Hello there everyone. A good evening or a good morning or a good afternoon depended on... where you are in the world, let us know in the comments where you're listening in from and welcome to another live read and we're back with Jane Austen. It wasn't long or it hasn't been long since we read the amazing Pride and Prejudice and if you remember we had a first in book club history. I missed out a whole chapter I think and had to go back because we were having so much fun.
But yeah, you guys tell me that Emma is even more fun, more entertaining than Pride and Prejudice. I'm very much looking forward to this. I was really enjoyed Jane Austen's humor and her writing.
And so let's just say hello to the chat quickly before I tell you a little bit more about the book. For those who don't know, hello there, Ali Will, Woodhouse B. and the clubbers hello always nice to see you guys leanne diane mellow who's up bright and early i think hello there um diane mellow nice and early steven welcome steven r nice short one hello there r and lawson webbsy Hello everyone and just for those who don't know I'm just going to read you a little bit about the book and then we'll get right into it. It's lovely to see so many of you. Dark Fur is heading for the catch-up crew but let me just tell you a bit about this.
It says Emma by Jane Austen is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian Regency England. She also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, I'm going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will like much.
In the very first sentence, she introduces the title character as Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich. Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong and self-satisfied. She greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities.
She is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray. And if you want to know more about it, I suppose you can stay and listen and join the catch up crew if you can't stay. But I did a post about it in the community tab.
And so you can go and read more there. Leanne's up nice and early as well. Set your alarm.
Fantastic to see you. And that you guys taking time out of your day to come and join. Hello there, Frank. Nice to see you and welcome to Book Club. If you're enjoying all the stories and the live reads, we'll be live often to finish this.
I think this is about a 14, 15 hour book. So over the next few nights, we'll be progressing through it. And yeah, if you can't join us, join the catch up crew and let us know in the comments that you've caught up. If you're enjoying all things book club, the live reads that we do, be sure to like the video, subscribe if you're not yet.
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But all that to say, Emma by Jane Austen. And I've never read the book, so I don't know where we're going to stop my plan. My plan is to read for a couple of hours. I've never read it, so I don't know where there's a good place to stop.
We'll just keep going until you guys fall asleep or I come to a good point about two hours in that I feel is a good place to stop. So that's all I'll say about that. And it says here, to his royal highness, the prince regent, this work is by his royal highness's permission, most respectfully dedicated by his royal highness, dutiful and obedient, humble servant, the author. I'm glad Lawson...
that you enjoy the readings. It's good to have you here. Chapter One.
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world, with very little to distress or vex her. She was the youngest of the two daughters of a most affectionate indulgent father and had in consequence of her sister's marriage been mistress of his house from a very early period her mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess who had fallen little short of a mother in affection hi samantha welcome you sixteen years had miss taylor been in mr woodhouse's family less as a governess than a friend very fond of both daughters but particularly of emma between them it was more the intimacy of sisters even before miss taylor had ceased to hold the nominable office of governess the mildness of her temper had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint and the shadow of authority being now long passed away They had been living together as friend and friend, very mutually attached, and Emma doing just what she liked, highly esteeming Mrs Taylor's judgment, but directed chiefly by her own. The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself. These were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments. the danger however was at present so unperceived that they did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her sorrow came a gentle sorrow but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness miss taylor married it was miss taylor's loss which first brought grief it was on the wedding-day of this beloved friend that emma first sat in mournful thought of any continuance The wedding over, and the bride-people gone, her father and herself were left to dine together, with no prospect of a third to cheer a long evening.
He father composed himself to sleep after dinner, as usual, and she had then only to sit and think of what she had lost. Yes, sorry, silver back corner, maybe another time we'll read that. The event had every promise of happiness for her friend. Mr Weston was a man of unexceptionable character, easy fortune, suitable age, and pleasant manners, and there was some satisfaction in considering with what self-denying, generous friendship she had always wished and promoted the match. But it was a black morning's work for her.
The want of Mrs Taylor would be felt every hour of every day. She recalled her past kindness, the kindness the affection of sixteen years how she had taught and how she had played with her from five years old and how she had devoted all her powers to attach and amuse her in health and how nursed her through the various illnesses of childhood a large debt of gratitude was owing here but the intercourse of the last seven years the equal footing and perfect unreserve which had soon followed isabella's marriage on their being left to each other was yet a dearer tenderer recollection it had been a friend and companion such as few possessed intelligent well-informed useful gentle knowing all the ways of the family interested in all its concerns and peculiarly interested in herself in every pleasure every scheme of hers one to whom she could speak every thought as it arose and who had such an affection for her as could never find fault how was she to bear the change It was true that her friend was going only half a mile from them, but Emma was aware that great must be the difference between Mrs Weston, only half a mile from them, and a Mrs Taylor in the house, and with all her advantages, natural and domestic, she was now in great danger of suffering from intellectual solitude. She dearly loved her father, but he was no companion for her. he could not meet her in conversation rational or playful the evil of the actual disparity in their ages and mr woodhouse had not married early was much increased by his constitution and habits for having been a valet de tinarian all his life without activity of mind or body he was a much older man in ways than in years and though everywhere beloved for the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper His talents could not have recommended him at any time. He sister, though comparatively but little removed by matrimony, being settled in London only 16 miles off, was much beyond her daily reach, and many a long October and November evening must be struggled through at Hartfield before Christmas brought the next visit from Isabella and her husband and their little children to fill the house and give her pleasant society again.
Oh, better turn that off. highbury the large and populous village almost amounting to a town to which hartfield in spite of its separate lawn and shrubberies and name did really belong afforded her no equals the woodhouses were first in consequence there all looked up to them she had many acquaintance in the place for her father was universally civil but not one among them who could be accepted in lieu of miss taylor for even half a day it was a melancholy change and emma could not but sigh over it and wish for impossible things till her father awoke and made it necessary to be cheerful his spirits required support he was a nervous man easily depressed fond of everybody that he was used to and hating to part with them hating change of every kind matrimony as the origin of change was always disagreeable and he was by no means yet reconciled to his own daughter's marrying nor could ever speak of her but with compassion though it had been entirely a match of affection when he was now obliged to part with miss taylor too and from his habits of gentle selfishness and of being never able to suppose that other people could feel differently from himself he was very much disposed to think miss taylor had done as sad a thing for herself as for them and would have been a great deal happier if she had spent all the rest of her life at hartfield Emma smiled and chatted as cheerfully as she could to keep him from such thoughts, but when tea came it was impossible for him not to say exactly as he had said at dinner. Poor Mrs Taylor! I wish she were here again.
What a pity it is that Mr Weston ever thought of her. I cannot agree with you, Papa. You know I cannot. Mr Weston is such a good-humoured, pleasant, excellent man that he thoroughly deserves a good wife. and you would not have had miss taylor live with us for ever and bear all my odd humours when she might have a house of her own a house of her own but where is the advantage of a house of her own this is three times as large and you have never any odd humours my dear how often we shall be going to see them and they coming to see us we shall be always meeting we must begin we must go and pay our wedding visit very soon my dear how am i to get so far randalls is such a distance i could not walk half so far no papa nobody thought of your walking we must go in the carriage to be sure the carriage but james will not like to put the horses too for such a little way and where are the poor horses to be while we are paying our visit they are to be put into mr weston's stable papa you know we have settled all that already we talked it over with mr weston last night and as for james you may be very sure he will always like going to randalls because of his daughter's being housemaid there i only doubt whether he will ever take us anywhere else that was your doing papa you got hannah that good place nobody thought of hannah till you mentioned her james is so obliged to you i am very glad i did think of her it was very lucky for i would not have had poor james think himself slighted upon any account and i am sure she will make a very good servant she is a civil pretty-spoken girl i have a great opinion of her whenever i see her she always curtseys and asks me how i do in a very pretty manner and when you have had her here to do needlework i observe she always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it i am sure she will be an excellent servant and it will be a great comfort to poor miss taylor to have somebody about her that she is used to see whenever james goes over to see his daughter you know she will be hearing of us he will be able to tell her how we all are emma spared no exertions to maintain this happier flow of ideas and hoped by the help of backgammon to get her father tolerably through the evening and be attacked by no regrets but her own The backgammon table was placed, but a visitor immediately afterwards walked in and made it unnecessary.
Mr Knightley, a sensible man about seven or eight and thirty, was not... was not only a very old and intimate friend of the family but particularly connected with it as the elder brother of isabella's husband he lived about a mile from highbury was a frequent visitor and always welcome and at this time more welcome than usual as coming directly from their mutual connections in london he had returned to a late dinner after some day's absence and now walked up to hartfield to say that all were well in brunswick square It was a happy circumstance and animated Mr Woodhouse for some time. Mr Knightley had a cheerful manner which always did him good and his many inquiries after poor Isabella and her children were answered most satisfactorily. When this was over Mr Woodhouse greatly observed.
Hopefully she'll come in later Samantha. Fingers crossed. Goodbye silverback. It was very kind of you, Mr Knightley, to come out at this late hour to call upon us. I'm afraid you must have had a shocking walk.
Not at all, sir. It is a beautiful moonlit night, and so mild that I must draw back from your great fire. But you must have found it very damp and dirty. I wish you may not catch cold.
Dirty, sir? Look at my shoes, not a speck on them. Well, that is quite surprising, for we have had a vast deal of rain here.
it rained dreadfully hard for half an hour while we were at breakfast i wanted them to put off the wedding by the bye i have not wished you joy being pretty well aware of what sort of joy you must both be feeling i have been in no hurry with my congratulations but i hope it all went off tolerably well how did you all behave who cried most ah poor miss taylor tis a sad business poor mr and miss woodhouse if you please But I cannot possibly say, poor Mrs Taylor, I have a great regard for you and Emma, but when it comes to the question of dependence or independence, at any rate it must be better to have only one to please than two. Especially when one of those two is such a fanciful, troublesome creature, said Emma playfully, that is what you have in your head, I know, and what you would certainly say if my father were not by. I believe it is very true, my dear, indeed. said Mr Woodhouse with a sigh. I'm afraid I'm sometimes very fanciful and troublesome.
