August 7, 2025 • 13 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Volume one, chapter fourteen. Some change of countenance was necessary
for each gentleman as they walked into Missus Weston's drawing room.
Mister Elton must compose his joyous looks, and mister John
Knightley disperse his ill humor. Mister Elton must smile less,
and mister John Knightley more to fit them for the place.
(00:21):
Emma only might be as nature prompted, and show herself
just as happy as she was to her It was
real enjoyment to be with the Westons. Mister Weston was
a great favorite, and there was not a creature in
the world to whom she spoke with such unreserve as
to his wife, not any one to whom she related
with such conviction. Of being listened to and understood, of
(00:44):
being always interesting and always intelligible. The little affairs, arrangements,
perplexities and pleasures of her father and herself. She could
tell nothing of Hartfield, in which Missus Weston had not
a lively concern, And half an hour's uninterrupted communication of
all those little matters on which the daily happiness of
private life depends was one of the first gratifications of each.
(01:08):
This was a pleasure which perhaps the whole day's visit
might not afford, which certainly did not belong to the
present half hour. But the very sight of Missus Weston,
her smile, her touch, her voice was grateful to Emma,
and she determined to think as little as possible of
mister Elton's oddities or of anything else unpleasant, and enjoy
(01:28):
all that was enjoyable to the utmost. The misfortune of
Harriet's cold had been pretty well gone through before her arrival.
Mister Woodhouse had been safely seated long enough to give
the history of it, besides all the history of his
own and Isabella's coming, and of Emma's being to follow,
and had indeed just got to the end of his
satisfaction that James should come and see his daughter when
(01:50):
the others appeared, and Missus Weston, who had been almost
wholly engrossed by her attentions to him, was able to
turn away and welcome her dear Emma. Emma's project of
forgetting mister Elton for a while made her rather sorry
to find, when they had all taken their places, that
he was close to her. The difficulty was great of
driving his strange insensibility towards Harriet from her mind, while
(02:14):
he not only sat at her elbow, but was continually
obtruding his happy countenance on her notice and solicitously addressing
her upon every occasion instead of forgetting him. His behavior
was such that she could not avoid the internal suggestion
of can it really be as my brother imagined? Can
it be possible for this man to be beginning to
(02:35):
trancefer his affections from Harriet to me absurd and insufferable?
Yet he would be so anxious for her, being perfectly warm,
and would be so interested about her father, and so
delighted with Missus Weston, and at last would begin admiring
her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge,
(02:56):
as seemed terribly like a would be lover, and made
it some effort with her to preserve her good manners
for her own sake. She could not be rude and
for Harriet's in the hope that all would yet turn
out right. She was even positively civil, But it was
an effort, especially as something was going on amongst the
others in the most overpowering period of mister Elton's nonsense,
(03:18):
which she particularly wished to listen to. She heard enough
to know that mister Weston was giving some information about
his son. She heard the words my son and Frank
and my son repeated several times over and from a
few other half syllables, very much suspected that he was
announcing an early visit from his son. But before she
could quiet mister Elton, the subject was so completely passed
(03:40):
that any reviving question from her would have been awkward.
Now it so happened that, in spite of Emma's resolution
of never marrying, there was something in the name, in
the idea of mister Frank Churchill, which always interested her.
She had frequently thought, especially since his father's marriage with
Miss Taylor, that if she were to make he was
(04:01):
the very person to suit her in age, character and condition.
He seemed, by this connection between the families, quite to
belong to her. She could not but suppose it to
be a match that everybody who knew them must think of.
That mister and missus Weston did think of it. She
was very strongly persuaded, and, though not meaning to be
induced by him or by anybody else, to give up
(04:22):
a situation which she believed more replete with good than any,
she could change it. For she had a great curiosity
to see him, a decided intention of finding him pleasant,
of being liked by him to a certain degree, and
a sort of pleasure in the idea of their being
coupled in their friend's imaginations with such sensations. Mister Elton's
civilities were dreadfully ill timed, but she had the comfort
(04:46):
of appearing very polite while feeling very cross, and of
thinking that the rest of the visit could not possibly
pass without bringing forward the same information again, or the
substance of it, from the open hearted mister Weston. So
it proved for when happily released from mister Elton and
seated by mister Weston at dinner, he made use of
the very first interval in the cares of hospitality, the
(05:08):
very first leisure from the saddle of Mutton, to say
to her, we want only two more to be just
the right number. I should like to see two more here,
your pretty little friend, miss Smith, and my son, and
then I should say we were quite complete. I believe
you did not hear me telling the others in the
drawing room that we are expecting Frank. I had a
(05:29):
letter from him this morning, and he will be with
us within a fortnight, Emma spoke with a very proper
degree of pleasure and fully assented to his proposition of
mister Frank Churchill and miss Smith, making their party quite complete.
