Latest / Fiction Library / The Watsons - Jane Austen
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The Watsons, a fragment of a novel by Jane Austen,
- 0:05Speaker 1: Part one. The first winter assembly in the town of
- 0:09Speaker 1: d in Surrey was to be held on Tuesday, October thirteenth,
- 0:13Speaker 1: and it was generally expected to be a very good one.
- 0:16Speaker 1: A long list of country families was confidently run over
- 0:19Speaker 1: as sure of attending, and sanguine hopes were entertained that
- 0:23Speaker 1: the Osborns themselves would be there. The Edward's invitation to
- 0:27Speaker 1: the Watsons followed. Of course, the Edwards were people of
- 0:31Speaker 1: fortune who lived in the town and kept their coach.
- 0:34Speaker 1: The Watsons inhabited a village about three miles distant, were
- 0:38Speaker 1: poor and had no close carriage, and ever since there
- 0:42Speaker 1: had been balls in the place, the former were accustomed
- 0:45Speaker 1: to invite the latter to dress, dine and sleep at
- 0:48Speaker 1: their house when every monthly return throughout the winter. On
- 0:52Speaker 1: the present occasion, as only two of mister Watson's children
- 0:55Speaker 1: were at home, and one was always necessary as companion
- 0:58Speaker 1: to himself, for he was sickly and had lost his wife,
- 1:02Speaker 1: one only could profit by the kindness of their friends.
- 1:06Speaker 1: Miss Emma Watson, who was very recently returned to her
- 1:09Speaker 1: family from the care of an aunt who had brought
- 1:12Speaker 1: her up, was to make her first public appearance in
- 1:15Speaker 1: the neighborhood, and her eldest sister, whose delight in a
- 1:18Speaker 1: ball was not lessened by a ten years enjoyment, had
- 1:22Speaker 1: some merriage in cheerfully undertaking to drive her and all
- 1:25Speaker 1: her finery in the old chair to d on the
- 1:27Speaker 1: important morning. As they splashed along the dirty lane. Miss
- 1:33Speaker 1: Watson thus instructed and cautioned her inexperienced sister. I dare
- 1:38Speaker 1: say it will be a very good ball, and among
- 1:40Speaker 1: so many officers you will hardly want partners. You will
- 1:43Speaker 1: find missus Edwards's maid very willing to help you, and
- 1:46Speaker 1: I would advise you to ask Mary Edward's opinion if
- 1:48Speaker 1: you are at all at a loss, for she has
- 1:51Speaker 1: very good taste. If mister Edwards does not lose his
- 1:54Speaker 1: money at cards, he will stay as late as you wish,
- 1:56Speaker 1: for if he does, he will hurry your home. Perhaps,
- 2:00Speaker 1: but you are sure of some comfortable soup. I hope
- 2:03Speaker 1: you will be in good looks. I should not be
- 2:06Speaker 1: surprised if you were to be thought of one of
- 2:07Speaker 1: the prettiest girls in the room. There is a great
- 2:10Speaker 1: deal and novelty. Perhaps Tom Musgrave may take notice of you,
- 2:15Speaker 1: but I would advise you by all means not to
- 2:17Speaker 1: give him any encouragement. He generally pays attention to every
- 2:21Speaker 1: new girl, but he is a great flat and never
- 2:23Speaker 1: means anything serious. I think I have heard you speak
- 2:27Speaker 1: of him before, said Emma. Who is he? A young
- 2:32Speaker 1: man of very good fortune, quite independent and remarkably agreeable,
- 2:36Speaker 1: a universal favored wherever he goes. Most of the girls
- 2:40Speaker 1: hear about are in love with him, or have been.
- 2:43Speaker 1: I believe I am the only one among them that
- 2:45Speaker 1: have escaped with a whole heart. And yet I was
- 2:48Speaker 1: the first he paid attention to when he came to
- 2:50Speaker 1: this country six years ago, and very great attention did
- 2:53Speaker 1: he pay me. Some people say that he has never
- 2:55Speaker 1: seemed to like a girl so well since, though he
- 2:58Speaker 1: is always behaving in a particular way to one or another.
- 3:02Speaker 1: And how came your heart to be the only cold one?
- 3:05Speaker 1: Said Emma, smiling. There was a reason for that, replied
- 3:10Speaker 1: Miss Watson, changing color. I have not been very well
- 3:15Speaker 1: used among them, Emma. I hope you will have better luck,
- 3:19Speaker 1: dear sister. I beg your pardon if I have unthinkingly
- 3:21Speaker 1: given you pain when first we knew Tom Musgrave, continued
- 3:27Speaker 1: Miss Watson, without seeming to hear her. I was very
- 3:31Speaker 1: much attached to a young man of the name of Pervis,
- 3:34Speaker 1: a particular friend of Robert's, who used to be with
- 3:36Speaker 1: us a great deal. Everybody thought it would have been
- 3:39Speaker 1: a match. A sigh accompanied these words, which Emma respected
- 3:44Speaker 1: in silence. But her sister, after a short pause, went on,
- 3:50Speaker 1: you will naturally ask why it did not take place,
- 3:53Speaker 1: and why he is married to another woman while I
- 3:55Speaker 1: am still single. But you must ask her, not me.
- 3:58Speaker 1: You must ask Penelope. Yes, Emma, Penelope was at the
- 4:02Speaker 1: bottom of it all. She thinks everything fair for a husband.
- 4:07Speaker 1: I trusted her. She set him against me with a
- 4:10Speaker 1: view of gaining him herself, and it ended in his
- 4:13Speaker 1: discontinuing his visits, and soon after marrying somebody else. Penelope
- 4:18Speaker 1: makes light of her conduct, But I think such treachery
- 4:21Speaker 1: very bad. It has been the ruin of my happiness.
- 4:25Speaker 1: I shall never love any man as I love Purvis.
- 4:29Speaker 1: I do not think Tom Musgrave should be named with him.
- 4:31Speaker 1: In the same day. You quite truck me by what
- 4:35Speaker 1: you say of Penelope, said Emma. Could a sister do
- 4:39Speaker 1: such a thing, rivalry, treachery between sisters. I shall be
- 4:44Speaker 1: afraid of being acquainted with her, but I hope it
- 4:47Speaker 1: was not so. Appearances were against her. You do not know, Penelope.
- 4:53Speaker 1: There is nothing she would not do to get married.
- 4:56Speaker 1: She would as good as tell you so herself. Do
- 4:59Speaker 1: not trust her with any secrets of your own. Take
- 5:02Speaker 1: warning by me, do not trust her. She has her
- 5:05Speaker 1: good qualities, but she has no faith, no honor, no scruples.
- 5:09Speaker 1: If she can promote her own advantage. I wish with
- 5:12Speaker 1: all my heart she was well married. I declare I
- 5:15Speaker 1: had rather have her well married than myself then yourself. Yes,
- 5:21Speaker 1: I can suppose so. A heart wounded like yours can
- 5:25Speaker 1: have little inclination for matrimony, not much, indeed, But you
- 5:30Speaker 1: know we must marry. I could do very well single
- 5:33Speaker 1: for my own part. A little company and a pleasant
- 5:36Speaker 1: ball now and then would be enough for me, if
- 5:38Speaker 1: one could be young for ever. But my father cannot
- 5:41Speaker 1: provide for us. And it is very bad to grow
- 5:44Speaker 1: old and be poor and laughed at. I have lost pervise.
- 5:47Speaker 1: It is true but very few people marry their first loves.
- 5:51Speaker 1: I should not refuse a man because he was not pervise,
- 5:55Speaker 1: not that I can never quite forgive Penelope. Emma shook
- 5:59Speaker 1: her head in acquiescence. Penelope, however, has had her troubles,
- 6:05Speaker 1: continued Miss Watson. She was sadly disappointed in Tom Musgrave,
- 6:10Speaker 1: who afterwards transferred his attention from me to her, and
- 6:14Speaker 1: whom she was very fond of. But he never means
- 6:16Speaker 1: anything serious, And when he had trifled with her long enough,
- 6:19Speaker 1: he began to slight her from Margaret, and poor Penelope
- 6:23Speaker 1: was very wretched. And since she has been trying to
- 6:26Speaker 1: make some match at Chichester, she won't tell us with whom,
- 6:29Speaker 1: but I believe it is a rich old doctor, harding
- 6:32Speaker 1: uncle to the friend she goes to see, and she
- 6:34Speaker 1: has taken a vast deal of trouble about him, and
- 6:37Speaker 1: given up a great deal of time to no purposes.
- 6:39Speaker 1: Yet when she went away the other day, she said
- 6:42Speaker 1: it should be the last time. I suppose you did
- 6:45Speaker 1: not know what her particular business was at Chichester, nor
- 6:49Speaker 1: guess at the object which could take her away from
- 6:51Speaker 1: Stanton just as you were coming home after so many
- 6:53Speaker 1: years absence. No, indeed, I had not the smallest suspicion
- 6:58Speaker 1: of it. I considered her engagement to missus shaw Just
- 7:02Speaker 1: at the time as very unfortunate for me. I had
- 7:05Speaker 1: hoped to find all my sisters at home to be
- 7:08Speaker 1: able to make an immediate friend of each. I suspect
- 7:12Speaker 1: the doctor to have had an attack of the asthma,
- 7:14Speaker 1: and that she was hurried away on that account. The
- 7:17Speaker 1: Shawls are quite on her side, at least I believe so.
- 7:19Speaker 1: But she tells me nothing. She professes to keep her
- 7:22Speaker 1: own counsel, she says, and truly enough that too many
- 7:26Speaker 1: cooks spoil the broth. I am sorry for her anxieties,
- 7:32Speaker 1: said Emma, but I do not like her plans or
- 7:35Speaker 1: her opinions. I shall be afraid of her. She must
- 7:38Speaker 1: have too masculine and bold a temper to be so
- 7:41Speaker 1: bent on marriage. To pursue a man merely for the
- 7:45Speaker 1: sake of situation is the sort of thing that shocks me.
- 7:48Speaker 1: I cannot understand it. Poverty is a great evil, but
- 7:52Speaker 1: to a woman of education and feeling it ought not,
- 7:55Speaker 1: it cannot be the greatest. I would rather be a
- 7:58Speaker 1: teacher at a school, and I can think of nothing
- 8:01Speaker 1: worse than marry a man I did not like. I
- 8:05Speaker 1: would rather do anything than be a teacher at a school,
- 8:08Speaker 1: said her sister. I have been at school, Emma, and
- 8:11Speaker 1: know what a life they lead. You never have. I
- 8:15Speaker 1: should not like marrying a disagreeable man any more than yourself.
- 8:18Speaker 1: But I do not think there are many very disagreeable men.
- 8:21Speaker 1: I think I could like any good humored man with
- 8:24Speaker 1: a comfortable income. I suppose my aunt brought you up
- 8:27Speaker 1: to be rather refined. Indeed, I do not know my conduct.
- 8:32Speaker 1: Must tell you how I have been brought up. I
- 8:34Speaker 1: am no judge of it myself. I cannot compare my
- 8:37Speaker 1: aunt's method with any other persons, because I know no other.
- 8:41Speaker 1: But I can see in a great many things that
- 8:43Speaker 1: you are very refined. I have observed it ever since
- 8:46Speaker 1: you came home, and I am afraid it will not
- 8:48Speaker 1: be for your happiness. Penelope will laugh at you very much.
- 8:53Speaker 1: That will not be for my happiness. I am sure.
- 8:56Speaker 1: If my opinions are wrong, I must correct them. If
- 8:59Speaker 1: they are above my situation, I must endeavor to conceal them.
- 9:02Speaker 1: But I doubt whether Ridicule has Penelope much wit. Yes,
- 9:08Speaker 1: she has great spirits and never cares what she says.
- 9:12Speaker 1: Margaret is more gentle, I imagine, yes, especially in company.
- 9:17Speaker 1: She is all gentleness and mildness when anybody is by,
- 9:20Speaker 1: but she is a little fretful and perverse among ourselves,
- 9:23Speaker 1: poor creature. She is possessed with the notion of Tom
- 9:26Speaker 1: Musgrave's being more seriously in love with her than he
- 9:29Speaker 1: ever was with anybody else, and is always expecting him
- 9:32Speaker 1: to come to the point. This is the second time
- 9:35Speaker 1: within this twelvemonth that she has gone to spend a
- 9:38Speaker 1: month with Robert and Jane on purpose to egg him
- 9:40Speaker 1: on by her absence. But I am sure she is mistaken,
- 9:44Speaker 1: and that he will no more follow her to Croydon
- 9:46Speaker 1: now than he did last March. He will never marry
- 9:49Speaker 1: unless he can marry somebody very great, Miss Osborne, perhaps,
- 9:53Speaker 1: or something in that style. Your account of this Tom Musgrave,
- 9:58Speaker 1: Elizabeth gives me very little inclination for his acquaintance. You
- 10:03Speaker 1: are afraid of him. I do not wonder at you. No, Indeed,
- 10:08Speaker 1: I dislike and despise him. Dislike and despise Tom Musgrave.
- 10:14Speaker 1: Know that you never can. I defy you not to
- 10:17Speaker 1: be delighted with him. If he takes notice of you,
- 10:20Speaker 1: I hope he will dance with you, and I dare
- 10:21Speaker 1: say he will unless the Osborns come with a large party,
- 10:25Speaker 1: and then he will not speak to anybody else. He
- 10:29Speaker 1: seems to have the most engaging manners, said Emma, well,
- 10:33Speaker 1: we shall see how irresistible mister Tom Musgrave and I
- 10:36Speaker 1: find each other. I suppose I shall know him as
- 10:39Speaker 1: soon as I enter the ball room. He must carry
- 10:41Speaker 1: some of his charm in his face. You will not
- 10:45Speaker 1: find him in the ball room. I can tell you.
- 10:48Speaker 1: You will go early that missus Edwards may get a
- 10:50Speaker 1: good place by the fire, and he never comes till late.
- 10:54Speaker 1: If the Osborns are coming, he will wait in the
- 10:56Speaker 1: passage and come in with them. I should like to
- 10:59Speaker 1: look in upon you, Emma. If it was but a
- 11:01Speaker 1: good day with my father, I would wrap myself up,
- 11:04Speaker 1: and James should drive me over as soon as I
- 11:06Speaker 1: had made tea for him, and I should be with
- 11:09Speaker 1: you by the time the dancing began. What would you
- 11:13Speaker 1: come late at night in this chair? To be sure?
- 11:16Speaker 1: I would there? I said, you were very refined, and
- 11:20Speaker 1: that's an instance of it. Emma, for a moment, made
- 11:24Speaker 1: no answer. At last, she said, I wish, Elizabeth, you
- 11:29Speaker 1: had not made a point of my going to this
- 11:30Speaker 1: ball I wish you were going instead of me, your
- 11:35Speaker 1: pleasure would be greater than mine. I am a stranger
- 11:38Speaker 1: here and know nobody but the Edwardses. My enjoyment therefore
- 11:42Speaker 1: must be very doubtful. Yours, among all your acquaintance would
- 11:45Speaker 1: be certain. It is not too late to change. Very
- 11:49Speaker 1: little apology could be requisite to the Edwardses, who must
- 11:53Speaker 1: be more glad of your company than of mine. And
- 11:55Speaker 1: I should most readily return to my father, and should
- 11:58Speaker 1: not be at all afraid to drive this quiet old
- 12:00Speaker 1: creature home. Your clothes I would undertake to find means
- 12:04Speaker 1: of sending to you, my dearest Emma, cried Elizabeth warmly.
- 12:11Speaker 1: Do you think I would do such a thing not
- 12:13Speaker 1: for the universe? But I shall never forget your good
- 12:16Speaker 1: nature in proposing it. You must have a sweet temper.
- 12:19Speaker 1: Indeed I never met with anything like it. And would
- 12:23Speaker 1: you really give up the ball that I might be
- 12:24Speaker 1: able to go to it? Believe me, Emma, I am
- 12:27Speaker 1: not so selfish as that comes to. No. Though I
- 12:31Speaker 1: am nine years older than you are, I would not
- 12:33Speaker 1: be the means of keeping you from being seen. And
- 12:36Speaker 1: it should be very hard that you should not have
- 12:38Speaker 1: as fair a chance as we have all had to
- 12:40Speaker 1: make your fortune. No, Emma, whoever stays at home this winter,
- 12:44Speaker 1: it sha'n't be you. I am sure I should never
- 12:47Speaker 1: have forgiven the person who kept me from a ball
- 12:49Speaker 1: at nineteen Emma expressed her gratitude, and for a few
- 12:54Speaker 1: minutes they drogged on in silence. Elizabeth first spoke, you
- 12:59Speaker 1: will take notice whom Mary Edwards dances with. I will
- 13:04Speaker 1: remember her partners if I can, but you know they
- 13:06Speaker 1: will all be strangers to me. Only observe whether she
- 13:11Speaker 1: dances with Captain Hunter more than once. I have my
- 13:14Speaker 1: fears in that quarter, not that her father or mother
- 13:17Speaker 1: like officers. But if she does, you know it is
- 13:20Speaker 1: all over with poor Sam. And I have promised to
- 13:22Speaker 1: write him word who she dances with? Is Sam attached
- 13:26Speaker 1: to Miss Edwards? Did you not know that? How should
- 13:31Speaker 1: I know it? How should I know? In Shropshire? What
- 13:34Speaker 1: is passing off that nature in Surrey? It is not
- 13:37Speaker 1: likely that circumstances of such delicacy should have made any
- 13:40Speaker 1: part of the scanty communication which passed between you and
- 13:44Speaker 1: me for the last fourteen years. I wonder I never
- 13:48Speaker 1: mentioned it when I wrote since you have been at home,
- 13:51Speaker 1: I have been so busy with my poor father and
- 13:53Speaker 1: our great wash that I have had no leisure to
- 13:56Speaker 1: tell you anything. But indeed I concluded you knew it all.
