Chapter XVIII

“Perry !” said he to Em m a, and try ing, as he spoke, to catch Miss Fairfax’s ey e. “My friend Mr. Perry ! What are they say ing about Mr. Perry ? –

Has he been here this m orning? – And how does he travel now? – Has he set up his carriage?”

Em m a soon recollected, and understood him ; and while she j oined in the laugh, it was evident from Jane’s countenance that she too was really hearing him , though try ing to seem deaf.

“Such an extraordinary dream of m ine!” he cried. “I can never think of it without laughing. – She hears us, she hears us, Miss Woodhouse. I see it in her cheek, her sm ile, her vain attem pt to frown. Look at her. Do not y ou see that, at this instant, the very passage of her own letter, which sent m e the report, is passing under her ey e – that the whole blunder is spread before her – that she can attend to nothing else, though pretending to listen to the others?”

Jane was forced to sm ile com pletely, for a m om ent; and the sm ile partly rem ained as she turned towards him , and said in a conscious, low, y et steady voice,

“How y ou can bear such recollections, is astonishing to m e! – They will som etim es obtrude – but how y ou can court them !”

He had a great deal to say in return, and very entertainingly ; but Em m a’s feelings were chiefly with Jane, in the argum ent; and on leaving Randalls, and falling naturally into a com parison of the two m en, she felt, that pleased as she had been to see Frank Churchill, and really regarding him as she did with friendship, she had never been m ore sensible of Mr. Knightley ’s high superiority of character. The happiness of this m ost happy day, received its com pletion, in the anim ated contem plation of his worth which this com parison produced.

CHAPTER XVIII

If Em m a had still, at intervals, an anxious feeling for Harriet, a m om entary doubt of its being possible for her to be really cured of her attachm ent to Mr. Knightley, and really able to accept another m an from unbiased inclination, it was not long that she had to suffer from the recurrence of any such uncertainty. A very few day s brought the party from London, and she had no sooner an opportunity of being one hour alone with Harriet, than she becam e perfectly satisfied – unaccountable as it was! – that Robert Martin had thoroughly supplanted Mr. Knightley, and was now form ing all her views of happiness.

Harriet was a little distressed – did look a little foolish at first: but having once owned that she had been presum ptuous and silly, and self-deceived, before, her pain and confusion seem ed to die away with the words, and leave her without a care for the past, and with the fullest exultation in the present and future; for, as to her friend’s approbation, Em m a had instantly rem oved every fear of that nature, by m eeting her with the m ost unqualified congratulations. – Harriet was m ost happy to give every particular of the evening at Astley ’s, and the dinner the next day ; she could dwell on it all with the utm ost delight. But what did such particulars explain? – The fact was, as Em m a could now acknowledge, that Harriet had alway s liked Robert Martin; and that his continuing to love her had been irresistible. – Bey ond this, it m ust ever be unintelligible to Em m a.

The event, however, was m ost j oy ful; and every day was giving her fresh reason for thinking so. – Harriet’s parentage becam e known. She proved to be the daughter of a tradesm an, rich enough to afford her the com fortable m aintenance which had ever been hers, and decent enough to have alway s wished for concealm ent. – Such was the blood of gentility which Em m a had form erly been so ready to vouch for! – It was likely to be as untainted, perhaps, as the blood of m any a gentlem an: but what a connexion had she been preparing for Mr. Knightley – or for the Churchills – or even for Mr. Elton! – The stain of illegitim acy, unbleached by nobility or wealth, would have been a stain indeed.

No obj ection was raised on the father’s side; the y oung m an was treated liberally ; it was all as it should be: and as Em m a becam e acquainted with Robert Martin, who was now introduced at Hartfield, she fully acknowledged in him all the appearance of sense and worth which could bid fairest for her little friend.

She had no doubt of Harriet’s happiness with any good-tem pered m an; but with him , and in the hom e he offered, there would be the hope of m ore, of security, stability, and im provem ent. She would be placed in the m idst of those who loved her, and who had better sense than herself; retired enough for safety, and

occupied enough for cheerfulness. She would be never led into tem ptation, nor left for it to find her out. She would be respectable and happy ; and Em m a adm itted her to be the luckiest creature in the world, to have created so steady and persevering an affection in such a m an; – or, if not quite the luckiest, to y ield only to herself.

Harriet, necessarily drawn away by her engagem ents with the Martins, was less and less at Hartfield; which was not to be regretted. – The intim acy between her and Em m a m ust sink; their friendship m ust change into a calm er sort of goodwill; and, fortunately, what ought to be, and m ust be, seem ed already beginning, and in the m ost gradual, natural m anner.

Before the end of Septem ber, Em m a attended Harriet to church, and saw her hand bestowed on Robert Martin with so com plete a satisfaction, as no rem em brances, even connected with Mr. Elton as he stood before them , could im pair. – Perhaps, indeed, at that tim e she scarcely saw Mr. Elton, but as the clergy m an whose blessing at the altar m ight next fall on herself. – Robert Martin and Harriet Sm ith, the latest couple engaged of the three, were the first to be m arried.

Jane Fairfax had already quitted Highbury, and was restored to the com forts of her beloved hom e with the Cam pbells. – The Mr. Churchills were also in town; and they were only waiting for Novem ber.

The interm ediate m onth was the one fixed on, as far as they dared, by Em m a and Mr. Knightley. – They had determ ined that their m arriage ought to be concluded while John and Isabella were still at Hartfield, to allow them the fortnight’s absence in a tour to the seaside, which was the plan. – John and Isabella, and every other friend, were agreed in approving it. But Mr. Woodhouse

– how was Mr. Woodhouse to be induced to consent? – he, who had never y et alluded to their m arriage but as a distant event.

When first sounded on the subj ect, he was so m iserable, that they were alm ost hopeless. – A second allusion, indeed, gave less pain. – He began to think it was to be, and that he could not prevent it – a very prom ising step of the m ind on its way to resignation. Still, however, he was not happy. Nay, he appeared so m uch otherwise, that his daughter’s courage failed. She could not bear to see him suffering, to know him fancy ing him self neglected; and though her understanding alm ost acquiesced in the assurance of both the Mr. Knightley s, that when once the event were over, his distress would be soon over too, she hesitated – she could not proceed.

In this state of suspense they were befriended, not by any sudden illum ination of Mr. Woodhouse’s m ind, or any wonderful change of his nervous

sy stem , but by the operation of the sam e sy stem in another way. – Mrs. Weston’s poultry -house was robbed one night of all her turkey s – evidently by the ingenuity of m an. Other poultry -y ards in the neighbourhood also suffered. –

Pilfering was housebreaking to Mr. Woodhouse’s fears. – He was very uneasy ; and but for the sense of his son-in-law’s protection, would have been under wretched alarm every night of his life. The strength, resolution, and presence of m ind of the Mr. Knightley s, com m anded his fullest dependence. While either of them protected him and his, Hartfield was safe. – But Mr. John Knightley m ust be in London again by the end of the first week in Novem ber.