He has been wanting to come to us, continued mister
Weston ever since September. Every letter has been full of it.
(05:49):
But he cannot command his own time. He has those
to please who must be pleased, and who between ourselves
are sometimes to be pleased only by a good many sacrifices.
But now I have no doubt of seeing him. Hear
about the second week in January. What a very great
pleasure it will be to you and missus Western is
so anxious to be acquainted with him that she must
(06:11):
be almost as happy as yourself. Yes she would be,
but that she thinks there will be another put off.
She does not depend upon his coming so much as
I do, but she does not know the parties so
well as I do. The case you see is, but
this is quite between ourselves. I did not mention a
syllable of it in the other room. There are secrets
in all families, you know. The case is that a
(06:34):
party of friends are invited to pay a visit at
Enscombe in January, and that Frank's coming depends upon their
being put off. If they are not put off, he
cannot stir. But I know they will, because it is
a family that a certain lady of some consequence at
Enscombe has a particular dislike to, And though it is
thought necessary to invite them once in two or three years,
(06:54):
they always are put off when it comes to the point.
I have not the smallest doubt of the issue. I
am as confident of seeing Frank here before the middle
of January as I am of being here myself. But
your good friend there, nodding towards the upper end of
the table, has so few vagaries herself, and has been
so little used to them at Hartfield, that she cannot
(07:15):
calculate on their effects, as I have been long in
the practice of doing. I am sorry there should be
anything like doubt in the case, replied Emma. But AM
disposed to side with you, mister Weston. If you think
he will come, I shall think so too, For you
know Enscombe. Yes, I have some right to that knowledge,
though I have never been at the place in my life.
(07:37):
She is an odd woman, but I never allow myself
to speak ill of her. On Frank's account, for I
do believe her to be very fond of him. I
used to think she was not capable of being fond
of anybody except herself. But she has always been kind
to him in her way, allowing for little whims and caprices,
and expecting everything to be as she likes. And it
is no small credit, in my opinion, to him that
(07:59):
he should ac such an affection, for though I would
not say to anybody else, she has no more heart
than a stone to people in general, and the devil
of a temper. Emma liked the subject so well that
she began upon it to missus Weston very soon after
their moving into the drawing room, wishing her joy, yet
observing that she knew the first meeting must be rather alarming.
(08:19):
Missus Weston agreed to it, but added that she should
be very glad to be secure of undergoing the anxiety
of a first meeting at the time talked of, For
I cannot depend upon his coming. I cannot be so
sanguine as mister Weston. I am very much afraid that
it will all end in nothing. Mister Weston, I dare say,
has been telling you exactly how the matter stands. Yes,
(08:40):
it seems to depend upon nothing but the ill humor
of Missus Churchill, which I imagine to be the most certain
thing in the world. My Emma replied Missus Weston, smiling,
What is this certainty of caprice? Then turning to Isabella,
who had not been attending before, you must know, my
dear Missus Knightley, that we are by no means so
(09:02):
sure of seeing mister Frank Churchill. In my opinion, as
his father thinks, it depends entirely upon his aunt's spirits
and pleasure, in short, upon her temper to you, to
my two daughters, I may venture on the truth. Missus
Churchill rules at Enscombe and is a very odd tempered woman,
and his coming now depends upon her being willing to
(09:23):
spare him. Oh, Missus Churchill, everybody knows Missus Churchill, replied Isabella,
and I am sure I never think of that poor
young man without the greatest compassion. To be constantly living
with an ill tempered person must be dreadful. It is
what we happily have never known anything of. But it
must be a life of misery. What a blessing that
(09:45):
she never had any children, poor little creatures how unhappy
she would have made them. Emma wished she had been
alone with Missus Weston. She should then have heard more.
Missus Weston would speak to her with a degree of
unreserve which she would not hazard with Isabella, and she
really believed would scarcely try to conceal anything relative to
the Churchills from her, excepting those views on the young
(10:06):
man of which her own imagination had already given her
such instinctive knowledge. But at present there was nothing more
to be said. Mister Woodhouse very soon followed them into
the drawing room to be sitting long after dinner was
a confinement that he could not endure. Neither wine nor
conversation was anything to him, and gladly did he move
to those with whom he was always comfortable. While he
(10:28):
talked to Isabella, however, Emma found an opportunity of saying,
and so you do not consider this visit from your
son as by any means certain, I am sorry for it.