- 14:00Speaker 1: He has been very much in love with her these
- 14:02Speaker 1: two years, and it is a great disappointment to him
- 14:05Speaker 1: that he cannot always get away to our balls. But
- 14:08Speaker 1: mister Curtis won't often spare him, and just now it
- 14:11Speaker 1: is a sickly time at Guildford. Do you suppose miss
- 14:15Speaker 1: Edwards inclined to like him? I am afraid not. You know,
- 14:20Speaker 1: she is an only child and will have at least
- 14:22Speaker 1: ten thousand pounds, But still she may like our brother.
- 14:28Speaker 1: Oh no, the Edwards look much higher. Her father and
- 14:32Speaker 1: mother would never consent to it. Sam is only a surgeon,
- 14:35Speaker 1: you know. Sometimes I think she does like him, But
- 14:39Speaker 1: Mary Edwards is rather prim and reserved. I do not
- 14:42Speaker 1: always know what she would be at unless Sam feels
- 14:46Speaker 1: on shore grounds with the lady herself. It seems a
- 14:49Speaker 1: pity to me that he should be encouraged to think
- 14:51Speaker 1: of her at all. A young man must think of somebody,
- 14:56Speaker 1: said Elizabeth, And why should he not be as lucky
- 14:58Speaker 1: as Robert, who has a good wife and six thousand
- 15:01Speaker 1: pounds we must not all expect to be individually lucky,
- 15:06Speaker 1: replied Emma. The luck of one member of a family
- 15:10Speaker 1: is luck to all. Mine is all to come, I
- 15:13Speaker 1: am sure, said Elizabeth, giving another sigh to the remembrance
- 15:17Speaker 1: of Pervis. I have been unlucky enough, and I cannot
- 15:21Speaker 1: say much for you, as my aunt married again, so
- 15:23Speaker 1: foolishly well, you will have a good ball, I dare say.
- 15:28Speaker 1: The next turning will bring us to the turnpike. You
- 15:30Speaker 1: may see the church tower over the hedge, and the
- 15:33Speaker 1: White Heart is close by it. I shall long to
- 15:36Speaker 1: know what you think of Tom Musgrave. Such were the
- 15:40Speaker 1: last audible sounds of Miss Watson's voice before they passed
- 15:43Speaker 1: through the turnpike gate and entered on the pitching of
- 15:46Speaker 1: the town, the jumbling and noise of which made father
- 15:49Speaker 1: conversation most thoroughly undesirable. The old mare trotted heavily on,
- 15:55Speaker 1: wanting no direction of the reins to take the right turning,
- 15:59Speaker 1: at making only one blunder in proposing to stop at
- 16:02Speaker 1: the Milliner's before she drew up towards mister Edwards's door.
- 16:05Speaker 1: Mister Edward lived in the best house in the street,
- 16:08Speaker 1: and the best in the place. If mister Tomlinson, the
- 16:11Speaker 1: banker might be indulged in calling his newly erected house
- 16:14Speaker 1: at the end of the town with a shrubbery and
- 16:16Speaker 1: sweep in the country. Mister Edward's house was higher than
- 16:22Speaker 1: most of its neighbors, with four windows on each side
- 16:24Speaker 1: of the door, the windows guarded by posts and chains,
- 16:27Speaker 1: and the door approached by a flight of stone steps.
- 16:33Speaker 1: Here we are, said Elizabeth, as the carriage ceased moving
- 16:36Speaker 1: safely arrived, and by the market clock we have been
- 16:39Speaker 1: only five and thirty minutes coming, which I think is
- 16:42Speaker 1: doing pretty well, though it would be nothing for Penelope.
- 16:46Speaker 1: Is not it a nice town? The Edwards have a
- 16:48Speaker 1: noble house, you see, and they live quite in style.
- 16:51Speaker 1: The door will be opened by a man in livery
- 16:54Speaker 1: with the powdered head, I can tell you. Emma had
- 16:58Speaker 1: seen the Edwardses only one morning at Stanton. They were
- 17:01Speaker 1: therefore all but strangers to her, and though her spirits
- 17:04Speaker 1: were by no means indispensable to the expected joys of
- 17:07Speaker 1: the evening, she felt a little uncomfortable in the thought
- 17:09Speaker 1: of all that was to precede them. Her conversation with Elizabeth, too,
- 17:14Speaker 1: giving her some very unpleasant feelings with respect to her
- 17:17Speaker 1: own family had made her more open to disagreeable impressions
- 17:20Speaker 1: from any other cause, and increased her sense of the
- 17:23Speaker 1: awkwardness of rushing into intimacy on so slight an acquaintance.
- 17:29Speaker 1: There was nothing in the manner of Missus or miss
- 17:31Speaker 1: Edwards to give immediate change to these ideas. The mother,
- 17:35Speaker 1: though a very friendly woman, had a reserved air and
- 17:38Speaker 1: a great deal of formal civility, and her daughter, a
- 17:41Speaker 1: genteel looking girl of twenty two, with her hair in papers,
- 17:45Speaker 1: seemed very naturally to have caught something of the style
- 17:48Speaker 1: of her mother, who had brought her up. Emma was
- 17:52Speaker 1: soon left to know what there could be by Elizabeth's
- 17:55Speaker 1: being obliged to hurry away, and some very languid remarks
- 17:58Speaker 1: on the probable brilliant see of the ball were all
- 18:01Speaker 1: that broke at intervals a silence of half an hour
- 18:05Speaker 1: before they were joined by the master of the house.
- 18:08Speaker 1: Mister Edwards had a much easier and more communicative air
- 18:11Speaker 1: than the ladies of the family. He was fresh from
- 18:13Speaker 1: the street, and he came ready to tell whatever might interest.
- 18:19Speaker 1: After a cordial reception of Emma, he turned to his
- 18:21Speaker 1: daughter with well Mary, I bring you good news. The
- 18:25Speaker 1: Osborns will certainly be at the ball to night Horses,
- 18:28Speaker 1: for two carriages are ordered from the White Hart to
- 18:30Speaker 1: be at Osborne Castle by nine. I am glad of it,
- 18:35Speaker 1: observed Missus Edwards, because their coming gives a credit to
- 18:39Speaker 1: our assembly. The Osborne's being known to have been at
- 18:42Speaker 1: the first ball will dispose a great many people to
- 18:45Speaker 1: attend the second. It is more than they deserve, for
- 18:48Speaker 1: in fact, they add nothing to the pleasure of the evening.
- 18:51Speaker 1: They come so late and go so early, But great
- 18:53Speaker 1: people have always their charm. Mister Edwards proceeded to relate
- 18:59Speaker 1: every other article news which his mornings lounge had supplied
- 19:02Speaker 1: him with, and they chatted with greater briskness till Missus
- 19:06Speaker 1: Edwards's moment for dressing arrived, and the young ladies were
- 19:09Speaker 1: carefully recommended to lose no time. Emma was shown to
- 19:14Speaker 1: a very comfortable apartment, and as soon as Missus Edward's
- 19:17Speaker 1: civilities could leave her to herself, the happy occupation the
- 19:21Speaker 1: first bliss of a ball began. The girls, dressing in
- 19:25Speaker 1: some measure together, grew unavoidably better acquainted. Emma found in
- 19:29Speaker 1: miss Edwards. The show of good sense, a modest unpretending mind,
- 19:33Speaker 1: and a great wish of obliging. And when they returned
- 19:36Speaker 1: to the parlor where Missus Edwards was sitting respectably attired
- 19:40Speaker 1: in one of the two satin gowns which went through
- 19:43Speaker 1: the winter and a new cap from the milliner's, they
- 19:46Speaker 1: entered it with much easier feelings and more natural smiles
- 19:49Speaker 1: than they had taken away. Their dress was now to
- 19:54Speaker 1: be examined. Missus Edwards acknowledged herself too old fashioned to
- 19:57Speaker 1: approve of every modern extravagance, however sanctioned, and though complacently
- 20:02Speaker 1: viewing her daughter's good looks, would give but a qualified admiration,
- 20:06Speaker 1: and mister Edwards, not less satisfied with Mary, paid some
- 20:10Speaker 1: compliments of good humored gallantry to Emma at her expense.
- 20:15Speaker 1: The discussion led to more intimate remarks, and miss Edwards
- 20:18Speaker 1: gently asked Emma if she were not often reckoned, very
- 20:20Speaker 1: like her youngest brother. Emma thought she could perceive a
- 20:24Speaker 1: faint blush accompany the question, and there seemed something still
- 20:27Speaker 1: more suspicious in the manner in which mister Edward took
- 20:30Speaker 1: up the subject. You are paying miss Emma no great
- 20:34Speaker 1: compliment I think, Mary, he said hastily. Mister Sam Watson
- 20:39Speaker 1: is a very good sort of young man, and I
- 20:41Speaker 1: dare say a very clever surgeon. But his complexion has
- 20:44Speaker 1: been rather too much exposed to all weathers to make
- 20:46Speaker 1: a likeness of him very flattering. Mary apologized, in some
- 20:51Speaker 1: confusion she had not thought to a strong likeness at all
- 20:55Speaker 1: incompatible with very different degrees of beauty. There might be
- 20:58Speaker 1: a resemblance and countenance, and the complexion, and even the
- 21:01Speaker 1: features be very unlike. I know nothing of my brother's beauty,
- 21:07Speaker 1: said Emma, for I have not seen him since he
- 21:09Speaker 1: was seven years old. But my father reckons us a
- 21:12Speaker 1: like mister Watson, cried mister Edwards. Well, you astonish me.
- 21:19Speaker 1: There is not the least likeness in the world. Your
- 21:21Speaker 1: brother's eyes are gray, yours are brown. He has a
- 21:24Speaker 1: long face and a wide mouth. My dear, do you
- 21:27Speaker 1: perceive the least resemblance? Not the least? Miss Emma Watson
- 21:32Speaker 1: puts me very much in mind of her eldest sister.
- 21:35Speaker 1: And sometimes I see a look of Miss Penelope, and
- 21:37Speaker 1: once or twice there has been a glance of mister Robert.
- 21:40Speaker 1: But I cannot perceive any likeness to mister Samuel. I
- 21:45Speaker 1: see the likeness between her and Miss Watson, replied mister
- 21:48Speaker 1: Edwards very strongly. But I am not sensible of the others.
- 21:52Speaker 1: I do not much think she is like any of
- 21:54Speaker 1: the family but miss Watson. But I am sure there
- 21:56Speaker 1: is no resemblance between her and sam This matter was
- 22:01Speaker 1: settled and they went to dinner. Your father, miss Emma,
- 22:05Speaker 1: is one of my oldest friends, said mister Edwards, as
- 22:09Speaker 1: he helped her to whine when they were drawn round
- 22:11Speaker 1: the fire to enjoy their dessert. We must drink to
- 22:16Speaker 1: his better health. It is a great concern to me.
- 22:19Speaker 1: I assure you that he should be such an invalid.
- 22:21Speaker 1: I know nobody who likes a game of cards in
- 22:24Speaker 1: a social way better than he does, and very few
- 22:26Speaker 1: people play a fairer robber. It is a thousand pities
- 22:30Speaker 1: that he should be so deprived of a pleasure. For now.
- 22:33Speaker 1: We have a quiet little whist club that meets three
- 22:36Speaker 1: times a week at the White Heart. And if you
- 22:38Speaker 1: could but have his health, how much he would enjoy it?
- 22:42Speaker 1: I dare say he would, sir, and I wish with
- 22:44Speaker 1: all my heart he were equal to it. Your club
- 22:48Speaker 1: would be better fitted for an invalid, said Missus Edwards.
- 22:53Speaker 1: If you did not keep it up so late, this
- 22:56Speaker 1: was an old grievance. So late, my dear, what are
- 23:00Speaker 1: ye talking of, cried the husband, with sturdy pleasantry. We
- 23:04Speaker 1: are always at home before midnight, They would laugh at
- 23:07Speaker 1: Osborne Castle to hear you call that late. They are
- 23:11Speaker 1: but just rising from dinner at midnight. That is nothing
- 23:15Speaker 1: to the purpose, retorted the lady calmly. The Osborns are
- 23:19Speaker 1: to be no rule for us. You had better meet
- 23:22Speaker 1: every night and break out two hours sooner. So far
- 23:27Speaker 1: the subject was very often carried, but mister and Missus
- 23:30Speaker 1: Edwards were so wise as never to pass that point.
- 23:32Speaker 1: And mister Edwards now turned to something else. He had
- 23:36Speaker 1: lived long enough in the idleness of a town to
- 23:38Speaker 1: become a little of a gossip, and having some anxiety
- 23:41Speaker 1: to know more of the circumstances of his youngest guest
- 23:44Speaker 1: than had yet reached him, he began with, I think,
- 23:49Speaker 1: miss Emma, I remember your aunt very well, about thirty
- 23:52Speaker 1: years ago. I am pretty sure I danced with her
- 23:55Speaker 1: in the old rooms at Bath the year before I married.
- 23:58Speaker 1: She was a very fine woman there, But like other people,
- 24:01Speaker 1: I suppose she has grown somewhat older since that time.
- 24:05Speaker 1: I hope she is likely to be happy in her
- 24:07Speaker 1: second choice. I hope so. I believe so, sir, said Emma,
- 24:12Speaker 1: in some agitation. Mister Turner has not been dared a
- 24:16Speaker 1: great while. I think about two years, sir, I forget
- 24:22Speaker 1: what her name is now, O'Brien irish ah, I remember,
- 24:28Speaker 1: and she is gone to settle in Ireland. I do
- 24:31Speaker 1: wonder that you should not wish to go with her
- 24:32Speaker 1: into that country, miss Emma, but it must be a
- 24:35Speaker 1: great deprivation to her, poor lady, after bringing you up
- 24:38Speaker 1: like a child of her own. I was not so ungrateful, sir,
- 24:44Speaker 1: said Emma warmly, as to wish to be anywhere, but
- 24:46Speaker 1: with her. It did not suit them. It did not
- 24:49Speaker 1: suit Captain O'Brien that I should be of the party, Captain,
- 24:55Speaker 1: repeated Missus Edwards. The gentleman is in the army, then, yes,
- 25:01Speaker 1: ma'am aye. There is nothing like your officers for captivating
- 25:05Speaker 1: the ladies, young or old. There is no resisting a cockade,
- 25:09Speaker 1: my dear, I hope there is, said Missus Edwards gravely,
- 25:15Speaker 1: with a quick glance at her daughter. And Emma had
- 25:18Speaker 1: just recovered from her own perturbation in time to see
- 25:21Speaker 1: a blush on Miss Edwards's cheek, and in remembering what
- 25:24Speaker 1: Elizabeth had said of Captain Hunter to wander and waver
- 25:27Speaker 1: between his influence and her brothers. Elderly ladies should be
- 25:32Speaker 1: careful how they make a second choice, observed mister Edwards.
- 25:38Speaker 1: Carefulness discretion should not be confined to elderly ladies or
- 25:42Speaker 1: to a second choice, added his wife. They are quite
- 25:46Speaker 1: as necessary to young ladies in their first rather more so,
- 25:51Speaker 1: my dear, replied he, because young ladies are likely to
- 25:54Speaker 1: feel the effects of it longer. When an old lady
- 25:58Speaker 1: plays the fool, it is not in the course of
- 26:00Speaker 1: nature that she should suffer from it. Many years Emma
- 26:04Speaker 1: drew her hand across her eyes, and Missus Edwards, on
- 26:07Speaker 1: perceiving it, changed the subject of one to less anxiety
- 26:10Speaker 1: to all. The entrance of the tea things at seven
- 26:14Speaker 1: o'clock was some relief, and luckily mister and Missus Edwards
- 26:18Speaker 1: always drank a dish extraordinary and at an additional muffin
- 26:21Speaker 1: when they were going to sit up late, which lengthened
- 26:23Speaker 1: the ceremony almost to the wistful moment end of part one,
- 26:30Speaker 1: Part two. At a little before eight, the Tomlinson's carriage
- 26:35Speaker 1: was had to go by, which was the constant signal
- 26:38Speaker 1: for Missus Edwards to order hers to the door, and
- 26:41Speaker 1: in a very few minutes the party were transported from
- 26:43Speaker 1: the quiet and warmth of a snug parlor to the bustle,
- 26:47Speaker 1: noise and drafts of the air of the broad entrance
- 26:50Speaker 1: passage of an inn. Missus Edwards, carefully guarding her own dress,
- 26:55Speaker 1: while she attended with yet greater solicitude to the proper
- 26:58Speaker 1: security of her young charges, shoulders and throats led the
- 27:02Speaker 1: way up the wide staircase, while no sound of a ball,
- 27:06Speaker 1: but the first scrape of one violin blessed the ears
- 27:08Speaker 1: of her followers. At miss Edwards, on hazarding, the anxious
- 27:12Speaker 1: inquiry of whether there were many people come yet was
- 27:16Speaker 1: told by the waiter, as she knew she should, that
- 27:19Speaker 1: Missus Tomlinson's family were in the room. In passing along
- 27:24Speaker 1: a short gallery to the assembly room, brilliant in lights
- 27:27Speaker 1: before them, they were accosted by a young man in
- 27:30Speaker 1: a morning dress and boots, who was standing in the
- 27:33Speaker 1: doorway of a bed chamber, apparently on purpose to see
- 27:36Speaker 1: them go by. Ah, Missus Edwards, how do you do?
