Emma

uman nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting
situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of
being kindly spoken of.

A week had not passed since Miss Hawkins’s name was first mentioned in
Highbury, before she was, by some means or other, discovered to have
every recommendation of person and mind; to be handsome, elegant,
highly accomplished, and perfectly amiable: and when Mr. Elton himself
arrived to triumph in his happy prospects, and circulate the fame of
her merits, there was very little more for him to do, than to tell her
Christian name, and say whose music she principally played.

Mr. Elton returned, a very happy man. He had gone away rejected and
mortified—disappointed in a very sanguine hope, after a series of what
appeared to him strong encouragement; and not only losing the right
lady, but finding himself debased to the level of a very wrong one. He
had gone away deeply offended—he came back engaged to another—and to
another as superior, of course, to the first, as under such
circumstances what is gained always is to what is lost. He came back
gay and self-satisfied, eager and busy, caring nothing for Miss
Woodhouse, and defying Miss Smith.

The charming Augusta Hawkins, in addition to all the usual advantages
of perfect beauty and merit, was in possession of an independent
fortune, of so many thousands as would always be called ten; a point of
some dignity, as well as some convenience: the story told well; he had
not thrown himself away—he had gained a woman of 10,000 l. or
thereabouts; and he had gained her with such delightful rapidity—the
first hour of introduction had been so very soon followed by
distinguishing notice; the history which he had to give Mrs. Cole of
the rise and progress of the affair was so glorious—the steps so quick,
from the accidental rencontre, to the dinner at Mr. Green’s, and the
party at Mrs. Brown’s—smiles and blushes rising in importance—with
consciousness and agitation richly scattered—the lady had been so
easily impressed—so sweetly disposed—had in short, to use a most
intelligible phrase, been so very ready to have him, that vanity and
prudence were equally contented.

He had caught both substance and shadow—both fortune and affection, and
was just the happy man he ought to be; talking only of himself and his
own concerns—expecting to be congratulated—ready to be laughed at—and,
with cordial, fearless smiles, now addressing all the young ladies of
the place, to whom, a few weeks ago, he would have been more cautiously
gallant.

The wedding was no distant event, as the parties had only themselves to
please, and nothing but the necessary preparations to wait for; and
when he set out for Bath again, there was a general expectation, which
a certain glance of Mrs. Cole’s did not seem to contradict, that when
he next entered Highbury he would bring his bride.

During his present short stay, Emma had barely seen him; but just
enough to feel that the first meeting was over, and to give her the
impression of his not being improved by the mixture of pique and
pretension, now spread over his air. She was, in fact, beginning very
much to wonder that she had ever thought him pleasing at all; and his
sight was so inseparably connected with some very disagreeable
feelings, that, except in a moral light, as a penance, a lesson, a
source of profitable humiliation to her own mind, she would have been
thankful to be assured of never seeing him again. She wished him very
well; but he gave her pain, and his welfare twenty miles off would
administer most satisfaction.

The pain of his continued residence in Highbury, however, must
certainly be lessened by his marriage. Many vain solicitudes would be
prevented—many awkwardnesses smoothed by it. A Mrs. Elton would be
an excuse for any change of intercourse; former intimacy might sink
without remark. It would be almost beginning their life of civility
again.

Of the lady, individually, Emma thought very little. She was good
enough for Mr. Elton, no doubt; accomplished enough for
Highbury—handsome enough—to look plain, probably, by Harriet’s side. As
to connexion, there Emma was perfectly easy; persuaded, that after all
his own vaunted claims and disdain of Harriet, he had done nothing. On
that article, truth seemed attainable. What she was, must be
uncertain; but who she was, might be found out; and setting aside the
10,000 l., it did not appear that she was at all Harriet’s superior.
She brought no name, no blood, no alliance. Miss Hawkins was the
youngest of the two daughters of a Bristol—merchant, of course, he must
be called; but, as the whole of the profits of his mercantile life
appeared so very moderate, it was not unfair to guess the dignity of
his line of trade had been very moderate also. Part of every winter she
had been used to spend in Bath; but Bristol was her home, the very
heart of Bristol; for though the father and mother had died some years
ago, an uncle remained—in the law line—nothing more distinctly
honourable was hazarded of him, than that he was in the law line; and
with him the daughter had lived. Emma guessed him to be the drudge of
some attorney, and too stupid to rise. And all the grandeur of the
connexion seemed dependent on the elder sister, who was very well
married, to a gentleman in a great way, near Bristol, who kept
two carriages! That was the wind-up of the history; that was the glory
of Miss Hawkins.