My dearest Papa, you do not think I could mean you, or suppose Mr Knightley to mean you? What a horrible idea! Oh no, I meant only myself.
Mr Knightley loves to find fault with me, you know. In a joke, it's all a joke. We always say what we like to one another.
Hello there all as well. How are you? Welcome. Mr Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them, and though this was not particularly agreeable to Emma herself, she knew it would be so much less so to her father that she would not have him really suspect such a circumstance as her not being thought perfect by everybody."'Emma knows I never flatter her,'said Mr Knightley, but I meant no reflection on anybody. Mrs Taylor has been used to have two persons to please, She will now have but one. The chances are that she must be a gainer. Well, said Emma, willing to let it pass, you want to hear about the wedding, and I shall be happy to tell you, for we all behaved charmingly. Everybody was punctual, everybody in their best looks, not a tear, and hardly a long face to be seen. Oh, no, we all felt that we were going to be only half a mile apart, and were sure of meeting every day. dear emma bears everything so well said her father but mr knightley she is really very sorry to lose poor miss taylor and i am sure she will miss her more than she thinks for emma turned away her head divided between tears and smiles it is impossible that emma should not miss such a companion said mr knightley we should not like her so well as we do sir if we could suppose it but she knows how much the marriage is to miss taylor's advantage she knows how very acceptable it must be at miss taylor's time of life to be settled in a home of her own and how important to her to be secure of a comfortable provision and therefore cannot allow herself to feel so much pain as pleasure every friend of miss taylor must be glad to have her so happily married and have you forgotten one matter of joy to me said emma and a very considerable one that i made the match myself i made the match you know four years ago and to have it take place and be proved in the right when so many people said mr weston would never marry again may comfort me for anything mr knightley shook his head at her her father fondly replied ah my dear i wish you would not make matches and foretell things for whatever you say always comes to pass pray do not make any more matches i promise you to make none for myself papa but i must indeed for other people it is the greatest amusement in the world And after such success, you know, everybody said that Mr Weston would never marry again. Oh dear no! Mr Weston, who had been a widower so long, and who seemed so perfectly comfortable without a wife, so constantly occupied either in his business in town or among his friends here, always acceptable wherever he went, always cheerful. Mr Weston need not spend a single evening in the year alone if he did not like it. Oh no! Mr Weston certainly would never marry again. some people even talked of a promise to his wife on her deathbed and others of the son and the uncle not letting him all manner of solemn nonsense was talked on the subject but i believe none of it ever since the day about four years ago that miss taylor and i met with him in broadway lane because it began to mizzle he darted away with so much gallantry and borrowed two umbrellas for us from farmer mitchell's i made up my mind on the subject i planned the match from that hour and when such success has blessed me in this instance dear papa you cannot think that i shall leave off match-making i do not understand what you mean by success said mr knightley success supposes endeavour your time has been properly and delicately spent if you have been endeavouring for the last four years to bring about this marriage a worthy employment for a young lady's mind but if which i rather imagine your making the match as you call it means only your planning it your saying to yourself one idle day i think it would be a very good thing for miss taylor if mr weston were to marry her and saying it again to yourself every now and then afterwards why do you talk of success where is your merit what are you proud of you made a lucky guess and that is all that can be said and have you ever known and have you ever known the pleasure and triumph of a lucky guess i pity you i thought you cleverer for depend upon it a lucky guess is never merely luck there was always some talent in it and as to my poor word success which you quarrel with i do not know that i am so entirely without any claim to it you have drawn two pretty pictures but i think there may be a third and a something between the do-nothing and the do-all if i had not promoted Mr Weston's visits here, and given many little encouragements, and smoothed many little matters, it might not have come to anything after all. I think you must know, heart-filled enough, to comprehend that, a straightforward, open-hearted man like Weston, and a rational, unaffected woman like Mrs Taylor, may be safely left to manage their own concerns. You are more likely to have done harm to yourself than good to them by interference. emma never thinks of herself if she can do good to others rejoined mr woodhouse understanding but in part but my dear pray do not make any more matches they are silly things and break up one's family circle grievously only one more papa only for mr elton poor mr elton you like mr elton papa i must look about for a wife for him there is nobody in highbury who deserves him and he has been here a whole year and has fitted up his house so comfortably that it would be a shame to have him single any longer and i thought when he was joining their hands to-day he looked so very much as if he would like to have the same kind office done for him i think very well of mr elton and this is the only way i have of doing him a service mr eldon is a very pretty young man to be sure and a very good young man and i have a great regard for him but if you want to shew him any attention my dear ask him to come and dine with us some day that will be a much better thing i dare say mr knightley will be so kind as to meet him with a great deal of pleasure sir at any time said mr knightley laughing and i agree with you entirely that it will be a much better thing Invite him to dinner, Emma, and help him to the best of the fish and the chicken, but leave him to choose his own wife. Depend upon it. A man of six and seven and twenty can take care of himself. Yeah, so that was chapter one, a great introduction there to Emma. Emma the matchmaker, according to Wikipedia and the blurb and everything I've learnt about the book, she fancies herself quite the matchmaker. And, uh, yeah. There you can see. And also, just like in Pride and Prejudice, it's clear, I mean, I'm no historian, but marriage was such a big part of Pride and Prejudice. It was a massive part, wasn't it? The mother sort of desperate to marry off her girls. And here, you know, the Isabella, the sister's marriage, and then the housekeeper's marriage, and marriage and marriage. Everyone's... Sort of, I suppose that's the, yeah, I don't know. Is it the most important thing for Regency England in the 1800s? Do you tell me? I don't know. But it seems like it is among the most important anyway. And parties and dinners. No internet though. No social media. Chapter 2. Mr Weston was a native of Highbury, and born of a respectable family, which for the last two or three generations had been rising into gentility and property. He had received a good education, but on succeeding early in life to a small independence, had become indisposed for any of the more homely pursuits in which his brothers were engaged, and had satisfied an active, cheerful mind and social temper by entering into a militia of his county. then embodied captain weston was a general favourite and when the chances of his military life had introduced him to miss churchill of a great yorkshire family and miss churchill fell in love with him nobody was surprised except her brother and his wife who had never seen him and who were full of pride and importance which the connection would offend miss churchill however being of age and with the full command of her fortune though her fortune bore no proportion to the family estate was not to be dissuaded from the marriage, and it took place to the infinite mortification of Mr and Mrs Churchill, who threw her off with due decorum. It was an unsuitable connection, and did not produce much happiness. Mrs Weston ought to have found more in it, for she had a husband whose warm heart and sweet temper made him think everything due to her in return for the great goodness of being in love with him. but though she had one sort of spirit she had not the best she had resolution enough to pursue her own will in spite of her brother but not enough to refrain from unreasonable regrets at that brother's unreasonable anger nor from missing the luxuries of her former home they lived beyond their income but still it was nothing in comparison of enscombe she did not cease to love her husband but she wanted at once to be the wife of captain western and miss churchill of enscombe captain western who had been considered especially by the churchills as making such an amazing match was proved to have much the worse of the bargain for when his wife died after three years marriage he was rather a poorer man than at first and with a child to maintain from the expense of the child however he was soon relieved the boy had with the additional softening claim of lingering illness of his mother's been the means of a sort of reconciliation and mr and mrs churchill having no children of their own nor any other young creature of equal kindred to care for offered to take the whole charge of the little frank soon after her decease some scruples and some reluctance the widower father may be supposed to have felt but as they were overcome by other considerations the child was given up to the care and the wealth of the churchills and he had only his own comfort to seek and his own situation to improve as he could And that's another thing, right? 1815 or... oh you can't manage a child give em here we'll take em a complete change of life became desirable he quitted the militia and engaged in trade having brothers already established in a good way in london which afforded him a favourable opening it was a concern which brought just employment enough he had still a small house in highbury where most of his leisure days were spent and between useful occupation and the pleasures of society the next eighteen or twenty years of his life passed cheerfully away he had by that time realised an easy competence enough to secure the purchase of a little estate adjoining highbury which he had always longed for enough to marry a woman as portionless even as miss taylor and to live according to the wishes of his own family and social disposition it was now some time since miss taylor had begun to influence his schemes but as it was not the tyrannic influence of youth on youth, it had not shaken his determination of never settling till he could purchase Randalls, and the sale of Randalls was long looked forward to. But he had gone steadily on with these objects in view till they were accomplished. He had made his fortune, bought his house, and obtained his wife, and was beginning a new period of existence with every probability of greater happiness than in any yet passed through. He had never been an unhappy man. his own temper had secured him from that even in his first marriage but his second must shew him now delightful a well-judging and truly amiable woman could be and must give him the pleasantest proof of its being a great deal better to choose than to be chosen to excite gratitude than to feel it he had only himself to please in his choice his fortune was his own for as to frank it was more than being tacitly brought up at his uncle's heir it had become so avowed an adoption as to have him assume the name of churchill on coming of age it was most unlikely therefore that he should ever want his father's assistance his father had no apprehension of it the aunt was a capricious woman and governed her husband entirely but it was not in mr weston's nature to imagine that any caprice could be strong enough to affect one so dear and as he believed so deservedly dear he saw his son every year in london and was proud of him and his fond report of him as a very fine young man had made highbury feel a sort of pride in him too he was looked on as sufficiently belonging to the place to make his merit and prospects a kind of common concern mr frank churchill was one of the boasts of highbury and a lively curiosity to see him prevailed though the compliment was so little returned that he had never been there in his life. His coming to visit his father had been often talked of, but never achieved. Now, upon his father's marriage, it was very generally proposed, as a most proper attention, that the visit should take place. There was not a dissentient voice on the subject, either when Mrs Perry drank tea with Mr and Mrs Bates, or when Mr and Mrs and Mrs Bates returned the visit. Now was the time for