- 27:40Speaker 1: How do you do? Miss Edwards, he cried with an
- 27:43Speaker 1: easy air, You are determined to be in good time.
- 27:46Speaker 1: I see, as usual the candles are, but this moment lit,
- 27:51Speaker 1: I like to get a good seat by the fire,
- 27:52Speaker 1: you know, mister Musgrave replied Missus Edwards. I am this
- 27:58Speaker 1: moment going to dress, said he. I am waiting for
- 28:01Speaker 1: my stupid fellow. We shall have a famous ball. The
- 28:04Speaker 1: Osborne are certainly coming. You may depend upon that, for
- 28:08Speaker 1: I was with Lord Osborne this morning. The party passed
- 28:12Speaker 1: on Missus Edwards's satin gown, swept along the clean floor
- 28:16Speaker 1: of the ball room to the fireplace at the upper end,
- 28:19Speaker 1: where one party only were formerly seated, while three or
- 28:22Speaker 1: four officers were lounging together passing in and out from
- 28:25Speaker 1: the adjoining card room. A very stiff meeting between these
- 28:29Speaker 1: near neighbors ensued, and as soon as they were all
- 28:32Speaker 1: duly placed again, Emma in a low whisper, which became
- 28:35Speaker 1: the solemn scene, said to miss Edwards. The gentleman we
- 28:40Speaker 1: passed in the passage was mister Musgrave's. Then he has
- 28:43Speaker 1: reckoned remarkably agreeable. I understand Miss Edwards answered hesitatingly. Yes,
- 28:50Speaker 1: he is very much liked by many people, but we
- 28:53Speaker 1: are not very intimate. He is rich, is not he?
- 28:58Speaker 1: He has about eight or nine hundred pounds a year.
- 29:00Speaker 1: I believe he came into possession of it when he
- 29:03Speaker 1: was very young, and my father and mother think it
- 29:05Speaker 1: has given him rather an unsettled turn. He is no
- 29:08Speaker 1: favorite with them. The cold and empty appearance of the room,
- 29:13Speaker 1: and the demure air of the small cluster of females
- 29:15Speaker 1: at one end of it, began soon to give way.
- 29:19Speaker 1: The inspiriting sound of other carriages was heard, and continual
- 29:22Speaker 1: accessions of portly chaperons and strings of smartly dressed girls
- 29:27Speaker 1: were received. With Now and then a fresh gentleman straggler, who,
- 29:31Speaker 1: if not enough in love to station himself near any
- 29:34Speaker 1: fair creature, seemed glad to escape into the card room.
- 29:39Speaker 1: Among the increasing number of military men, one now made
- 29:43Speaker 1: his way to Miss Edwards with an air of empressement,
- 29:46Speaker 1: which decidedly said to her companion, I am Captain Hunter.
- 29:50Speaker 1: And Emma, who could not but watch her at such
- 29:52Speaker 1: a moment, saw her looking rather distressed but by no
- 29:56Speaker 1: means displeased, and heard an engagement formed for the first
- 29:59Speaker 1: two dancers, which made her think her brother Sam's a
- 30:02Speaker 1: hopeless case. Emma, in the meanwhile, was not unobserved or
- 30:07Speaker 1: unadmired herself. A new face and a very pretty one,
- 30:11Speaker 1: could not be slighted. Her name was whispered from one
- 30:14Speaker 1: party to another, and no sooner had the signal been
- 30:17Speaker 1: given by the orchestras striking up a favorite air which
- 30:20Speaker 1: seemed to call the young to their duty and people
- 30:23Speaker 1: the center of the room, than she found herself engaged
- 30:26Speaker 1: to dance with a brother officer introduced by Captain Hunter.
- 30:31Speaker 1: Emma Watson was not more than of the middle height,
- 30:33Speaker 1: well made and plump, with an air of healthy vigor.
- 30:37Speaker 1: Her skin was very brown, but clear, smooth and glowing, which,
- 30:41Speaker 1: with a lively eye, a sweet smile, and an open
- 30:44Speaker 1: countenance gave beauty to attract and expression to make that
- 30:48Speaker 1: beauty improve an acquaintance. Having no reason to be dissatisfied
- 30:53Speaker 1: with her partner, the evening began very pleasantly to her,
- 30:56Speaker 1: and her feelings perfectly coincided with the reiterated observer of
- 31:00Speaker 1: others that it was an excellent ball. The two first
- 31:04Speaker 1: dances were not quite over when the returning sound of carriages.
- 31:08Speaker 1: After a long interruption called general notice, and the Osborne's
- 31:11Speaker 1: are coming. The Osborns are coming was repeated round the room.
- 31:16Speaker 1: After some minutes of extraordinary battle, without and watchful curiosity
- 31:20Speaker 1: within the important party, preceded by the attentive master of
- 31:24Speaker 1: the inn to open a door which was never shut,
- 31:27Speaker 1: made their appearance. They consisted of Lady Osborne, her son,
- 31:32Speaker 1: Lord Osborne, her daughter Miss Osborne, Miss Carr, her daughter's friend,
- 31:38Speaker 1: Mister Howard, formerly tutor to Lord Osborne, now clergyman in
- 31:41Speaker 1: the parish in which the castle stood, Missus Blake, a
- 31:45Speaker 1: widow sister who lived with him, her son, a fine
- 31:49Speaker 1: boy of ten years old, and mister Tom Musgrave, who
- 31:53Speaker 1: probably imprisoned within his own room, had been listening in
- 31:56Speaker 1: bitter impatience to the sound of the music for the
- 31:59Speaker 1: last half hour. In their progress up the room, they
- 32:04Speaker 1: paused almost immediately behind Emma to receive the compliments of
- 32:07Speaker 1: some acquaintance, and she heard Lady Osborne observe that they
- 32:11Speaker 1: had made a point of coming early for the gratification
- 32:14Speaker 1: of Missus Blake's little boy, who was uncommonly fond of dancing.
- 32:18Speaker 1: Emma looked at them all as they passed, but chiefly
- 32:21Speaker 1: and with most interest on Tom Musgrave, who was certainly
- 32:25Speaker 1: a genteel, good looking young man. Of the females, Lady
- 32:29Speaker 1: Osborne had by much the finest person, though nearly fifty,
- 32:33Speaker 1: she was very handsome and had all the dignity of rank.
- 32:38Speaker 1: Lord Osborne was a very fine young man, but there
- 32:41Speaker 1: was the air of coldness, of carelessness, even of awkwardness
- 32:44Speaker 1: about him, which seemed to speak him out of his
- 32:47Speaker 1: element in a ball room. He came, in fact, only
- 32:51Speaker 1: because it was judged expedient for him to please the borrow.
- 32:54Speaker 1: He was not fond of women's company, and he never danced.
- 32:58Speaker 1: Mister Howard was an agree looking man a little more
- 33:01Speaker 1: than thirty. At the conclusion of the two dances, Emma
- 33:06Speaker 1: found herself. She knew not how seated amongst the Osborne set,
- 33:10Speaker 1: and she was immediately struck with the fine countenance and
- 33:13Speaker 1: animated gestures of the little boy, as he was standing
- 33:17Speaker 1: before his mother, wandering when they should begin. You will
- 33:21Speaker 1: not be surprised at Charles's impatience, said Missus Blake, a
- 33:25Speaker 1: lively pleasant looking woman of five or six and thirty,
- 33:29Speaker 1: to a lady who was standing near her. When you
- 33:32Speaker 1: know what a partner he is to have. Miss Osborne
- 33:34Speaker 1: has been so very kind as to promise to dance
- 33:37Speaker 1: the first two dancers with him. Oh yes, we have
- 33:41Speaker 1: been engaged this week, cried the boy, and we are
- 33:44Speaker 1: to dance down every couple. On the other side of Emma,
- 33:48Speaker 1: miss Osborne, Miss Carr, and a party of young men
- 33:51Speaker 1: were standing engaged in very lively consultation, and soon afterwards
- 33:55Speaker 1: she saw the smartest officer of the set walking off
- 33:58Speaker 1: to the orchestra to order the dance, while Miss Osborne,
- 34:01Speaker 1: passing before her to her little expecting partner, hastily said, Charles,
- 34:06Speaker 1: I beg your pardon for not keeping my engagement, but
- 34:08Speaker 1: I am going to dance these two dances with Colonel Beresford.
- 34:12Speaker 1: I know you will excuse me, and I will certainly
- 34:14Speaker 1: dance with you after tea. And without staying for an answer,
- 34:18Speaker 1: she turned again to Miss Carr and in another minute
- 34:21Speaker 1: was led by Colonel Beresford to begin the set. If
- 34:26Speaker 1: the poor little boy's face had, in its happiness been
- 34:28Speaker 1: interesting to Emma, it was infinitely more so under this
- 34:31Speaker 1: sudden reverse. He stood the picture of disappointment with crimsoned
- 34:36Speaker 1: cheeks quivering lips, and eyes bent on the floor. His mother,
- 34:40Speaker 1: stifling her own mortification, tried to soothe his with the
- 34:44Speaker 1: prospect of miss Osborne's second promise. But though he contrived
- 34:47Speaker 1: to utter with an effort of boyish bravery, oh I
- 34:50Speaker 1: do not mind it, it was very evident, by the
- 34:53Speaker 1: unceasing agitation of his features that he minded it as
- 34:56Speaker 1: much as ever. Emma did not sing, ll reflect, she
- 35:01Speaker 1: felt and acted. I shall be very happy to dance
- 35:04Speaker 1: with you, sir, if you like it, said she, holding
- 35:08Speaker 1: out her hand with the most unaffected good humor. The boy,
- 35:11Speaker 1: in one moment, restored to all his fast delight, looked
- 35:15Speaker 1: joyfully at his mother, and stepping forwards with an honest
- 35:18Speaker 1: and simple thank you. Ma'am, was instantly ready to attend
- 35:21Speaker 1: his new acquaintance. The thankfulness of missus Blake was more diffuse.
- 35:26Speaker 1: With a look most expressive of unexpected pleasure and lively gratitude,
- 35:30Speaker 1: she turned to her neighbor with repeated and fervent acknowledgments
- 35:33Speaker 1: of so great and condescending a kindness to her boy. Emma,
- 35:38Speaker 1: with perfect truth, could assure her that she could not
- 35:41Speaker 1: be giving greater pleasure than she felt herself, and Charles,
- 35:44Speaker 1: being provided with his gloves and charged to keep them on,
- 35:47Speaker 1: they joined the set, which was now rapidly forming with
- 35:50Speaker 1: nearly equal complacency. It was a partnership which could not
- 35:55Speaker 1: be noticed without surprise. It gained her a broad stare
- 35:58Speaker 1: from Miss Osborne and Miss Carr as they passed her
- 36:01Speaker 1: in the dance. Upon my word, childs, you are in luck,
- 36:05Speaker 1: said the former, as she turned him. You have got
- 36:09Speaker 1: a better partner than me, to which the happy Charles
- 36:12Speaker 1: answered yes. Tom Musgrave, who was dancing with Miss Carr,
- 36:17Speaker 1: gave her many inquisitive glances, and after a time Lord
- 36:20Speaker 1: Osborne himself came and, under pretense of talking to Charles,
- 36:24Speaker 1: stood to look at his partner. Though rather distressed by
- 36:29Speaker 1: such observation, Emma could not repent what she had done,
- 36:32Speaker 1: so happy had it made both the boy and his mother,
- 36:35Speaker 1: the latter of whom was continually making opportunities of addressing
- 36:38Speaker 1: her with the warmest civility. Her little partner, she found,
- 36:42Speaker 1: though bent chiefly on dancing, was not unwilling to speak
- 36:46Speaker 1: when her questions or remarks gave him anything to say,
- 36:49Speaker 1: and she learnt by a sort of inevitable inquiry, that
- 36:52Speaker 1: he had two brothers and a sister, that they and
- 36:54Speaker 1: their mamma all lived with his uncle at Wigsted, that
- 36:58Speaker 1: his uncle taught him Latin, that he was very fond
- 37:00Speaker 1: of riding, and had a horse of his own given
- 37:03Speaker 1: him by Lord Osborne, and that he had been out
- 37:05Speaker 1: once already with Lord Osborne's hands. At the end of
- 37:10Speaker 1: these dances, Emma found they were to drink tea. Miss
- 37:14Speaker 1: Edwards gave her a caution to be at hand in
- 37:16Speaker 1: a manner which convinced her of Missus Edwards's holding. It
- 37:19Speaker 1: very important to have them both close to her when
- 37:22Speaker 1: she moved into the tea room, and Emma was accordingly
- 37:25Speaker 1: on the alert to gain her proper station. It was
- 37:28Speaker 1: always the pleasure of the company to have a little
- 37:30Speaker 1: bustle and crowd when they adjourned for a refreshment. The
- 37:35Speaker 1: tea room was a small room within the card room,
- 37:38Speaker 1: and in passing through the latter, where the passage was
- 37:41Speaker 1: straightened by tables, Missus Edwards and her party were for
- 37:45Speaker 1: a few moments hemmed in. It happened close by Lady
- 37:48Speaker 1: Osborne's casino table. Mister Howard, who belonged to it, spoke
- 37:53Speaker 1: to his nephew, and Emma, on perceiving herself the object
- 37:56Speaker 1: of attention both to Lady Osborne and him, had just
- 38:00Speaker 1: turn away her eye in time to avoid seeming to
- 38:02Speaker 1: hear her young companion delightedly whisper loud, oh uncle, do
- 38:06Speaker 1: you look at my partner? She is so pretty? As
- 38:10Speaker 1: they were immediately in motion again, However, Charles was hurried
- 38:13Speaker 1: off without being able to receive his uncle's suffrage. On
- 38:18Speaker 1: entering the tea room, in which two long tables were prepared,
- 38:21Speaker 1: Lord Osborne was to be seen quite alone at the
- 38:24Speaker 1: end of one, as if retreating as far as he
- 38:26Speaker 1: could from the ball to enjoy his own thoughts and
- 38:29Speaker 1: gape without restraint. Charles instantly pointed him out to Emma,
- 38:34Speaker 1: there's Lord Osborne. Let you and I go and sit
- 38:36Speaker 1: by him. No, no, said Emma, laughing, you must sit
- 38:41Speaker 1: with my friends. Charles was now free enough to hazard
- 38:44Speaker 1: a few questions in his turn. What o'clock was it?
- 38:49Speaker 1: Eleven eleven? And I am not at all sleepy, Mamma said,
- 38:53Speaker 1: I should be asleep before ten. Do you think miss
- 38:56Speaker 1: Osborne will keep her word with me when tea is over? Oh? Yes,
- 39:01Speaker 1: I suppose so, so she felt that she had no
- 39:03Speaker 1: better reason to give than miss Osborne had not kept
- 39:06Speaker 1: it before. When shall you come to Osborne Castle? Never? Probably,
- 39:13Speaker 1: I am not acquainted with the family. But you may
- 39:16Speaker 1: come to Wisted and see Mamma, and she can take
- 39:18Speaker 1: you to the castle. There is a monster's curious stuffed
- 39:21Speaker 1: foxen there, and a badger. Anybody would think they were alive.
- 39:26Speaker 1: It is a pity you should not see them. On
- 39:29Speaker 1: rising from tea, there was again a scramble for the
- 39:32Speaker 1: pleasure of being first out of the room, which happened
- 39:35Speaker 1: to be increased by one or two of the card
- 39:37Speaker 1: parties having just broken up, and the players being disposed
- 39:41Speaker 1: to move exactly the different way. Among these was mister Howard,
- 39:46Speaker 1: his sister leaning on his arm, and no sooner were
- 39:48Speaker 1: there within reach of Emma than missus Blake, calling her
- 39:52Speaker 1: notice by a friendly touch, said, your goodness to Charles,
- 39:56Speaker 1: My dear miss Watson brings all his family upon you.
