menu_book Chapter 2

Emma by Jane Austen Volume 2 Chapter 3 Emma could not forgive her. But as neither provocation nor resentment could be discerned by Mr. Knightley, who had been of the party, and had seen only proper attention and pleasing behaviour on each side, he was expressing the next morning, being at Hartfield again on business with Mr. Woodhouse, his approbation of the whole, Not so openly as he might have done had her father been out of the room,

but speaking plain enough to be very intelligible to Emma. He had been used to think her unjust to Jane, and had now great pleasure in marking an improvement. A very pleasant evening he began, as soon as Mr. Woodhouse had been talking into what was necessary,

told that he understood, and the papers swept away. Particularly pleasant. you and miss fairfax gave us some very good music i do not know a more luxurious state sir than sitting at one's ease to be entertained a whole evening by two such young women sometimes with music and sometimes with conversation i am sure miss fairfax must have found the evening pleasant emma you left nothing undone i was glad you made her play so much for having no instrument at her grandmother's it must have been a real indulgence i am happy you approved said emma smiling but i hope i am not often deficient in what is due to guests at hartfield

no my dear said her father instantly that i am sure you are not there is nobody half so attentive and civil as you are if anything you are too attentive the muffin last night if it had been handed round once i think it would have been enough no said mr knightley nearly at the same time you are not often deficient not often deficient either in manner or comprehension i think you understand me therefore an arch look expressed i understand you well enough but she said only miss fairfax is reserved i always told you she was a little but you will soon overcome all that part of her reserve which ought to be overcome all that has its foundations in diffidence what arises from discretion must be honoured you think her diffident i do not see it my dear emma said he moving from his chair into one close by her you are not going to tell me i hope that you had not a pleasant evening

oh no i was pleased with my own perseverance in asking questions and amused to think how little information i obtained i am disappointed was his only answer i hope everybody had a pleasant evening said mr woodhouse in his quiet way i had once i felt the fire rather too much but then i moved back my chair a little a very little and it did not disturb me miss bates was very chatty and good-humoured as she always is though she speaks rather too quickly however she is very agreeable and mrs bates too in a different way i like old friends and miss jane fairfax is a very pretty sort of young lady a very pretty and very well-behaved young lady indeed she must have found the evening agreeable mr knightley because she had emma true sir and emma because she had miss fairfax emma saw his anxiety and wishing to appease it at least for the present said with a sincerity which no one could question

she is a sort of elegant creature that one cannot keep one's eyes from i am always watching her to admire and i do pity her from my heart mr knightley looked as if he were more gratified than he cared to express and before he could make any reply mr woodhouse whose thoughts were on the bateses said it is a great pity that their circumstances should be so confined a great pity indeed and i have often wished but it is so little one can venture to do small trifling presents of anything uncommon now we have killed a porker and emma thinks we should send them a loin or a leg it is very small and delicate harpfield pork is not like any other pork but still it is pork and my dear emma unless one could be sure of their making it into steaks nicely fried as ours are fried without the smallest grease and not roast it for no stomach can bear roast pork i think we had better send the leg do not you think so my dear my dear papa i sent the whole hind quarter

i knew you would wish it there will be the leg to be salted you know which is so very nice and the loin to be dressed directly in any manner they like that's right my dear very right i had not thought of it before but that is the best way they must not over-salt the leg and then if it is not over-salted and if it is very thoroughly boiled just as surly boils ours and eaten very moderately of with a boiled turnip and a little carrot or parsnip i do not consider it unwholesome Emma, said Mr. Knightley presently, I have a piece of news for you. You like news, and I heard an article in my way, hither that I think will interest you. News? Oh, yes, I always like news. What is it? Why do you smile so? Where did you hear it? At Randall's?

