Chapter III

Em m a was extrem ely gratified. – They were interrupted by the bustle of Mr. Weston calling on every body to begin dancing again.

“Com e Miss Woodhouse, Miss Otway, Miss Fairfax, what are y ou all

doing? – Com e Em m a, set y our com panions the exam ple. Every body is lazy !

Every body is asleep!”

“I am ready,” said Em m a, “whenever I am wanted.”

“Whom are y ou going to dance with?” asked Mr. Knightley.

She hesitated a m om ent, and then replied, “With y ou, if y ou will ask m e.”

“Will y ou?” said he, offering his hand.

“Indeed I will. You have shewn that y ou can dance, and y ou know we are not really so m uch brother and sister as to m ake it at all im proper.”

“Brother and sister! no, indeed.”

CHAPTER III

This little explanation with Mr. Knightley gave Em m a considerable pleasure. It was one of the agreeable recollections of the ball, which she walked about the lawn the next m orning to enj oy. – She was extrem ely glad that they had com e to so good an understanding respecting the Eltons, and that their opinions of both husband and wife were so m uch alike; and his praise of Harriet, his concession in her favour, was peculiarly gratify ing. The im pertinence of the Eltons, which for a few m inutes had threatened to ruin the rest of her evening, had been the occasion of som e of its highest satisfactions; and she looked forward to another happy result – the cure of Harriet’s infatuation. – From Harriet’s m anner of speaking of the circum stance before they quitted the ballroom , she had strong hopes. It seem ed as if her ey es were suddenly opened, and she were enabled to see that Mr. Elton was not the superior creature she had believed him .

The fever was over, and Em m a could harbour little fear of the pulse being quickened again by inj urious courtesy. She depended on the evil feelings of the Eltons for supply ing all the discipline of pointed neglect that could be farther requisite. – Harriet rational, Frank Churchill not too m uch in love, and Mr.

Knightley not wanting to quarrel with her, how very happy a sum m er m ust be before her!

She was not to see Frank Churchill this m orning. He had told her that he could not allow him self the pleasure of stopping at Hartfield, as he was to be at hom e by the m iddle of the day. She did not regret it.

Having arranged all these m atters, looked them through, and put them all to rights, she was j ust turning to the house with spirits freshened up for the dem ands of the two little boy s, as well as of their grandpapa, when the great iron sweep-gate opened, and two persons entered whom she had never less expected to see together – Frank Churchill, with Harriet leaning on his arm – actually Harriet! – A m om ent sufficed to convince her that som ething extraordinary had happened. Harriet looked white and frightened, and he was try ing to cheer her. –

The iron gates and the front-door were not twenty y ards asunder; – they were all three soon in the hall, and Harriet im m ediately sinking into a chair fainted away.

A y oung lady who faints, m ust be recovered; questions m ust be answered, and surprizes be explained. Such events are very interesting, but the suspense of them cannot last long. A few m inutes m ade Em m a acquainted with the whole.

Miss Sm ith, and Miss Bickerton, another parlour boarder at Mrs.

Goddard’s, who had been also at the ball, had walked out together, and taken a

road, the Richm ond road, which, though apparently public enough for safety, had led them into alarm . – About half a m ile bey ond Highbury, m aking a sudden turn, and deeply shaded by elm s on each side, it becam e for a considerable stretch very retired; and when the y oung ladies had advanced som e way into it, they had suddenly perceived at a sm all distance before them , on a broader patch of greensward by the side, a party of gipsies. A child on the watch, cam e towards them to beg; and Miss Bickerton, excessively frightened, gave a great scream , and calling on Harriet to follow her, ran up a steep bank, cleared a slight hedge at the top, and m ade the best of her way by a short cut back to Highbury. But poor Harriet could not follow. She had suffered very m uch from cram p after dancing, and her first attem pt to m ount the bank brought on such a return of it as m ade her absolutely powerless – and in this state, and exceedingly terrified, she had been obliged to rem ain.

