Mansfield Park The Crawfords' redemption

An improved end to the classic story

I always liked Mansfield Park, but somehow felt Mary and Henry Crawford were treated unfairly by Jane Austen because they were not stuffy and boring and dependable, like Edmund and Fanny herself, but witty and passionate and likable. I always felt they would not react in the way they did in the book, but rise to the challenge. So here's what they'd do in my view: As he drove away from Portsmouth towards London, Henry could no longer deceive himself: the sweet tempered and artless girl he had fallen for, whom he had offered to sacrifice his freedom to, did not love him. On that trip, passing beautiful natural scenery as well as picturesque villages without even seeing them, he finally realized he had been fooled by her mild manners and loving personality into believing himself loved by the sweetest, most tenderhearted creature in existence.