Jane Austen

“ Emma Watson was not more than of the middle height, well made and plump, with an air of healthy vigour. Her skin was very brown, but clear, smooth and glowing; which with a lively Eye, a sweet smile, and an open Countenance, gave beauty to attract, and expression to make that beauty improve on acquaintance. Having no reason to be dissatisfied with her partner, the Evening began very pleasantly to her; and her feelings perfectly coincided with the reiterated observation of others, that it was an excellent Ball. ”

“ The Sisters looked on each other with astonishment, when their Visitors had withdrawn. ‘Here’s an unaccountable Honour!’ cried Elizabeth at last. ‘Who would have thought of Lord Osborne’s coming to Stanton. He is very handsome; but Tom Musgrave looks all to nothing the smartest and most fashionable Man of the two. I am glad he did not say any thing to me; I would not have had to talk to such a great Man for the world. Tom was very agreeable, was not he? But did you hear him ask where Miss Penelope and Miss Margaret were, when he first came in? ”

“ Poverty is a great Evil, but to a woman of Education and feeling it ought not, it cannot be the greatest. I would rather be Teacher at a school (and I can think of nothing worse) than marry a Man I did not like.’ ‘I would rather do any thing than be Teacher at a school,’ said her sister. ‘I have been at school, Emma, and know what a Life they lead; you never have. I should not like marrying a disagreeable Man any more than yourself, but I do not think there are many very disagreeable Men. I think I could like any goodhumoured Man with a comfortable Income. ”

“ Emma had seen the Edwardeses only one morning at Stanton, they were therefore all but Strangers to her, and though her spirits were by no means insensible to the expected joys of the Evening, she felt a little uncomfortable in the thought of all that was to precede them. Her conversation with Elizabeth too giving her some very unpleasant feelings with respect to her own family, had made her more open to disagreeable impressions from any other cause, and increased her sense of the awkwardness of rushing into Intimacy on so slight an acquaintance. ”

“ A woman should never be trusted with money. I always said she ought to have settled something on you, as soon as her Husband died.’ ‘But that would have been trusting me with money,’ replied Emma, ‘and I am a woman too.’ ‘It might have been secured to your future use, without your having any power over it now. What a blow it must have been upon you! To find yourself, instead of Heiress to eight or nine thousand pounds, sent back a weight upon your family, without a sixpence. I hope the old woman will smart for it.’ ‘Do not speak disrespectfully of her. ”

“ But I doubt whether Ridicule—Has Penelope much wit?’ ‘Yes, she has great spirits, and never cares what she says.’ ‘Margaret is more gentle, I imagine?’ ‘Yes, especially in company; she is all gentleness and mildness when anybody is by. But she is a little fretful and perverse among ourselves. Poor creature! she is possessed with the notion of Tom Musgrave’s being more seriously in love with her, than he ever was with any body else, and is always expecting him to come to the point. ”

“ Female Economy will do a great deal, my Lord, but it cannot turn a small income into a large one.’ Lord Osborne was silenced. Her manner had been neither sententious nor sarcastic, but there was a something in its mild seriousness, as well as in the words themselves, which made his Lordship think; and when he addressed her again, it was with a degree of considerable propriety, totally unlike the half-awkward, half-fearless style of his former remarks. It was a new thing with him to wish to please a woman; it was the first time that he had ever felt what was due to a woman, in Emma’s situation. ”

“ I should not be surprised if you were to be thought one of the prettiest girls in the room, there is a great deal in Novelty. Perhaps Tom Musgrave may take notice of you; but I would advise you by all means not to give him any encouragement. He generally pays attention to every new girl, but he is a great Hitt and never means anything serious.’ ‘I think I have heard you speak of him before,’ said Emma. ‘Who is he?’ ‘A young Man of very good fortune, quite independant, and remarkably agreeable, an universal favourite wherever he goes. ”

“ Even Emma was pleased that he would stay, for she was beginning to feel that a family party might be the worst of all parties; and the others were delighted. ‘What’s your Game?’ cried he, as they stood round the Table. ‘Speculation, I believe,’ said Elizabeth. ‘My Sister recommends it, and I fancy we all like it. I know you do, Tom.’ ‘It is the only round game played at Croydon now,’ said Mrs. Robert; ‘we never think of any other. ”

