Chapter I

To take a dislike to a y oung m an, only because he appeared to be of a different disposition from him self, was unworthy the real liberality of m ind which she was alway s used to acknowledge in him ; for with all the high opinion of him self, which she had often laid to his charge, she had never before for a m om ent supposed it could m ake him unj ust to the m erit of another.

VOLUME II

CHAPTER I

Em m a and Harriet had been walking together one m orning, and, in Em m a’s opinion, had been talking enough of Mr. Elton for that day. She could not think that Harriet’s solace or her own sins required m ore; and she was therefore industriously getting rid of the subj ect as they returned; – but it burst out again when she thought she had succeeded, and after speaking som e tim e of what the poor m ust suffer in winter, and receiving no other answer than a very plaintive –

“Mr. Elton is so good to the poor!” she found som ething else m ust be done.

They were j ust approaching the house where lived Mrs. and Miss Bates.

She determ ined to call upon them and seek safety in num bers. There was alway s sufficient reason for such an attention; Mrs. and Miss Bates loved to be called on, and she knew she was considered by the very few who presum ed ever to see im perfection in her, as rather negligent in that respect, and as not contributing what she ought to the stock of their scanty com forts.

She had had m any a hint from Mr. Knightley and som e from her own heart, as to her deficiency – but none were equal to counteract the persuasion of its being very disagreeable, – a waste of tim e – tiresom e wom en – and all the horror of being in danger of falling in with the second-rate and third-rate of Highbury, who were calling on them for ever, and therefore she seldom went near them . But now she m ade the sudden resolution of not passing their door without going in – observing, as she proposed it to Harriet, that, as well as she could calculate, they were j ust now quite safe from any letter from Jane Fairfax.

The house belonged to people in business. Mrs. and Miss Bates occupied the drawing-room floor; and there, in the very m oderate-sized apartm ent, which was every thing to them , the visitors were m ost cordially and even gratefully welcom ed; the quiet neat old lady, who with her knitting was seated in the warm est corner, wanting even to give up her place to Miss Woodhouse, and her m ore active, talking daughter, alm ost ready to overpower them with care and kindness, thanks for their visit, solicitude for their shoes, anxious inquiries after Mr.

Woodhouse’s health, cheerful com m unications about her m other’s, and sweet-cake from the beaufet – “Mrs. Cole had j ust been there, j ust called in for ten m inutes, and had been so good as to sit an hour with them , and she had taken a piece of cake and been so kind as to say she liked it very m uch; and, therefore, she hoped Miss Woodhouse and Miss Sm ith would do them the favour to eat a piece too.”

The m ention of the Coles was sure to be followed by that of Mr. Elton.

There was intim acy between them , and Mr. Cole had heard from Mr. Elton since

his going away. Em m a knew what was com ing; they m ust have the letter over again, and settle how long he had been gone, and how m uch he was engaged in com pany, and what a favourite he was wherever he went, and how full the Master of the Cerem onies’ ball had been; and she went through it very well, with all the interest and all the com m endation that could be requisite, and alway s putting forward to prevent Harriet’s being obliged to say a word.

This she had been prepared for when she entered the house; but m eant, having once talked him handsom ely over, to be no farther incom m oded by any troublesom e topic, and to wander at large am ongst all the Mistresses and Misses of Highbury, and their card-parties. She had not been prepared to have Jane Fairfax succeed Mr. Elton; but he was actually hurried off by Miss Bates, she j um ped away from him at last abruptly to the Coles, to usher in a letter from her niece.

“Oh! y es – Mr. Elton, I understand – certainly as to dancing – Mrs. Cole was telling m e that dancing at the room s at Bath was – Mrs. Cole was so kind as to sit som e tim e with us, talking of Jane; for as soon as she cam e in, she began inquiring after her, Jane is so very great a favourite there. Whenever she is with us, Mrs. Cole does not know how to shew her kindness enough; and I m ust say that Jane deserves it as m uch as any body can. And so she began inquiring after her directly, say ing, ‘I know y ou cannot have heard from Jane lately, because it is not her tim e for writing;’ and when I im m ediately said, ‘But indeed we have, we had a letter this very m orning,’ I do not know that I ever saw any body m ore surprized. ‘Have y ou, upon y our honour?’ said she; ‘well, that is quite unexpected.

Do let m e hear what she say s.’”

Em m a’s politeness was at hand directly, to say, with sm iling interest –

“Have y ou heard from Miss Fairfax so lately ? I am extrem ely happy. I hope she is well?”

