August 13, 2025 • 13 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Volume two, Chapter two. Jane Fairfax was an orphan, the
only child of Missus Bates's youngest daughter. The marriage of
Lieutenant Fairfax of the Blank Regiment of Infantry and Miss
Jane Bates had had its day of fame and pleasure,
hope and interest. But now nothing remained of it save
the melancholy remembrance of him dying in action abroad, of
(00:22):
his widow sinking under consumption and grief soon afterwards. And
this girl by birth she belonged to Highbury, and when,
at three years old, on losing her mother, she became
the property, the charge, the consolation, the fondling of her
grandmother and aunt. There had seemed every probability of her
being permanently fixed, there, of her being taught only what
(00:43):
very limited means could command, and growing up with no
advantages of connection or improvement, to be engrafted on what
nature had given her in a pleasing person, good understanding, and
warm hearted, well meaning relations. But the compassionate feelings of
a friend of her father gave a change to her destiny.
This was Colonel Campbell, who had very highly regarded Fairfax
(01:04):
as an excellent officer and most deserving young man, and
farther had been indebted to him for such attentions during
a severe camp fever, as he believed had saved his life.
These were claims which he did not learn to overlook,
though some years passed away from the death of poor
Fairfax before his own return to England put anything in
his power. When he did return, he sought out the
(01:26):
child and took notice of her. He was a married
man with only one living child, a girl about Jane's age,
and Jane became their guest, paying them long visits and
growing a favorite with all, and before she was nine
years old, his daughter's great fondness for her and his
own wish of being a real friend united to produce
an offer from Colonel Campbell of undertaking the whole charge
(01:49):
of her education. It was accepted, and from that period
Jane had belonged to Colonel Campbell's family and had lived
with them entirely, only visiting her grandmother from time to time.
The plan was that she should be brought up for
educating others. The very few hundred pounds which she inherited
from her father, making independence impossible to provide for her otherwise,
(02:11):
was out of Colonel Campbell's power. For though his income
by pay and appointments was handsome, his fortune was moderate
and must be all his daughters. But by giving her
an education, he hoped to be supplying the means of
respectable subsistence. Hereafter, Such was Jane Fairfax's history. She had
fallen into good hands, known nothing but kindness from the Campbells,
(02:32):
and been given an excellent education, living constantly with right
minded and well informed people. Her heart and understanding had
received every advantage of discipline and culture, and Colonel Campbell's
residence being in London, every lighter talent had been done
full justice to by the attendants of first rate masters.
Her disposition and abilities were equally worthy of all that
(02:53):
friendship could do. And at eighteen or nineteen, she was,
as far as such an early age can be, qualified
for the care of children, fully competent to the office
of instruction herself. But she was too much beloved to
be parted with. Neither father nor mother could promote, and
the daughter could not endure it. The evil day was
put off. It was easy to decide that she was
(03:14):
still too young, and Jane remained with them, sharing as
another daughter in all the rational pleasures of an elegant society,
and a judicious mixture of home and amusement, with only
the drawback of the future the sobering suggestions of her
own good understanding to remind her that all this might
soon be over. The affection of the whole family. The
(03:35):
warm attachment of Miss Campbell, in particular, was the more
honorable to each party from the circumstance of Jane's decided superiority,
both in beauty and acquirements. That nature had given it
in feature could not be unseen by the young woman,
nor could her higher powers of mind be unfelt by
the parents. They continued together with unabated regard, however, till
(03:56):
the marriage of Miss Campbell, who, by that chance, that
luck which so often defies anticipation in matrimonial affairs, giving
attraction to what is moderate rather than to what is superior,
engaged the affections of mister Dixon, a young man, rich
and agreeable, almost as soon as they were acquainted, and
was eligibly and happily settled, while Jane Fairfax had yet
(04:18):
her bread to earn. This event had very lately taken place,
too lately for anything to be yet attempted by her
less fortunate friend towards entering on her path of duty.
Though she had now reached the age which her own
judgment had fixed on for beginning, she had long resolved
that one and twenty should be the period, with the
fortitude of a devoted novitiate. She had resolved at one
(04:39):
and twenty to complete the sacrifice and retire from all
the pleasures of life, of rational intercourse, equal society, peace
and hope, to penance and mortification forever. The good sense
of Colonel and Missus Campbell could not oppose such a resolution,
though their feelings did. As long as they lived, no
exertions would be necessary. Their home might be hers forever,
(05:02):
and for their own comfort they would have retained her
holy but this would be selfishness. What must be at
last had better be soon. Perhaps they began to feel
it might have been kinder and wiser to have resisted
the temptation of any delay, and spared her from a
taste of such enjoyments of ease and leisure as must
now be relinquished. Still, however, affection was glad to catch
(05:24):
at any reasonable excuse for not hurrying on the wretched moment.