Mr Frank Churchill to come among them. and the hope strengthened when it was understood that he had written to his new mother on the occasion for a few days every morning visit in highbury included some mention of the handsome letter mrs weston had received i suppose you have heard of the handsome letter mr frank churchill has written to mrs weston i understand it was a very handsome letter indeed mr woodhouse told me of it mr woodhouse saw the letter and he says he never saw Such a handsome letter in his life! It was indeed a highly prized letter. Mrs Weston had, of course, formed a very favourable idea of the young man, and such a pleasing attention was an irresistible proof of his great good sense, and a most welcome addition to every source and every expression of congratulation which her married had already secured. She felt herself a most fortunate woman, and she had lived long enough to know how fortunate she might well be thought. where the only regret was for a partial separation from friends whose friendship for her had never cooled and who could ill bear to part with her she knew that at times she must be missed and could not think without pain of emma's losing a single pleasure or suffering an hour's ennui for the want of her companionableness it's a nice word isn't it for the want of her companionableness But dear Emma was of no feeble character. She was more equal to her situation than most girls would have been, and had sense and energy and spirits that might be hoped would bear her well and happily through its little difficulties and privations. And then there was such comfort in the very easy distance of Randalls from Hartfield, so convenient for even solitary female walking, and in Mr Weston's disposition and circumstances which would make the the approaching season no hindrance to their spending half the evenings in the week together. her situation was altogether the subject of hours of gratitude to mrs weston and of moments only of regret and her satisfaction her more than satisfaction her cheerful enjoyment was so just and so apparent that emma well as she knew her father was sometimes taken by surprise at his being still able to pity poor miss taylor when they left her at randalls in the centre of every domestic comfort or saw her go away in the evening attended by her pleasant husband to a carriage of her own but never did she go without mr woodhouse's giving a gentle sigh and saying ah poor miss taylor she would be very glad to stay there was no recovering miss taylor nor much likelihood of ceasing to pity her but a few weeks brought some alleviation to mr woodhouse the compliments of his neighbours were over he was no longer teased by being wished joy of so sorrowful an event, and the wedding-cake which had been a great distress to him, was all eat-up. His own stomach could bear nothing rich, and he could never believe other people to be different from himself. What was unwholesome to him he regarded as unfit for anybody, and he had therefore earnestly tried to dissuade them from having any wedding-cake at all, and when that proved vain, as earnestly, as earnestly tried to prevent anybody's eating it. He had been at the pains of consulting Mr Perry, the apothecary, on the subject. Mr Perry was an intelligent, gentleman-like man, whose frequent visits were one of the comforts of Mr Woodhouse's life, and, upon being applied to, he could not but acknowledge, though it seemed rather against the bias of inclination, that wedding-cake might certainly disagree with many, perhaps with most people, unless taken moderately. With such an opinion and confirmation of his own, Mr Woodhouse hoped to influence every visitor of the new married pair, but still the cake was eaten, and there was no rest for his benevolent nerves till it was all gone. There was a strange rumour in Highbury of all the little peris being seen with a slice of Mrs Weston's wedding cake in their hands, but Mr Woodhouse would never believe it. Mr Woodhouse is scared of the cake. chapter three mr woodhouse was fond of society in his own way he liked very much to have his friends come and see him and from various united causes from his long residence at hartfield and his good nature from his fortune his house and his daughter he could command the visits of his own little circle in a great measure he liked. He had not much intercourse with any families beyond that circle. His horror of late house and large dinner parties made him unfit for any acquaintance, but such as would visit him on his own terms. Fortunately for him, Highbury including Randalls in the same parish and Downwell Abbey in the parish adjoining the seat of Mr Knightley, comprehended many such. Not unfrequently, through Emma's persuasion, he had some of the chosen and the best to dine with him, but evening parties were what he preferred, and, unless he fancied himself at any time unequal to company, there was scarcely an evening in the week in which Emma could not make up a card table for him. real long-standing regard brought the westons and mr knightley and by mr elton a young man living alone without liking it the privilege of exchanging any vacant evening of his own blank solitude for the elegancies in society of Mr Woodhouse's drawing-room, and the smiles of his lovely daughter, was in no danger of being thrown away. After these came a second set, among the most come at able of whom were Mrs and Mrs Bates, and Mrs Goddard, three ladies almost always at the service of an invitation from Hartfield, and who were fetched and carried home so often that mr woodhouse thought it no hardship for either james or the horses had it taken place only once a year it would have been a grievance Mrs Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady, almost past everything but tea and quadrille. She lived with her single daughter in a very small way, and was considered with all regard and respect which a harmless old lady under such untoward circumstances can excite. He daughter enjoyed a most uncommon degree of popularity for a woman neither young, handsome, rich, nor married. Mrs Bates stood in the very worst predicament in the world for having much of the public favour, and she had no intellectual superiority to make atonement to herself, or frighten those who might hate her into outward respect. She had never boasted either beauty or cleverness. He youth had passed without distinction, and her middle of life was devoted to the care of a failing mother, and the endeavour to make a small income go as far as possible. And yet she was a happy woman. and a woman whom no one named without good-will it was her own universal good-will and contented temper which worked such wonders she loved everybody was interested in everybody's happiness quick-sighted to everybody's merits thought herself a most fortunate creature and surrounded with blessings in such an excellent mother and so many good neighbours and friends and a home that wanted for nothing the simplicity and cheerfulness of her nature A contented and grateful spirit, or a recommendation to everybody, and a mine of felicity to herself. She was a great talker upon little matters, which exactly suited Mr Woodhouse, full of trivial communications and harmless gossip. Well, I think I like, who've we got? Mrs.. Mrs Bates? I think I like Mrs Bates already. I don't know anything about her. I don't know if she's a character that... progresses throughout the story i'd hope so because that character description there in that paragraph i could be friends with miss bates i think mrs goddard was the mistress of a school not of a seminary or an establishment or any thing which professed in long sentences or refined nonsense to combine liberal acquirements with elegant morality upon new principles and new systems, and where young ladies for enormous pay might be screwed out of health and intervanity, but a real honest old-fashioned boarding school, where a reasonable quantity of accomplishments were sold at a reasonable price, and where girls might be sent to be out of the way and scramble themselves into a little education without any danger of coming back prodigies. Mrs Goodock Mrs Goddard's school was in high repute, and very deservedly, for Highbury was reckoned a particularly healthy spot. She had an ample house and garden, gave the children plenty of wholesome food, let them run about a great deal in the summer, and in winter dressed their chillblains with her own hands. It was no wonder that a train of twenty young couple now walked after her to church. She was a plain motherly kind of woman, who had worked hard in her youth, and now thought herself entitled to the occasional holiday of a tea visit and having formerly owed much to mr woodhouse's kindness felt his particular claim on her to leave her neat parlour hung round with fancy work whenever she could and win or lose a few sixpences by his fireside these were the ladies whom emma found herself very frequently able to collect and, happy as she was for her father's sake in the power, though as far as she was herself concerned, it was no remedy for the absence of Mrs Weston. She was delighted to see her father look comfortable, and very much pleased with herself for contriving things so well, but the quiet prosings of three such women made her feel that every evening so spent was indeed one of the long evenings she had fearfully anticipated. Okay, Woodhouse B. Thanks for dropping in. Enjoy the catch-up crew and I hope to see you tomorrow. Take care. As she sat one morning looking forward to exactly such a close of the present day, a note was brought from Mrs Goddard requesting, in most respectful terms, to be allowed to bring Mrs Smith with her a most welcome request, for Mrs Smith was a girl of seventeen whom Emma knew very well by sight, and had long felt an interest in on account of her beauty. A very gracious invitation was returned, and the evening no longer dreaded by the fair mistress of the mansion. harriet smith was the natural daughter of somebody somebody had placed her several years back at mrs goddard's school and somebody had lately raised her from the condition of scholar to that of parlour boarder this was all that was generally known of her history she had no visible friends but what had been acquired at highbury and was now just returned from a long visit in the country to some young ladies who had been at school there with her she was a very pretty girl and her beauty happened to be of a sort which emma particularly admired she was short plump and fair with a fine bloom blue eyes light hair regular features and a look of great sweetness and before the end of the evening emma was as much pleased with her manners as her person and quite determined to continue her acquaintance she was not struck by anything remarkably clever in miss smith's conversation But she found her altogether very engaging, not inconveniently shy, not unwilling to talk, and yet so far from pushing, shooing so proper, and becoming a deference, seeming so pleasantly grateful for being admitted to Hartfield, and so artlessly impressed by the appearance of everything in so superior a style to what she had been used to, that she must have good sense, and deserve encouragement. Encouragement should be given. the soft blue eyes and all those natural graces should not be wasted on the inferior society of highbury and its connections the acquaintance she had already formed were unworthy of her the friends from whom she had just parted though very good sort of people must be doing her harm they were a family of the name of martin whom emma well knew by character as renting a large farm of mr knightley and residing in the parish at donwell very creditably she believed she knew mr knightley thought highly of them but they must be coarse and unpolished and very unfit to be the intimates of a girl who wanted only a little more knowledge and elegance to be quite perfect she would notice her she would improve her she would detach her from her bad acquaintance and introduce her into good society she would inform her opinions and her manners it would be an interesting and certainly a very kind undertaking highly becoming her own situation in life, her leisure and powers. She was so busy in admiring those soft blue eyes, in talking and listening and forming all these schemes in the in-betweens, that the evening flew away at a very unusual rate, and the supper-table, which always closed such parties, and for which she had been used to sit and watch the due time, was all set out and ready and moved forwards to the fire before she was aware. With an alacrity beyond the common impulse of a spirit, which yet was never indifferent to the credit of doing everything well and attentively, with the real good-will of a mind delighted with its own ideas, did she then do all the honours of the meal, and help and recommend the minced chicken and scalloped oysters, with an urgency which she knew would be acceptable to the early hours and civil scruples of their guests. Upon such occasions poor Mr Woodhouse's feelings were in sad warfare. He loved to have the cloth laid because it had been the fashion of his youth, but his conviction of suppers being