- 39:59Speaker 1: You me leave to introduce my brother mister Howard. Emma curtseyed,
- 40:05Speaker 1: the gentleman bowed, made a hasty request for the honor
- 40:08Speaker 1: of her hand in the two next dances, to which
- 40:10Speaker 1: as hasty and affirmative was given and they were immediately
- 40:13Speaker 1: impelled in opposite directions. Emma was very well pleased with
- 40:18Speaker 1: the circumstance. There was a quietly cheerful, gentlemanlike air in
- 40:22Speaker 1: mister Howard, which suited her, and in a few minutes
- 40:25Speaker 1: afterwards the value of her engagement increased when, as she
- 40:28Speaker 1: was sitting in the card room, somewhat screened by a door,
- 40:32Speaker 1: she heard Lord Osborne, who was lounging on a vacant
- 40:35Speaker 1: table near her, called Tom Musgrave towards him and say,
- 40:39Speaker 1: why do you not dance with that beautiful Emma Watson.
- 40:42Speaker 1: I want you to dance with her, and I will
- 40:44Speaker 1: come and stand by you. I was determining on it
- 40:48Speaker 1: this very moment, my Lord. I'll be introduced and dance
- 40:51Speaker 1: with her directly. I do. And if you find she
- 40:54Speaker 1: does not want much talking to, you may introduce me
- 40:57Speaker 1: by and by very well, my lord. If she is
- 41:00Speaker 1: like her sisters, she will only want to be listened to.
- 41:04Speaker 1: I will go this moment. I shall find her in
- 41:06Speaker 1: the tea room that stiff old missus Edwards has never
- 41:10Speaker 1: done tea away he went Lord Osborne after him, and
- 41:14Speaker 1: Emma lost no time in hurrying from her corner exactly
- 41:17Speaker 1: the other way, forgetting in her haste that she left
- 41:20Speaker 1: Missus Edwards behind. We had quite lost you, said Missus Edwards,
- 41:26Speaker 1: who followed her with Mary in less than five minutes.
- 41:29Speaker 1: If you prefer this room to the other, there is
- 41:31Speaker 1: no reason why you should not be here. But we
- 41:34Speaker 1: had better all be together. Emma was saved the trouble
- 41:38Speaker 1: of apologizing by their being joined at that moment by
- 41:41Speaker 1: Tom Musgrave, who, requesting Missus Edwards, allowed to do him
- 41:45Speaker 1: the honor of presenting him to Miss Emma Watson left
- 41:48Speaker 1: that good lady without any choice in the business but
- 41:51Speaker 1: that of testifying to the coldness of her manner that
- 41:53Speaker 1: she did it unwillingly. The honor of dancing with her
- 41:57Speaker 1: was solicited without loss of time. And Emma, however she
- 42:01Speaker 1: might like to be thought a beautiful girl by a
- 42:03Speaker 1: lord or commoner, was so little disposed to favor Tom
- 42:06Speaker 1: Musgrave himself that she had considerable satisfaction in avowing her
- 42:10Speaker 1: previous engagement. He was evidently surprised and discomposed. The style
- 42:17Speaker 1: of her last partner had probably led him to believe
- 42:19Speaker 1: her not overpowered with applications. My little friend Charles Blake,
- 42:25Speaker 1: he cried, must not expect to engross you the whole evening.
- 42:29Speaker 1: We can never suffer this. It is against the rules
- 42:31Speaker 1: of the Assembly, and I am sure it will never
- 42:33Speaker 1: be patronized by our good friend here, missus Edwards. She
- 42:37Speaker 1: is by a much too nice a judge of decorum
- 42:39Speaker 1: to give her license to such dangerous particularity. I am
- 42:43Speaker 1: not going to dance with mister Blake, Sir. The gentleman,
- 42:48Speaker 1: a little disconcerted, could only hope he might be fortunate
- 42:51Speaker 1: another time, and, seeming unwilling to leave her, though his friend,
- 42:54Speaker 1: Lord Osborne was waiting in the doorway for the result.
- 42:57Speaker 1: As Emma, with some amusement perceived, he began to make
- 43:00Speaker 1: civil inquiries after her family. How comes it that we
- 43:05Speaker 1: have not the pleasure of seeing your sisters here this evening?
- 43:08Speaker 1: Our assemblies have been used to be so well treated
- 43:10Speaker 1: by them that we do not know how to take
- 43:12Speaker 1: this neglect. My eldest sister is the only one at home,
- 43:17Speaker 1: and she could not leave my father, Miss Watson the
- 43:21Speaker 1: only one at home. You astonish me, it seems, but
- 43:25Speaker 1: the day before yesterday that I saw them all three
- 43:27Speaker 1: in this town. But I am afraid I have been
- 43:29Speaker 1: a very sad neighbor of late. I hear dreadful complaints
- 43:33Speaker 1: of my negligence wherever I go, and I confess it
- 43:35Speaker 1: is a shameful length of time since I was at Stanton,
- 43:39Speaker 1: But I shall now endeavor to make myself amends for
- 43:41Speaker 1: the past. Emma's calm courtesy in reply must have struck
- 43:47Speaker 1: him as very unlike the encouraging warmth he had been
- 43:49Speaker 1: used to receive from her sisters, and gave him probably
- 43:52Speaker 1: the novel sensation of doubting his own influence and of
- 43:56Speaker 1: wishing for more attention than she bestowed. The dancer now recommenced,
- 44:01Speaker 1: Miss Carr, being impatient to call everybody was required to
- 44:05Speaker 1: stand up, and Tom Musgrave's curiosity was appeased on seeing
- 44:10Speaker 1: mister Howard come forward and claim Emma's hand. That will
- 44:14Speaker 1: do as well for me, was Lord Osborne's remark when
- 44:18Speaker 1: his friend carried him the news, and he was continually
- 44:20Speaker 1: at Howard's elbow during the two dances. The frequency of
- 44:24Speaker 1: his appearance there was the only unpleasant part of the engagement,
- 44:28Speaker 1: the only objection she could make to mister Howard. In himself,
- 44:32Speaker 1: she thought him as agreeable as he looked. Though chatting
- 44:35Speaker 1: on the commonest topics, he had a sensible, unaffected way
- 44:39Speaker 1: of expressing himself, which made them all worth hearing, and
- 44:42Speaker 1: she only regretted that he had not been able to
- 44:44Speaker 1: make his pupil's manners as unexceptionable as his own. The
- 44:49Speaker 1: two dances seemed very short, and she had her partner's
- 44:52Speaker 1: authority for considering them so. At their conclusion, the Osbornes
- 44:57Speaker 1: and their train were all on the move. We are off,
- 45:00Speaker 1: at last, said his lordship to Tom. How much longer
- 45:04Speaker 1: do you stay in this heavenly place till sunrise? No? Faith,
- 45:08Speaker 1: my Lord, I have had quite enough of it. I
- 45:11Speaker 1: assure you I shall not show myself here again. When
- 45:13Speaker 1: I have had the honor of attending Lady Osborne to
- 45:15Speaker 1: her carriage, I shall retreat, in as much secrecy as possible,
- 45:19Speaker 1: to the remote corner of the house, where I shall
- 45:22Speaker 1: order a barrel of oysters and be famously snug. Let
- 45:26Speaker 1: mess you soon at the castle, and bring me word
- 45:29Speaker 1: how she looks by daylight. Emma and missus Blake parted
- 45:33Speaker 1: his old acquaintance, and Charles shook her by the hand
- 45:37Speaker 1: and wished her good bye. At least a dozen times
- 45:40Speaker 1: from Miss Osborne and Miss Carr. She received something like
- 45:43Speaker 1: a jerking curtsey as they passed her. Even Lady Osborne
- 45:46Speaker 1: gave her a look of complacency, and his Lordship actually
- 45:49Speaker 1: came back after the others were out of the room
- 45:52Speaker 1: to beg her pardon and look in the window seat
- 45:55Speaker 1: behind her for the gloves which were visibly compressed in
- 45:58Speaker 1: his hand. As Tom Musgrave was seen no more, we
- 46:03Speaker 1: may suppose his plan to have succeeded, and imagine him
- 46:06Speaker 1: mortifying with his barrel of oysters in dreary solitude, or
- 46:10Speaker 1: gladly assisting the landlady in her bar to make fresh
- 46:13Speaker 1: negers for the happy dancers above. Emma could not help
- 46:18Speaker 1: missing the party by whom she had been, though in
- 46:21Speaker 1: some respects unpleasantly distinguished, and the two dances which followed
- 46:25Speaker 1: and concluded the ball were rather flat in comparison with
- 46:28Speaker 1: the others, Mister Edward's having played with good luck, they
- 46:33Speaker 1: were some of the last in the room. Here we
- 46:37Speaker 1: are back again, I declare, said Emma sorrowfully, as she
- 46:41Speaker 1: walked into the dining room, where the table was prepared
- 46:44Speaker 1: and the neat upper maid was lighting the candles, my
- 46:48Speaker 1: dear miss Edwards, how soon it is at an end
- 46:51Speaker 1: a wisher could all come over again. A great deal
- 46:55Speaker 1: of kind pleasure was expressed in her, having enjoyed the
- 46:58Speaker 1: evening so much, And Mister edwar Wards was as warm
- 47:00Speaker 1: as herself in the praise of the fullness, brilliancy and
- 47:04Speaker 1: spirit of the meeting. So as he had been fixed
- 47:07Speaker 1: the whole time at the same table, in the same room,
- 47:10Speaker 1: with only one change of chairs, it might have seemed
- 47:12Speaker 1: a matter scarcely perceived, but he had worn four robbers
- 47:16Speaker 1: out of five, and everything went well. His daughter felt
- 47:20Speaker 1: the advantage of his gratified state of mind in the
- 47:23Speaker 1: course of the remarks and retrospections which now ensued over
- 47:27Speaker 1: the welcome soup. How come you did not dance with
- 47:31Speaker 1: either of the mister Tomlinsons, Mary said her mother. I
- 47:36Speaker 1: was always engaged when they asked me. I thought you
- 47:39Speaker 1: were to have stood up with mister James, the last
- 47:41Speaker 1: two dancers. Missus Tomlinson told me he was gone to
- 47:44Speaker 1: ask you, and I had heard you say two minutes
- 47:47Speaker 1: before that you were not engaged. Yes, But there was
- 47:51Speaker 1: a mistake I had misunderstood. I did not know I
- 47:54Speaker 1: was engaged. I thought it had been for the two
- 47:56Speaker 1: dancers after if we stayed so long. But Captain Hunters
- 48:00Speaker 1: shored Maid was for those very too, So he ended
- 48:03Speaker 1: with Captain Hunter. Mary did you, said her father? And
- 48:07Speaker 1: whom did he begin with? Captain Hunter? Was repeated in
- 48:12Speaker 1: a very humble tone. Humph, that is being constant, however,
- 48:18Speaker 1: but who else did you dance with? Mister Norton and
- 48:22Speaker 1: mister Styles? And who are they? Mister Norton is a
- 48:27Speaker 1: cousin of Captain Hunter's, and who is mister Styles one
- 48:34Speaker 1: of his particular friends? All in the same regiment, added
- 48:39Speaker 1: Missus Edwards. Mary was surrounded by red coats all the evening.
- 48:44Speaker 1: I should have been better pleased to see her dancing
- 48:46Speaker 1: with some of our old neighbors. I confess, yes, yes,
- 48:50Speaker 1: we must not neglect our old neighbors. But if these
- 48:53Speaker 1: soldiers are quicker than other people in a ball room,
- 48:56Speaker 1: what are young ladies to do? I think there was
- 49:00Speaker 1: no occasion for their engaging themselves so many dancers beforehand,
- 49:04Speaker 1: Mister Edwards, No, perhaps not, But I remember, my dear,
- 49:09Speaker 1: when you and I did the same. Missus Edwards said
- 49:14Speaker 1: no more, and Mary breathed again. A good delok. A
- 49:17Speaker 1: humored pleasantry followed, and Emma went to bed in charming spirits,
- 49:22Speaker 1: her head full of Osborne's blakes and Howard's end of
- 49:27Speaker 1: Part two Part three.
- 49:31Speaker 2: The next morning brought a great many visitors. It was
- 49:34Speaker 2: the way of the place always to call on missus
- 49:36Speaker 2: Edwards the morning after a ball, and this neighborly inclination
- 49:40Speaker 2: was increased in the present instance by a general spirit
- 49:43Speaker 2: of curiosity on Emma's account, as everybody wanted to look
- 49:47Speaker 2: again at the girl who had been admired the night
- 49:49Speaker 2: before by Lord Osborne. Many were the ours, in various
- 49:53Speaker 2: the degrees of approbation with which she was examined. Some
- 49:58Speaker 2: saw no fault and some no beauty. With some her
- 50:02Speaker 2: brown skin was the annihilation of every grace, and others
- 50:06Speaker 2: could never be persuaded that she was half so handsome
- 50:08Speaker 2: as Elizabeth Watson had been ten years ago. The morning
- 50:13Speaker 2: passed quickly away in discussing the merits of the ball
- 50:15Speaker 2: with all this succession of company, and Emma was at
- 50:19Speaker 2: once astonished by finding at two o'clock, and considering that
- 50:22Speaker 2: she had heard nothing of her father's chair. After this discovery,
- 50:27Speaker 2: she had walked twice to the window to examine the street,
- 50:30Speaker 2: and was on the point of asking leave to ring
- 50:32Speaker 2: the bell and make inquiries, when the light sound of
- 50:34Speaker 2: a carriage driving up to the door set her heart
- 50:37Speaker 2: at ease. She stepped again to the window, but instead
- 50:41Speaker 2: of the convenient, though a very unsmart family equipage, perceived
- 50:44Speaker 2: a neat curracle. Mister Musgrave was shortly afterwards announced, and
- 50:49Speaker 2: Missus Edwards put on her very stiffest look at the sound,
- 50:53Speaker 2: not at all dismayed, however, by her chilling air, he
- 50:57Speaker 2: paid his compliments to each of the ladies with no
- 50:59Speaker 2: unbecomme ease, and continuing to address Emma, presented her a
- 51:03Speaker 2: note which he had the honor of bringing from her sister,
- 51:07Speaker 2: but to which he must observe a verbal PostScript from
- 51:10Speaker 2: himself would be requisite. The note, which Emma was beginning
- 51:15Speaker 2: to read rather before Missus Edwards had entreated her to
- 51:18Speaker 2: use no ceremony, contained a few lines from Elizabeth, importing
- 51:21Speaker 2: that their father, in consequence of being unusually well, had
- 51:25Speaker 2: taken the sudden resolution of attending the visitation that day,
- 51:29Speaker 2: and that as his road lay quite wide from d
- 51:32Speaker 2: it was impossible for her to come home till the
- 51:34Speaker 2: following morning, unless the Edwardses would send her, which was
- 51:38Speaker 2: hardly to be expected, or she could meet with any
- 51:41Speaker 2: chance conveyance, or did not mind walking so far, she
- 51:45Speaker 2: had scarcely run her eye through the whole before she
- 51:47Speaker 2: found herself obliged to listen to Tom Musgrave's farther account.
- 51:52Speaker 2: I received that note from the fair hands of miss
- 51:55Speaker 2: Watson only ten minutes ago, said he. I met her
- 51:58Speaker 2: in the village of Stanton, whither my good stars prompted
- 52:01Speaker 2: me to turn my horses heads. She was at that
- 52:04Speaker 2: moment in quest of a person to employ on the errand,
- 52:06Speaker 2: and I was fortunate enough to convince her that she
- 52:09Speaker 2: could not find a more willing or speedy messenger than myself. Remember,
- 52:13Speaker 2: I say nothing of my disinterestedness. My reward is to
- 52:17Speaker 2: be the indulgence of conveying you to Stanton in my curricle,
- 52:21Speaker 2: though they are not written down, I bring your sister's
- 52:23Speaker 2: orders for the same. Emma felt distressed. She did not
- 52:28Speaker 2: like the proposal. She did not wish to be on
- 52:31Speaker 2: terms of intimacy with the proposer, and yet fearful of
- 52:34Speaker 2: encroaching on the Edwardses as well as wishing to go
- 52:37Speaker 2: home herself. She was at a loss how entirely to
- 52:40Speaker 2: decline what he offered. Missus Edwards continued silent, either not
- 52:44Speaker 2: understanding the case or waiting to see how a young
- 52:47Speaker 2: lady's inclination lay. Emma thanked him, but professed herself very
- 52:52Speaker 2: unwilling to give him so much trouble. The trouble was,
- 52:56Speaker 2: of course, honor, pleasure, delight. What had he or his
- 52:59Speaker 2: horse's to dinay do? Still, she hesitated. She believed she
- 53:04Speaker 2: must beg leave to decline his assistance. She was rather
- 53:07Speaker 2: afraid of the sort of carriage. The distance was not
- 53:10Speaker 2: beyond a walk. Missus Edwards was silent no longer. She
- 53:14Speaker 2: inquired into the particulars, and then said, we shall be
- 53:18Speaker 2: extremely happy, miss Emma, if you can give us the
- 53:20Speaker 2: pleasure of your company till tomorrow. But if you cannot
- 53:23Speaker 2: conveniently do so, our carriage is quite at your service,
- 53:26Speaker 2: and Mary will be pleased with the opportunity of seeing
- 53:28Speaker 2: your sister. This was precisely what Emma had longed for,
- 53:33Speaker 2: and she accepted the offer most thankfully, acknowledging that as
- 53:37Speaker 2: Elizabeth was entirely alone, it was her wish to return
- 53:40Speaker 2: home to dinner. The plan was warmly opposed by their visitor.