“ On the third day after the Ball, as Nanny, at five minutes before three, was beginning to bustle into the parlour with the Tray and the Knife-case, she was suddenly called to the front door, by the sound of as smart a rap as the end of a riding-whip could give, and though charged by Miss Watson to let nobody in, returned in half a minute, with a look of awkward dismay, to hold the parlour door open for Lord Osborne and Tom Musgrave. The surprise of the young Ladies may be imagined. ”

“ There is no resisting a Cockade, my dear.’ ‘I hope there is,’ said Mrs. Edwardes gravely, with a quick glance at her daughter; and Emma had just recovered from her own perturbation in time to see a blush on Miss Edwardes’s cheek, and in remembering what Elizabeth had said of Captain Hunter, to wonder and waver between his influence and her brother’s.
‘Elderly Ladies should be careful how they make a second choice,’ observed Mr. Edwardes. ‘Carefulness—Discretion—should not be confined to Elderly Ladies, or to a second choice,’ added his wife. ”

“ I was her own Niece, and he left her the power and the pleasure of providing for me.’ ‘But unluckily she has left the pleasure of providing for you to your Father, and without the power. That’s the long and the short of the business. After keeping you at a distance from your family for such a length of time as must do away all natural affection among us and breeding you up (I suppose) in a superior style, you are returned upon their hands without a sixpence.’ ‘You know,’ replied Emma, struggling with her tears, ‘my Uncle’s melancholy state of health. He was a greater Invalid than my father. ”

“ Watson had not been well enough to join the party at dinner, but was prevailed on to come down and drink tea with them. ‘I wish we may be able to have a game of cards tonight,’ said Elizabeth to Mrs. Robert, after seeing her father comfortably seated in his arm chair. ‘Not on my account, my dear, I beg. You know I am no card player. I think a snug chat infinitely better. I always say cards are very well sometimes, to break a formal circle, but one never wants them among friends.’ ‘I was thinking of its being something to amuse my father,’ answered Elizabeth, ‘if it was not disagreeable to you. ”

“ Edwardes on the morning after a Ball, and this neighbourly inclination was increased in the present instance by a general spirit of curiosity on Emma’s account, as Everybody wanted to look again at the girl who had been admired the night before by Lord Osborne.
Many were the eyes, and various the degrees of approbation with which she was examined. Some saw no fault, and some no Beauty. With some her brown skin was the annihilation of every grace, and others could never be persuaded that she were half so handsome as Elizabeth Watson had been ten years ago. ”

“ I do not much think she is like any of the Family but Miss Watson; but I am very sure there is no resemblance between her and Sam.’
This matter was settled, and they went to Dinner. ‘Your Father, Miss Emma, is one of my oldest friends,’ said Mr. Edwardes, as he helped her to wine, when they were drawn round the fire to enjoy their Dessert. ‘We must drink to his better health. It is a great concern to me, I assure you, that he should be such an Invalid. I know nobody who likes a game of cards in a social way, better than he does; and very few people that play a fairer rubber. ”

“ It was an expectation to fill the thoughts of the Sisters at Stanton, and to busy the hours of one of them at least, for as Jane had been a woman of fortune, the preparations for her entertainment were considerable, and as Elizabeth had at all times more good will than method in her guidance of the house, she could make no change without a Bustle. An absence of fourteen years had made all her Brothers and Sisters Strangers to Emma, bur in her expectation of Margaret there was more than the awkwardness of such an alienation ”

“ Miss Watson, without seeming to hear her, ‘I was very much attached to a young Man of the name of Purvis, a particular friend of Robert’s, who used to be with us a great deal. Every body thought it would have been a Match.’ A sigh accompanied these words, which Emma respected in silence; but her sister after a short pause went on: ‘You will naturally ask why it did not take place, and why he is married to another Woman, while I am still single. But you must ask him, not me; you must ask Penelope. Yes, Emma, Penelope was at the bottom of it all. She thinks everything fair for a Husband ”