He had time only to say, No, not at Randall's. I have not been near Randall's. when the door was thrown open and miss bates and miss fairfax walked into the room full of thanks and full of news miss bates knew not which to give quickest mr knightley soon saw that he had lost his moment and that not another syllable of communication could rest with him oh my dear sir how are you this morning my dear miss woodhouse i come quite overpowered such a beautiful hind quarter of pork you are too bountiful have you heard the news mr elton is going to be married emma had not time even to think of mr elton and she was so completely surprised that she could not avoid a little start and a blush at the sound there is my news i thought it would interest you said mr knightley with a smile which implied a conviction of some part of what had passed between them

but where could you hear it cried miss bates where could you possibly hear it mr knightley for it is not five minutes since i've received mrs cole's note no it cannot be more than five or at least ten for i had got my bonnet and spencer on just ready to come out i was only going down to speak to patty again about the pork jane was standing in the passage were you not jane for my mother was so afraid that we had not any salting-pan large enough so i said i would go down and see and jane said shall i go down instead for i think you have a little cold and patty has been washing the kitchen oh my dear said i well and just then came the note a miss hawkins that's all i know a miss hawkins of bath but mr knightley how could you possibly have heard it for the very moment mr cole told mrs cole of it she sat down and wrote to me a miss hawkins i was with mr cole on business an hour and a half ago he had just read elton's letter as i was shown in and handed it to me directly

well that is quite i suppose there never was a piece of news more generally interesting my dear sir you really are too bountiful my mother desires her very best compliments and regards and a thousand thanks and says you really quite oppress her we consider our hartfield pork replied mr woodhouse indeed it certainly is so very superior to all other pork that emma and i cannot have a greater pleasure than oh my dear sir as my mother says our friends are only too good to us if ever there were people who without having great wealth themselves had everything they could wish for i am sure it is us we may well say that our lot is cast in a goodly heritage well mr knightley and so you actually saw the letter well it was short merely to announce but cheerful exulting of course here was a sly glance at emma he had been so fortunate as to-i forget the precise words one has no business to remember them the information was as you state that he was going to be married to miss hawkins by his style i should imagine it just settled

said emma as soon as she could speak he will have everybody's wishes for his happiness he is very young to settle said mr woodhouse's observation he had better not be in a hurry he seemed to me very well off as he was we were always glad to see him at hartfield a new neighbour for us all miss woodhouse said miss bates joyfully my mother is so pleased she says she cannot bear to have the poor old vicarage without a mistress this is great news indeed jane have you never seen mr elton no wonder that you have such a curiosity to see him jane's curiosity did not appear of that absorbing nature as holy to occupy her no i have never seen mr elton she replied starting on this appeal is he is he a tall man who shall answer that question cried emma my father would say yes mr knightley no and miss bates and i that he is just the happy medium when you have been here a little longer miss fairfax you will understand that mr elton is the standard of perfection in highbury both in person and mind

very true miss woodhouse so she will he is the very best young man but my dear jane if you remember i told you yesterday he was precisely the height of mr perry miss hawkins i dare say an excellent young woman his extreme attention to my mother wanting her to sit in the vicarage pew that she might hear the better for my mother is a little deaf you know it is not much but she does not hear quite quick jane says that colonel campbell is a little deaf he fancied bathing might be good for it-the warm bath but she says it did him no lasting effect colonel campbell you know is quite our angel and mr dixon seems a very charming young man quite worthy of him it is such a happiness when good people get together and they always do now here will be mr elton and miss hawkins and there will be the coles such very good people and the parrys i suppose there never was a happier or better couple than mr and mrs parry

i say sir turning to mr woodhouse i think there are few places with such society as highbury i always say we are quite blessed in our neighbours my dear sir if there is one thing my mother loves better than another it is pork a roast loin of pork as to who or what miss hawkins is or how long he has been acquainted with her said emma nothing i suppose can be known one feels that it cannot be a very long acquaintance he has been gone only four weeks nobody had any information to give and after a few more wonderings emma said you are silent miss fairfax but i hope you mean to take an interest in this news you who have been hearing and seeing so much of late on these subjects who must have been so deep in the business of miss campbell's account we shall not excuse your being indifferent about mr elton and miss hawkins when i have seen mr elton replied jane i dare say i shall be interested but i believe it requires that with me and as it is some months since miss campbell married the impression may be a little worn off