very unwholesome made him rather sorry to see anything put on it. And while his hospitality would have welcomed his visitors to everything, his care for their health made him grieve that they would eat. He's very anxious, isn't he, Mr Woodhouse? Scared that people are going to eat too much. such another small basin of thin gruel as his own was all that he could and thorough self-approbation recommend though he might constrain himself while the ladies were comfortably clearing the nicer things to say mrs bates let me propose your venturing on one of these eggs an egg boiled very soft is not unwholesome searle understands boiling an egg better than any one i would not recommend an egg Boiled by anybody else. But you need not be afraid. They are very small, you see. One of our small eggs will not hurt you. Mrs Bates, let Emma help you to a little bit of tart. A very little bit. Ours are all apple tarts. You need not be afraid of unwholesome preserves here. I do not advise the custard. Mrs Goddard, what say you to half a glass of wine? A small half glass, put into a tumbler of water. I do not think it could disagree with you. emma allowed her father to talk but supplied her visitors in a much more satisfactory style and on the present evening had particular pleasure in sending them away happy the happiness of miss smith was quite equal to her intentions miss woodhouse was so great a personage in highbury that the prospect of the introduction had given as much panic as pleasure but the humble grateful little girl went off with highly gratified feelings delighted with the affability with which Mrs Woodhouse had treated her all the evening and actually shaken hands with her at last. So she sounds like a nice innocent girl, Emma, doesn't she? She sounds innocent. She's not out to do any harm, it doesn't seem, although she seems that she'll be meddling in people's businesses coming up. Yeah, she seems sweet and innocent enough. Chapter 4 Harriet Smith's intimacy at Hartfield was soon a settled thing. Quick and decided in her ways, Emma lost no time in inviting, encouraging, and telling her to come very often, and as their acquaintance increased, so did their satisfaction in each other. As a walking companion, Emma had very early knowledge of the world, early foreseen how useful she might find her in that respect mrs weston's loss had been important her father never went beyond the shrubbery where two divisions of the grounds sufficed for his long walk or his short, as the year varied, and, since Mrs Weston's marriage, her exercise had been too much confined. She had ventured once alone to Randalls, but it was not pleasant, and a Harriet Smith, therefore, one whom she could summon at any time to a walk, would be a valuable addition to her privileges. But in every respect that she saw more of her, she approved her, and was confirmed in all her kind designs. Harriet certainly was not clever, but she had a sweet, docile, grateful disposition, was totally free from conceit, and only desiring to be guided by any one she looked up to. He early attachment to herself was very amiable, and her inclination for good company and power of appreciating what was elegant and clever, shewed that there was no want of taste, though strength of understanding must not be expected. altogether she was quite convinced of harriet smith's being exactly the young friend she wanted exactly with something which her home required such a friend as mrs weston was out of the question two such could never be granted two such she did not want it was quite a different sort of thing a sentiment distinct and independent mrs weston was the object of a regard which had its basis in gratitude and esteem Harriet would be loved as one to whom she could be useful. For Mrs Weston, there was nothing to be done. For Harriet, everything. Okay, Diane Mill, thanks for trying. Thanks for trying and for coming and enjoy the ketchup. her first attempts at usefulness were in an endeavour to find out who were the parents but harriet could not tell she was ready to tell everything in her power but on this subject questions were vain emma was obliged to fancy what she liked she could never believe that in the same situation she could not have discovered the truth. Harriet had no penetration. She had been satisfied to hear and believe just what Mrs Goddard chose to tell her, and looked no farther. Mrs Goddard and the teachers and the girls and the affairs of the school in general formed naturally a great part of her conversation, and but for her acquaintance with the Martin of Abbey Mill Farm, it must have been the whole. but the martins occupied her thoughts a good deal she had spent two very happy months with them and now loved to talk of the pleasures of her visit and describe the many comforts and wonders of the place emma encouraged her talkativeness by such a picture of another set of beings and enjoying the youthful simplicity which could speak with so much exultation of mrs martin's having two parlours two very good parlours indeed one of them quite as large as mrs goddard's drawing-room and of her having an upper-maid who had lived five-and-twenty years with her and of their having eight cows two of them alderneys and one a little welch cow a very pretty little welch cow indeed and of mrs martin's saying as she was fond of it it should be called her cow and of their having a very handsome summer-house in their garden where some day next year they were all to drink tea a very handsome summer-house large enough to hold a dozen people for some time she was amused without thinking beyond the immediate cause but as she came to understand the family better other feelings arose she had taken up a wrong idea fancying it was a mother and daughter a son and son's wife who all lived together but when it appeared that the mr martin who bore a part in the narrative and was always mentioned with approbation for his great good nature in doing something or other was a single man that there was no young Mrs Martin, no wife in the case, she did suspect danger to her poor little friend from all this hospitality and kindness, and that, if she were not taken care of, she might be required to sink herself for ever. With this inspiriting notion, her questions increased in number and meaning, and she particularly led Harriet to talk more of Mr Martin, and there was evidently no dislike to it. harriet was very ready to speak of the share he had had in their moonlight walks and merry evening games and dwelt a good deal upon his being so very good-humoured and obliging he had gone three miles round one day in order to bring her some walnuts because she had said how fond she was of them and in everything else he was so very obliging he had his shepherd's son into the parlour one night on purpose to sing to her she was very fond of singing he could sing a little himself she believed he was very clever and understood every thing he had a very fine flock and while she was with them he had bid more for his wool than anybody in the country she believed everybody spoke well of him his mother and sisters were very fond of him mrs martin had told her one day and there was a blush as she said it that it was impossible for anybody to be a better son and therefore she was sure whenever he married he would make a good husband not that she wanted him to marry she was in no hurry at all well done mrs martin thought emma you know what you are about and when she had come away mrs martin was so very kind as to send mrs goddard a beautiful goose the finest goose mrs goddard had ever seen mrs goddard had dressed it on a sunday and asked all the three teachers miss nash and miss prince and miss richardson to sup with her Mr Martin, I suppose, is not a man of information beyond the line of his own business. He does not read. Oh, yes, that is, no, I don't know, but I believe he has read a good deal, but not what you would think anything of. He reads the agricultural reports and some other books that lay in one of the window-seats, but he reads them all to himself. But sometimes of an evening, before we went to cards, he would read something aloud of the elegant extracts, very entertaining. and i know he has read the vicar of wakefield he never read the romance of the forest nor the children of the abbey he had never heard of such books before i mentioned them but he is determined to get them now as soon as ever he can the next question was what sort of looking man is mr martin oh not handsome not at all handsome i thought him very plain at first but i do not think him so plain now one does not you know after a time did you never see him he is in highbury every now and then and he is sure to ride through every week in his way to kingston he has passed you very often that may be and i may have seen him fifty times but without having any idea of his name a young farmer whether on horseback or on foot is the very last sort of person to raise my curiosity the yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom i feel i can have nothing to do a degree or two lower and a creditable appearance might interest me i might hope to be useful to their families in some way or other but a farmer can need none of my help and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it to be sure oh yes it is not likely you should ever have observed him but he knows you very well indeed i mean by sight i have no doubt of his being a very respectful respectable young man i know indeed that he is so and as such wish him well what do you imagine his age to be he was four-and-twenty the eighth of last june and my birthday is the twenty-third just a fortnight and a day's difference which is very odd only twenty and four That is too young to settle. His mother is perfectly right not to be in a hurry. They seem very comfortable as they are, and if she were to take any pains to marry him, she would probably repent it. Six years hence, if he could meet with a good sort of young woman in the same rank as his own, with a little money, it might be very desirable. Six years hence? Dear Mrs Woodhouse, he would be thirty years old. Well, and that is as early as most men can afford to marry, who are not born to an independence. Mr Martin, I imagine, has his fortune entirely to make, cannot be at all beforehand with the world. Whatever money he might come into when his father died, whatever his share of the family property it is, I dare say, all afloat, all employed in his stock, and so forth, and though with diligence and good luck he may be rich in time it is next to impossible that he should have realised anything yet to be sure so it is but they live very comfortably they have no indoors man else they do not want for anything and mrs martin talks of taking a boy another year i wish you may not get into a scrape harriet whenever he does marry i mean as to being acquainted with his wife For though his sisters from a superior education are not to be altogether objected to, it does not follow that he might marry anybody at all, fit for you to notice. The misfortune of your birth ought to make you particularly careful as to your associates. There can be no doubt of your being a gentleman's daughter, and you must support your claim to that station by everything within your own power, or there will be plenty of people who would take pleasure in degrading you. yes to be sure i suppose there are but while i visit at hartfield and you are so kind to me miss woodhouse i'm not afraid of what anybody can do you understand the force of influence pretty well harriet but i would have you so firmly established in good society as to be independent even of hartfield and miss woodhouse i want to see you permanently well connected and to that end it will be advisable to have as few odd acquaintances as may be and therefore i say that if you should still be in this country when mr martin marries i wish you may not be drawn in by your intimacy with the sisters to be acquainted with the wife who will probably be some mere farmer's daughter without education to be sure yes not that i think mr martin would ever marry anybody but what had had some education and been very well brought up however i do not mean to set up my opinion against yours and i am sure i shall not wish for the acquaintance of his wife i shall always have a great regard for the miss martins especially elizabeth and should be very sorry to give them up for they are quite as well educated as me but if he marries a very ignorant vulgar woman certainly i had better not visit her if i can help it emma watched her through the fluctuations of this speech and saw no alarming symptoms of love the young man had been the first admirer but she trusted there was no other hold and that there would be no serious difficulty on harriet's side to oppose any friendly arrangement of her own they met mr martin the very next day as they were walking on the down the donwell road he was on foot and after looking very respectfully at her looked with most unfeigned satisfaction at her companion emma was not sorry to have such an opportunity of survey and walking a few yards forward while they talked together soon made her quick eye sufficiently acquainted with