- 53:45Speaker 2: I cannot suffer it. Indeed, I must not be deprived
- 53:48Speaker 2: of the happiness of escorting you. I assure you there
- 53:52Speaker 2: is not a possibility of fear with my horses. You
- 53:55Speaker 2: might guide them yourself. Your sisters all know how quiet
- 53:59Speaker 2: they are. They have none of them the smallest scruple
- 54:02Speaker 2: in trusting themselves with me, even on a race course.
- 54:05Speaker 2: Believe me, added he lowering his voice. You are quite safe.
- 54:10Speaker 2: The danger is only mine. Emma was not more disposed
- 54:15Speaker 2: to oblige him for all this. And as to missus
- 54:19Speaker 2: Edwards's carriage being used the day after a ball, it
- 54:22Speaker 2: is a thing quite out of rule, I assure you
- 54:25Speaker 2: never heard of before. The old coachman will look as
- 54:28Speaker 2: black as his horses, won't he miss Edwards. No notice
- 54:32Speaker 2: was taken. The ladies were silently firm, and the gentleman
- 54:35Speaker 2: found himself obliged to submit. What a famous ball we
- 54:40Speaker 2: had last night, he cried, after a short pause. How
- 54:44Speaker 2: long did you keep it up? After the Osbornes and
- 54:46Speaker 2: I went away? We had two dances more. It is
- 54:52Speaker 2: making it too much of a fatigue. I think to
- 54:54Speaker 2: stay so late. I suppose your set was not a
- 54:56Speaker 2: very full one. Yes, quite a as ever, exceptly Osborne's,
- 55:01Speaker 2: there seemed no vacancy anywhere, and everybody danced with uncommon spirit.
- 55:05Speaker 2: To the very last, Emma said this, though against her conscience. Indeed,
- 55:12Speaker 2: perhaps I might have looked in upon you again if
- 55:14Speaker 2: I had been aware of as much, for I am
- 55:17Speaker 2: rather fond of dancing than not. Miss Osborne is a
- 55:20Speaker 2: charming girl, is not she. I do not think her handsome,
- 55:24Speaker 2: replied Emma, to whom all this was chiefly addressed. Perhaps
- 55:29Speaker 2: she is not critically handsome, but her manners are delightful.
- 55:32Speaker 2: And Fanny Carr is a most interesting little creature. You
- 55:35Speaker 2: can imagine nothing more naive or piquante. And what do
- 55:38Speaker 2: you think of Lord Osborne, miss Watson? He would be
- 55:43Speaker 2: handsome even though he were not a lord, and perhaps
- 55:45Speaker 2: better bred, more desirous of pleasing and showing himself pleased
- 55:49Speaker 2: in a right place. Upon my word, you are severe upon,
- 55:53Speaker 2: my friend, I assure you. Lord Osborne is a very
- 55:56Speaker 2: good fellow. I do not dispute his virtues, but I
- 55:59Speaker 2: do not like his careless air. If it were not
- 56:04Speaker 2: a breach of confidence, replied Tom with an important look.
- 56:07Speaker 2: Perhaps I might be able to win a more favorable
- 56:09Speaker 2: opinion of poor Osborne. Emma gave him no encouragement, and
- 56:14Speaker 2: he was obliged to keep his friend's secret. He was
- 56:16Speaker 2: also obliged to put an end to his visit, for
- 56:19Speaker 2: Missus Edwards having ordered her carriage, there was no time
- 56:22Speaker 2: to be lost on Emma's sad in preparing for it.
- 56:25Speaker 2: Miss Edwards accompanied her home, but as it was dinner
- 56:27Speaker 2: hour at Stanton, stayed with him only a few minutes.
- 56:32Speaker 1: Now, my dear Emma, said Miss Watson, as soon as
- 56:35Speaker 1: they were alone. You must talk to me all the
- 56:37Speaker 1: rest of the day without stopping, or I shall not
- 56:40Speaker 1: be satisfied. But first of all, Nanny shall bring in
- 56:43Speaker 1: the dinner. Poor sing you will not dine as you
- 56:47Speaker 1: did yesterday, for we have nothing but some fried beef.
- 56:51Speaker 1: Hon Nice Mary Edwards looks in her new police and
- 56:55Speaker 1: now tell me how you like them all? And what
- 56:57Speaker 1: I am to say to Sam I have begun. My
- 57:01Speaker 1: Jack Stokes is to call for it to morrow, for
- 57:03Speaker 1: his uncle is going within the mile of Guildford. The
- 57:06Speaker 1: next day Nanny brought in the dinner. We will wait
- 57:11Speaker 1: upon ourselves continued Elizabeth, and then we shall lose no time,
- 57:17Speaker 1: and so you would not come home with Tom Musgrave. No,
- 57:22Speaker 1: you had said so much against him that I could
- 57:24Speaker 1: not wish, either for the obligation or the intimacy which
- 57:28Speaker 1: the use of his carriage must have created. I should
- 57:31Speaker 1: not even have liked the appearance of it. You did
- 57:35Speaker 1: very right, though I wonder at your forbearance, and I
- 57:38Speaker 1: do not think I could have done it myself. He
- 57:41Speaker 1: seemed so eager to fetch you that I could not
- 57:43Speaker 1: say no. So it rather went against me to be
- 57:46Speaker 1: throwing you together so well as I knew his tricks.
- 57:50Speaker 1: But I did long to see you, and it was
- 57:52Speaker 1: a clever way of getting you home. Besides, it won't
- 57:55Speaker 1: do to be too nice. Nobody could have thought of
- 57:58Speaker 1: the Edwards letting you have their coach after the horses
- 58:02Speaker 1: being out so late. But what am I to say
- 58:04Speaker 1: to Sam? If you are guided by me, you will
- 58:08Speaker 1: not encourage him to think of miss Edwards. The father
- 58:12Speaker 1: is decidedly against him, The mother shows him no favor,
- 58:15Speaker 1: and I doubt his having any interest with Mary. She
- 58:19Speaker 1: danced twice with Captain Hunter, and I think shows him
- 58:22Speaker 1: in general as much encouragement, as is consistent with her
- 58:26Speaker 1: disposition and the circumstances she is placed in. She once
- 58:31Speaker 1: mentioned Sam, and certainly with a little confusion, but that
- 58:35Speaker 1: was perhaps merely owing to the consciousness of his liking her,
- 58:38Speaker 1: which may very probably have come to her knowledge. Oh, dear, yes,
- 58:44Speaker 1: she has heard enough of that from us all. Poor Sam,
- 58:48Speaker 1: he is out of luck, as well as other people.
- 58:51Speaker 1: For the life of me, Emma, I cannot help feeling
- 58:54Speaker 1: for those that are crossed in love. Well, now begin
- 58:58Speaker 1: and give me an account of everything as it has happened.
- 59:01Speaker 1: Emma obeyed her, and Elizabeth listened with very little interruption
- 59:06Speaker 1: till she heard of mister Howard as a partner. Dance
- 59:10Speaker 1: with mister Howard, good, heavens, you don't say so? Why
- 59:14Speaker 1: he is quite one of the great and grand ones?
- 59:17Speaker 1: Did you not find him very high? His manners are
- 59:21Speaker 1: of a kind to give me much more ease and
- 59:23Speaker 1: confidence than Tom Musgrave's. Well, go on, I should have
- 59:29Speaker 1: been frightened out of my wits to have had anything
- 59:31Speaker 1: to do with Osborne's set. Emma concluded her niration, And
- 59:38Speaker 1: so you really did not dance with Tom Musgrave at all?
- 59:41Speaker 1: But you must have liked him, you must have been
- 59:44Speaker 1: struck with him altogether. I do not like him, Elizabeth.
- 59:49Speaker 1: I allow his person and heir to be good, and
- 59:52Speaker 1: that his manners to a certain point, his address rather
- 59:56Speaker 1: is pleasing, but I see nothing else to admire him.
- 1:00:00Speaker 1: On the contrary, he seems very vain, very conceited, absurdly
- 1:00:05Speaker 1: anxious for distinction, and absolutely contemptible in some of the
- 1:00:09Speaker 1: measures he takes for becoming. So there is a ridiculousness
- 1:00:13Speaker 1: about him that entertains me. But his company gives me
- 1:00:17Speaker 1: no other agreeable emotion. My dearest Emma, you are like
- 1:00:22Speaker 1: nobody else in the world. It is well Margaret is
- 1:00:25Speaker 1: not by ye. Do not offend me, though I hardly
- 1:00:29Speaker 1: know how to believe you. But Margaret would never forgive
- 1:00:32Speaker 1: such words. I wish Margaret could have heard him profess
- 1:00:37Speaker 1: his ignorance of her being out of the country. He
- 1:00:40Speaker 1: declared it seemed only two days since he had seen her. Ay,
- 1:00:45Speaker 1: that is just like him, And yet this is the
- 1:00:48Speaker 1: man she will fancy so desperately in love with her.
- 1:00:52Speaker 1: He is no favorite of mine, as you well know, Emma,
- 1:00:54Speaker 1: but you must think him agreeable. Can you lay your
- 1:00:57Speaker 1: hand on your heart and say you do not. Indeed
- 1:01:01Speaker 1: I can both hands and spread them to the widest extent.
- 1:01:07Speaker 1: I should like to know the man you do think agreeable.
- 1:01:11Speaker 1: His name is Howard Howard, dear me, I cannot think
- 1:01:16Speaker 1: of him but as playing cards with Lady Osborne and
- 1:01:19Speaker 1: looking proud. I must own, however, that it is a
- 1:01:23Speaker 1: relief to me to find you can speak as you
- 1:01:25Speaker 1: do of Tom Musgrave. My heart did misgive you that
- 1:01:29Speaker 1: you would like him too well. You talked so stoutly
- 1:01:32Speaker 1: beforehand that I was sadly afraid your brag would be punished.
- 1:01:36Speaker 1: I only hope it will last, and that you will
- 1:01:39Speaker 1: not come on to pay you too much attention. It
- 1:01:41Speaker 1: is a hard thing for a woman to stand against
- 1:01:44Speaker 1: the flattering ways of a man when he is spent
- 1:01:46Speaker 1: upon pleasing her. As their quietly sociable little meal concluded,
- 1:01:53Speaker 1: Miss Watson could not help observing how comfortably it had passed.
- 1:01:58Speaker 1: It is so delightful to me, said, to have things
- 1:02:01Speaker 1: going on in peace and good humor. Nobody can tell
- 1:02:05Speaker 1: how much I hate quarreling. Now, though we have had
- 1:02:08Speaker 1: nothing but fried beef, how good it has all seemed.
- 1:02:12Speaker 1: I wish everybody were as easily satisfied as you. But
- 1:02:15Speaker 1: poor Margaret is very snappish, and Penelope owns she had
- 1:02:19Speaker 1: rather have quarreling going on than nothing at all. Mister
- 1:02:25Speaker 1: Watson returned in the evening, not the worse for the
- 1:02:28Speaker 1: exertion of the day, and consequently pleased with what he
- 1:02:31Speaker 1: had done, and glad to talk of it over his
- 1:02:34Speaker 1: own fireside. Emma had not foreseen any interest to herself
- 1:02:38Speaker 1: in the occurrences of a visitation, but when she heard
- 1:02:42Speaker 1: mister Howard spoken of as the preacher and as having
- 1:02:45Speaker 1: given them an excellent sermon, she could not help listening
- 1:02:48Speaker 1: with a quicker ear. I do not know when I
- 1:02:52Speaker 1: have heard a discourse more to my mind, continued mister Watson,
- 1:02:57Speaker 1: or one better delivered. He reads extremely well, with great propriety,
- 1:03:03Speaker 1: and in a very impressive manner, and at the same
- 1:03:05Speaker 1: time without any theatrical grimace or violence. I owner do
- 1:03:10Speaker 1: not like much action in the pulpit. I do not
- 1:03:13Speaker 1: like the studied air and artificial inflections of voice which
- 1:03:17Speaker 1: your very popular and most admired preachers generally have. A
- 1:03:22Speaker 1: simple delivery is much better calculated to inspire devotion and
- 1:03:27Speaker 1: shows a much better taste. Mister Howard read like a
- 1:03:31Speaker 1: scholar and a gentleman. And what had you for dinner, sir,
- 1:03:36Speaker 1: said his eldest daughter. He related the dishes and told
- 1:03:40Speaker 1: what he had et himself. Upon the whole, he added,
- 1:03:45Speaker 1: I have had a very comfortable day. My old friends
- 1:03:48Speaker 1: were quite surprised to see me amongst them, and I
- 1:03:51Speaker 1: must say that everybody paid me great attention and seemed
- 1:03:54Speaker 1: to feel for me as an invalid. They would make
- 1:03:57Speaker 1: me sit near the fire, and as the part which
- 1:04:00Speaker 1: were pretty high, Doctor Richards would have them sent away
- 1:04:03Speaker 1: to the other end of the table that they might
- 1:04:05Speaker 1: not offend mister Watson, which I thought very kind of him.
- 1:04:09Speaker 1: But what pleased me as much as anything was mister
- 1:04:12Speaker 1: Howard's attention. There was a pretty steep flight of steps
- 1:04:16Speaker 1: up to the room we dine in, which do not
- 1:04:19Speaker 1: quite agree with my gouty foot, and mister Howard walked
- 1:04:22Speaker 1: by me from the bottom to the top and would
- 1:04:25Speaker 1: make me take his arm. It struck me as very
- 1:04:28Speaker 1: becoming in so young a man, but I am sure
- 1:04:30Speaker 1: I had no claim to expect it, for I never
- 1:04:33Speaker 1: saw him before in my life. By the bye, he
- 1:04:37Speaker 1: inquired after one of my daughters. But I do not
- 1:04:39Speaker 1: know which I suppose you know among yourselves. End of
- 1:04:45Speaker 1: Part three, Part four. On the third day after the ball,
- 1:04:52Speaker 1: as nanny, at five minutes before three, was beginning to
- 1:04:55Speaker 1: bustle into the parlor with the tray and the knife case,
- 1:04:58Speaker 1: she was suddenly called to the front door by the
- 1:05:01Speaker 1: sound of as smart a rap as the end of
- 1:05:04Speaker 1: a riding whip could give, and, though charged by Miss
- 1:05:07Speaker 1: Watson to let nobody in, returned in half a minute
- 1:05:10Speaker 1: with a look of awkward dismay to hold the parlor
- 1:05:12Speaker 1: door open for Lord Osborne and Tom Musgrave. The surprise
- 1:05:18Speaker 1: of the young ladies may be imagined. No visitors would
- 1:05:21Speaker 1: have been welcome at such a moment, but such visitors
- 1:05:24Speaker 1: as these, such a one as Lord Osborne, at least
- 1:05:28Speaker 1: a nobleman and a stranger, was really distressing. He looked
- 1:05:34Speaker 1: a little embarrassed himself, as on being introduced by his easy,
- 1:05:38Speaker 1: voluble friend, he muttered something of doing himself the honor
- 1:05:42Speaker 1: of waiting upon mister Watson. Though Emma could not but
- 1:05:46Speaker 1: take the compliment of the visit to herself, she was
- 1:05:49Speaker 1: very far from enjoying it. She felt all the inconsistency
- 1:05:52Speaker 1: of such an acquaintance with a very humble style in
- 1:05:55Speaker 1: which they were obliged to live, and, having in her
- 1:05:58Speaker 1: aunt's family been used to so many of the elegancies
- 1:06:01Speaker 1: of life, was fully sensible of all that must be
- 1:06:04Speaker 1: opened to the ridicule of richer people in her present home.
- 1:06:09Speaker 1: Of the pain of such feelings, Elizabeth knew very little.