“Thank y ou. You are so kind!” replied the happily deceived aunt, while eagerly hunting for the letter. – “Oh! here it is. I was sure it could not be far off; but I had put m y huswife upon it, y ou see, without being aware, and so it was quite hid, but I had it in m y hand so very lately that I was alm ost sure it m ust be on the table. I was reading it to Mrs. Cole, and since she went away, I was reading it again to m y m other, for it is such a pleasure to her – a letter from Jane – that she can never hear it often enough; so I knew it could not be far off, and here it is, only j ust under m y huswife – and since y ou are so kind as to wish to hear what she say s; – but, first of all, I really m ust, in j ustice to Jane, apologise for her writing so short a letter – only two pages y ou see – hardly two – and in general she fills the whole paper and crosses half. My m other often wonders that I can

m ake it out so well. She often say s, when the letter is first opened, ‘Well, Hetty, now I think y ou will be put to it to m ake out all that checker-work’ – don’t y ou, m a’am ? – And then I tell her, I am sure she would contrive to m ake it out herself, if she had nobody to do it for her – every word of it – I am sure she would pore over it till she had m ade out every word. And, indeed, though m y m other’s ey es are not so good as they were, she can see am azingly well still, thank God! with the help of spectacles. It is such a blessing! My m other’s are really very good indeed. Jane often say s, when she is here, ‘I am sure, grandm am a, y ou m ust have had very strong ey es to see as y ou do – and so m uch fine work as y ou have done too! – I only wish m y ey es m ay last m e as well.’”

All this spoken extrem ely fast obliged Miss Bates to stop for breath; and Em m a said som ething very civil about the excellence of Miss Fairfax’s handwriting.

“You are extrem ely kind,” replied Miss Bates, highly gratified; “y ou who are such a j udge, and write so beautifully y ourself. I am sure there is nobody ’s praise that could give us so m uch pleasure as Miss Woodhouse’s. My m other does not hear; she is a little deaf y ou know. Ma’am ,” addressing her, “do y ou hear what Miss Woodhouse is so obliging to say about Jane’s handwriting?”

And Em m a had the advantage of hearing her own silly com plim ent repeated twice over before the good old lady could com prehend it. She was pondering, in the m eanwhile, upon the possibility, without seem ing very rude, of m aking her escape from Jane Fairfax’s letter, and had alm ost resolved on hurry ing away directly under som e slight excuse, when Miss Bates turned to her again and seized her attention.

“My m other’s deafness is very trifling y ou see – j ust nothing at all. By only raising m y voice, and say ing any thing two or three tim es over, she is sure to hear; but then she is used to m y voice. But it is very rem arkable that she should alway s hear Jane better than she does m e. Jane speaks so distinct! However, she will not find her grandm am a at all deafer than she was two y ears ago; which is say ing a great deal at m y m other’s tim e of life – and it really is full two y ears, y ou know, since she was here. We never were so long without seeing her before, and as I was telling Mrs. Cole, we shall hardly know how to m ake enough of her now.”

“Are y ou expecting Miss Fairfax here soon?”

“Oh y es; next week.”

“Indeed! – that m ust be a very great pleasure.”

“Thank y ou. You are very kind. Yes, next week. Every body is so

surprized; and every body say s the sam e obliging things. I am sure she will be as happy to see her friends at Highbury, as they can be to see her. Yes, Friday or Saturday ; she cannot say which, because Colonel Cam pbell will be wanting the carriage him self one of those day s. So very good of them to send her the whole way ! But they alway s do, y ou know. Oh y es, Friday or Saturday next. That is what she writes about. That is the reason of her writing out of rule, as we call it; for, in the com m on course, we should not have heard from her before next Tuesday or Wednesday.”

“Yes, so I im agined. I was afraid there could be little chance of m y hearing any thing of Miss Fairfax to-day.”

“So obliging of y ou! No, we should not have heard, if it had not been for this particular circum stance, of her being to com e here so soon. My m other is so delighted! – for she is to be three m onths with us at least. Three m onths, she say s so, positively, as I am going to have the pleasure of reading to y ou. The case is, y ou see, that the Cam pbells are going to Ireland. Mrs. Dixon has persuaded her father and m other to com e over and see her directly. They had not intended to go over till the sum m er, but she is so im patient to see them again – for till she m arried, last October, she was never away from them so m uch as a week, which m ust m ake it very strange to be in different kingdom s, I was going to say, but however different countries, and so she wrote a very urgent letter to her m other –

or her father, I declare I do not know which it was, but we shall see presently in Jane’s letter – wrote in Mr. Dixon’s nam e as well as her own, to press their com ing over directly, and they would give them the m eeting in Dublin, and take them back to their country seat, Baly-craig, a beautiful place, I fancy. Jane has heard a great deal of its beauty ; from Mr. Dixon, I m ean – I do not know that she ever heard about it from any body else; but it was very natural, y ou know, that he should like to speak of his own place while he was pay ing his addresses – and as Jane used to be very often walking out with them – for Colonel and Mrs.

