Chapter IX

Two dances, unfortunately, were all that could be allowed. It was growing late, and Miss Bates becam e anxious to get hom e, on her m other’s account. After som e attem pts, therefore, to be perm itted to begin again, they were obliged to thank Mrs. Weston, look sorrowful, and have done.

“Perhaps it is as well,” said Frank Churchill, as he attended Em m a to her carriage. “I m ust have asked Miss Fairfax, and her languid dancing would not have agreed with m e, after y ours.”

CHAPTER IX

Em m a did not repent her condescension in going to the Coles. The visit afforded her m any pleasant recollections the next day ; and all that she m ight be supposed to have lost on the side of dignified seclusion, m ust be am ply repaid in the splendour of popularity. She m ust have delighted the Coles – worthy people, who deserved to be m ade happy ! – And left a nam e behind her that would not soon die away.

Perfect happiness, even in m em ory, is not com m on; and there were two points on which she was not quite easy. She doubted whether she had not transgressed the duty of wom an by wom an, in betray ing her suspicions of Jane Fairfax’s feelings to Frank Churchill. It was hardly right; but it had been so strong an idea, that it would escape her, and his subm ission to all that she told, was a com plim ent to her penetration, which m ade it difficult for her to be quite certain that she ought to have held her tongue.

The other circum stance of regret related also to Jane Fairfax; and there she had no doubt. She did unfeignedly and unequivocally regret the inferiority of her own play ing and singing. She did m ost heartily grieve over the idleness of her childhood – and sat down and practised vigorously an hour and a half.

She was then interrupted by Harriet’s com ing in; and if Harriet’s praise could have satisfied her, she m ight soon have been com forted.

“Oh! if I could but play as well as y ou and Miss Fairfax!”

“Don’t class us together, Harriet. My play ing is no m ore like her’s, than a lam p is like sunshine.”

“Oh! dear – I think y ou play the best of the two. I think y ou play quite as well as she does. I am sure I had m uch rather hear y ou. Every body last night said how well y ou play ed.”

“Those who knew any thing about it, m ust have felt the difference. The truth is, Harriet, that m y play ing is j ust good enough to be praised, but Jane Fairfax’s is m uch bey ond it.”

“Well, I alway s shall think that y ou play quite as well as she does, or that if there is any difference nobody would ever find it out. Mr. Cole said how m uch taste y ou had; and Mr. Frank Churchill talked a great deal about y our taste, and that he valued taste m uch m ore than execution.”

“Ah! but Jane Fairfax has them both, Harriet.”

“Are y ou sure? I saw she had execution, but I did not know she had any taste. Nobody talked about it. And I hate Italian singing. – There is no understanding a word of it. Besides, if she does play so very well, y ou know, it is no m ore than she is obliged to do, because she will have to teach. The Coxes were wondering last night whether she would get into any great fam ily. How did y ou think the Coxes looked?”

“Just as they alway s do – very vulgar.”

“They told m e som ething,” said Harriet rather hesitatingly ; “but it is nothing of any consequence.”

Em m a was obliged to ask what they had told her, though fearful of its producing Mr. Elton.

“They told m e – that Mr. Martin dined with them last Saturday.”

“Oh!”

“He cam e to their father upon som e business, and he asked him to stay to dinner.”

“Oh!”

“They talked a great deal about him , especially Anne Cox. I do not know what she m eant, but she asked m e if I thought I should go and stay there again next sum m er.”

“She m eant to be im pertinently curious, j ust as such an Anne Cox should be.”

“She said he was very agreeable the day he dined there. He sat by her at dinner. Miss Nash thinks either of the Coxes would be very glad to m arry him .”

“Very likely. – I think they are, without exception, the m ost vulgar girls in Highbury.”

Harriet had business at Ford’s. – Em m a thought it m ost prudent to go with her. Another accidental m eeting with the Martins was possible, and in her present state, would be dangerous.