Could she but have given Harriet her feelings about it all! She had
talked her into love; but, alas! she was not so easily to be talked out
of it. The charm of an object to occupy the many vacancies of Harriet’s
mind was not to be talked away. He might be superseded by another; he
certainly would indeed; nothing could be clearer; even a Robert Martin
would have been sufficient; but nothing else, she feared, would cure
her. Harriet was one of those, who, having once begun, would be always
in love. And now, poor girl! she was considerably worse from this
reappearance of Mr. Elton. She was always having a glimpse of him
somewhere or other. Emma saw him only once; but two or three times
every day Harriet was sure just to meet with him, or just to miss
him, just to hear his voice, or see his shoulder, just to have
something occur to preserve him in her fancy, in all the favouring
warmth of surprize and conjecture. She was, moreover, perpetually
hearing about him; for, excepting when at Hartfield, she was always
among those who saw no fault in Mr. Elton, and found nothing so
interesting as the discussion of his concerns; and every report,
therefore, every guess—all that had already occurred, all that might
occur in the arrangement of his affairs, comprehending income,
servants, and furniture, was continually in agitation around her. Her
regard was receiving strength by invariable praise of him, and her
regrets kept alive, and feelings irritated by ceaseless repetitions of
Miss Hawkins’s happiness, and continual observation of, how much he
seemed attached!—his air as he walked by the house—the very sitting of
his hat, being all in proof of how much he was in love!

Had it been allowable entertainment, had there been no pain to her
friend, or reproach to herself, in the waverings of Harriet’s mind,
Emma would have been amused by its variations. Sometimes Mr. Elton
predominated, sometimes the Martins; and each was occasionally useful
as a check to the other. Mr. Elton’s engagement had been the cure of
the agitation of meeting Mr. Martin. The unhappiness produced by the
knowledge of that engagement had been a little put aside by Elizabeth
Martin’s calling at Mrs. Goddard’s a few days afterwards. Harriet had
not been at home; but a note had been prepared and left for her,
written in the very style to touch; a small mixture of reproach, with a
great deal of kindness; and till Mr. Elton himself appeared, she had
been much occupied by it, continually pondering over what could be done
in return, and wishing to do more than she dared to confess. But Mr.
Elton, in person, had driven away all such cares. While he staid, the
Martins were forgotten; and on the very morning of his setting off for
Bath again, Emma, to dissipate some of the distress it occasioned,
judged it best for her to return Elizabeth Martin’s visit.

How that visit was to be acknowledged—what would be necessary—and what
might be safest, had been a point of some doubtful consideration.
Absolute neglect of the mother and sisters, when invited to come, would
be ingratitude. It must not be: and yet the danger of a renewal of the
acquaintance—!

After much thinking, she could determine on nothing better, than
Harriet’s returning the visit; but in a way that, if they had
understanding, should convince them that it was to be only a formal
acquaintance. She meant to take her in the carriage, leave her at the
Abbey Mill, while she drove a little farther, and call for her again so
soon, as to allow no time for insidious applications or dangerous
recurrences to the past, and give the most decided proof of what degree
of intimacy was chosen for the future.

She could think of nothing better: and though there was something in it
which her own heart could not approve—something of ingratitude, merely
glossed over—it must be done, or what would become of Harriet?