How the tram pers m ight have behaved, had the y oung ladies been m ore courageous, m ust be doubtful; but such an invitation for attack could not be resisted; and Harriet was soon assailed by half a dozen children, headed by a stout wom an and a great boy, all clam orous, and im pertinent in look, though not absolutely in word. – More and m ore frightened, she im m ediately prom ised them m oney, and taking out her purse, gave them a shilling, and begged them not to want m ore, or to use her ill. – She was then able to walk, though but slowly, and was m oving away – but her terror and her purse were too tem pting, and she was followed, or rather surrounded, by the whole gang, dem anding m ore.

In this state Frank Churchill had found her, she trem bling and conditioning, they loud and insolent. By a m ost fortunate chance his leaving Highbury had been delay ed so as to bring him to her assistance at this critical m om ent. The pleasantness of the m orning had induced him to walk forward, and leave his horses to m eet him by another road, a m ile or two bey ond Highbury –

and happening to have borrowed a pair of scissors the night before of Miss Bates, and to have forgotten to restore them , he had been obliged to stop at her door, and go in for a few m inutes: he was therefore later than he had intended; and being on foot, was unseen by the whole party till alm ost close to them . The terror which the wom an and boy had been creating in Harriet was then their own portion. He had left them com pletely frightened; and Harriet eagerly clinging to him , and hardly able to speak, had j ust strength enough to reach Hartfield, before her spirits were quite overcom e. It was his idea to bring her to Hartfield: he had thought of no other place.

This was the am ount of the whole story, – of his com m unication and of Harriet’s as soon as she had recovered her senses and speech. – He dared not stay longer than to see her well; these several delay s left him not another m inute to lose; and Em m a engaging to give assurance of her safety to Mrs. Goddard, and

notice of there being such a set of people in the neighbourhood to Mr. Knightley, he set off, with all the grateful blessings that she could utter for her friend and herself.

Such an adventure as this, – a fine y oung m an and a lovely y oung wom an thrown together in such a way, could hardly fail of suggesting certain ideas to the coldest heart and the steadiest brain. So Em m a thought, at least. Could a linguist, could a gram m arian, could even a m athem atician have seen what she did, have witnessed their appearance together, and heard their history of it, without feeling that circum stances had been at work to m ake them peculiarly interesting to each other? – How m uch m ore m ust an im aginist, like herself, be on fire with speculation and foresight! – especially with such a groundwork of anticipation as her m ind had already m ade.

It was a very extraordinary thing! Nothing of the sort had ever occurred before to any y oung ladies in the place, within her m em ory ; no rencontre, no alarm of the kind; – and now it had happened to the very person, and at the very hour, when the other very person was chancing to pass by to rescue her! – It certainly was very extraordinary ! – And knowing, as she did, the favourable state of m ind of each at this period, it struck her the m ore. He was wishing to get the better of his attachm ent to herself, she j ust recovering from her m ania for Mr. Elton. It seem ed as if every thing united to prom ise the m ost interesting consequences. It was not possible that the occurrence should not be strongly recom m ending each to the other.

In the few m inutes’ conversation which she had y et had with him , while Harriet had been partially insensible, he had spoken of her terror, her naivete, her fervour as she seized and clung to his arm , with a sensibility am used and delighted; and j ust at last, after Harriet’s own account had been given, he had expressed his indignation at the abom inable folly of Miss Bickerton in the warm est term s. Every thing was to take its natural course, however, neither im pelled nor assisted. She would not stir a step, nor drop a hint. No, she had had enough of interference. There could be no harm in a schem e, a m ere passive schem e. It was no m ore than a wish. Bey ond it she would on no account proceed.

Em m a’s first resolution was to keep her father from the knowledge of what had passed, – aware of the anxiety and alarm it would occasion: but she soon felt that concealm ent m ust be im possible. Within half an hour it was known all over Highbury. It was the very event to engage those who talk m ost, the y oung and the low; and all the y outh and servants in the place were soon in the happiness of frightful news. The last night’s ball seem ed lost in the gipsies. Poor Mr.

Woodhouse trem bled as he sat, and, as Em m a had foreseen, would scarcely be satisfied without their prom ising never to go bey ond the shrubbery again. It was