- 1:06:13Speaker 1: Her simple mind or just a reason, saved her from
- 1:06:16Speaker 1: such mortification, and though shrinking under a general sense of inferiority,
- 1:06:21Speaker 1: she felt no particular shame. Mister Watson, as the gentleman
- 1:06:26Speaker 1: had already heard from Nanny, was not well enough to
- 1:06:29Speaker 1: be downstairs. With much concern, they took their seats. Lord
- 1:06:34Speaker 1: Osborne near Emma, and the convenient mister Musgrave, in high
- 1:06:38Speaker 1: spirits at his own importance, on the other side of
- 1:06:41Speaker 1: the fireplace. With Elizabeth, he was at no loss for words,
- 1:06:47Speaker 1: But when Lord Osborne had hoped that Emma had not
- 1:06:49Speaker 1: caught cold at the ball, he had nothing more to
- 1:06:52Speaker 1: say for some time, and could only gratify his eye
- 1:06:55Speaker 1: by occasional glances at his fair neighbor. Emma was not
- 1:06:59Speaker 1: inclined to give herself much trouble for his entertainment, and
- 1:07:03Speaker 1: after hard labor of mind, he produced the remark of
- 1:07:06Speaker 1: its being a very fine day, and followed it up
- 1:07:09Speaker 1: with a question of have you been walking this morning? No,
- 1:07:14Speaker 1: my lord, we thought it too dirty. You should wear
- 1:07:18Speaker 1: half boots. After another pause, nothing sets off a neat
- 1:07:23Speaker 1: angle more than a half boot, nankeen galoshed with black
- 1:07:27Speaker 1: looks very well. Do you not like half boots? Yes?
- 1:07:32Speaker 1: But unless they are so stout as to injure their beauty,
- 1:07:35Speaker 1: they are not fit for country walking. Ladies should ride
- 1:07:40Speaker 1: in dirty weather. Do you ride? No, my lord? I
- 1:07:45Speaker 1: wonder every lady does not. A woman never looks better
- 1:07:48Speaker 1: than on horseback. But every woman may not have the
- 1:07:53Speaker 1: inclination or the means. If they knew how much it
- 1:07:57Speaker 1: became them, they would all have the inclination. And I
- 1:08:00Speaker 1: fancy miss Watson, when once they had the inclination, the
- 1:08:04Speaker 1: means would soon follow. Your lordship thinks we always have
- 1:08:09Speaker 1: our own way. That is a point on which ladies
- 1:08:12Speaker 1: and gentlemen have long disagreed. But without pretending to decide it,
- 1:08:16Speaker 1: I may say that there are some circumstances which even
- 1:08:19Speaker 1: women cannot control. Female economy will do a great deal,
- 1:08:23Speaker 1: my lord, but it cannot turn a small income into
- 1:08:26Speaker 1: a large one, Lord Osborne was silenced. Her manner had
- 1:08:31Speaker 1: been neither sententious nor sarcastic, but there was something in
- 1:08:35Speaker 1: its smile seriousness, as well as in the words themselves,
- 1:08:39Speaker 1: which made his lordship think, And when he addressed her again,
- 1:08:42Speaker 1: it was with a degree of considerate propriety, totally unlikely
- 1:08:46Speaker 1: half awkward, half fearless style of his former remarks. It
- 1:08:52Speaker 1: was a new thing with him to wish to please
- 1:08:53Speaker 1: a woman. It was the first time that he had
- 1:08:56Speaker 1: ever felt what was due a woman in Emma's situation.
- 1:09:00Speaker 1: But as he wanted neither in sense nor a good disposition,
- 1:09:04Speaker 1: he did not feel it with that effect. You have
- 1:09:08Speaker 1: not belong in this country, I understand, he said, in
- 1:09:11Speaker 1: the tone of a gentleman. I hope you are pleased
- 1:09:14Speaker 1: with it. He was rewarded by a gracious answer and
- 1:09:18Speaker 1: a more liberal full view of her face than she
- 1:09:21Speaker 1: had yet bestowed. Unused to exert himself and happy in
- 1:09:25Speaker 1: contemplating her, he then sat in silence for some minutes
- 1:09:29Speaker 1: longer while Tom Musgrave was chattering to Elizabeth, till they
- 1:09:34Speaker 1: were interrupted by Nanny's approach, who, half opening the door
- 1:09:37Speaker 1: and putting in her head, said please ma'am, Master wants
- 1:09:42Speaker 1: to know why he meant to have his dinner. The gentleman,
- 1:09:47Speaker 1: who had hitherto disregarded every symptom, however positive of the
- 1:09:51Speaker 1: nearness of that meal, now jumped up with apologies, while
- 1:09:55Speaker 1: Elizabeth called briskly after Nanny to tell Betty to take
- 1:09:59Speaker 1: up the fowl. I am sorry it happens, so she added,
- 1:10:06Speaker 1: turning good humoredly towards Musgrave. But you know what early
- 1:10:10Speaker 1: hours we keep. Tom had nothing to say for himself.
- 1:10:14Speaker 1: He knew it very well, and such honest simplicity, such
- 1:10:18Speaker 1: shameless truth, rather bewildered him. Lord Osborne's parting compliments took
- 1:10:24Speaker 1: some time, his inclination for speech seeming to increase with
- 1:10:28Speaker 1: the shortness of the term. For indulgence. He recommended exercise
- 1:10:32Speaker 1: in defiance of dirt, spoke again in praise of half boots,
- 1:10:36Speaker 1: begged that his sister might be allowed to send Emma
- 1:10:39Speaker 1: the name of her shoemaker, and concluded with saying, my
- 1:10:43Speaker 1: hands will be hunting this country next week. I believe
- 1:10:46Speaker 1: they will throw off at Stanton Wood on Thursday at
- 1:10:49Speaker 1: nine o'clock. I mention this in hopes of you being
- 1:10:52Speaker 1: drawn out to see what's going on? If the morning's tolerable,
- 1:10:56Speaker 1: pray do us the honor of giving as your good
- 1:10:58Speaker 1: wishes in person. The sisters looked on each other with
- 1:11:03Speaker 1: astonishment when their visitors had withdrawn. Here is an unaccountable honor,
- 1:11:09Speaker 1: cried Elizabeth at last. Who would have thought of Lord
- 1:11:13Speaker 1: Osborne's coming to Stanton? He is very handsome, but Tom
- 1:11:17Speaker 1: Musgrave looks all to nothing, the smartest and most fashionable
- 1:11:20Speaker 1: man of the two. I am glad he did not
- 1:11:23Speaker 1: say anything to me. I would not have had to
- 1:11:25Speaker 1: talk to such a great man for the world. Tom
- 1:11:28Speaker 1: was very agreeable, was not he? But did you hear
- 1:11:31Speaker 1: him ask where Miss Penelope and Miss Margaret were when
- 1:11:34Speaker 1: he first came in? It put me out of patience.
- 1:11:38Speaker 1: I am glad Nanny had not laid the cloth. However
- 1:11:41Speaker 1: it would have looked so awkward. Just the trade did
- 1:11:43Speaker 1: not signify. To say Emma was not flattered by Lord
- 1:11:48Speaker 1: Osborne's visit would be to assert a very unlikely thing
- 1:11:52Speaker 1: and describe a very odd young lady. But the gratification
- 1:11:56Speaker 1: was by no means unalloyed. His coming was a sort
- 1:11:59Speaker 1: of note which might please her vanity, but did not
- 1:12:02Speaker 1: suit her pride, and she would rather have known that
- 1:12:05Speaker 1: he wished the visit without presuming to make it, than
- 1:12:08Speaker 1: have seen him at Stanton. Among other unsatisfactory feelings, it
- 1:12:13Speaker 1: once occurred to her to wonder why mister Howard had
- 1:12:16Speaker 1: not taken the same privilege of coming and accompanied his lordship.
- 1:12:20Speaker 1: But she was willing to suppose that he had either
- 1:12:22Speaker 1: known nothing about it or had declined any share in
- 1:12:26Speaker 1: a measure which carried quite as much impertinence in its
- 1:12:29Speaker 1: form as good breeding. Mister Watson was very far from
- 1:12:34Speaker 1: being delighted when he heard what had passed a little peevish,
- 1:12:37Speaker 1: under immediate pain, and ill disposed to be pleased, he
- 1:12:41Speaker 1: only replied, Phew, phew, what occasion could there be for
- 1:12:45Speaker 1: Lord Osborne's coming? I have lived here for fourteen years
- 1:12:49Speaker 1: without being noticed by any of the family. It is
- 1:12:52Speaker 1: some foolery of that idle fellow Tom Musgrave. I cannot
- 1:12:56Speaker 1: return the visit. I would not if I could. And
- 1:13:01Speaker 1: when Tom Musgrave was met with again, he was commissioned
- 1:13:04Speaker 1: with a message of excuse to Osborne Castle on the
- 1:13:07Speaker 1: too sufficient plea of mister Watson's infirm state of health.
- 1:13:13Speaker 1: End of Part four, Part five. A week or ten
- 1:13:18Speaker 1: days rolled quietly away after this visit, before any new
- 1:13:21Speaker 1: bustle arose to interrupt, even for half a day, the
- 1:13:24Speaker 1: tranquil and affectionate intercourse of the two sisters, whose mutual
- 1:13:28Speaker 1: regard was increasing with the intimate knowledge of each other,
- 1:13:31Speaker 1: which such intercourse produced. The first circumstance to break in
- 1:13:36Speaker 1: on this security was the receipt of a letter from
- 1:13:39Speaker 1: Croydon to announce the speedy return of Margaret, and a
- 1:13:43Speaker 1: visit of two or three days from mister and missus
- 1:13:46Speaker 1: Robert Watson, who undertook to bring her home and wished
- 1:13:49Speaker 1: to see their sister Emma. It was an expectation to
- 1:13:53Speaker 1: fill the thoughts of the sisters at Stanton, and to
- 1:13:56Speaker 1: busy the hours of one of them, at least, for
- 1:13:58Speaker 1: as Jane had been a woman of fortune, the preparations
- 1:14:01Speaker 1: for her entertainment were considerable, and as Elizabeth had at
- 1:14:05Speaker 1: all times more good will than method in her guidance
- 1:14:08Speaker 1: of the house, she could make no change without a bustle.
- 1:14:13Speaker 1: An absence of fourteen years had made all her brothers
- 1:14:16Speaker 1: and sisters strangers to Emma. But in her expectation of
- 1:14:20Speaker 1: Margaret there was more than the awkwardness of such an alienation.
- 1:14:24Speaker 1: She had heard things which made her dread her return,
- 1:14:27Speaker 1: and the day which brought the party to Stanton seemed
- 1:14:30Speaker 1: to her the probable conclusion of almost all that had
- 1:14:33Speaker 1: been comfortable in the house. Robert Watson was an attorney
- 1:14:38Speaker 1: at Croydon in a good way of business, very well
- 1:14:42Speaker 1: satisfied with himself for the same, and for having married
- 1:14:45Speaker 1: the only daughter of the attorney to whom he had
- 1:14:47Speaker 1: been clerk, with a fortune of six thousand pounds. Missus
- 1:14:52Speaker 1: Robert was not less pleased with herself for having had
- 1:14:55Speaker 1: that six thousand pounds, and for being now in possession
- 1:14:58Speaker 1: of a very smart house in Croydle, where she gave
- 1:15:01Speaker 1: genteel parties and wore fine clothes. In her person there
- 1:15:06Speaker 1: was nothing remarkable. Her manners were pert and conceited. Margaret
- 1:15:10Speaker 1: was not without beauty. She had a slight, pretty figure,
- 1:15:14Speaker 1: and rather wanted countenance than good features. But the sharp
- 1:15:18Speaker 1: and anxious expression of her face made her beauty. In general.
- 1:15:21Speaker 1: Little felt on meeting her long absent sister, as on
- 1:15:26Speaker 1: every occasion of show. Her manner was all affection, and
- 1:15:29Speaker 1: her voice all gentleness, continual smiles in a very slow articulation,
- 1:15:34Speaker 1: being her constant resource when determined unpleasing. She was now
- 1:15:39Speaker 1: so delighted to see you, dear Emma, that she could
- 1:15:43Speaker 1: hardly speak a word in a minute. I am sure
- 1:15:46Speaker 1: we shall be great friends, she observed with much sentiment
- 1:15:50Speaker 1: as they were sitting together. Emma scarcely knew how to
- 1:15:53Speaker 1: answer such a proposition, and the manner in which it
- 1:15:56Speaker 1: was spoken she could not attempt to equal. Missus. Robert
- 1:16:01Speaker 1: Watson eyed her with much familiar curiosity and triumphant compassion.
- 1:16:07Speaker 1: The loss of the aunt's fortune was uppermost in her
- 1:16:09Speaker 1: mind at the moment of meeting, and she could not
- 1:16:12Speaker 1: but feel how much better it was to be the
- 1:16:14Speaker 1: daughter of a gentleman of property in Croydon than the
- 1:16:17Speaker 1: niece of an old woman who threw herself away on
- 1:16:20Speaker 1: an Irish captain. Robert was carelessly kind as became a
- 1:16:26Speaker 1: prosperous man, and a brother more intent on settling with
- 1:16:29Speaker 1: a post boy, inveighing against the exorbitant advance in posting
- 1:16:34Speaker 1: and pondering over a doubtful half crown, than on welcoming
- 1:16:37Speaker 1: a sister who was no longer likely to have any
- 1:16:39Speaker 1: property for him to get the direction of your roads,
- 1:16:44Speaker 1: for the village is infamous, Elizabeth said he worse than ever.
- 1:16:48Speaker 1: It was by heaven. I would indict it if I
- 1:16:51Speaker 1: live near you. Who is surveyor? Now? There was a
- 1:16:56Speaker 1: little niece at Croydon, to be fondly inquired after by
- 1:16:59Speaker 1: the kind hearted Elizabeth, who regretted very much her not
- 1:17:03Speaker 1: being of the party. You are very good, replied her mother.
- 1:17:08Speaker 1: And I assure you. It went very hard with Augusta
- 1:17:10Speaker 1: to have us come away without her. I was forced
- 1:17:14Speaker 1: to say we were only going to church, and promised
- 1:17:16Speaker 1: to come back for her directly. But you know it
- 1:17:19Speaker 1: would not do to bring her without her maid. And
- 1:17:22Speaker 1: I am as particular as ever in having her properly
- 1:17:24Speaker 1: attended to. Sweet little darling, cried Margaret. It quite broke
- 1:17:30Speaker 1: my heart to leave her. Then why was you in
- 1:17:34Speaker 1: such a hurry to run away from her? Cried missus Robart,
- 1:17:38Speaker 1: You are a sad, shabby girl. I have been quarreling
- 1:17:42Speaker 1: with you all the way we came. Have I not
- 1:17:45Speaker 1: such a visit as this I never heard of. You
- 1:17:48Speaker 1: know how glad we are to have any of you
- 1:17:49Speaker 1: with us, if it be for months together. And I
- 1:17:53Speaker 1: am sorry with a witty smile. We have not been
- 1:17:56Speaker 1: able to make Croydon agreeable this autumn. My dearest Jane,
- 1:18:02Speaker 1: do not overpower me with your raillery. You know what
- 1:18:05Speaker 1: inducements I had to bring me home. Spare me. I
- 1:18:08Speaker 1: entreat you. I am no match for your arch sallies. Well,
- 1:18:13Speaker 1: I only beg you will not set your neighbors against
- 1:18:15Speaker 1: the place. Perhaps Emma may be tempted to go back
- 1:18:18Speaker 1: with us and stay till Christmas, if you don't put
- 1:18:21Speaker 1: in your word. Emma was greatly obliged. I assure you
- 1:18:27Speaker 1: we have very good society at Croydon. I do not
- 1:18:30Speaker 1: much attend the balls, they are rather too mixed, but
- 1:18:33Speaker 1: our parties are very select and good. I had seven
- 1:18:36Speaker 1: tables last week in my drawing room. Are you fond
- 1:18:39Speaker 1: of the country? How do you like Stanton? Very much?
- 1:18:44Speaker 1: Replied Emma, who thought a comprehensive answer most to the purpose.
- 1:18:50Speaker 1: She saw that her sister in law despised her immediately.
- 1:18:53Speaker 1: Missus Robert Watson was indeed wondering what sort of a
- 1:18:56Speaker 1: home Emma could possibly have been used to in Shroptshire,
- 1:18:59Speaker 1: and setting it down as certain that the aunt could
- 1:19:02Speaker 1: never have had six thousand pounds. How charming, Emma is,
- 1:19:07Speaker 1: whispered Margaret to missus Robert in her most languishing tone.
- 1:19:13Speaker 1: Emma was quite distressed by such behavior, and she did
- 1:19:16Speaker 1: not like it better when she heard Margaret, five minutes
- 1:19:19Speaker 1: afterwards say to Elizabeth in a sharp, quick accent, totally
- 1:19:23Speaker 1: unlike the first have you heard from Penn since she
- 1:19:26Speaker 1: went to Chichester. I had a letter the other day.
- 1:19:29Speaker 1: I don't find she is likely to make anything of it.
- 1:19:32Speaker 1: I fancy she'll come back miss Penelope. As she went
- 1:19:37Speaker 1: such she feared would be Margaret's common voice when the
- 1:19:40Speaker 1: novelty of her own appearance were over. The tone of
- 1:19:43Speaker 1: artificial sensibility was not recommended by the idea. The ladies
- 1:19:49Speaker 1: were invited upstairs to prepare for dinner. I hope you
- 1:19:53Speaker 1: will find things tolerably comfortable, Jane, said Elizabeth as she
- 1:19:57Speaker 1: opened the door of the spared bed chamber. My good creature,
- 1:20:02Speaker 1: replied Jane. He is no ceremony with me. I entreat you.
