Emma, by Jane Austen
Chapter IV
Harriet Smith’s intimacy at Hartfield was once quickly a settled thing. Quick and determined in her ways, Emma misplaced no time in inviting, encouraging, and telling her to come very often; and as their acquaintance increased, so did their delight in every other. As a on foot companion, Emma had very early foreseen how beneficial she would possibly discover her. In that admire Mrs. Weston’s loss had been important. Her father in no way went past the shrubbery, the place two divisions of the floor sufficed him for his lengthy walk, or his short, as the 12 months varied; and considering Mrs. Weston’s marriage her exercising had been too a lot confined. She had ventured as soon as by myself to Randalls, however it was once no longer pleasant; and a Harriet Smith, therefore, one whom she may want to summon at any time to a walk, would be a treasured addition to her privileges. But in each respect, as she noticed extra of her, she permitted her, and was once validated in all her form designs.
Harriet sincerely was once no longer clever, however she had a sweet, docile, grateful disposition, used to be absolutely free from conceit, and solely wanting to be guided by means of any one she regarded up to. Her early attachment to herself was once very amiable; and her inclination for accurate company, and energy of appreciating what was once based and clever, shewed that there was once no choose of taste, although energy of perception ought to now not be expected. Altogether she used to be pretty convinced of Harriet Smith’s being precisely the younger pal she desired — precisely the some thing which her domestic required. Such a buddy as Mrs. Weston used to be out of the question. Two such should by no means be granted. Two such she did no longer want. It was once pretty a distinct kind of thing, a sentiment wonderful and independent. Mrs. Weston used to be the object of a regard which had its foundation in gratitude and esteem. Harriet would be cherished as one to whom she should be useful. For Mrs. Weston there used to be nothing to be done; for Harriet each thing.
Her first tries at usefulness had been in an endeavour to locate out who have been the parents, however Harriet may want to no longer tell. She used to be prepared to inform each and every component in her power, however on this situation questions have been vain. Emma used to be obliged to fancy what she favored — however she may want to in no way consider that in the identical state of affairs she ought to no longer have determined the truth. Harriet had no penetration. She had been blissful to hear and consider simply what Mrs. Goddard selected to inform her; and seemed no farther.
Mrs. Goddard, and the teachers, and the ladies and the affairs of the college in general, fashioned naturally a fantastic phase of the dialog — and however for her acquaintance with the Martins of Abbey-Mill Farm, it need to have been the whole. But the Martins occupied her ideas a right deal; she had spent two very joyful months with them, and now cherished to discuss of the pleasures of her visit, and describe the many comforts and wonders of the place. Emma prompted her talkativeness — amused by using such a photograph of some other set of beings, and playing the youthful simplicity which should communicate with so plenty exultation of Mrs. Martin’s having “two parlours, two very suitable parlours, indeed; one of them pretty as giant as Mrs. Goddard’s drawing-room; and of her having an higher maid who had lived five-and-twenty years with her; and of their having eight cows, two of them Alderneys, and one a little Welch cow, a very incredibly little Welch cow indeed; and of Mrs. Martin’s announcing as she used to be so fond of it, it have to be known as her cow; and of their having a very good-looking summer-house in their garden, the place some day next 12 months they had been all to drink tea:— a very good-looking summer-house, massive ample to maintain a dozen people.”
For some time she used to be amused, barring wondering past the instant cause; however as she got here to recognize the household better, different emotions arose. She had taken up a incorrect idea, fancying it used to be a mom and daughter, a son and son’s wife, who all lived together; however when it seemed that the Mr. Martin, who bore a section in the narrative, and used to be usually cited with approbation for his excellent good-nature in doing some thing or other, used to be a single man; that there was once no younger Mrs. Martin, no spouse in the case; she did suspect hazard to her terrible little pal from all this hospitality and kindness, and that, if she have been no longer taken care of, she would possibly be required to sink herself forever.