yes he has been gone just four weeks as you observe miss woodhouse said miss bates four weeks yesterday a miss hawkins well i had always rather fancied it would be some young lady hereabouts not that i ever miss coles once whispered to me but i immediately said no mr elton is a most worthy young man but in short i do not think i am particularly quick at those sorts of discoveries i do not pretend to it what is before me i see at the same time nobody could wonder if mr elton should have aspired miss woodhouse lets me chatter on so good-humouredly she knows i would not offend for the world how does miss smith do she seems quite recovered now have you heard from mrs john knightley lately oh those dear little children jane do you know i always fancy mr dixon like mr john knightley i mean in person tall and with that sort of look and not very talkative quite wrong my dear aunt there is no likeness at all very odd but one never does form a just idea of anybody beforehand one takes up a notion and runs away with it mr dixon you say is not strictly speaking handsome

handsome no far from it certainly plain i told you he was plain my dear you said that miss campbell would not allow him to be plain and that you yourself oh as for me my judgment is worth nothing where i have a regard i always think a person well-looking but i gave what i believe the general opinion when i call him plain well my dear jane believe we must be running away the weather does not look well and grandmamma will be uneasy you are too obliging my dear miss woodhouse but we really must take leave this has been a most agreeable piece of news indeed i shall just go round by mrs cole's but i shall not stop three minutes and jane you had better go home directly i would not have you out in a shower we think she is the better for highbury already thank you we do indeed i shall not attempt calling on mrs goddard for i really do not think she cares for anything but boiled pork which we dress the leg it will be another thing good morning to you my dear sir oh mr knightley is coming too well that is so very i am sure if jane is tired you will be so kind as to give her your arm mr elton and miss hawkins good morning to you

emma alone with her father had half her attention wanted by him while he lamented that young people would be in such a hurry to marry and to marry strangers too and the other half she could give to her own view of the subject it was to herself an amusing and very welcome piece of news as proving that mr elton could not have suffered long but she was sorry for harriet harriet must feel it and all that she could hope was by giving the first information herself to save her from hearing it abruptly from others it was now about the time that she was likely to call if she were to meet miss bates in her way and upon its beginning to rain emma was obliged to expect that the weather would be detaining her at mrs goddard's and that the intelligence would undoubtedly rush upon her without preparation the shower was heavy but short and it had not been over five minutes when in came harriet with just the heated agitated look which hurrying thither with a full heart was likely to give

and the oh miss woodhouse what do you think has happened which instantly burst forth had all the evidence of corresponding perturbation as the blow was given emma felt that she could not now show greater kindness than in listening and harriet unchecked ran eagerly through what she had to tell she had set out for mrs goddard's half an hour ago She had been afraid it would rain. She had been afraid it would pour down every moment, but she thought it might get to Hartfield first. She had hurried as fast as possible, but then, as she was passing by the house, where a young woman was making up a gown for her,

she thought she would just step in and see how it went on, and though she did not seem to stay half a moment there, soon after she came out it began to rain, and she did not know what to do, so she ran on directly, as fast as she could, and took shelter at Ford's. Ford's was the principal woolen-draper, linen-draper, and haberdasher's shop united, the shop first in size and fashion in the place, and so there she had set, without any idea of anything in the world, full ten minutes

perhaps, when all of a sudden, who should come in, to be sure it was so very odd, but they always dealt at Ford's. Who should come in but Elizabeth Martin and her brother? Dear Miss Woodhouse, only think! I thought I should have fainted. I did not know what to do. I was sitting near the door. Elizabeth saw me directly, but he did not. He was busy with the umbrella. I am sure she saw me, but she looked away directly and took no notice, and they both went to quite

