth to tell that she had birthed a healthy little girl whom she named Fanny. Mrs Price gloated about her fortune and knew how to hurt her sister with her written words.

Mrs Norris had difficulty recovering from her loss. Her husband didn't visit her bed for nearly a year. After that he recommenced and after a few months she found herself with child again. She did not dare to be happy about it, afraid for it to go wrong. Alas, in her seventh month the contractions started and she birthed a stillborn son.
Mr Norris was even more angry this time and blamed her for not being careful. Mrs Norris had to grieve alone and became even more embittered.

Her third pregnancy came after four years of marriage. This time all seemed to go well. Mrs Norris felt quite healthy and the baby seemed to grow well. Even her confinement went without complications and the little girl was all Julia could wish for, although her husband wished it had been a son.

Two weeks after birth the girl died of a fever.

Outwardly Mrs Norris remained the same person. Inwardly she locked up all her feelings and emotions. Her misfortunes in life were too much to bear, so she carefully locked them away to not have to feel it.

Frances only ever wrote to tell when she had another baby. Even though they were poor, her children were all healthy and there were no problems at all.

After the death of their daughter, Mr Norris stopped visiting her altogether. It seemed he had given up on her. They lived as two strangers in the same house. Mrs Norris spent again most of her time at Mansfield Park, where her sister appreciated her help and her brother-in-law reluctantly admitted her presence. The two little girls were Mrs Norris' only joy in life and she rather spoiled them.

Some years after, they got the news that Frances was expecting her ninth child, which news was accompanied by a plea for some financial help. Frances' husband had had an accident and was not able to work anymore. Therefore, their income had decreased even more.

Mrs Norris felt that same triumph again. Her sister deserved some trouble in life.

Lady Bertram offered to send baby linens and some money.
Mrs Norris said that they should invite the eldest daughter to come and live with them at Mansfield Park. They would relieve their sister of one child and the girl would benefit from a wealthier education.
What Mrs Norris did not say, was that it would be a way to gloat over her sister. At least they had the financial means to care for the girl.
After some more conversation about it, it was decided that Fanny would come to Mansfield Park.

Mrs Norris started to regret her plan, when, at her arrival, Sir Thomas said he had thought the girl would stay in the parsonage with herself and Mr Norris.
Mrs Norris managed to averse that scheme and Fanny would stay at the great house.

When she finally laid eyes on the girl, she had even more regret, for Fanny looked just like her mother at that age, a very pretty girl. Her temper however, was very different. She was quiet and shy to the extreme.

During the years that followed Mrs Norris started unconsciously to treat the girl as she herself had been treated by the mother. It gave her a grim sort of satisfaction to be able to finally pay back all the bullying she had endured in the past and the fact was that Fanny was an easy target.
Mrs Norris always made sure that Fanny was treated differently from her cousins. She must always remember the inferiority of her birth.

When Fanny grew more and more into a beautiful lady, Mrs Norris felt more and more jealous. It worsened her treatment of the girl.

When Mr Norris died, Julia felt a mixture of relief and guilt. Being strong and healthy herself, she always thought her husband to exaggerate his complaints and therefore she had no patience to deal with them.
That Fanny was the person who tended to him when he died, made it all the worse. Mrs Norris felt guilty of not having called for a doctor, which might have prevented his death.
But it was so much easier to place the guilt upon Fanny.

Next Mrs Norris noticed that Fanny caught the attention of various young men, but at first, as the girl was not out yet, she paid not much attention to this.
Until two of Tom's friends came to stay. She herself had not been to the great house much in that time so she was not aware of the reasons why those friends were suddenly sent away.

Then, when Sir Thomas had left for Antigua, Mrs Norris saw a chance to become even more involved in the goings on at the Park. She was excited when she could introduce dear Maria to Mr Rushworth, whose mother she had become acquainted with. Her ire had therefore been great when she noticed that Mr Rushworth paid far more attention to Fanny than to Maria.
This would most certainly not do! She had encouraged Maria to give all her attentions to Mr Rushworth, making sure that that gentleman no longer would look at Fanny.
She was partly successful, for soon Mr Rushworth asked Maria to marry him and Mrs Norris felt the triumph of helping the match come about.
But she could not help but see the man's eyes strayed to Fanny often when in the same company. In her ire and jealousy, she accused Fanny of deliberately attracting the attention of Mr Rushworth.

When Mr and Miss Crawford arrived at the parsonage, she found a new goal: to have her own namesake married to the man. Surely he was not as rich as Mr Rushworth, but he would do very well. Their first meeting had been very promising, but the second meeting was disappointing. The young man seemed to be enchanted by Fanny's presence and, although he talked mostly with Julia, he seemed to have lost his interest in that girl.
In her anger at this, Mrs Norris had straight away managed to get Fanny away from the situation so there would be no more distraction.
She thought her scheme was working, for in consequent meetings, he gave his attention mostly to Julia and seemed to no longer look at Fanny.