With this inspiriting notion, her questions multiplied in variety and meaning; and she specially led Harriet to speak greater of Mr. Martin, and there used to be obviously no dislike to it. Harriet was once very geared up to communicate of the share he had had in their moonlight walks and merry nighttime games; and dwelt a appropriate deal upon his being so very good-humoured and obliging. He had long past three miles spherical one day in order to convey her some walnuts, due to the fact she had stated how fond she used to be of them, and in each and every element else he used to be so very obliging. He had his shepherd’s son into the parlour one night time on cause to sing to her. She was once very fond of singing. He ought to sing a little himself. She believed he used to be very clever, and understood each thing. He had a very quality flock, and, whilst she was once with them, he had been bid extra for his wool than any physique in the country. She believed each physique spoke properly of him. His mom and sisters had been very fond of him. Mrs. Martin had instructed her one day (and there used to be a blush as she stated it,) that it was once not possible for any physique to be a higher son, and consequently she was once sure, each time he married, he would make a accurate husband. Not that she desired him to marry. She was once in no hurry at all.
“Well done, Mrs. Martin!” concept Emma. “You comprehend what you are about.”
“And when she had come away, Mrs. Martin used to be so very type as to ship Mrs. Goddard a lovely goose — the greatest goose Mrs. Goddard had ever seen. Mrs. Goddard had dressed it on a Sunday, and requested all the three teachers, Miss Nash, and Miss Prince, and Miss Richardson, to sup with her.”
“Mr. Martin, I suppose, is now not a man of facts past the line of his very own business? He does now not read?”
“Oh yes! — that is, no — I do now not understand — however I accept as true with he has study a desirable deal — however no longer what you would suppose any issue of. He reads the Agricultural Reports, and some different books that lay in one of the window seats — however he reads all them to himself. But occasionally of an evening, earlier than we went to cards, he would study some thing aloud out of the Elegant Extracts, very entertaining. And I understand he has examine the Vicar of Wakefield. He in no way study the Romance of the Forest, nor The Children of the Abbey. He had in no way heard of such books earlier than I referred to them, however he is decided to get them now as quickly as ever he can.”
The subsequent query was —
“What kind of searching man is Mr. Martin?”
“Oh! now not good-looking — now not at all handsome. I thinking him very simple at first, however I do now not assume him so undeniable now. One does not, you know, after a time. But did you in no way see him? He is in Highbury each now and then, and he is positive to trip thru each week in his way to Kingston. He has handed you very often.”
“That can also be, and I may additionally have considered him fifty times, however barring having any notion of his name. A younger farmer, whether or not on horseback or on foot, is the very remaining type of man or woman to increase my curiosity. The yeomanry are exactly the order of human beings with whom I experience I can have nothing to do. A diploma or two lower, and a creditable look would possibly hobby me; I may hope to be beneficial to their households in some way or other. But a farmer can want none of my help, and is, therefore, in one sense, as a good deal above my be aware as in each different he is under it.”
“To be sure. Oh yes! It is no longer possibly you ought to ever have found him; however he is aware of you very properly certainly — I imply with the aid of sight.”
“I have no doubt of his being a very decent younger man. I know, indeed, that he is so, and, as such, want him well. What do you think about his age to be?”
“He was once four-and-twenty the eighth of remaining June, and my birthday is the twenty third simply a fortnight and a day’s distinction — which is very odd.”
“Only four-and-twenty. That is too younger to settle. His mom is flawlessly proper now not to be in a hurry. They appear very comfy as they are, and if she had been to take any pains to marry him, she would in all likelihood repent it. Six years hence, if he may want to meet with a exact kind of younger girl in the equal rank as his own, with a little money, it may be very desirable.”
“Six years hence! Dear Miss Woodhouse, he would be thirty years old!”
“Well, and that is as early as most guys can have the funds for to marry, who are now not born to an independence. Mr. Martin, I imagine, has his fortune totally to make — can't be at all before with the world. Whatever cash he may come into when his father died, anything his share of the household property, it is, I dare say, all afloat, all employed in his stock, and so forth; and though, with diligence and accurate luck, he may additionally be prosperous in time, it is subsequent to not possible that he need to have realised any issue yet.”
“To be sure, so it is. But they live very comfortably. They have no indoors man, else they do now not prefer for any thing; and Mrs. Martin talks of taking a boy some other year.”
“I desire you can also no longer get into a scrape, Harriet, each time he does marry — I mean, as to being acquainted with his spouse — for although his sisters, from a most efficient education, are no longer to be altogether objected to, it does no longer observe that he would possibly marry any physique at all match for you to notice. The misfortune of your beginning ought to make you especially cautious as to your associates. There can be no doubt of your being a gentleman’s daughter, and you have to guide your declare to that station via each issue inside your very own power, or there will be lots of humans who would take pleasure in degrading you.”