Harriet, tem pted by every thing and sway ed by half a word, was alway s very long at a purchase; and while she was still hanging over m uslins and changing her m ind, Em m a went to the door for am usem ent. – Much could not be hoped from the traffic of even the busiest part of Highbury ; – Mr. Perry walking hastily by, Mr. William Cox letting him self in at the office-door, Mr. Cole’s carriage-horses returning from exercise, or a stray letter-boy on an obstinate m ule, were the liveliest obj ects she could presum e to expect; and when her ey es fell only on the butcher with his tray, a tidy old wom an travelling hom ewards from shop with her full basket, two curs quarrelling over a dirty bone, and a string of dawdling children round the baker’s little bow-window ey eing the gingerbread, she knew she had no reason to com plain, and was am used enough; quite enough still to stand at the door. A m ind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.

She looked down the Randalls road. The scene enlarged; two persons appeared; Mrs. Weston and her son-in-law; they were walking into Highbury ; – to Hartfield of course. They were stopping, however, in the first place at Mrs.

Bates’s; whose house was a little nearer Randalls than Ford’s; and had all but knocked, when Em m a caught their ey e. – Im m ediately they crossed the road and cam e forward to her; and the agreeableness of y esterday ’s engagem ent seem ed to give fresh pleasure to the present m eeting. Mrs. Weston inform ed her that she was going to call on the Bateses, in order to hear the new instrum ent.

“For m y com panion tells m e,” said she, “that I absolutely prom ised Miss Bates last night, that I would com e this m orning. I was not aware of it m y self. I did not know that I had fixed a day, but as he say s I did, I am going now.”

“And while Mrs. Weston pay s her visit, I m ay be allowed, I hope,” said Frank Churchill, “to j oin y our party and wait for her at Hartfield – if y ou are going hom e.”

Mrs. Weston was disappointed.

“I thought y ou m eant to go with m e. They would be very m uch pleased.”

“Me! I should be quite in the way. But, perhaps – I m ay be equally in the way here. Miss Woodhouse looks as if she did not want m e. My aunt alway s sends m e off when she is shopping. She say s I fidget her to death; and Miss Woodhouse looks as if she could alm ost say the sam e. What am I to do?”

“I am here on no business of m y own,” said Em m a; “I am only waiting for m y friend. She will probably have soon done, and then we shall go hom e. But y ou had better go with Mrs. Weston and hear the instrum ent.”

“Well – if y ou advise it. – But (with a sm ile) if Colonel Cam pbell should have em ploy ed a careless friend, and if it should prove to have an indifferent tone – what shall I say ? I shall be no support to Mrs. Weston. She m ight do very well by herself. A disagreeable truth would be palatable through her lips, but I am the wretchedest being in the world at a civil falsehood.”

“I do not believe any such thing,” replied Em m a. – “I am persuaded that y ou can be as insincere as y our neighbours, when it is necessary ; but there is no reason to suppose the instrum ent is indifferent. Quite otherwise indeed, if I understood Miss Fairfax’s opinion last night.”

“Do com e with m e,” said Mrs. Weston, “if it be not very disagreeable to y ou. It need not detain us long. We will go to Hartfield afterwards. We will follow them to Hartfield. I really wish y ou to call with m e. It will be felt so great an attention! and I alway s thought y ou m eant it.”

He could say no m ore; and with the hope of Hartfield to reward him , returned with Mrs. Weston to Mrs. Bates’s door. Em m a watched them in, and then j oined Harriet at the interesting counter, – try ing, with all the force of her own m ind, to convince her that if she wanted plain m uslin it was of no use to look at figured; and that a blue ribbon, be it ever so beautiful, would still never m atch her y ellow pattern. At last it was all settled, even to the destination of the parcel.