mr robert martin his appearance was very neat and he looked like a sensible young man but his person had no other advantage and when he came to be contrasted with gentlemen she thought he must lose all the ground he had gained in harriet's inclination harriet was not insensible of manner she had voluntarily noticed her father's gentleness and admiration as well as wonder Mr Martin looked as if he did not know what manner was. There remained but a few minutes together, as Mrs Woodhouse must not be kept waiting, and Harriet then came running to her with a smiling face, and in a flutter of spirits, which Mrs Woodhouse hoped very soon to compose. Only think of our happening to meet him! How very odd! It was quite a chance, he said, that he had not gone round by Randalls. He did not think we ever walked this road. He thought we walked towards Randalls most day. Days! He has not been able to get the romance of the forest yet. He was so busy the last time he was at Kingston that he quite forgot it. But he goes again to-morrow. So very odd we should happen to meet. Well, Mrs Woodhouse, is he like what you expected? What do you think of him? Do you think him so very plain? He is very plain, undoubtedly. Remarkably plain. but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility i had no right to expect much but i did not expect much and i did not expect much but i had no idea that he could be so very clownish so totally without air i had imagined him i confess a degree or two nearer gentility to be sure said harriet in a mortified voice he is not so genteel as real gentlemen i think harriet since your acquaintance with us you have been repeatedly repeatedly in the company of some such very real gentlemen that you must yourself be struck with the difference in mr martin at hartfield you have had very good specimens of well-educated well-bred men i should be surprised if after seeing them you could be in company with mr martin again without perceiving him to be very inferior to be a very inferior creature, and rather wondering at yourself for having ever thought him at all agreeable before. Do not you begin to feel that now? Were you not struck? I am sure you must have been struck by his outward look, and abrupt manner, and the uncouthness of a voice, which I heard to be wholly unmodulated as I stood here. Certainly he is not like Mr Knightley. He has not such a fine air, and a way of walking as mr knightley i see the difference plain enough but mr knightley is so very fine a man mr knightley's air is so remarkably good that it is not fair to compare mr martin with him you might not see one in a hundred with gentlemen so plainly written as in mr knightley but he is not the only gentleman you have been lately used to what say you to mr weston and mr elton compare mr martin with either of them Compare their manner of carrying themselves, of walking, of speaking, of being silent. You must see the difference. Oh yes, there is a great difference. But Mr Weston is almost an old man. Mr Weston must be between forty and fifty, which makes his good manners the more valuable. The older a person grows, Harriet, the more important it is that their manners should not be bad. The more glaring and disgusting any loudness or coarseness or awkwardness becomes. What is possible in youth is detestable in later age. Mr Martin is now awkward and abrupt. And will he be at Mr Weston's time of life? Oh, sorry, what will he be? Mr Martin is now awkward and abrupt. What will he be at Mr Weston's time of life? There is no saying indeed, replied Harriet, rather solemnly. But there may be pretty good guessing he would be a completely gross, vulgar farmer. totally inattentive to appearances and thinking of nothing but profit and loss will he indeed that will be very bad how much his business engrosses him already is very plain from the circumstances of his forgetting to inquire for the book you recommended he was a great deal too full of the market to think of anything else which is just as it should be for a thriving man what has he to do with books and i have no doubt that he will thrive and be a very rich man in time and his being illiterate and coarse need not disturb us i wonder he did not remember the book was all harriet's answer and spoken with a degree of grave displeasure which emma thought might be safely left to itself she therefore said no more for a time her next beginning was in one respect perhaps mr elton's manners are superior to mr knightley's or Mr Weston's, they have more gentleness. They might be more safely held up as a pattern. There is an openness, a quickness, almost a bluntness in Mr Weston, which everybody likes in him, because there is so much good humour with it. But that would not do to be copied, neither would Mr Lightly's downright decided commanding sort of manner, though it suits him very well, his figure and look, and situation in life seem to allow it. but if any young man were to set about copying him he would not be sufferable on the contrary i think a young man might be very safely recommended to take mr elton as a model mr elton is good-humoured cheerful obliging and gentle he seems to me to be grown particularly gentle of late i do not know whether he has any design on ingratiating himself with either of us harriet by additional softness but it strikes me that his manners are softer than they used to be If he means anything, it must be to please you. Did not I tell you what he said of you the other day? She then repeated some warm personal praise which she had drawn from Mr Elton, and now did full justice to, and Harriet blushed and smiled, and said she had always thought Mr Elton very agreeable. Mr Elton was the very person fixed on by Emma for driving the young farmer out of Harriet's head. She thought it would be an excellent match. and only too palpably desirable natural and probable for her to have much merit in planning it she feared it was what everybody else must think of and predict it was not likely however that any body should have equalled her in the date of the plan as it had entered her brain during the very first evening of harriet's coming to hartfield the longer she considered it the greater was her sense of its expediency mr elton's situation was most suitable quite the gentleman himself and without low connections at the same time not of any family that could fairly object to the doubtful birth of harriet he had a comfortable home for her and emma imagined a very sufficient income for though the vicarage of highbury was not large he was known to have some independent property and she thought very highly of him as a good-humoured well-meaning respectable young man without any deficiency of useful understanding or knowledge of the world she had already satisfied herself that he thought harriet a beautiful girl which she trusted with such frequent meetings at hartfield was foundation enough on his side side and on harriet's there could be little doubt that the idea of being preferred by him would have all the usual weight and efficacy and he was really a very pleasing young man a young man whom any woman not fastidious might like. He was reckoned very handsome, his person much admired in general, though not by her, there being a want of elegance of feature which she could not dispense with. But the girl who could be gratified by Robert Martin's riding about the country to get walnuts for her, might very well be conquered by Mr Elton's admiration. And that's another thing that comes from these books. You've got the marriage stuff that you want to betroth your son or daughter, you want to marry people off for it to be a good marriage. But there's also a lot of emphasis on one's character. Like Emma there, she's being a bit rude to Mr Martin, the farmer, saying that he's a bit silly and doesn't read books, he's just concerned with his farm. But there's a lot of talk about the character, the personality, the person. And I find it very interesting that in today's age, no one gives a damn, really. No one cares about people's character, what sort of a person they are, their soul. They just care more about the social media followers, really. That's the biggest thing that people care about now, isn't it? How many Twitter followers you got? How many subscribers you got? How many this? How many that? How many likes do you get? Whereas the person's essence no one really considers at all. I don't know if you care, but I do. I think it's important to have a good character and to develop one's character to be a good person. But anyway, I won't digress into that. I'll carry on. Chapter 5. I do not know what your opinion may be, Mrs Weston, said Mr Knightley, of this great intimacy between Emma and Harriet. and harriet smith but i think it a bad thing a bad thing do you really think it a bad thing why so i think they will neither of them do the other any good you surprise me emma must do harriet good and by supplying her with a new object of interest harriet may be said to do emma good i've been seeing their intimacy with the greatest pleasure how very differently we feel not think they will do each other any good this will certainly be the beginning of one of our quarrels about emma mr knightley perhaps you think i am come on purpose to quarrel with you knowing weston to be out and that you must still fight your own battle mr weston would undoubtedly support me if he were here for he thinks exactly as i do on the subject we were speaking of it only yesterday and agreeing how fortunate it was for emma that there should be such a girl in highbury for her to associate with mr knightley i shall not allow you to be a fair judge in this case you are so much used to live alone that you do not know the value of a companion and perhaps no man can be a good judge of the comfort a woman feels in the society of one of her own sex after being used to it all her life i can imagine your objection to harriet smith she is not the superior young woman which emma's friend ought to be but on the other hand as emma wants to see her better informed It will be an inducement to her to read more herself. They will read together. She means it, I know. Another thing, reading. You are valued if you read good books back in the day, so stay with book club, you'll be alright. Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was 12 years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through, and very good lists they were, very well chosen and very neatly arranged, sometimes alphabetically. and sometimes by some other rule the list she drew up when only fourteen i remember thinking it did her judgment so much credit that i preserved it some time and i dare say she may have made out a very good list now but i have done with expecting any cost of steady reading from emma she will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding where miss taylor failed to stimulate i may safely affirm that harriet smith will do nothing you could never persuade her to read half so much as you wished you know you could not i dare say replied mrs weston smiling that i thought so then but since we have parted i can never remember emma's omitting to do anything i wished there is hardly any desiring to refresh such a memory as that said mr knightley feeling, and for a moment or two he had done. But I, he soon added, who have had no such charm thrown over my senses, must still see, hear, and remember. Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family. At ten years old she had the misfortune of being able to answer questions which puzzled her sister at seventeen. She was always quick and assured. Isabella, slow and diffident. and ever since she was twelve emma has been mistress of the house and of you all in her mother she lost the only person able to cope with her she inherits her mother's talents and must have been under subjection to her i should have been sorry mr knightley to be dependent on your recommendation had i quitted mr woodhouse's family and wanted another situation i do not think you would have spoken a good word for me to anybody i am sure you always thought me unfit For the office I held? Yes, he said, smiling, you are better placed here, very fit for a wife, but not at all for a governess. But you were preparing yourself to be an excellent wife all the time you were at Hartfield. You might not give Emma such a complete education as your powers would seem to promise, but you were receiving a very good education from her, on the very material matrimonial point of submitting your own will, and doing as you were bid. and if weston had asked me to recommend him a wife i should certainly have named miss taylor thank you there will be very little merit in making a good wife to such a man as mr weston why to own the truth i am afraid you are rather thrown away and that with every disposition to bear there will be nothing to be borne we will not despair however weston may grow cross from the wantonness of comfort or his son may plague him I hope not that. It is not likely. No, Mr Lightly, do not foretell vexation from that quarter. Not I, indeed. I only name possibilities. I do not pretend to Emma's genius for foretelling and guessing. I hope with all my heart the young man may be a Western in merit, and a Churchill in fortune. But Harriet Smith, I have not half done about Harriet Smith. i think her the very worst sort of companion that emma could possibly have she knows nothing herself and looks upon emma as knowing everything she is a flatterer in all her ways and so much the worse because undesigned her ignorance is hourly flattery how can emma imagine she has anything to learn herself while harriet is presenting such a delightful inferiority and as for harriet i will venture to say that she cannot gain by the acquaintance Hartfield will only put her out of conceit with all the other places she belongs to. She will grow just refined enough to be uncomfortable with those among whom birth and circumstances have placed her home. I am much mistaken if Emma's doctrines give any strength of mind, or tend at all to make a girl adapt herself rationally to the varieties of her situation in life. They only give a little polish. I either depend more upon Emma's good sense than you do, or am more anxious for her present comfort, for I cannot lament the acquaintance. How well she looked last night! Oh, you would rather talk of her person than her mind, would you? Very well. I shall not attempt to deny Emma's being pretty. Pretty? Say beautiful, rather. Can you imagine anything nearer perfect beauty than Emma altogether, face and figure? I do not know what I could imagine. but i confess that i have seldom seen a face or figure more pleasing to me than hers but i am a partial old friend such an eye the true hazel eye and so brilliant regular features open countenance with a complexion oh what a bloom of full health and such a pretty height and size such a firm and upright figure there is health not merely in her bloom but in her air her head her glance one bears one hears sometimes of a child being the picture of health now emma always gives me the idea of being the complete picture of grown-up health she is loveliness itself mr knightley is she not i have not a fault to find with her person he replied i think her all you describe i love to look at her and i will add this praise that i do not think her personally vain considering how very handsome she is she appears to be little occupied with it her vanity lies another way mrs weston i am not to be talked out of my dislike of her intimacy with harriet smith or my dread of its doing them both harm and i mr knightley am equally stout in my confidence of its not doing them any harm with all dear emma's little faults she is an excellent creature where shall we see a better daughter or a kinder sister or a truer friend no no she has qualities which may be trusted She will never lead anyone really wrong, she will make no lasting blunder. Where Emma errs once, she is in the right a hundred times. Very well, I will not plague you any more. Emma shall be an angel, and I will keep my spleen to myself till Christmas brings John and Isabella. John loves Emma with a reasonable, and therefore not a blind affection, and Isabella always thinks as he does, except when he is not quite frightened enough about the children. I'm sure of having their opinions with me. I know that you all love her really too well to be unjust or unkind, but excuse me, Mr Knightley, if I take the liberty, I consider myself, you know, as having somewhat of the privilege of speech that Emma's mother might have had, the liberty of hinting that I do not think any possible good can arrive from Harriet Smith's intimacy being made a matter of such discussion among you. Pray excuse me, but supposing any little inconvenience may be apprehended from the intimacy, it cannot be expected that Emma, accountable to nobody but her father, who perfectly approves the acquaintance, should put an end to it, so long as it is a source of pleasure to herself. It has been so many years, my province, to give advice, that you cannot be surprised, Mr Knightley, at this little remains of office. Not at all, cried he, I am much obliged to you for it. It is very good advice, and it shall have a better fate than your advice has often found, for it shall be attended to. Mr John Knightley is easily alarmed, and might be made unhappy about her sister. Be satisfied, said he, I will not raise any outcry. I will keep my ill-humour to myself. I have a very sincere interest in Emma. Isabella does not seem more my sister. She has never excited a greater interest, perhaps hardly so great. there is an anxiety a curiosity in what one feels for emma i wonder what will become of her so do i said mrs weston gently very much she always declares she will never marry which of course means just nothing at all but i have no idea that she has yet ever seen a man she cared for it would not be a bad thing for her to be very much in love with the proper object i should like to see emma in love and in some doubt of her return it would do her good but there is nobody hereabouts to attach her and she goes so seldom from home there does indeed seem as little to tempt her to break her resolution at present said mrs weston as can well be and while she is so happy at hartfield i cannot wish her to be forming any attachment which would be creating such difficulties on poor mr woodhouse's account i do not recommend matrimony at present to emma though i mean no slight to the state i assure you part of her meaning was to conceal some favourite thoughts of her own and mr weston's on the subject as much as possible there were wishes at randalls respecting emma's destiny but it was not desirable to have them suspected and the quiet transition which mr knightley soon afterwards made to what does weston think of the weather shall we have rain convinced her that he had nothing more to say or surmise About Hartfield Okay, I think we'll read two more chapters this evening. So chapter 6 and chapter 7. And then that'll be all for the evening. I don't know if I'm short often. Library angels or the book gods give us a good spot to end at. So I'm going to read two more chapters, chapter six and chapter seven, and then we'll say goodnight and we'll be back tomorrow at half eight, I think, for another few hours. Hey, Scotty Laidler, you loving Emma, yeah? Nice to see you. Hello there. Chapter 6 Emma could not feel a doubt of having given Harriet's fancy a proper direction, and raised the gratitude of her young vanity to a very good purpose, for she found her decidedly more sensible than before of Mr Elton's being a remarkably handsome young man, with most agreeable manners, and, as she had no hesitation in following up the assurance of his admiration by agreeable hints, she was soon pretty confident of creating as much liking on Harriet's side as there could be any occasion for. that was one sentence that was a rather long sentence wasn't it goodness she was sorry she was quite convinced of mr elton's being in the fairest way of falling in love if not in love already she had no scruple with regard to him, he talked of Harriet and praised her so warmly that she could not suppose anything wanting which a little time would not add. His perception of the striking improvement of Harriet's manner since her introduction at Hartfield was not one of the least agreeable proofs of his growing attachment. you have given miss smith all that she required said he you have made her graceful and easy she was a beautiful creature when she came to you but in my opinion the attractions you have added are infinitely superior to what she received from nature i am glad you think i have been useful to her but harriet only wanted drawing out and receiving a few very few hints she had all the natural grace of sweetness of temper and artlessness in herself i have done very little if it were admissible to contradict a lady said the gallant mr elton i have perhaps given her a little more decision of character have taught her to think on points which had not fallen in her way before exactly so that is what principally strikes me so much superadded decision of character skilful has been the hand great has been the pleasure i am sure i never met with a disposition so truly amiable i have no doubt of it and it was spoken with a sort of sighting animation which had a vast deal of the lover she was not less pleased another day with the manner in which he seconded a sudden wish of hers to have harriet's picture did you ever have your likeness taken harriet said she did you ever sit in for your picture harriet was on the point of leaving the room and only stopped to say with a very interesting naivete oh dear no never no sooner was she out of sight than emma exclaimed what an exquisite possession a good picture of her would be i would give any money for it i almost long to attempt her likeness myself you do not know it i dare say but two or three years ago i had a great passion for taking likeness and attempted several of my friends and was thought to have a tolerable eye in general but from one cause or another i gave it up in disgust but really i could almost venture if harriet would sit to me it would be a delight to have her picture Let me entreat you, cried Mr Elton. It would indeed be a delight. Let me entreat you, Mrs Woodhouse, to exercise so charming a talent in favour of your friend. I know what your drawings are. How could you suppose me ignorant? Is not this room rich in specimens of your landscapes and flowers? And has not Mrs Weston some inimitable figure-pieces in her drawing-room at Randalls? Yes, good man, thought Emma. but what has all that to do with taking likenesses you know nothing of drawing don't pretend to be in raptures about mine keep your raptures for harriet's face well if you give me such kind encouragement mr elton i believe i shall try what i can do harriet's features are very delicate which makes the likeness difficult and yet there is a peculiarity in the shape of the eye and the lines about the mouth which one ought to catch exactly so the shape of the eye and the lines about the mouth i have not a doubt of your success pray pray attempt it as you will do it it will indeed to use your own words be an exquisite possession But I am afraid, Mr Elton, Harriet will not like to sit. She thinks so little of her own beauty. Did you observe her manner of answering me? How completely it meant! Why should any picture be drawn? Oh, yes, I observed it, I assure you. It was not lost on me, but still I cannot imagine she would not be persuaded. Harriet was soon back again, and the proposal almost immediately made, and she had no scruple. pupils which could stand any minutes against the earnest pressing of both the others emma wished to go to work directly and therefore produced the portfolio containing her various attempts at portraits for not one of them had ever been finished that they might decide together on the best size for harriet her many beginnings were displayed miniatures half-lengths whole lengths pencil crayon and water-colours had been all tried in turn she had always wanted to do everything and had made more progress both in drawing and music than many might have done with so little labour as she would ever submit to she played and sang and drew in almost every style but steadiness had always been wanting and in nothing had she approached the degree of excellence which she would have been glad to command and ought not to have failed of she was not much deceived as to her own skill either as an artist or a musician but she was not unwilling to have others deceived or sorry to know her reputation for accomplishment often higher than it deserved there was merit in every drawing in the least finished perhaps the most her style was spirited but had there been much less or had there been ten times more the delight and admiration of her two companions would have been the same they were both in ecstasies. A likeness pleases everybody, and Mrs Woodhouse's performances must be capital. No great variety of faces for you, said Emma. I had only my own family to study from. There is my father, another of my father, but the idea of sitting for his picture made him so nervous that I could only take him by stealth. Neither of them very like, therefore. Mrs Weston, again and again and again, you see. Dear Mrs Weston, always my kindest friend on every occasion she would sit whenever i asked her there is my sister and really quite her own little elegant figure and the face not unlike i should have made a good likeness of her if she would have sat longer but she was in such a hurry to have me draw her draw her four children that she would not be quiet then here come all my attempts at three of those four children there they are henry and john and bella from one end of the sheet to the other and any of them might do for any one of the rest she was so eager to have them drawn that i could not refuse but there is no making children of three or four years old stand still you know nor can it be very easy to take any likeness of them beyond the air and complexion unless they are coarser featured than any mamma's children ever were here is my sketch of the fourth who was a baby i took him as he was sleeping on the sofa and it is a strong likeness of his cockade as you would wish to see he had nestled