She had never been quite well since the time of
their daughter's marriage until she should have completely recovered her
usual strength. They must forbid her engaging in duties which,
so far from being compatible with a weakened frame and
varying spirits, seemed, under the most favorable circumstances, to require
(05:45):
something more than human perfection of body and mind to
be discharged with tolerable comfort. With regard to her not
accompanying them to Ireland, her account to her aunt contained
nothing but truth, though there might be some truths not told.
It was her own choice to give the time of
their absence to Highbury to spend perhaps her last months
of perfect liberty with those kind relations to whom she
(06:07):
was so very dear. And the Campbells, whatever might be
their motive or motives, whether single or double or treble,
gave the arrangement their ready sanction, and said that they
depended more on a few months spent in her native
air for the recovery of her health, than on anything else.
Certain it was that she was to come, and that Highbury,
instead of welcoming that perfect novelty which had been so
(06:30):
long promised it, mister Frank Churchill must put up for
the present with Jane Fairfax, who could bring only the
freshness of a two years absence. Emma was sorry to
have to pay civilities to a person she did not
like through three long months, to be always doing more
than she wished and less than she ought. Why she
(06:51):
did not like Jane Fairfax might be a difficult question
to answer. Mister Knightley had once told her it was
because she saw in her the really accomplished young woman
which she wanted to be thought herself. And though the
accusation had been eagerly refuted at the time, there were
moments of self examination in which her conscience could not
quite acquit her. But she could never get acquainted with her.
(07:15):
She did not know how it was, but there was
such coldness and reserve, such apparent indifference whether she pleased
or not. And then her aunt was such an eternal talker,
and she was made such a fuss with by everybody.
And it had always been imagined that they were to
be so intimate because their ages were the same. Everybody
(07:36):
had supposed they must be so fond of each other.
These were her reasons. She had no better. It was
a dislike so little, Just every imputed fault was so
magnified by fancy that she never saw Jane Fairfax the
first time after any considerable absence without feeling that she
had injured her. And now when the due visit was
(07:57):
paid on her arrival after a two years interval, she
was particularly struck with the very appearance and manners which
for those two whole years she had been depreciating. Jane
Fairfax was very elegant, remarkably elegant, and she had herself
the highest value for elegance. Her height was pretty just
(08:17):
such as almost everybody would think tall, and nobody could
think very tall. Her figure particularly graceful, her size a
most becoming medium between fat and thin, though a slight
appearance of ill health seemed to point out the likeliest
evil of the two. Emma could not but feel all this,
and then her face. Her features, there was more beauty
(08:40):
in them altogether than she had remembered. It was not regular,
but it was a very pleasing beauty. Her eyes, a
deep gray with dark eyelashes and eyebrows, had never been
denied their praise. But the skin, which she had been
used to cavil at as wanting color, had a clearness
and delicacy which reach needed no fuller bloom. It was
(09:02):
a style of beauty of which elegance was the reigning character,
and as such she must, in honor by all her
principles admire it. Elegance which, whether of person or of
mind she saw so little in Highbury there not to
be vulgar, was distinction and merit. In short, she sat
during the first visit looking at Jane Fairfax with two
(09:25):
fold complacency, the sense of pleasure and the sense of
rendering justice, and was determining that she would dislike her
no longer When she took in her history, indeed her
situation as well as her beauty. When she considered what
all this elegance was destined to, what she was going
to sink from, how she was going to live, it
seemed impossible to feel anything but compassion and respect, especially
(09:49):
if to every well known particular entitling her to interest
were added the highly probable circumstance of an attachment to
mister Dixon, which she had so naturally started to herself.