the farther end of the shop, and I kept sitting near the door. Oh, dear! I was so miserable. I am sure I must have been as white as my gown. I could not go away, you know, because of the rain, but I did so wish myself anywhere in the world but there. Oh, dear Miss Woodhouse! Well, at last, I fancy, he looked round and saw me, for instead of going on with her buyings they began whispering to one another. I am sure they were talking of me, and I could not help thinking that he was

persuading her to speak to me. Do you think he was, Miss Woodhouse? For presently she came forward, came quite up to me, and asked me how I did, and seemed ready to shake hands if I would. She did not do any of it in the same way that she used to. I could see she was altered, but, however, she seemed to try to be very friendly, and we shook hands and stood talking some time. But I know no more what I said. I was in such a tremble. I remember she said she was

very sorry we never met now, which I thought almost too kind. Dear Miss Woodhouse, I was absolutely miserable. By that time it was beginning to hold up, and I was determined that nothing should stop me from getting away. And then only think, I found he was coming up towards me. Slowly, you know, and as if he did not quite know what to do. And so he came and spoke, and I answered, and I stood for a moment feeling dreadfully, you know, one can't tell how,

and then I took courage, and said it did not rain and I must go, and so off I set, and I had not got three yards from the door when he came after me, only to say if I was going to Hartfield he thought I had much better go round by Mr. Cole's stables, for I should find the near way quite flooded by this rain. Oh, dear! I thought it would have been the death of me! So I said I was very much obliged to him. You know I could not do less, and then he went back

to Elizabeth, and I came round by the stables. I believe I did, but I hardly knew where I was, or anything about it. Oh, Miss Woodhouse, I would rather done anything than have it happen, and yet, you know, there was a sort of satisfaction in seeing him behave so pleasantly and so kindly, and Elizabeth too. Oh, Miss Woodhouse, do talk to me and make me comfortable again. Very sincerely did Emma wish to do so, but it was not immediately in her power. She was obliged to

stop and think. She was not thoroughly comfortable herself. The young man's conduct and his sisters seemed the result of real feeling, and she could not but pity them. As Harriet described it, there had been an interesting mixture of wounded affection and genuine delicacy in their behavior, But she had believed them to be well-meaning, worthy people before, and what difference did this make in the evils of the connection? It was folly to be disturbed by it. Of course he must be

sorry to lose her. They must be all sorry. Ambition as well as love had probably been mortified. They might all have hoped to rise by Harriet's acquaintance. And besides, what was the value of Harriet's description, so easily pleased, so little discerning, what signified her praise. She exerted herself and did try to make her comfortable, by considering all that had passed as a mere trifle, and quite unworthy of being dwelt on. It might be distressing for the moment,

said she, but you seem to have behaved extremely well, and it is over, and may never, can never, as a first meeting occur again, and therefore you need not think about it. Harriet said, Very true. And she would not think about it, but still she talked of it, still she could talk of nothing else, and Emma at last, in order to put the Martins out of her head, was obliged to hurry on the news which she had meant to give with so much tender caution. Hardly knowing herself

whether to rejoice or to be angry, ashamed or only amused at such a state of mind in poor Harriet, such a conclusion of Mr. Elton's importance with her. Mr. Elton's rights, however, gradually revived. Though she did not feel the first intelligence as she might have done the day before, or an hour before, its interest soon increased, and before their first conversation was over, she had talked herself into all the sensations of curiosity, wonder and regret,

pain and pleasure, as to this fortunate Miss Hawkins, which could conduce to place the Martins under proper subordination in her fancy. Emma learned to be rather glad that there had been such a meeting. It had been serviceable in deadening the first shock, without retaining any influence to alarm. As Harriet now lived, the Martins could not get at her without seeking her, where hitherto they had wanted either the courage or the condescension to seek her,

for since her refusal of the brother, the sisters never had been at Mrs. Godard's, and a twelve-month might pass without their being thrown together again, with any necessity or even any power of speech. End of Volume 2, Chapter 3