down his head most conveniently that's very like i'm rather proud of little george the corner of the sofa is very good then here is my last unclosing a pretty sketch of a gentleman in small size whole length my last and my best my brother mr john knightley this did not want much of being finished when i put it away in a pet and vowed i would never take another likeness i could not help being provoked for after all my pains and when i had really made a very good likeness of it mrs weston and i were quite agreed in thinking it very like only too handsome too flattering but that was a fault on the right side after all this came poor isabella's cold approbation of yes it was a little like but to be sure it did not do him justice we had a great deal of trouble in persuading him to sit at all it was made a great favour of and altogether it was more than i could bear and so i never would finish it to have it apologised over as an unfavourable likeness to every morning visitor in brunswick square and as i said i did then forswear ever drawing anybody again but for harriet's sake or rather for my own and there are no husbands and wives in the case at present i will break my resolution now Mr Elton seemed very properly struck and delighted by the idea, and was repeating, No husbands and wives in the case at present, indeed, as you observe. Exactly so, no husbands and wives, with so interesting a consciousness that Emma began to consider whether she had not better leave them together at once. But, as she wanted to be drawing, the declaration must wait a little longer. She had soon fixed on a size and sort of portrait. It was to be a whole length in watercolours, like Mr John Knightley's, and was destined, if she could please herself, to hold a very honourable station over the mantelpiece. The sitting began, and Harriet, smiling and blushing and afraid of not keeping her attitude and countenance, presented a very sweet mixture of youthful expression to the steady eyes of the artist. But there was no doing anything. with mr elton fidgeting behind her and watching every touch she gave him credit for stationing himself where he might gaze and gaze again without offence but was really obliged to put an end to it and request him to place himself elsewhere it then occurred to her to employ him in reading if he would be so good as to read to them it would be a kindness indeed it would amuse away the difficulties of her part and lessen the irksomeness of miss smith's mr elton was only too happy harriet listened and emma drew in peace she must allow him to be still frequently coming to look anything less would certainly have been too little in a lover and he was ready at the smallest intermission of the pencil to jump up and see the progress and be charmed there was no being displeased with such an encourager for his admiration made him discern a likeness almost before it was possible she could not respect his eye but his love and his complaisance were unexceptionable unexceptionable yes the sitting was altogether very satisfactory she was quite enough pleased with the first day's sketch to wish to go on there was no want of likeness she had been fortunate in the attitude and she meant to throw in a little improvement to the figure to give a little more height and considerably more elegance she had great confidence of its being in every way a pretty drawing at last and of its filling its destined place with credit to them both a standing memorial of the beauty of one the skill of the other and the friendship of both with as many other agreeable associations as mr elton's very promising attaction attraction attachmunt was likely to add harriet was to sit again the next day and mr elton just as he ought and treated for the permission of attending and reading to them again by all means we shall be most happy to consider you as one of the party the same civilities and courtesies the same success and satisfaction took place on the morrow and accompanied the whole progress of the picture which was rapid and happy everybody who saw it was pleased but mr elton was in continual raptures and defended it through every criticism miss woodhouse has given her friend the only beauty she wanted observed mrs weston to him not in the least suspecting that she was addressing a lover the expression of the eye is most correct but miss smith has not those eyebrows and eyelashes it is the fault of her face that she has them not do you think so replied he i cannot agree with you it appears to me a most perfect resemblance in every feature i never saw such a likeness in my life we must allow for the effect of shade you know You have made her too tall, Emma, said Mr Knightley. Emma knew that she had, but would not own it, and Mr Elton warmly added, Oh, no, certainly not at all, not in the least too tall. Consider she is sitting down, which naturally represents a different, which, in short, gives exactly the idea, and the proportions must be preserved, you know, proportions, foreshortening. Oh, no, it gives one exactly the idea of such a height as Mrs Smith's. exactly so indeed it's very pretty said mr woodhouse so prettily done just as your drawings always are my dear i do not know anybody who draws as well as you do the only thing i do not thoroughly like is that she seems to be sitting out of doors with only a little shawl over her shoulders and it makes one think she must catch cold but dear papa it is supposed to be summer a warm day in summer look at the tree but it is never safe to sit out of doors my dear you sir may say any thing cried mr elton but i must confess that i regard it as a most happy thought the placing of miss smith out of doors and the tree is touched with such inimitable spirit any other situation would have been much less in character the naivety of miss smith's manners and altogether oh it is most admirable i cannot keep my eyes from it I never saw such a likeness. The next thing wanted was to get the picture framed, and here were a few difficulties. It must be done directly. It must be done in London. The order must go through the hands of some intelligent person whose taste could be depended on, and Isabella, the usual doer of all commissions, must not be applied to, because it was December, and Mr Woodhouse could not bear the idea of her stirring out of her house in the fogs of December. but no sooner was the distress known to mr earlton than it was removed his gallantry was always on the alert might he be trusted with the commission what infinite pleasure should he have in executing it he could ride to london at any time it was impossible to say how much he should be gratified by being employed on such an errand he was too good she could not endure the thought she would not give him such a troublesome office for the world brought on the desired repetition of entreaties and assurances and a very few minutes settled the business mr elton was to take the drawing to london choose the frame and give the directions and emma thought she could so pack it as to ensure its safety without much incommoding him while he seemed most fearful of not being incommoded enough what a precious deposit said he with a tender sigh as he received it this man is almost too gallant to be in love, thought Emma. I should say so, but that I suppose there may be a hundred different ways of being in love. He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly. It will be an exactly so, as he says himself. But he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal. I come in for a pretty good share as a second, but it is his gratitude on Harriet's account. So, last chapter of the evening, my friends, and then I'll say goodnight and we'll be back tomorrow. Chapter 7, and I think it'll be a good little cliffhanger where we are as to what's going on with this little love triangle. Harriet, Emma, and Mr Elton. What's going to happen? Who's, you know, I don't know, love triangle, huh? Chapter 7 The very day of Mr Elton's going to London produced a fresh occasion for Emma's services towards her friend. Harriet had been at heart. hartfield as usual soon after breakfast and after a time had gone home to return again to dinner she returned and sooner than had been talked of and with an agitated hurried look announcing something extraordinary to have happened which she was longing to tell. Half a minute brought it all out. She had heard, as soon as she got back to Mrs Goddard's, that Mr Martin had been there an hour before, and finding she was not at home, nor particularly expected, had left a little parcel for her from one of his sisters, and gone away. And on opening this parcel she had actually found, besides the two songs which she had lent Elizabeth to copy, a letter to herself, and this letter was from him, from Mr Martin. and contained a direct proposal of marriage. Who could have thought it? She was so surprised she did not know what to do. Yes, quite a proposal of marriage, and a very good letter. At least she thought so. And he wrote as if he really loved her very much. But she did not know. And so she was come as fast as she could to ask Mrs Woodhouse what she would do. Emma was half ashamed of her friend for seeming so pleased and so doubtful. I "'Upon my word! 'she cried."'The young man is determined not to lose anything for want of asking."'He will connect himself well if he can."'Bill you read the letter?'cried Harriet."'Pray do, I'd rather you would.'"'Emma was not sorry to be pressed."'She read and was surprised."'The style of the letter was much above her expectation."'There were not merely no grammatical errors,"'but as a composition it would not have disgraced the gentleman."'The language, though plain, was strong and unaffected, and the sentiments it conveyed, very much to the credit of the writer.
it was short but expressed good sense warm attachment liberality propriety even delicacy of feeling she paused over it while harriet stood anxiously watching for her opinion with a well well and was at last forced to add it is a good letter or is it too short or sorry is it a good letter or is it too short yes indeed a very good letter replied emma rather slowly so good a letter harriet that everything considered i think one of his sisters must have helped him i can hardly imagine the young man whom i saw talking with you the other day could express himself so well if left quite to his own powers and yet it is not the style of a woman no certainly it is too strong and concise not diffuse enough for a woman no doubt he is sensible he is a sensible man and i suppose may have a natural talent for think strongly and clearly and when he takes a pen in hand his thoughts naturally find proper words it is so with some men yes i understand the sort of mind vigorous decided with sentiments to a certain point not coarse a better written letter harriet returning it than i had expected well said the still-waiting harriet well and what shall i do what shall i do in what respect do you mean with regard to this letter yes what are you in doubt of you must answer it of course and speedily yes but what shall i say dear miss woodhouse do advise me oh no no the letter had much better be all your own you will express yourself very properly i am sure there is no danger of your not being intelligible which is the first thing your meaning must be unequivocable no doubts or demurs and such expressions of gratitude and concern for the pain you are inflicted as propriety requires will present themselves unbidden to your mind i am persuaded you need not be prompted to write with the appearance of sorrow for his disappointment you think i ought to refuse him then said harriet looking down ought to refuse him my dear harriet what do you mean are you in any doubt as to that i thought i'd beg your pardon perhaps i have been under a mistake i certainly have been misunderstanding you if you feel in doubt as to the purport of your answer i had imagined you were consulting me only as the wording of it harriet was silent with a little reserve of manner emma continued you mean to return a favourable answer i collect no i do not that is i do not mean what shall i do what would you advise me to do pray dear miss woodhouse tell me what i ought to do i shall not give you any advice harriet i will have nothing to do with it This is a point which you must settle with your own feelings. I had no notion that he liked me so very much, said Harriet, contemplating the letter. For a little while Emma preserved in her silence, but beginning to apprehend the bewitching flattery of that letter might be too powerful, she thought it best to say, I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him.
if she can hesitate as to yes he ought to say no directly it is not a state to be safely entered into with doubtful feelings with half a heart i thought it my duty as a friend and older than yourself to say thus much to you but do not imagine that i want to influence you oh no i am sure you are a great deal too kind but if you would just advise me what i had best to do no no i do not mean that as you say one's mind ought to be quite made up One should not be hesitating. It is a very serious thing. It would be safer to say no, perhaps.