In that case, nothing could be more pitiable or more
honorable than the sacrifice. As she had resolved on. Emma
was very willing now to acquit her of having seduced
(10:10):
mister Dixon's actions from his wife, or of anything mischievous,
which her imagination had suggested at first. If it were love,
it might be simple, single successless love. On her side alone,
she might have been unconsciously sucking in the sad poison
while a share of his conversation with her friend, and
from the best the purest of motives, might now be
(10:31):
denying herself this visit to Ireland and resolving to divide
herself effectually from him and his connections by soon beginning
her career of laborious duty upon the whole. Emma left
her with such softened, charitable feelings as made her look
around in walking home and lament that Highbury afforded no
young man worthy of giving her independence, nobody she could
(10:52):
wish to scheme about for her. These were charming feelings,
but not lasting. Before she had committed herself by any
post public profession of eternal friendship for Jane Fairfax, or
done more towards a recantation of past prejudices and errors
than saying to mister Knightley, she certainly is handsome. She
is better than handsome. Jane had spent an evening at
(11:14):
Hartfield with her grandmother and aunt, and everything was relapsing
much into its usual state. Former provocations reappeared. The aunt
was as tiresome as ever, more tiresome because anxiety for
her health was now added to admiration of her powers,
and they had to listen to the description of exactly
how little bread and butter she ate for breakfast, and
(11:36):
how small a slice of mutton for dinner, as well
as to see exhibitions of new caps and new work
bags for her mother and herself. And Jane's offenses rose again.
They had music, Emma was obliged to play, and the
thanks and praise which necessarily followed appeared to her an
affectation of candor, an air of greatness, meaning only to
(11:56):
show off in higher style her own very superior performance.
She was besides, which was the worst of all, So cold,
so cautious, there was no getting at her real opinion.
Wrapped up in a cloak of politeness, she seemed determined
to hazard nothing. She was disgustingly, was suspiciously reserved. If
(12:16):
anything could be more where all was most She was
more reserved on the subject of Weymouth and the Dixons
than anything. She seemed bent on giving no real insight
into mister Dixon's character, or her own value for his company,
or opinion of the suitableness of the match. It was
all general approbation and smoothness, nothing delineated or distinguished. It
(12:37):
did her no service. However, her caution was thrown away.
Emma saw its artifice and returned to her first surmises.
There probably was something more to conceal than her own preference.
Mister Dixon perhaps had been very near changing one friend
for the other, or been fixed only to Miss Campbell
for the sake of the future twelve thousand pounds. The
(12:58):
like reserve prevailed on other top She and mister Frank
Churchill had been at Weymouth at the same time. It
was known that they were a little acquainted, But not
a syllable of real information could Emma procure as to
what he truly was. Was he handsome? She believed he
was reckoned, a very fine young man. Was he agreeable?
(13:20):
He was generally thought so. Did he appear a sensible
young man, a young man of information at a watering
place or in a common London acquaintance. It was difficult
to decide on such points. Manners were all that could
be safely judged of under a much longer knowledge than
they had had yet. Of mister Churchill. She believed everybody
(13:41):
found his manners pleasing. Emma could not forgive her end
of Chapter two,
Volume two, Chapter two. Jane Fairfax was an orphan, the
only child of Missus Bates's youngest daughter. The marriage of
Lieutenant Fairfax of the Blank Regiment of Infantry and Miss
Jane Bates had had its day of fame and pleasure,
hope and interest. But now nothing remained of it save
the melancholy remembrance of him dying in action abroad, of
(00:22):
his widow sinking under consumption and grief soon afterwards. And
this girl by birth she belonged to Highbury, and when,
at three years old, on losing her mother, she became
the property, the charge, the consolation, the fondling of her
grandmother and aunt. There had seemed every probability of her
being permanently fixed, there, of her being taught only what
(00:43):
very limited means could command, and growing up with no
advantages of connection or improvement, to be engrafted on what
nature had given her in a pleasing person, good understanding, and
warm hearted, well meaning relations. But the compassionate feelings of
a friend of her father gave a change to her destiny.
This was Colonel Campbell, who had very highly regarded Fairfax
(01:04):
as an excellent officer and most deserving young man, and
farther had been indebted to him for such attentions during
a severe camp fever, as he believed had saved his life.
These were claims which he did not learn to overlook,
though some years passed away from the death of poor
Fairfax before his own return to England put anything in
his power. When he did return, he sought out the
(01:26):
child and took notice of her. He was a married
man with only one living child, a girl about Jane's age,
and Jane became their guest, paying them long visits and
growing a favorite with all, and before she was nine
years old, his daughter's great fondness for her and his
own wish of being a real friend united to produce
an offer from Colonel Campbell of undertaking the whole charge
(01:49):
of her education. It was accepted, and from that period
Jane had belonged to Colonel Campbell's family and had lived
with them entirely, only visiting her grandmother from time to time.