“Yes, to be sure, I consider there are. But while I go to at Hartfield, and you are so sort to me, Miss Woodhouse, I am now not afraid of what any physique can do.”
“You apprehend the pressure of have an impact on exceptionally well, Harriet; however I would have you so firmly mounted in correct society, as to be impartial even of Hartfield and Miss Woodhouse. I prefer to see you completely properly connected, and to that quit it will be really helpful to have as few atypical acquaintance as may additionally be; and, therefore, I say that if you need to nonetheless be in this us of a when Mr. Martin marries, I want you might also now not be drawn in through your intimacy with the sisters, to be acquainted with the wife, who will in all likelihood be some mere farmer’s daughter, except education.”
“To be sure. Yes. Not that I assume Mr. Martin would ever marry any physique however what had had some training — and been very properly added up. However, I do now not suggest to set up my opinion towards your’s — and I am positive I shall now not want for the acquaintance of his wife. I shall continually have a incredible regard for the Miss Martins, specially Elizabeth, and have to be very sorry to supply them up, for they are pretty as properly trained as me. But if he marries a very ignorant, vulgar woman, in reality I had higher no longer go to her, if I can assist it.”
Emma watched her via the fluctuations of this speech, and noticed no alarming signs of love. The younger man had been the first admirer, however she relied on there used to be no different hold, and that there would be no serious difficulty, on Harriet’s side, to oppose any pleasant association of her own.
They met Mr. Martin the very subsequent day, as they have been on foot on the Donwell road. He used to be on foot, and after searching very respectfully at her, appeared with most unfeigned delight at her companion. Emma used to be now not sorry to have such an chance of survey; and strolling a few yards forward, whilst they talked together, quickly made her rapid eye sufficiently acquainted with Mr. Robert Martin. His look used to be very neat, and he regarded like a smart younger man, however his character had no different advantage; and when he got here to be contrasted with gentlemen, she thinking he ought to lose all the floor he had won in Harriet’s inclination. Harriet was once now not dispassionate of manner; she had voluntarily observed her father’s gentleness with admiration as nicely as wonder. Mr. Martin regarded as if he did no longer be aware of what manner was.
They remained however a few minutes together, as Miss Woodhouse ought to no longer be saved waiting; and Harriet then got here walking to her with a smiling face, and in a flutter of spirits, which Miss Woodhouse hoped very quickly to compose.
“Only suppose of our going on to meet him! — How very odd! It used to be pretty a chance, he said, that he had no longer long past spherical via Randalls. He did no longer assume we ever walked this road. He notion we walked toward Randalls most days. He has now not been in a position to get the Romance of the Forest yet. He used to be so busy the remaining time he used to be at Kingston that he pretty forgot it, however he goes once more to-morrow. So very bizarre we must take place to meet! Well, Miss Woodhouse, is he like what you expected? What do you suppose of him? Do you assume him so very plain?”
“He is very plain, certainly — remarkably plain:— however that is nothing in contrast with his whole prefer of gentility. I had no proper to assume much, and I did no longer count on much; however I had no thinking that he should be so very clownish, so definitely except air. I had imagined him, I confess, a diploma or two nearer gentility.”
“To be sure,” stated Harriet, in a mortified voice, “he is now not so genteel as actual gentlemen.”
“I think, Harriet, because your acquaintance with us, you have been many times in the employer of some such very actual gentlemen, that you ought to your self be struck with the distinction in Mr. Martin. At Hartfield, you have had very desirable specimens of nicely educated, properly bred men. I ought to be surprized if, after seeing them, you may want to be in employer with Mr. Martin once more except perceiving him to be a very inferior creature — and as an alternative thinking at your self for having ever idea him at all agreeable before. Do now not you commence to experience that now? Were no longer you struck? I am positive you need to have been struck with the aid of his awkward seem and abrupt manner, and the uncouthness of a voice which I heard to be absolutely unmodulated as I stood here.”
“Certainly, he is now not like Mr. Knightley. He has no longer such a satisfactory air and way of strolling as Mr. Knightley. I see the distinction undeniable enough. But Mr. Knightley is so very fantastic a man!”
“Mr. Knightley’s air is so remarkably appropriate that it is now not honest to examine Mr. Martin with him. You may now not see one in a hundred with gentleman so it seems that written as in Mr. Knightley. But he is no longer the solely gentleman you have been currently used to. What say you to Mr. Weston and Mr. Elton? Compare Mr. Martin with both of them. Compare their manner of carrying themselves; of walking; of speaking; of being silent. You should see the difference.”