Do you think I had better say no? Not for the world, said Emma, smiling graciously. Would I advise you either way? You must be the best judge of your own happiness.
If you prefer Mr Martin to every other person, if you think him the most agreeable man you have ever been in company with, why should you hesitate? You blush, Harriet. Does anybody else occur to you at this moment under such a definition?
Harriet, Harriet, do not deceive yourself. Do not be run away with by gratitude and compassion. At this moment, whom are you thinking of?
The symptoms were favourable. Instead of answering, Harriet turned away, confused, and stood thoughtfully by the fire. fire, and, though the letter was still in her hand, it was now mechanically twisted, without regard. Emma waited the result with impatience, but not without strong hopes.
At last, with some hesitation, Harriet said, Mrs Woodhouse, as you will not give me your opinion, I must do as well as I can by myself, and I have now quite determined, and really almost made up my mind, to refuse Mr Martin. Do you think I am right? Mrs, perfectly, perfectly right, my dearest Harriet.
You are doing just what you ought. While you were at all in suspense, I kept my feelings to myself. But now that you are so completely decided, I have no hesitation in approving.
Dear Harriet, I give myself joy of this. It would have grieved me to lose your acquaintance, which must have been the consequence of your marrying Mr Martin. While you were in the smallest degree wavering, I said nothing about it. because I would not influence, but it would have been at the loss of a friend to me. I could not have visited Mrs Robert Martin of Abbey Mill Farm.
Now I am secure of you for ever. Harriet had not surmised her own danger, but the idea of it struck her forcibly. You could not have visited me, she cried, looking aghast.
No, to be sure you could have not, but I never thought of that before. That would have been too dreadful. What an escape!
Dear Mrs Woodhouse, I would not give up the pleasure and honour of being intimate with you for anything in the world. Indeed, Harriet, it would have been a severe pang to lose you, but it must have been. You would have thrown yourself out of all good society.
I must have given you up. Dear me, how should I ever have borne it? It would have killed me never to come to Hartfield any more.
Dear affectionate creature, you banished, you banished to Abbey Mill Farm, you confined the society of the illiterate and vulgar all your life. I wonder how the young man could have the assurance to ask. He must have a pretty good opinion of himself. I do not think he is conceited either in general, said Harriet, her conscience opposing such censure. At least he is very good-natured, and I shall always feel much obliged to him, and have a great regard for.
but that is quite a different thing from and you know through oh sorry though he may like me it does not follow that i should and certainly i must confess that since my visiting here i have seen people and if one comes to compare them person and manners there is no comparison at all one is so very handsome and agreeable however i do really think mr marting a very amiable young man and have a great opinion of him and is being so much attached to me you and is writing such a letter but as to leaving you it is what i would do upon any consideration thank you thank you my own sweet little friend we will not be parted a woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked or because he is attached to her and can write a tolerable letter oh no and it is but a short letter too emma felt the bad taste of her friend but let us pass with a very true and it would be a small consolation to her for the clownish manner which might be offending her every hour of the day to know that her husband could write a good letter oh yes very nobody cares for a letter the thing is to be always happy with pleasant companions i'm quite determined to refuse him but how shall i do what shall i say emma assured her there would be no difficulty in the answer and advised its being written directly which was agreed to in the hope of her assistance and though emma continued to protest against any assistance being wanted it was in fact given in the formation of every sentence the looking over his letter again in replying to it had such a softening tendency that it was particularly necessary to brace her up with a few decisive expressions and she was so very much concerned at the idea of making him unhappy and thought so much of what his mother and sisters would think and say and was so anxious that they should not fancy her ungrateful that emma believed if the young man had come in her way at that moment he would have been accepted after all this letter however was written and sealed and sent the business was finished and harriet safe she was rather low all the evening but emma could allow for her amiable regrets and sometimes relieve them by speaking of her own affection sometimes by bringing forward The idea of Mr Elton. Hello there, a lumpy horse. Nice to see you.
I'm glad you could make it, but sadly this is the last chapter of the last page of this evening, a lumpy horse. I hope you can come back tomorrow. she was rather low all the evening but emma could allow for her amiable regrets and sometimes relieve them by speaking of her own affection sometimes by bringing forward the idea of mr elton i shall never be invited to abbey mill again was said in rather a sorrowful tone nor if you were could i ever bear to part with you my harriet you are a great deal too necessary at hartfield to be spared to abbey mill and i'm sure i should never want to go there for i'm never happy but at hartfield sometimes afterwards it was i think mrs goddard would be very much surprised if she knew what had happened i'm sure miss nash would for miss nash thinks her own sister very well married and it is only a linen draper one should not be sorry to see greater pride or refinement in the teacher of a school harriet i dare say miss nash would envy you such an opportunity as this of being married even this conquest would appear valuable in her eyes as to anything superior for you i suppose she is quite in the dark the attentions of a certain person can hardly be among the tittle-tattle of highbury yet hitherto i fancy you and i are the only people to whom his looks and manners have explained themselves harriet blushed and smiled and said something about wondering that people should like her so much the idea of mr elton was certainly cheering but still after a time she was tender-hearted again towards the rejected mr martin now he has got my letter said she softly i wonder what they are all doing whether his sisters know if he is unhappy they will be unhappy too i hope he will not mind it so very much let us think of those among our absent friends who are more cheerfully employed cried emma at this moment perhaps Mr Elton is shewing your picture to his mother and sisters, telling how much more beautiful is the original, and, after being asked for it five or six times, allowing them to hear your name, your own dear name.
My picture? But he has left my picture in Bond Street. Has he so?
Then I know nothing of Mr Elton. No, my dear little modest Harriet. Depend upon it, the picture will not be in Bond Street till just before he mounts his horse to-morrow.
It is his companion all this evening, his solace, his delight. It opens his designs to his family. It introduces you among them. It diffuses through the party those pleasant feelings of our nature, eager curiosity and warm prepossession. How cheerful, how animated, how suspicious, how busy their imaginations all are.
Harriet smiled again, and her smiles grew stronger. And so I think that's a good place to end because we've been introduced to Emma, of course, who the book's named for. So, of course, Emma's the main character because the book's called Emma.
So Emma Woodhouse, of course, is going to play a large part. Harriet Smith, who's just been proposed to by Mr Martin. And Emma is playing her matchmaker game. with Harriet and Mr Elton and so I'm sure tomorrow we will see how that all plays out and yeah what happens next I mean it's a very long book so I'm sure there's going to be many twists and turns and marriage proposals and matchmakings and I couldn't possibly imagine what goes on in this book and in the life of Emma and all her pleasant society It's so funny reading these old books. I mean, I love them and I couldn't get into them, but the language is so sort of quaint and dated.
But I mean, that's not a diss. I'm not dissing the language or saying there's anything wrong with it, but it's just very quaint and dated. Of course it is. It was written in 1815. So What do I expect? But I always find whenever there's a book with significantly different language, they often will take a couple of chapters and then you're sort of right in the rhythm.
I mean, the King James Bible, for one, maybe that takes a few more than a couple of chapters, but you can get your head around it after a while. But yeah, I thought I'd mention that. And I'm really looking forward to see where the story goes because I had a little glance at Wikipedia, but I didn't want to, you know, you can if you want, just read the whole plot on Wikipedia. But I decided I'm not going to do that because I want to be excited.
I know you guys enjoy seeing me getting animated when things are heating up, when things are getting excited, marriage proposals and parties and all these things. But I'll wait. I won't do any spoilers, no spoilers from you, please. And yes, a lumpy horse.
I don't know what you're referring to. Maybe the King James Bible, you can imagine. So yeah, guys, that's all for this evening. Ended up about two hours. So I think if I can do two hours, two hours, two hours, we'll steadily progress through it.
There's no rush because... You can't really rush a long book, I don't think. You just create anxiety if you want to finish it too quickly because you can't.
So we'll just plough through it over the next few weeks. I might throw in a little Mill Bryson. If people want that, let me know if you want a Mill Bryson. Yes, a lumpy horse. Thanks for clearing it up.
So yeah, good night. Take care. Yeah, lumpy horse it is, but you can get through it.
It just takes five or six chapters and you come out the other side and you start talking like Jane Austen. And I've got some homework still to watch one of the Pride and Prejudices and Lost in Austen maybe I'll start with. So that's on my homework list for the week.
But guys, thanks for joining. I hope you've enjoyed the catch up, you catch up crew. And yeah, have a great week if I don't see you.
But I hope you can make tomorrow at 8.30 where we will continue with Emma. And I look forward to seeing where the story takes us. Take care, guys.
See you tomorrow.