The introduction must be unpleasant whenever it takes place, and
the sooner it could be over the better. Yes, and
every delay makes one more apprehensive of other delays. Even
(10:49):
if this family, the Braithwaits, are put off. I am
still afraid that some excuse may be found for his
disappointing us. I cannot bear to imagine any reluctance on
his side, But I am sure there is a great
wish on the Churchills to keep him to themselves. There
is jealousy. They are jealous even of his regard for
his father. In short, I can feel no dependence on
(11:10):
his coming, and I wish mister Weston were less sanguine.
He ought to come, said Emma. If he could only
stay a couple of days, he ought to come. And
one can hardly conceive a young man's not having it
in his power to do as much as that. A
young woman, if she fall into bad hands, may be
teased and kept at a distance from those she wants
(11:30):
to be with. But one cannot comprehend a young man's
being under such restraint as not to be able to
spend a week with his father if he likes it.
One ought to be at Enscombe and know the ways
of the family before one decides upon what he can do,
replied Missus Western. One ought to use the same caution,
perhaps in judging of the conduct of any one individual
(11:52):
of any one family. But Enscombe, I believe certainly must
not be judged by general rules. She is so very unreasonable,
and everything gives way to her, But she is so
fond of the nephew. He is so very great a favorite. Now,
according to my idea of Missus Churchill, it would be
most natural that while she makes no sacrifice for the
(12:13):
comfort of the husband to whom she owes everything, while
she exercises incessant caprice towards him, she should frequently be
governed by the nephew, to whom she owes nothing at all.
My dearest Emma, do not pretend, with your sweet temper
to understand a bad one or to lay down rules
for it. You must let it go its own way.
(12:34):
I have no doubt of his having at times considerable influence,
but it may be perfectly impossible for him to know
beforehand when it will be. Emma listened, and then coolly said,
I shall not be satisfied unless he comes. He may
have a great deal of influence on some points, continued
Missus Western, and on others very little, and among those
(12:57):
on which she is beyond his reach. It is but
too likely may be this very circumstance of his coming
away from them to visit us. End of Chapter fourteen,
Volume one, chapter fourteen. Some change of countenance was necessary
for each gentleman as they walked into Missus Weston's drawing room.
Mister Elton must compose his joyous looks, and mister John
Knightley disperse his ill humor. Mister Elton must smile less,
and mister John Knightley more to fit them for the place.
(00:21):
Emma only might be as nature prompted, and show herself
just as happy as she was to her It was
real enjoyment to be with the Westons. Mister Weston was
a great favorite, and there was not a creature in
the world to whom she spoke with such unreserve as
to his wife, not any one to whom she related
with such conviction. Of being listened to and understood, of
(00:44):
being always interesting and always intelligible. The little affairs, arrangements,
perplexities and pleasures of her father and herself. She could
tell nothing of Hartfield, in which Missus Weston had not
a lively concern, And half an hour's uninterrupted communication of
all those little matters on which the daily happiness of
private life depends was one of the first gratifications of each.
(01:08):
This was a pleasure which perhaps the whole day's visit
might not afford, which certainly did not belong to the
present half hour. But the very sight of Missus Weston,
her smile, her touch, her voice was grateful to Emma,
and she determined to think as little as possible of
mister Elton's oddities or of anything else unpleasant, and enjoy
(01:28):
all that was enjoyable to the utmost. The misfortune of
Harriet's cold had been pretty well gone through before her arrival.
Mister Woodhouse had been safely seated long enough to give
the history of it, besides all the history of his
own and Isabella's coming, and of Emma's being to follow,
and had indeed just got to the end of his
satisfaction that James should come and see his daughter when
(01:50):
the others appeared, and Missus Weston, who had been almost
wholly engrossed by her attentions to him, was able to
turn away and welcome her dear Emma. Emma's project of
forgetting mister Elton for a while made her rather sorry
to find, when they had all taken their places, that
he was close to her. The difficulty was great of
driving his strange insensibility towards Harriet from her mind, while
(02:14):
he not only sat at her elbow, but was continually
obtruding his happy countenance on her notice and solicitously addressing
her upon every occasion instead of forgetting him. His behavior
was such that she could not avoid the internal suggestion
of can it really be as my brother imagined? Can
it be possible for this man to be beginning to
(02:35):
trancefer his affections from Harriet to me absurd and insufferable?