“Oh yes! — there is a superb difference. But Mr. Weston is nearly an ancient man. Mr. Weston should be between forty and fifty.”
“Which makes his proper manners the greater valuable. The older a man or woman grows, Harriet, the extra vital it is that their manners need to no longer be bad; the greater evident and disgusting any loudness, or coarseness, or awkwardness becomes. What is satisfactory in early life is detestable in later age. Mr. Martin is now awkward and abrupt; what will he be at Mr. Weston’s time of life?”
“There is no saying, indeed,” spoke back Harriet instead solemnly.
“But there may also be exceedingly accurate guessing. He will be a absolutely gross, vulgar farmer, completely inattentive to appearances, and questioning of nothing however earnings and loss.”
“Will he, indeed? That will be very bad.”
“How a great deal his enterprise engrosses him already is very undeniable from the circumstance of his forgetting to inquire for the e book you recommended. He used to be a first-rate deal too full of the market to assume of any aspect else — which is simply as it must be, for a thriving man. What has he to do with books? And I have no doubt that he will thrive, and be a very prosperous man in time — and his being illiterate and coarse want no longer disturb us.”
“I marvel he did no longer be aware the book”— used to be all Harriet’s answer, and spoken with a diploma of grave displeasure which Emma concept would possibly be safely left to itself. She, therefore, stated no greater for some time. Her subsequent commencing was,
“In one respect, perhaps, Mr. Elton’s manners are ultimate to Mr. Knightley’s or Mr. Weston’s. They have extra gentleness. They may be extra safely held up as a pattern. There is an openness, a quickness, nearly a bluntness in Mr. Weston, which each and every physique likes in him, due to the fact there is so lots good-humour with it — however that would no longer do to be copied. Neither would Mr. Knightley’s downright, decided, commanding kind of manner, although it fits him very well; his figure, and look, and scenario in lifestyles appear to enable it; however if any younger man had been to set about copying him, he would now not be sufferable. On the contrary, I suppose a younger man may be very safely endorsed to take Mr. Elton as a model. Mr. Elton is good-humoured, cheerful, obliging, and gentle. He appears to me to be grown mainly mild of late. I do now not recognize whether or not he has any diagram of ingratiating himself with both of us, Harriet, via extra softness, however it strikes me that his manners are softer than they used to be. If he ability any thing, it need to be to please you. Did no longer I inform you what he stated of you the different day?”
She then repeated some heat non-public reward which she had drawn from Mr. Elton, and now did full justice to; and Harriet blushed and smiled, and stated she had usually concept Mr. Elton very agreeable.
Mr. Elton used to be the very individual constant on by way of Emma for using the younger farmer out of Harriet’s head. She idea it would be an amazing match; and solely too palpably desirable, natural, and probable, for her to have an awful lot benefit in planning it. She feared it was once what each physique else ought to assume of and predict. It used to be now not likely, however, that any physique ought to have equalled her in the date of the plan, as it had entered her intelligence for the duration of the very first nighttime of Harriet’s coming to Hartfield. The longer she viewed it, the larger used to be her feel of its expediency. Mr. Elton’s scenario used to be most suitable, pretty the gentleman himself, and barring low connexions; at the equal time, now not of any household that may want to pretty object to the dubious beginning of Harriet. He had a blissful domestic for her, and Emma imagined a very ample income; for although the vicarage of Highbury used to be no longer large, he used to be recognized to have some unbiased property; and she thinking very pretty of him as a good-humoured, well-meaning, first rate younger man, besides any deficiency of beneficial perception or know-how of the world.
She had already relaxed herself that he thinking Harriet a stunning girl, which she trusted, with such ordinary conferences at Hartfield, used to be basis adequate on his side; and on Harriet’s there ought to be little doubt that the notion of being favored through him would have all the regular weight and efficacy. And he was once surely a very appealing younger man, a younger man whom any lady now not fastidious would possibly like. He used to be reckoned very handsome; his character a lot admired in general, even though no longer by means of her, there being a favor of magnificence of function which she ought to now not dispense with:— however the lady who may want to be gratified via a Robert Martin’s using about the u . s . to get walnuts for her would possibly very properly be conquered by using Mr. Elton’s admiration.