“Should I send it to Mrs. Goddard’s, m a’am ?” asked Mrs. Ford. – “Yes –

no – y es, to Mrs. Goddard’s. Only m y pattern gown is at Hartfield. No, y ou shall send it to Hartfield, if y ou please. But then, Mrs. Goddard will want to see it. –

And I could take the pattern gown hom e any day. But I shall want the ribbon directly – so it had better go to Hartfield – at least the ribbon. You could m ake it into two parcels, Mrs. Ford, could not y ou?”

“It is not worth while, Harriet, to give Mrs. Ford the trouble of two parcels.”

“No m ore it is.”

“No trouble in the world, m a’am ,” said the obliging Mrs. Ford.

“Oh! but indeed I would m uch rather have it only in one. Then, if y ou please, y ou shall send it all to Mrs. Goddard’s – I do not know – No, I think, Miss Woodhouse, I m ay j ust as well have it sent to Hartfield, and take it hom e with m e at night. What do y ou advise?”

“That y ou do not give another half-second to the subj ect. To Hartfield, if y ou please, Mrs. Ford.”

“Ay e, that will be m uch best,” said Harriet, quite satisfied, “I should not at all like to have it sent to Mrs. Goddard’s.”

Voices approached the shop – or rather one voice and two ladies: Mrs.

Weston and Miss Bates m et them at the door.

“My dear Miss Woodhouse,” said the latter, “I am j ust run across to

entreat the favour of y ou to com e and sit down with us a little while, and give us y our opinion of our new instrum ent; y ou and Miss Sm ith. How do y ou do, Miss Sm ith? – Very well I thank y ou. – And I begged Mrs. Weston to com e with m e, that I m ight be sure of succeeding.”

“I hope Mrs. Bates and Miss Fairfax are – “

“Very well, I am m uch obliged to y ou. My m other is delightfully well; and Jane caught no cold last night. How is Mr. Woodhouse? – I am so glad to hear such a good account. Mrs. Weston told m e y ou were here. – Oh! then, said I, I m ust run across, I am sure Miss Woodhouse will allow m e j ust to run across and entreat her to com e in; m y m other will be so very happy to see her – and now we are such a nice party, she cannot refuse. – ‘Ay e, pray do,’ said Mr. Frank Churchill, ‘Miss Woodhouse’s opinion of the instrum ent will be worth having.’ –

But, said I, I shall be m ore sure of succeeding if one of y ou will go with m e. –

‘Oh,’ said he, ‘wait half a m inute, till I have finished m y j ob;’ – For, would y ou believe it, Miss Woodhouse, there he is, in the m ost obliging m anner in the world, fastening in the rivet of m y m other’s spectacles. – The rivet cam e out, y ou know, this m orning. – So very obliging! – For m y m other had no use of her spectacles –

could not put them on. And, by the by e, every body ought to have two pair of spectacles; they should indeed. Jane said so. I m eant to take them over to John Saunders the first thing I did, but som ething or other hindered m e all the m orning; first one thing, then another, there is no say ing what, y ou know. At one tim e Patty cam e to say she thought the kitchen chim ney wanted sweeping. Oh, said I, Patty do not com e with y our bad news to m e. Here is the rivet of y our m istress’s spectacles out. Then the baked apples cam e hom e, Mrs. Wallis sent them by her boy ; they are extrem ely civil and obliging to us, the Wallises, alway s – I have heard som e people say that Mrs. Wallis can be uncivil and give a very rude answer, but we have never known any thing but the greatest attention from them .

And it cannot be for the value of our custom now, for what is our consum ption of bread, y ou know? Only three of us. – besides dear Jane at present – and she really eats nothing – m akes such a shocking breakfast, y ou would be quite frightened if y ou saw it. I dare not let m y m other know how little she eats – so I say one thing and then I say another, and it passes off. But about the m iddle of the day she gets hungry, and there is nothing she likes so well as these baked apples, and they are extrem ely wholesom e, for I took the opportunity the other day of asking Mr. Perry ; I happened to m eet him in the street. Not that I had any doubt before – I have so often heard Mr. Woodhouse recom m end a baked apple. I believe it is the only way that Mr. Woodhouse thinks the fruit thoroughly wholesom e. We have apple-dum plings, however, very often. Patty m akes an excellent apple-dum pling. Well, Mrs. Weston, y ou have prevailed, I hope, and these ladies will oblige us.”