Yet he would be so anxious for her, being perfectly warm,
and would be so interested about her father, and so
delighted with Missus Weston, and at last would begin admiring
her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge,
(02:56):
as seemed terribly like a would be lover, and made
it some effort with her to preserve her good manners
for her own sake. She could not be rude and
for Harriet's in the hope that all would yet turn
out right. She was even positively civil, But it was
an effort, especially as something was going on amongst the
others in the most overpowering period of mister Elton's nonsense,
(03:18):
which she particularly wished to listen to. She heard enough
to know that mister Weston was giving some information about
his son. She heard the words my son and Frank
and my son repeated several times over and from a
few other half syllables, very much suspected that he was
announcing an early visit from his son. But before she
could quiet mister Elton, the subject was so completely passed
(03:40):
that any reviving question from her would have been awkward.
Now it so happened that, in spite of Emma's resolution
of never marrying, there was something in the name, in
the idea of mister Frank Churchill, which always interested her.
She had frequently thought, especially since his father's marriage with
Miss Taylor, that if she were to make he was
(04:01):
the very person to suit her in age, character and condition.
He seemed, by this connection between the families, quite to
belong to her. She could not but suppose it to
be a match that everybody who knew them must think of.
That mister and missus Weston did think of it. She
was very strongly persuaded, and, though not meaning to be
induced by him or by anybody else, to give up
(04:22):
a situation which she believed more replete with good than any,
she could change it. For she had a great curiosity
to see him, a decided intention of finding him pleasant,
of being liked by him to a certain degree, and
a sort of pleasure in the idea of their being
coupled in their friend's imaginations with such sensations. Mister Elton's
civilities were dreadfully ill timed, but she had the comfort
(04:46):
of appearing very polite while feeling very cross, and of
thinking that the rest of the visit could not possibly
pass without bringing forward the same information again, or the
substance of it, from the open hearted mister Weston. So
it proved for when happily released from mister Elton and
seated by mister Weston at dinner, he made use of
the very first interval in the cares of hospitality, the
(05:08):
very first leisure from the saddle of Mutton, to say
to her, we want only two more to be just
the right number. I should like to see two more here,
your pretty little friend, miss Smith, and my son, and
then I should say we were quite complete. I believe
you did not hear me telling the others in the
drawing room that we are expecting Frank. I had a
(05:29):
letter from him this morning, and he will be with
us within a fortnight, Emma spoke with a very proper
degree of pleasure and fully assented to his proposition of
mister Frank Churchill and miss Smith, making their party quite complete.
He has been wanting to come to us, continued mister
Weston ever since September. Every letter has been full of it.
(05:49):
But he cannot command his own time. He has those
to please who must be pleased, and who between ourselves
are sometimes to be pleased only by a good many sacrifices.
But now I have no doubt of seeing him. Hear
about the second week in January. What a very great
pleasure it will be to you and missus Western is
so anxious to be acquainted with him that she must
(06:11):
be almost as happy as yourself. Yes she would be,
but that she thinks there will be another put off.
She does not depend upon his coming so much as
I do, but she does not know the parties so
well as I do. The case you see is, but
this is quite between ourselves. I did not mention a
syllable of it in the other room. There are secrets
in all families, you know. The case is that a
(06:34):
party of friends are invited to pay a visit at
Enscombe in January, and that Frank's coming depends upon their
being put off. If they are not put off, he
cannot stir. But I know they will, because it is
a family that a certain lady of some consequence at
Enscombe has a particular dislike to, And though it is
thought necessary to invite them once in two or three years,
(06:54):
they always are put off when it comes to the point.
I have not the smallest doubt of the issue. I
am as confident of seeing Frank here before the middle
of January as I am of being here myself. But
your good friend there, nodding towards the upper end of
the table, has so few vagaries herself, and has been
so little used to them at Hartfield, that she cannot
(07:15):
calculate on their effects, as I have been long in
the practice of doing. I am sorry there should be
anything like doubt in the case, replied Emma. But AM
disposed to side with you, mister Weston. If you think
he will come, I shall think so too, For you
know Enscombe. Yes, I have some right to that knowledge,
though I have never been at the place in my life.
(07:37):
She is an odd woman, but I never allow myself
to speak ill of her. On Frank's account, for I
do believe her to be very fond of him. I
used to think she was not capable of being fond
of anybody except herself. But she has always been kind
to him in her way, allowing for little whims and caprices,
and expecting everything to be as she likes. And it
is no small credit, in my opinion, to him that
(07:59):
he should ac such an affection, for though I would
not say to anybody else, she has no more heart
than a stone to people in general, and the devil
of a temper. Emma liked the subject so well that
she began upon it to missus Weston very soon after
their moving into the drawing room, wishing her joy, yet
observing that she knew the first meeting must be rather alarming.