“ Poor Sam! He is out of luck as well as other people. For the life of me, Emma, I cannot help feeling for those that are cross’d in Love. Well, now begin, and give me an account of everything as it happened.’ Emma obeyed her, and Elizabeth listened with very little interruption till she heard of Mr. Howard as a partner. ‘Dance with Mr. Howard! Good Heavens! You don’t say so! Why, he is quite one of the great and Grand ones. Did not you find him very high?’ ‘His manners are of a kind to give me much more Ease and confidence than Tom Musgrave’s.’ ‘Well, go on. ”

“ If she is like her Sisters, she will only want to be listened to. I will go this moment. I shall find her in the Tea-room. That stiff old Mrs. Edwardes has never done tea.’ Away he went, Lord Osborne after him, and Emma lost no time in hurrying from her corner, exactly the other way, forgetting in her haste that she left Mrs. Edwardes behind. ‘We had quite lost you,’ said Mrs. Edwardes, who followed her with Mary, in less than five minutes. ”

“ When an old Lady plays the fool, it is not in the course of nature that she should suffer from it many years.’ Emma drew her hand across her eyes, and Mrs. Edwardes on perceiving it, changed the subject to one of less anxiety to all. ”

“ It gained her a broad stare from Miss Osborne and Miss Carr as they passed her in the dance. ‘Upon my word, Charles, you are in luck,’ said the former as she turned him, ‘you have got a better partner than me,’ to which the happy Charles answered ‘Yes.’ Tom Musgrave, who was dancing with Miss Carr, gave her many inquisitive glances; and after a time Lord Osborne himself came, and under pretence of talking to Charles, stood to look at his partner. Though rather distressed by such observation, Emma could not repent what she had done, so happy had it made both the boy and his Mother ”

“ As Margaret would not allow a doubt to be repeated of Musgrave’s coming to dinner, preparations were made for his Entertainment much exceeding what had been deemed necessary the day before; and taking the office of superintendance entirely from her sister, she was half the morning in the Kitchen herself directing and scolding. After a great deal of indifferent Cooking and anxious Suspense, however, they were obliged to sit down without their Guest. Tom Musgrave never came, and Margaret was at no pains to conceal her vexation under the disappointment, or repress the peevishness of her Temper. ”

“ This is the second time within this twelvemonth that she has gone to spend a month with Robert and Jane on purpose to egg him on, by her absence; but I am sure she is mistaken, and that he will no more follow her to Croydon now than he did last Match. He will never marry unless he can marry somebody very great; Miss Osborne perhaps, or something in that style.’ ‘Your account of this Tom Musgrave, Elizabeth, gives me very little inclination for his acquaintance.’ ‘You are afraid of him, I do not wonder at you.’ ‘No, indeed, I dislike and despise him.’ ‘Dislike and Despise Tom Musgrave! ”

“ But if these soldiers are quicker than other people in a Ball-room, what are young Ladies to do?’ ‘I think there is no occasion for their engaging themselves so many Dances beforehand, Mr. Edwardes.’ ‘No, perhaps not; but I remember, my dear, when you and I did the same.’ Mrs. Edwardes said no more, and Mary breathed again. A great deal of good-humoured pleasantry followed, and Emma went to bed in charming Spirits, her head full of Osbornes, Blakes and Howards. ”

“ I only hope it will last; and that he will not come on to pay you much attention; it is a hard thing for a woman to stand against the flattering ways of a Man, when he is bent upon pleasing her.’ As their quietly-sociable little meal concluded, Miss Watson could not help observing how comfortably it had passed. ”

“ From being the first object of Hope and Solicitude to an Uncle who had formed her mind with the care of a Parent, and of Tenderness to an Aunt whose amiable temper had delighted to give her every indulgence, from being the Life and Spirit of a House, where all had been comfort and Elegance, and the expected Heiress of an easy Independance, she was become of importance to no one, a burden on those whose affections she could not expect, an addition in a House already overstocked, surrounded by inferior minds with little chance of domestic comfort, and as little hope of future support. ”

“ I shall never love any Man as I loved Purvis. I do not think Tom Musgrave should be named with him in the same day.’ ‘You quite shock me by what you say of Penelope,’ said Emma. ‘Could a sister do such a thing? ”