- 1:20:06Speaker 1: I am one of those who always take things as
- 1:20:08Speaker 1: they find them. I hope I can put up with
- 1:20:11Speaker 1: a small apartment for two or three nights without making
- 1:20:14Speaker 1: a piece of work. I always wish to be treated
- 1:20:17Speaker 1: quite enfermeil when I come to see you, And now
- 1:20:21Speaker 1: I do hope you have not been getting a great
- 1:20:23Speaker 1: dinner for us. Remember we never eat suppers, I suppose,
- 1:20:29Speaker 1: said Margaret rather quickly to Emma. You and I are
- 1:20:32Speaker 1: to be together. Elizabeth always takes care to have a
- 1:20:35Speaker 1: room to herself. No, Elizabeth gives me half has oh,
- 1:20:41Speaker 1: in a softened voice, and rather mortified to find that
- 1:20:45Speaker 1: he was not ill used. I am sorry. I am
- 1:20:47Speaker 1: not to have the pleasure of your company, especially as
- 1:20:50Speaker 1: it makes me nervous to be much alone. Emma was
- 1:20:55Speaker 1: the first of the females in the parlor. Again. On
- 1:20:58Speaker 1: entering it, she found her rather alone. So Emma said,
- 1:21:03Speaker 1: he you are quite a stranger at home. It must
- 1:21:07Speaker 1: seem odd enough for you to be here. A pretty
- 1:21:10Speaker 1: piece of work your aunt Turner has made of it.
- 1:21:12Speaker 1: By Heaven, A woman should never be trusted with money.
- 1:21:16Speaker 1: I always said she ought to have settled something on
- 1:21:18Speaker 1: you as soon as her husband died. But that would
- 1:21:22Speaker 1: have been trusting me with money, replied Emma. And I
- 1:21:26Speaker 1: am a woman too. It might have been secured to
- 1:21:31Speaker 1: your future use without your having any power over it.
- 1:21:34Speaker 1: Now what a blow it must have been upon you
- 1:21:37Speaker 1: to find yourself instead of airess to eight thousand or
- 1:21:40Speaker 1: nine thousand pounds sent back a weight upon your family
- 1:21:44Speaker 1: without a sixpence. I hope the old woman will smart
- 1:21:48Speaker 1: for it. Do not speak disrespectfully of her. She was
- 1:21:52Speaker 1: very good to me, and if she has made an
- 1:21:54Speaker 1: imprudent choice, she will suffer more from it herself than
- 1:21:57Speaker 1: I can possibly do. I do not mean to distress you,
- 1:22:01Speaker 1: but you know everybody must think her an old fool.
- 1:22:05Speaker 1: I thought Turner had been reckoned, an extraordinarily sensible, clever man.
- 1:22:09Speaker 1: How the devil came he to make such a will?
- 1:22:14Speaker 1: My uncle's sense is not at all impeached, in my
- 1:22:16Speaker 1: opinion by his attachment to my aunt. She has been
- 1:22:20Speaker 1: an excellent wife to him. The most liberal and enlightened
- 1:22:24Speaker 1: minds are always the most confiding. The event has been unfortunate,
- 1:22:28Speaker 1: But my uncle's memory is, if possible, endeared to me
- 1:22:32Speaker 1: by such a proof of tender respect for my aunt.
- 1:22:36Speaker 1: That's odd sort of talking. He might have provided decently
- 1:22:40Speaker 1: for his widow without leaving everything that he had to
- 1:22:43Speaker 1: dispose of, or any part of it at her mercy.
- 1:22:48Speaker 1: My aunt may have erred, said Emma, warmly she has erred,
- 1:22:52Speaker 1: But my uncle's conduct was faultless. I was her own niece,
- 1:22:57Speaker 1: and he left to herself the power and the pleasure
- 1:22:59Speaker 1: of providing for me. But unluckily she has left the
- 1:23:03Speaker 1: pleasure of providing for you to your father, and without
- 1:23:07Speaker 1: the power. That's the long and short of the business.
- 1:23:10Speaker 1: After keeping you at a distance from your family for
- 1:23:13Speaker 1: such a length of time as must do away all
- 1:23:15Speaker 1: natural defection among us and breeding you up, I suppose
- 1:23:19Speaker 1: in a superior style, you are returned upon their hands
- 1:23:22Speaker 1: without a sixpence, you know, replied Emma, struggling with her tears.
- 1:23:29Speaker 1: My uncle's melancholy state of health. He was a greater
- 1:23:33Speaker 1: invalid than my father. He could not leave home. I
- 1:23:38Speaker 1: do not mean to make you cry, said Robert, rather softened,
- 1:23:42Speaker 1: and after a short silence, by way of changing the subject,
- 1:23:45Speaker 1: he added, I am just come from my father's room.
- 1:23:48Speaker 1: He seems very indifferent. It will be a sad break
- 1:23:52Speaker 1: up when he dies. Pity, you can none of you
- 1:23:55Speaker 1: get married. You must come to Croydon as well as
- 1:23:58Speaker 1: the rest, and see what you can do there. I
- 1:24:01Speaker 1: believe if Margaret had had a thousand or fifteen hundred
- 1:24:04Speaker 1: pounds there was a young man who would have thought
- 1:24:06Speaker 1: of her. Emma was glad when they were joined by
- 1:24:10Speaker 1: the others. It was better to look at her sister
- 1:24:13Speaker 1: in law's finery than listen to Robert, who had equally
- 1:24:16Speaker 1: irritated and grieved her. Missus Robert, exactly as smart as
- 1:24:21Speaker 1: she had been at her own party, came in with
- 1:24:24Speaker 1: apologies for her dress. I would not make you wait,
- 1:24:28Speaker 1: said she, so I put on the first thing I
- 1:24:30Speaker 1: met with. I am afraid. I am a sad figure.
- 1:24:34Speaker 1: My dear mister w to her husband. You have not
- 1:24:38Speaker 1: put any fresh powder in your hair. No, I did
- 1:24:42Speaker 1: not intend it. I think there is powder enough in
- 1:24:45Speaker 1: my hair for my wife and sisters. Indeed, you ought
- 1:24:49Speaker 1: to make some alteration to your dress before dinner when
- 1:24:51Speaker 1: you are visiting, so you do not at home. Nonsense.
- 1:24:58Speaker 1: It is very odd that ye should not like to
- 1:25:00Speaker 1: do what other gentlemen do. Mister Marshall and mister Hemmings
- 1:25:03Speaker 1: changed their dress every day of their lives before dinner.
- 1:25:07Speaker 1: And what was the use of my putting up your
- 1:25:09Speaker 1: last new coat? If you are never to wear it,
- 1:25:13Speaker 1: Do be satisfied with being fine yourself and leave your
- 1:25:16Speaker 1: husband alone to put an end to this altercation and
- 1:25:21Speaker 1: soften the evident vexation of her sister in law. Emma,
- 1:25:25Speaker 1: though in no spirits to make such nonsense easy, began
- 1:25:28Speaker 1: to admire her gown. It produced immediate complacency. Do you
- 1:25:33Speaker 1: like it? Said she? I am very happy it has
- 1:25:37Speaker 1: been excessively admired, but sometimes I think the pattern too large.
- 1:25:41Speaker 1: I shall wear one to morrow that I think you
- 1:25:43Speaker 1: will prefer to this. Have you seen the one I
- 1:25:46Speaker 1: gave Margaret? Dinner came, and except when missus Robart looked
- 1:25:51Speaker 1: at her husband's head, she continued gay and flippant, chiding
- 1:25:55Speaker 1: Elizabeth for the profusion on the table, and absolutely protesting
- 1:25:59Speaker 1: against the entrance of the roast turkey, which formed the
- 1:26:02Speaker 1: only exception to you see your dinner. I do beg
- 1:26:08Speaker 1: and entreat that no turkey may be seen to day.
- 1:26:10Speaker 1: I am really frightened out of my wits with a
- 1:26:12Speaker 1: number of dishes we have already. Let us have no turkey.
- 1:26:16Speaker 1: I beseech you, my dear, replied Elizabeth. The turkey is roasted,
- 1:26:21Speaker 1: and it may just as well come in as stay
- 1:26:23Speaker 1: in the kitchen. Besides, if it is cut, I am
- 1:26:26Speaker 1: in hopes my father may be tempted to eat a bit,
- 1:26:29Speaker 1: for it is rather a favorite dish. You may have
- 1:26:34Speaker 1: it in, my dear, but I assure you I shan't
- 1:26:36Speaker 1: touch it. Mister Watson had not been well enough to
- 1:26:40Speaker 1: join the party at dinner, but was prevailed on to
- 1:26:43Speaker 1: come down and drink tea with them. I wish we
- 1:26:47Speaker 1: may be able to have a game of cards to night,
- 1:26:50Speaker 1: said Elizabeth to missus Robart, after seeing her father comfortably
- 1:26:53Speaker 1: seated in his arm chair. Not on my account, my dear,
- 1:26:57Speaker 1: I beg you know, I am no card play. I
- 1:27:01Speaker 1: think a snug chat infinitely better. I always say cards
- 1:27:05Speaker 1: are very well sometimes to break a formal circle, but
- 1:27:08Speaker 1: one never wants them among friends. I was thinking of
- 1:27:12Speaker 1: its being something to amuse my father, said Elizabeth, if
- 1:27:15Speaker 1: it was not disagreeable to you, he says, his head
- 1:27:18Speaker 1: won't bear a whist. But perhaps if we make a
- 1:27:21Speaker 1: round game, he may be tempted to sit down with us.
- 1:27:25Speaker 1: By all means, my dear creature, I am quite at
- 1:27:28Speaker 1: your service. Only do not oblige me to choose the game.
- 1:27:31Speaker 1: That's all speculation is the only round game at Croydon now,
- 1:27:35Speaker 1: But I can play anything when there is only one
- 1:27:39Speaker 1: or two of you at home. You must be quite
- 1:27:41Speaker 1: at a loss to amuse him. Why do you not
- 1:27:43Speaker 1: get him to play at cribbage? Margaret and I have
- 1:27:46Speaker 1: played at cribbage most nines that we have not been engaged.
- 1:27:52Speaker 1: A sound like a distant carriage was at this moment caught.
- 1:27:55Speaker 1: Everybody listened, It became more decided. It certainly drew nearer.
- 1:28:00Speaker 1: It was an unusual sound for Stanton at any time
- 1:28:02Speaker 1: of the day, for the village was on no very
- 1:28:05Speaker 1: public road and contained no gentleman's family. But the rectors
- 1:28:10Speaker 1: the wheels rapidly approached. In two minutes. The general expectation
- 1:28:14Speaker 1: was answered. They stopped beyond a doubt at the garden
- 1:28:17Speaker 1: gate of the parsonage. Who could it be? It was
- 1:28:21Speaker 1: certainly a post chaise. Penelope was the only creature to
- 1:28:25Speaker 1: be thought of. She might perhaps have met with some
- 1:28:28Speaker 1: unexpected opportunity of returning. A pause of suspense ensued. Steps
- 1:28:34Speaker 1: were distinguished along the paved footway which led under the
- 1:28:38Speaker 1: windows of the house to the front door, and then
- 1:28:40Speaker 1: within the passage. They were the steps of a man.
- 1:28:44Speaker 1: It could not be Penelope, It must be Samuel. The
- 1:28:49Speaker 1: door opened and displayed Tom Musgrave in the wrap of
- 1:28:53Speaker 1: a traveler. He had been in London and was now
- 1:28:56Speaker 1: on his way home, and he had come half a
- 1:28:59Speaker 1: mile out of his road merely to call for ten
- 1:29:01Speaker 1: minutes at Stanton. He loved to take people by surprise
- 1:29:06Speaker 1: with sudden visits at extraordinary seasons, and in the present
- 1:29:10Speaker 1: instance had had the additional motive of being able to
- 1:29:13Speaker 1: tell the Miss Watsons, whom he depended on finding sitting
- 1:29:16Speaker 1: quietly employed after tea, that he was going home to
- 1:29:19Speaker 1: an eight o'clock dinner. As it happened, however, he did
- 1:29:24Speaker 1: not give more surprise than he received when, instead of
- 1:29:27Speaker 1: being shown into the usual little sitting room, the door
- 1:29:30Speaker 1: of the best parlor, a foot larger each way than
- 1:29:33Speaker 1: the other, was thrown open, and he beheld a circle
- 1:29:36Speaker 1: of smart people whom he could not immediately recognize, arranged
- 1:29:40Speaker 1: with all the honors of visiting round the fire, that
- 1:29:44Speaker 1: Miss Watson seated at the best Pembroke table, with the
- 1:29:47Speaker 1: best tea things before her. He stood a few seconds
- 1:29:51Speaker 1: in silent amazement. Massgrave ejaculated Margaret in a tender voice.
- 1:29:58Speaker 1: He recollected himself and came forward, delighted to find such
- 1:30:02Speaker 1: a circle of friends, and blessing his good fortune for
- 1:30:05Speaker 1: the unlooked for indulgence. He shook hands with Robert, bowed
- 1:30:09Speaker 1: and smiled to the ladies, and did everything very prettily.
- 1:30:13Speaker 1: But as to any particuliarity of address or emotion towards Margaret, Emma,
- 1:30:18Speaker 1: who closely observed him, perceived nothing that did not justify
- 1:30:22Speaker 1: Elizabeth's opinion. Though Margaret's modest smiles imported that she meant
- 1:30:27Speaker 1: to take the visit to herself. He was persuaded without
- 1:30:32Speaker 1: much difficulty to throw off his greatcoat and drink tea
- 1:30:35Speaker 1: with them. For whether he dined at eight or nine,
- 1:30:38Speaker 1: as he observed, was a matter of very little consequence,
- 1:30:42Speaker 1: and without seeming to seek, he did not turn away
- 1:30:45Speaker 1: from the chair close to Margaret, which she was assiduous
- 1:30:48Speaker 1: in providing him. She had thus secured him from her
- 1:30:52Speaker 1: sister's but it was not immediately in her power to
- 1:30:55Speaker 1: preserve him from her brother's claims, for as he came
- 1:30:59Speaker 1: avoledly from London and had left it only four hours ago,
- 1:31:03Speaker 1: the last current report as to public news and the
- 1:31:06Speaker 1: general opinion of the day must be understood before Robert
- 1:31:09Speaker 1: could let his attention be yielded to the less national
- 1:31:12Speaker 1: and important demands of the women. At last, however, he
- 1:31:17Speaker 1: was at liberty to hear Margaret's softer dress as she
- 1:31:20Speaker 1: spoke her fears of his having had the most terrible, cold, dark,
- 1:31:24Speaker 1: dreadful journey. Indeed, you should not have set out so late.
- 1:31:30Speaker 1: I could not be earlier, he replied. I was detained
- 1:31:34Speaker 1: chatting at the bedford by a friend. All hours are
- 1:31:37Speaker 1: alike to me. How long have you been in the country,
- 1:31:40Speaker 1: Miss Margaret? We only came this morning. My kind brother
- 1:31:45Speaker 1: and sister brought me home this very morning. Tis singular?
- 1:31:48Speaker 1: Is it not? You were gone a great while? Were
- 1:31:51Speaker 1: you not a fortnight? I suppose you may call a
- 1:31:56Speaker 1: fortnight a great while, mister Musgrave, said missus Robert sharply.
- 1:32:01Speaker 1: But we think a month very little. I assure you.
- 1:32:04Speaker 1: We bring her home at the end of a month,
- 1:32:06Speaker 1: much against our will. A month? Have you really been
- 1:32:10Speaker 1: gone a month? Tis amazing? How time flies, you may imagine,
- 1:32:16Speaker 1: said Margaret in a sort of whisper. What are my
- 1:32:20Speaker 1: sensations in finding myself once more at Stanton? You know
- 1:32:24Speaker 1: what a sad visitor I make? And I was so
- 1:32:27Speaker 1: excessively impatient to see Emma. I dread at the meeting,
- 1:32:30Speaker 1: and at the same time longed for it. Do you
- 1:32:33Speaker 1: not comprehend the sort of feeling? Not at all, cried
- 1:32:37Speaker 1: he aloud. I could never dread a meeting with Miss
- 1:32:40Speaker 1: Emma Watson or any of her sisters. It was lucky
- 1:32:45Speaker 1: that he added that finish. Were you speaking to me,
- 1:32:49Speaker 1: said Emma, who had caught her own name. Not absolutely,
- 1:32:53Speaker 1: he answered, but I was thinking of you, as many
- 1:32:56Speaker 1: at a greater distance are probably doing at this moment.