But as she kept her eyes on Fanny, and on Mr Crawford for that matter during the next weeks, it had seemed that they both were so pointedly trying to not talk with each other in company, that it looked planned. Mrs Norris caught some looks between the two and it made her seething with anger and jealousy. Outwardly Mr Crawford seemed to pay attention to Julia, but apparently his real interest lay somewhere else.

The visit to Sotherton was a source of vexation to Mrs Norris. First her nephew Edmund managed to persuade everyone that Fanny would be coming too, even though Mrs Norris strongly objected against it. She had been fearful that Mr Rushworth would lose his head again over Fanny and that must be avoided at all costs.

However, she had not seen any contact between them over all of the visit, although it had seemed something had happened. Fanny had complained of a headache and had looked greatly distressed in the afternoon.

She had loved to make herself useful in the acting scheme. Her nieces were enjoying themselves and Mrs Norris looked on with pleasure.

The sudden return of Sir Thomas and the consequent events were all very shocking, especially the severed engagement between Maria and Mr Rushworth. The way her brother-in-law had admonished her for her own opinion on the matter, had been a great source of distress and she had felt it long after.

In the new year Mrs Norris had started to feel fatigued sometimes and she suffered from headaches. Her protests at the organising of the ball were partly because of that, but mostly because, again, Fanny received attention that she herself never had received. Sir Thomas' partiality towards Fanny made her even more jealous.

On the evening of the ball, when Fanny came down, the resemblance with her mother was so great – but with the absence of the triumphant look – that Mrs Norris felt all the hatred resurging. Was she to endure the sight of this copy of her tormentor all evening? The jealousy she felt when seeing Fanny dance not just once, but twice, with Mr Crawford did it to her. When they stood up for that second dance, something snapped in her head. A sudden pain had her leaving the ball and returning home. It was frightening when she suddenly felt so weak that she could not stand on her own legs. Sudden difficulty with speaking was reason to summon the doctor, who told her that she had suffered a stroke.
How it was possible, she did not know.
For a week, she stayed in bed most of the time. Then she got herself together. After all, she was not made for idleness or for being ill. The impediments as a result of the stroke, frustrated her greatly. She had to ask for the carriage to convey her to the great house. Her fingers had difficulty with doing the simplest of needlework. And at the end of each day, she was so exhausted that she had to leave early. Her sister looked at her with curiosity, but Julia did not wish to speak about her weaknesses.

There was not much diversion; her favourite nieces were still in London.
Fanny seemed happier each day. Even though they seemed to avoid her, it became clear that there was an attachment between Fanny and Mr Crawford.
Mrs Norris was fuming, but there was nothing she could do about it.

When Mr Crawford had to leave, it was a relief to Mrs Norris. She hoped he would never come back, but knew that must be unlikely. Fanny was often away. Apparently she was riding that horse most days; another sore spot for Mrs Norris: how Edmund had basically given his cousin a horse, a total waste of money and far too great an honour for someone like Fanny.

Then came that day. She had slept badly, felt a chill all the time and the weather was disgustingly sunny, which did not fit at all with her mood.

The vexation of seeing Fanny was too great, so she sent her away on an errant. Some peace of mind, she hoped.

After a particularly frustrating moment in which she just could not get her embroidery right, she stood up to have a stroll in the garden. Maybe it would cheer her up.
But outside, the first thing she saw, was Fanny, on the arm of Mr Crawford disappearing into the gardens. Her anger boiled. What did that man think? Did he really think that, just because Fanny was a pretty girl, she would be suitable for him?

She marched in their direction to put a stop to it once and for all. But when she arrived at the place where they had disappeared, she couldn't see them. For a while she walked around, listening if she could hear them. Finally, she spotted them when they seemed to be on their way back to the house. They walked arm in arm and looked very happy.

Then she saw Mr Crawford pull Fanny aside – out of view of the house, it appeared. Then they kissed! "Now go in Henry…" she heard Fanny say, "I will wait for you outside."

This looked too much like the girl had just accepted a proposal!

Something snapped in her head. She could not control her anger anymore. She waited for Fanny around a corner and when the girl came in view, it seemed all her anger and jealousy that had laid dormant through her life, now came out.

At first she had started to berate the girl, who looked very frightened. Then she exploded and started to attack Fanny. After a moment she imagined her sister standing there and she lost control. Red flecks were dancing before her eyes while she kept hitting.

She only came to herself when the girl lay on the ground, her arms trying to protect her body and blood streaming from her face.

What had she done? She had killed her niece!

In a state of confusion, she started to make her way towards the house. She had hardly noticed Baddeley asking what was wrong, then later Mr Crawford rushing past and Sir Thomas towering over her in anger and disgust as she had never seen before. She hardly noticed when two footmen dragged her up the stairs, where she then could no longer stand on her two feet, and passed out.

A.N. Shocking, isn't it? But I hope it explains why she attacked Fanny. She is still a despised person but there is a reason to it.
We're nearing the end of the story now.