(08:19):
Missus Weston agreed to it, but added that she should
be very glad to be secure of undergoing the anxiety
of a first meeting at the time talked of, For
I cannot depend upon his coming. I cannot be so
sanguine as mister Weston. I am very much afraid that
it will all end in nothing. Mister Weston, I dare say,
has been telling you exactly how the matter stands. Yes,
(08:40):
it seems to depend upon nothing but the ill humor
of Missus Churchill, which I imagine to be the most certain
thing in the world. My Emma replied Missus Weston, smiling,
What is this certainty of caprice? Then turning to Isabella,
who had not been attending before, you must know, my
dear Missus Knightley, that we are by no means so
(09:02):
sure of seeing mister Frank Churchill. In my opinion, as
his father thinks, it depends entirely upon his aunt's spirits
and pleasure, in short, upon her temper to you, to
my two daughters, I may venture on the truth. Missus
Churchill rules at Enscombe and is a very odd tempered woman,
and his coming now depends upon her being willing to
(09:23):
spare him. Oh, Missus Churchill, everybody knows Missus Churchill, replied Isabella,
and I am sure I never think of that poor
young man without the greatest compassion. To be constantly living
with an ill tempered person must be dreadful. It is
what we happily have never known anything of. But it
must be a life of misery. What a blessing that
(09:45):
she never had any children, poor little creatures how unhappy
she would have made them. Emma wished she had been
alone with Missus Weston. She should then have heard more.
Missus Weston would speak to her with a degree of
unreserve which she would not hazard with Isabella, and she
really believed would scarcely try to conceal anything relative to
the Churchills from her, excepting those views on the young
(10:06):
man of which her own imagination had already given her
such instinctive knowledge. But at present there was nothing more
to be said. Mister Woodhouse very soon followed them into
the drawing room to be sitting long after dinner was
a confinement that he could not endure. Neither wine nor
conversation was anything to him, and gladly did he move
to those with whom he was always comfortable. While he
(10:28):
talked to Isabella, however, Emma found an opportunity of saying,
and so you do not consider this visit from your
son as by any means certain, I am sorry for it.
The introduction must be unpleasant whenever it takes place, and
the sooner it could be over the better. Yes, and
every delay makes one more apprehensive of other delays. Even
(10:49):
if this family, the Braithwaits, are put off. I am
still afraid that some excuse may be found for his
disappointing us. I cannot bear to imagine any reluctance on
his side, But I am sure there is a great
wish on the Churchills to keep him to themselves. There
is jealousy. They are jealous even of his regard for
his father. In short, I can feel no dependence on
(11:10):
his coming, and I wish mister Weston were less sanguine.
He ought to come, said Emma. If he could only
stay a couple of days, he ought to come. And
one can hardly conceive a young man's not having it
in his power to do as much as that. A
young woman, if she fall into bad hands, may be
teased and kept at a distance from those she wants
(11:30):
to be with. But one cannot comprehend a young man's
being under such restraint as not to be able to
spend a week with his father if he likes it.
One ought to be at Enscombe and know the ways
of the family before one decides upon what he can do,
replied Missus Western. One ought to use the same caution,
perhaps in judging of the conduct of any one individual
(11:52):
of any one family. But Enscombe, I believe certainly must
not be judged by general rules. She is so very unreasonable,
and everything gives way to her, But she is so
fond of the nephew. He is so very great a favorite. Now,
according to my idea of Missus Churchill, it would be
most natural that while she makes no sacrifice for the
(12:13):
comfort of the husband to whom she owes everything, while
she exercises incessant caprice towards him, she should frequently be
governed by the nephew, to whom she owes nothing at all.
My dearest Emma, do not pretend, with your sweet temper
to understand a bad one or to lay down rules
for it. You must let it go its own way.
(12:34):
I have no doubt of his having at times considerable influence,
but it may be perfectly impossible for him to know
beforehand when it will be. Emma listened, and then coolly said,
I shall not be satisfied unless he comes. He may
have a great deal of influence on some points, continued
Missus Western, and on others very little, and among those
(12:57):
on which she is beyond his reach. It is but
too likely may be this very circumstance of his coming
away from them to visit us. End of Chapter fourteen,
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