- 1:33:00Speaker 1: Fine open weather, miss Emma charming season for hunting. Emma
- 1:33:05Speaker 1: is delightful as not, She whispered Margaret. I have found
- 1:33:09Speaker 1: her more than answer my warmest hopes. Did you ever
- 1:33:12Speaker 1: see anything more perfectly beautiful? I think even you must
- 1:33:16Speaker 1: be a convert to a bran complexion, he hesitated. Margaret
- 1:33:21Speaker 1: was fair herself, and he did not particularly want to
- 1:33:24Speaker 1: compliment her. But Miss Osborne and Miss Carr were likewise fair,
- 1:33:28Speaker 1: and his devotion to them carried the day. Your sister's complexion,
- 1:33:33Speaker 1: said he at last, is as fine as a dark
- 1:33:36Speaker 1: complexion can be. But I still profess my preference of
- 1:33:39Speaker 1: a white skin. You have seen Miss Osborne. She is
- 1:33:43Speaker 1: my model for a truly feminine complexion, and she is
- 1:33:46Speaker 1: very fair? Is she fairer than me? Tom made no
- 1:33:51Speaker 1: reply upon my honor, ladies, he said, giving a glance
- 1:33:56Speaker 1: over his own person, I am highly indebted to your
- 1:33:59Speaker 1: condescension for admitting me, in such disabee, into your drawing room.
- 1:34:03Speaker 1: I really did not consider how unfit I was to
- 1:34:06Speaker 1: be here, or I hope I should have kept my distance.
- 1:34:09Speaker 1: Lady Osborne would tell me that I were growing as
- 1:34:12Speaker 1: careless as her son if she saw me in this condition.
- 1:34:16Speaker 1: The ladies were not wanting in civil returns, and Robert Watson,
- 1:34:20Speaker 1: stealing a view of his own head in an opposite glass,
- 1:34:23Speaker 1: said with equal civility, you cannot be more Inlisabee than myself.
- 1:34:28Speaker 1: We got here so late that I had not time
- 1:34:30Speaker 1: even to put a little fresh powder in my hair.
- 1:34:34Speaker 1: Emma could not help entering in what she supposed her
- 1:34:37Speaker 1: sister in law's feelings. At the moment when the tea
- 1:34:41Speaker 1: things were removed, Tom began to talk of his carriage.
- 1:34:45Speaker 1: But the old card table being set out, and the
- 1:34:48Speaker 1: fish and Countess with a tolerably clean pack being brought
- 1:34:52Speaker 1: forward from the buffet by Miss Watson, the general voice
- 1:34:55Speaker 1: was so urgent with him to join their party that
- 1:34:58Speaker 1: he agreed to allow himself another quarter of an hour.
- 1:35:01Speaker 1: Even Emma was pleased that he would stay, for she
- 1:35:04Speaker 1: was beginning to feel that a family party might be
- 1:35:07Speaker 1: the worst of all parties. And the others were delighted.
- 1:35:11Speaker 1: What's your game, cried he as they stood round the table. Speculation,
- 1:35:17Speaker 1: I believe, said Elizabeth. My sister recommends it, and I
- 1:35:21Speaker 1: fancy we all like it. I know you do. Tom.
- 1:35:25Speaker 1: It is the only round game played at Croydon now,
- 1:35:28Speaker 1: said missus Robert. We never think of any other. I
- 1:35:31Speaker 1: am glad it is a favorite with you, oh me,
- 1:35:35Speaker 1: said Tom. Whatever you decide on will be a favorite
- 1:35:39Speaker 1: with me. I have had some pleasant hours at speculation
- 1:35:42Speaker 1: in my time, but I have not been in the
- 1:35:44Speaker 1: way of it now for a long while. Van are
- 1:35:47Speaker 1: is the game at Osborne Castle. I have played nothing
- 1:35:51Speaker 1: but Vantyre of late. You would be astonished to hear
- 1:35:54Speaker 1: the noise we make there. The fine old lofty drawing
- 1:35:57Speaker 1: room rings again. Lady Osborne some time declares she cannot
- 1:36:01Speaker 1: hear herself speak. Lord Osborne enjoys it famously, and he
- 1:36:05Speaker 1: makes the best dealer without exception that ever. I beheld
- 1:36:09Speaker 1: such quickness and spirit. He lets nobody dream of their cards.
- 1:36:13Speaker 1: I wish he could see him overdraw himself on both
- 1:36:15Speaker 1: his own cards. It is worth anything in the world,
- 1:36:20Speaker 1: dear me, cried Margaret. Why should we not play at vantine?
- 1:36:25Speaker 1: I think it is a much better game than speculation.
- 1:36:27Speaker 1: I cannot say I am very fond of speculation. Missus
- 1:36:32Speaker 1: Robert offered not another word in support of the game.
- 1:36:35Speaker 1: She was quite vanquished, and the fashions of Osborne Castle
- 1:36:39Speaker 1: carried it over the fashions of Croydon. Do you see
- 1:36:44Speaker 1: much of the parsonage family at the castle, mister Mausgrave,
- 1:36:48Speaker 1: said Emma, as they were taking their seats. Oh, yes,
- 1:36:51Speaker 1: they are almost always there. Missus Blake is a nice, little,
- 1:36:54Speaker 1: good humored woman. She and I are sworn friends, and
- 1:36:58Speaker 1: Howard's a very gentleman like, good sort of fellow. You
- 1:37:02Speaker 1: are not forgotten, I assure you, by any of the party.
- 1:37:05Speaker 1: I fancy you must have a little cheek glowing now
- 1:37:07Speaker 1: and then, Miss Emma, were you not rather warm last
- 1:37:10Speaker 1: Saturday about nine or ten o'clock in the evening. I
- 1:37:14Speaker 1: will tell you how it was. I see you are
- 1:37:16Speaker 1: dying to know, says howard to Lord Osborne. At this
- 1:37:22Speaker 1: interesting moment he was called on by the others to
- 1:37:24Speaker 1: regulate the game and determine some disputable point, And his
- 1:37:28Speaker 1: attention was so totally engaged in the business, and afterwards
- 1:37:32Speaker 1: by the course of the game, as never to revert
- 1:37:35Speaker 1: to what he had been saying before, and Emma, though
- 1:37:38Speaker 1: suffering a good deal from curiosity, dared not remind him.
- 1:37:43Speaker 1: He proved a very useful addition to their table. Without him,
- 1:37:47Speaker 1: it would have been a party of such very near
- 1:37:49Speaker 1: relations as could have felt little interest and perhaps maintained
- 1:37:53Speaker 1: little complaisance. But his presence gave variety and secured good manners.
- 1:37:59Speaker 1: He was, in fact excellently qualified to shine at a
- 1:38:02Speaker 1: round game, and few situations made him appear to greater advantage.
- 1:38:07Speaker 1: He played with spirit and had a great deal to say,
- 1:38:10Speaker 1: and though no wit himself, could sometimes make use of
- 1:38:14Speaker 1: the wit of an absent friend, and had a lively
- 1:38:16Speaker 1: way of retailing or commonplace or saying a mere nothing
- 1:38:20Speaker 1: that had great effect at a card table. The ways
- 1:38:24Speaker 1: and good jokes of Osborne Castle were now added to
- 1:38:27Speaker 1: his ordinary means of entertainment. He repeated the smart sayings
- 1:38:31Speaker 1: of one lady detailed the oversights of another, and indulged them,
- 1:38:35Speaker 1: even with a copy of Lord Osborne's style of overdrawing himself.
- 1:38:38Speaker 1: On both cards. The clock struck nine while he was
- 1:38:43Speaker 1: thus agreeably occupied, and when Nanny came in with her
- 1:38:46Speaker 1: master's basin of gruel, he had the pleasure of observing
- 1:38:49Speaker 1: to mister Watson that he should leave him at supper
- 1:38:52Speaker 1: while he went home to dinner himself. The carriage was
- 1:38:56Speaker 1: ordered to the door, and no entreaties for his staying
- 1:38:59Speaker 1: longer could now a veil, for he well knew that
- 1:39:02Speaker 1: if he stayed, he must sit down to supper in
- 1:39:04Speaker 1: less than ten minutes, which, to a man whose heart
- 1:39:07Speaker 1: had been long fixed on calling his next meal a dinner,
- 1:39:10Speaker 1: was quite insupportable. On finding him determined to go, Margaret
- 1:39:15Speaker 1: began to wink and nod at Elizabeth to ask him
- 1:39:18Speaker 1: to dinner for the following day, and Elizabeth, at last,
- 1:39:21Speaker 1: not able to resist hints which her own hospitable social
- 1:39:24Speaker 1: temper more than half seconded, gave the invitation. Would he
- 1:39:30Speaker 1: give Robert the meeting they should be very happy with
- 1:39:34Speaker 1: the greatest pleasure, was his first reply, in a moment afterwards,
- 1:39:39Speaker 1: That is, if I can possibly get here in time,
- 1:39:42Speaker 1: but I shoot with Lord Osborne, and therefore must not engage.
- 1:39:46Speaker 1: You will not think of me unless you see me.
- 1:39:49Speaker 1: And so he departed, delighted with the uncertainty in which
- 1:39:52Speaker 1: he had left it. End of Part five, Part six. Margaret,
- 1:40:01Speaker 1: in the joy of her heart, under circumstances which she
- 1:40:04Speaker 1: chose to consider as peculiarly propitious, would willingly have made
- 1:40:08Speaker 1: a confidante of Emma when they were alone for a
- 1:40:10Speaker 1: short time the next morning, and had proceeded so far
- 1:40:14Speaker 1: as to say, the young man who was here last night,
- 1:40:17Speaker 1: my dear Emma, and returns to day, is more interesting
- 1:40:20Speaker 1: to me than perhaps you may be aware. But Emma,
- 1:40:24Speaker 1: pretending to understand nothing extraordinary in the words, made some
- 1:40:28Speaker 1: very inapplicable reply, and jumping up, ran away from a
- 1:40:31Speaker 1: subject which was odious to her feelings. As Margaret would
- 1:40:36Speaker 1: not allow a doubt to be repeated of Musgrave's coming
- 1:40:39Speaker 1: to dinner, preparations were made for his entertainment, much exceeding
- 1:40:43Speaker 1: what had been deemed necessary the day before, and taking
- 1:40:46Speaker 1: the office of superintendence entirely from her sister, She was
- 1:40:50Speaker 1: half the morning in the kitchen herself directing and scolding.
- 1:40:55Speaker 1: After a great deal of indifferent cooking and anxious suspense. However,
- 1:40:59Speaker 1: they obliged to sit down without their guest, Tom Musgrave,
- 1:41:03Speaker 1: never came, and Margaret was at no pains to conceal
- 1:41:06Speaker 1: her vexation under the disappointment or repress the peevishness of
- 1:41:10Speaker 1: her temper. The peace of the party for the remainder
- 1:41:14Speaker 1: of that day and the whole of the next, which
- 1:41:16Speaker 1: comprised the length of Robertson Jane's visit, was continually invaded
- 1:41:21Speaker 1: by her fretful displeasure and querulous attacks. Elizabeth was the
- 1:41:26Speaker 1: usual object of both. Margaret had just respect enough for
- 1:41:30Speaker 1: her brothers and sisters opinion to behave properly by them,
- 1:41:34Speaker 1: But Elizabeth and the maids could never do anything right,
- 1:41:38Speaker 1: and Emma, whom she seemed no longer to think about,
- 1:41:41Speaker 1: found the continuance of the gentle voice beyond her calculation.
- 1:41:45Speaker 1: Short eager to be as little among them as possible,
- 1:41:49Speaker 1: Emma was delighted with the alternative of sitting above with
- 1:41:52Speaker 1: her father, and warmly entreated to be his constant companion
- 1:41:56Speaker 1: each evening, And as Elizabeth loved company of any kind
- 1:42:00Speaker 1: too well not to prefer being below at all risks.
- 1:42:03Speaker 1: She had rather talk of Croydon with Jane, with every
- 1:42:06Speaker 1: interruption of Margaret's perverseness, than sit with only her father,
- 1:42:10Speaker 1: who frequently could not endure talking at all. The affair
- 1:42:14Speaker 1: was so settled as soon as she could be persuaded
- 1:42:17Speaker 1: to believe it. No sacrifice on her sister's part. To Emma,
- 1:42:21Speaker 1: the change was most acceptable and delightful. Her father, if ill,
- 1:42:26Speaker 1: required little more than gentleness and silence, and being a
- 1:42:29Speaker 1: man of sense and education, was if able to converse,
- 1:42:33Speaker 1: a welcome companion in his chamber. Emma was at peace
- 1:42:37Speaker 1: from the dreadful mortifications of unequal society and family discord,
- 1:42:42Speaker 1: from the immediate endurance of hard hearted prosperity, low minded conceit,
- 1:42:46Speaker 1: and wrong headed folly engrafted on an untoward disposition. She
- 1:42:52Speaker 1: still suffered from them in the contemplation of their existence,
- 1:42:55Speaker 1: in memory and in prospect, but for the moment she
- 1:42:59Speaker 1: ceased to be tortured by their effects. She was at leisure.
- 1:43:03Speaker 1: She could read and think, though her situation was hardly
- 1:43:06Speaker 1: such as to make reflection very soothing, the evils arising
- 1:43:10Speaker 1: from the loss of her uncle were neither trifling nor
- 1:43:13Speaker 1: likely to lessen, and when thought had been freely indulged
- 1:43:16Speaker 1: in contrasting the past and the present, the employment of
- 1:43:19Speaker 1: mind and dissipation of unpleasant ideas which only reading could produce,
- 1:43:24Speaker 1: made her thankfully turned to a book. The change in
- 1:43:27Speaker 1: her home, society, and style of life, in consequence of
- 1:43:31Speaker 1: the death of one friend and the imprudence of another
- 1:43:34Speaker 1: had indeed been striking. From being the first object of
- 1:43:39Speaker 1: hope and solicitude to an uncle who had formed her
- 1:43:42Speaker 1: mind with the care of a parent, and of tenderness,
- 1:43:45Speaker 1: to an aunt whose amiable temper had delighted to give
- 1:43:48Speaker 1: her every indulgence, from being the life and spirit of
- 1:43:52Speaker 1: a house where all had been comfort and elegance, and
- 1:43:55Speaker 1: the expected heiress of an easy independence, she was become
- 1:43:59Speaker 1: of importons to know one, a burden on those whose
- 1:44:02Speaker 1: affections she could not expect, in addition to a house
- 1:44:06Speaker 1: already overstocked, surrounded by inferior minds, with little chance of
- 1:44:11Speaker 1: domestic comfort, and as little hope for future support. It
- 1:44:15Speaker 1: was well for her that she was naturally cheerful, for
- 1:44:18Speaker 1: the change had been such as might have plunged weak
- 1:44:20Speaker 1: spirits in despondence. She was very much pressed by Robert
- 1:44:25Speaker 1: and Jane to return with them to Croydon, and had
- 1:44:28Speaker 1: some difficulty in getting a refusal accepted, as they thought
- 1:44:31Speaker 1: too highly of their own kindness and situation to suppose
- 1:44:34Speaker 1: the offer could appear in a less advantageous light to
- 1:44:37Speaker 1: anybody else. Elizabeth gave them her interest, though evidently against
- 1:44:43Speaker 1: her own, in privately urging Emma to go. You do
- 1:44:47Speaker 1: not know what you refuse, Emma, said she, Nor would
- 1:44:51Speaker 1: you have to bear at home? I would advise you
- 1:44:53Speaker 1: by all means to accept the invitation. There is always
- 1:44:57Speaker 1: something lively going on at Croydon. You will be company
- 1:45:00Speaker 1: almost every day, and Robert and Jane will be very
- 1:45:03Speaker 1: kind to you. As for me, I shall be no
- 1:45:06Speaker 1: worse off without you than I have been used to be.
- 1:45:09Speaker 1: But poor Margaret's disagreeable ways are new to you, and
- 1:45:12Speaker 1: they would vex you more than you think, for if
- 1:45:15Speaker 1: you stay at home. Emma was of course uninfluenced except
- 1:45:20Speaker 1: to greater esteem for Elizabeth by such representations, and the
- 1:45:24Speaker 1: visitors departed without her. End of Part six. End of
- 1:45:30Speaker 1: the fragment The Watsons by Jane Austen Note. According to
- 1:45:36Speaker 1: Austin Lee's memoir This is how Jane Austen had intended
- 1:45:39Speaker 1: The Watsons to continue. When the author's sister Cassandra showed
- 1:45:44Speaker 1: the manuscript of this work to some of her nieces,
- 1:45:46Speaker 1: she also told them something of the intended story. For
- 1:45:49Speaker 1: with this dear sister, though I believe with no one else,
- 1:45:53Speaker 1: Jane seems to have talked freely of any work that
- 1:45:56Speaker 1: she might have in hand. Mister Watson was soon to die,
- 1:46:00Speaker 1: and Emma to become dependent for a home on her
- 1:46:03Speaker 1: narrow minded sister in law and brother. She was to
- 1:46:07Speaker 1: decline an offer of marriage from Lord Osborne, and much
- 1:46:11Speaker 1: of the interest of the tale was to rise from
- 1:46:13Speaker 1: Lady Osborne's love for mister Howard and his counter affection
- 1:46:17Speaker 1: for Emma, whom he was finally to marry. End of
- 1:46:22Speaker 1: the Watsons by Jane Austen