Cam pbell were very particular about their daughter’s not walking out often with only Mr. Dixon, for which I do not at all blam e them ; of course she heard every thing he m ight be telling Miss Cam pbell about his own hom e in Ireland; and I think she wrote us word that he had shewn them som e drawings of the place, views that he had taken him self. He is a m ost am iable, charm ing y oung m an, I believe. Jane was quite longing to go to Ireland, from his account of things.”

At this m om ent, an ingenious and anim ating suspicion entering Em m a’s brain with regard to Jane Fairfax, this charm ing Mr. Dixon, and the not going to Ireland, she said, with the insidious design of farther discovery,

“You m ust feel it very fortunate that Miss Fairfax should be allowed to com e to y ou at such a tim e. Considering the very particular friendship between her and Mrs. Dixon, y ou could hardly have expected her to be excused from accom pany ing Colonel and Mrs. Cam pbell.”

“Very true, very true, indeed. The very thing that we have alway s been rather afraid of; for we should not have liked to have her at such a distance from us, for m onths together – not able to com e if any thing was to happen. But y ou see, every thing turns out for the best. They want her (Mr. and Mrs. Dixon) excessively to com e over with Colonel and Mrs. Cam pbell; quite depend upon it; nothing can be m ore kind or pressing than their j oint invitation, Jane say s, as y ou will hear presently ; Mr. Dixon does not seem in the least backward in any attention. He is a m ost charm ing y oung m an. Ever since the service he rendered Jane at Wey m outh, when they were out in that party on the water, and she, by the sudden whirling round of som ething or other am ong the sails, would have been dashed into the sea at once, and actually was all but gone, if he had not, with the greatest presence of m ind, caught hold of her habit – (I can never think of it without trem bling!) – But ever since we had the history of that day, I have been so fond of Mr. Dixon!”

“But, in spite of all her friends’ urgency, and her own wish of seeing Ireland, Miss Fairfax prefers devoting the tim e to y ou and Mrs. Bates?”

“Yes – entirely her own doing, entirely her own choice; and Colonel and Mrs. Cam pbell think she does quite right, j ust what they should recom m end; and indeed they particularly wish her to try her native air, as she has not been quite so well as usual lately.”

“I am concerned to hear of it. I think they j udge wisely. But Mrs. Dixon m ust be very m uch disappointed. Mrs. Dixon, I understand, has no rem arkable degree of personal beauty ; is not, by any m eans, to be com pared with Miss Fairfax.”

“Oh! no. You are very obliging to say such things – but certainly not.

There is no com parison between them . Miss Cam pbell alway s was absolutely plain – but extrem ely elegant and am iable.”

“Yes, that of course.”

“Jane caught a bad cold, poor thing! so long ago as the 7th of Novem ber, (as I am going to read to y ou,) and has never been well since. A long tim e, is not it, for a cold to hang upon her? She never m entioned it before, because she would not alarm us. Just like her! so considerate! – But however, she is so far from well, that her kind friends the Cam pbells think she had better com e hom e, and try an air that alway s agrees with her; and they have no doubt that three or four m onths at Highbury will entirely cure her – and it is certainly a

great deal better that she should com e here, than go to Ireland, if she is unwell.

Nobody could nurse her, as we should do.”

“It appears to m e the m ost desirable arrangem ent in the world.”

“And so she is to com e to us next Friday or Saturday, and the Cam pbells leave town in their way to Holy head the Monday following – as y ou will find from Jane’s letter. So sudden! – You m ay guess, dear Miss Woodhouse, what a flurry it has thrown m e in! If it was not for the drawback of her illness – but I am afraid we m ust expect to see her grown thin, and looking very poorly. I m ust tell y ou what an unlucky thing happened to m e, as to that. I alway s m ake a point of reading Jane’s letters through to m y self first, before I read them aloud to m y m other, y ou know, for fear of there being any thing in them to distress her. Jane desired m e to do it, so I alway s do: and so I began to-day with m y usual caution; but no sooner did I com e to the m ention of her being unwell, than I burst out, quite frightened, with ‘Bless m e! poor Jane is ill!’ – which m y m other, being on the watch, heard distinctly, and was sadly alarm ed at. However, when I read on, I found it was not near so bad as I had fancied at first; and I m ake so light of it now to her, that she does not think m uch about it. But I cannot im agine how I could be so off m y guard. If Jane does not get well soon, we will call in Mr. Perry. The expense shall not be thought of; and though he is so liberal, and so fond of Jane that I dare say he would not m ean to charge any thing for attendance, we could not suffer it to be so, y ou know. He has a wife and fam ily to m aintain, and is not to be giving away his tim e. Well, now I have j ust given y ou a hint of what Jane writes about, we will turn to her letter, and I am sure she tells her own story a great deal better than I can tell it for her.”