Em m a would be “very happy to wait on Mrs. Bates, & c.,” and they did at last m ove out of the shop, with no farther delay from Miss Bates than,

“How do y ou do, Mrs. Ford? I beg y our pardon. I did not see y ou before. I hear y ou have a charm ing collection of new ribbons from town. Jane cam e back delighted y esterday. Thank y e, the gloves do very well – only a little too large about the wrist; but Jane is taking them in.”

“What was I talking of?” said she, beginning again when they were all in the street.

Em m a wondered on what, of all the m edley, she would fix.

“I declare I cannot recollect what I was talking of. – Oh! m y m other’s spectacles. So very obliging of Mr. Frank Churchill! ‘Oh!’ said he, ‘I do think I can fasten the rivet; I like a j ob of this kind excessively.’ – Which y ou know shewed him to be so very.... Indeed I m ust say that, m uch as I had heard of him before and m uch as I had expected, he very far exceeds any thing.... I do congratulate y ou, Mrs. Weston, m ost warm ly. He seem s every thing the fondest parent could.... ‘Oh!’ said he, ‘I can fasten the rivet. I like a j ob of that sort excessively.’ I never shall forget his m anner. And when I brought out the baked apples from the closet, and hoped our friends would be so very obliging as to take som e, ‘Oh!’ said he directly, ‘there is nothing in the way of fruit half so good, and these are the finest-looking hom e-baked apples I ever saw in m y life.’ That, y ou know, was so very.... And I am sure, by his m anner, it was no com plim ent. Indeed they are very delightful apples, and Mrs. Wallis does them full j ustice – only we do not have them baked m ore than twice, and Mr. Woodhouse m ade us prom ise to have them done three tim es – but Miss Woodhouse will be so good as not to m ention it.

The apples them selves are the very finest sort for baking, bey ond a doubt; all from Donwell – som e of Mr. Knightley ’s m ost liberal supply. He sends us a sack every y ear; and certainly there never was such a keeping apple any where as one of his trees – I believe there is two of them . My m other say s the orchard was alway s fam ous in her y ounger day s. But I was really quite shocked the other day

– for Mr. Knightley called one m orning, and Jane was eating these apples, and we talked about them and said how m uch she enj oy ed them , and he asked whether we were not got to the end of our stock. ‘I am sure y ou m ust be,’ said he, ‘and I will send y ou another supply ; for I have a great m any m ore than I can ever use.

William Larkins let m e keep a larger quantity than usual this y ear. I will send y ou som e m ore, before they get good for nothing.’ So I begged he would not – for really as to ours being gone, I could not absolutely say that we had a great m any left – it was but half a dozen indeed; but they should be all kept for Jane; and I could not at all bear that he should be sending us m ore, so liberal as he had been already ; and Jane said the sam e. And when he was gone, she alm ost quarrelled

with m e – No, I should not say quarrelled, for we never had a quarrel in our lives; but she was quite distressed that I had owned the apples were so nearly gone; she wished I had m ade him believe we had a great m any left. Oh, said I, m y dear, I did say as m uch as I could. However, the very sam e evening William Larkins cam e over with a large basket of apples, the sam e sort of apples, a bushel at least, and I was very m uch obliged, and went down and spoke to William Larkins and said every thing, as y ou m ay suppose. William Larkins is such an old acquaintance! I am alway s glad to see him . But, however, I found afterwards from Patty, that William said it was all the apples of that sort his m aster had; he had brought them all – and now his m aster had not one left to bake or boil.