Poor Fanny, to have her such-anticipated return to Mansfield Park bring such heartache! Her reflections at the beginning of the chapter are so painful, especially her fear that Mary's attitudes will corrupt Edmund until his morals are as low as hers. That fear has teeth, given the compromises he already made for her during the play. Seeing someone she loves make a disastrous decision and have to live with the consequences of that decision would be a lifelong heartache for Fanny, especially when compounded with guilt over whether she should have warned him before it was too late. I am glad she is recognizing some hopeful signs in Edmund's behavior this day, even if she is far from feeling any hope yet.
Also glad to see Fanny continue to be resistant to Henry's lies and manipulation. I'm more sympathetic to him than she is, though I'm not sure I should be. He has already caused great harm, is lying again and again to put off the consequences, and if he got his way would cause so much greater harm. Yet he is so...unmoored, so lost. He has found the one person he believes essential to him, has lost any chance with her, and has lost hope. That long parting look at her after being cast out was so poignant. If he does not take her last advice, I shudder to think where he will turn next. Taking the decanter and glass with him is not a good sign.
What a relief for Fanny to finally have someone on her side where Henry is concerned--and especially to have that person be Edmund! Despite everything, I think she would have to smile if she knew he had prayed she would remain impervious to Henry's charm. I'm glad to see Edmund standing up to Henry for her, and not allowing him to see her again. He has selfishly disrupted her peace so very many times.
"If only she can be separated from the evil that is her brother, we may have a chance." -- ooh, that conversation is going to go *so* well. Still Edmund refuses to see the evil is in Mary too, not just Henry.