The plan was that she should be brought up for
educating others. The very few hundred pounds which she inherited
from her father, making independence impossible to provide for her otherwise,
(02:11):
was out of Colonel Campbell's power. For though his income
by pay and appointments was handsome, his fortune was moderate
and must be all his daughters. But by giving her
an education, he hoped to be supplying the means of
respectable subsistence. Hereafter, Such was Jane Fairfax's history. She had
fallen into good hands, known nothing but kindness from the Campbells,
(02:32):
and been given an excellent education, living constantly with right
minded and well informed people. Her heart and understanding had
received every advantage of discipline and culture, and Colonel Campbell's
residence being in London, every lighter talent had been done
full justice to by the attendants of first rate masters.
Her disposition and abilities were equally worthy of all that
(02:53):
friendship could do. And at eighteen or nineteen, she was,
as far as such an early age can be, qualified
for the care of children, fully competent to the office
of instruction herself. But she was too much beloved to
be parted with. Neither father nor mother could promote, and
the daughter could not endure it. The evil day was
put off. It was easy to decide that she was
(03:14):
still too young, and Jane remained with them, sharing as
another daughter in all the rational pleasures of an elegant society,
and a judicious mixture of home and amusement, with only
the drawback of the future the sobering suggestions of her
own good understanding to remind her that all this might
soon be over. The affection of the whole family. The
(03:35):
warm attachment of Miss Campbell, in particular, was the more
honorable to each party from the circumstance of Jane's decided superiority,
both in beauty and acquirements. That nature had given it
in feature could not be unseen by the young woman,
nor could her higher powers of mind be unfelt by
the parents. They continued together with unabated regard, however, till
(03:56):
the marriage of Miss Campbell, who, by that chance, that
luck which so often defies anticipation in matrimonial affairs, giving
attraction to what is moderate rather than to what is superior,
engaged the affections of mister Dixon, a young man, rich
and agreeable, almost as soon as they were acquainted, and
was eligibly and happily settled, while Jane Fairfax had yet
(04:18):
her bread to earn. This event had very lately taken place,
too lately for anything to be yet attempted by her
less fortunate friend towards entering on her path of duty.
Though she had now reached the age which her own
judgment had fixed on for beginning, she had long resolved
that one and twenty should be the period, with the
fortitude of a devoted novitiate. She had resolved at one
(04:39):
and twenty to complete the sacrifice and retire from all
the pleasures of life, of rational intercourse, equal society, peace
and hope, to penance and mortification forever. The good sense
of Colonel and Missus Campbell could not oppose such a resolution,
though their feelings did. As long as they lived, no
exertions would be necessary. Their home might be hers forever,
(05:02):
and for their own comfort they would have retained her
holy but this would be selfishness. What must be at
last had better be soon. Perhaps they began to feel
it might have been kinder and wiser to have resisted
the temptation of any delay, and spared her from a
taste of such enjoyments of ease and leisure as must
now be relinquished. Still, however, affection was glad to catch
(05:24):
at any reasonable excuse for not hurrying on the wretched moment.
She had never been quite well since the time of
their daughter's marriage until she should have completely recovered her
usual strength. They must forbid her engaging in duties which,
so far from being compatible with a weakened frame and
varying spirits, seemed, under the most favorable circumstances, to require
(05:45):
something more than human perfection of body and mind to
be discharged with tolerable comfort. With regard to her not
accompanying them to Ireland, her account to her aunt contained
nothing but truth, though there might be some truths not told.
It was her own choice to give the time of
their absence to Highbury to spend perhaps her last months
of perfect liberty with those kind relations to whom she
(06:07):
was so very dear. And the Campbells, whatever might be
their motive or motives, whether single or double or treble,
gave the arrangement their ready sanction, and said that they
depended more on a few months spent in her native
air for the recovery of her health, than on anything else.
Certain it was that she was to come, and that Highbury,
instead of welcoming that perfect novelty which had been so
(06:30):
long promised it, mister Frank Churchill must put up for
the present with Jane Fairfax, who could bring only the
freshness of a two years absence. Emma was sorry to
have to pay civilities to a person she did not
like through three long months, to be always doing more
than she wished and less than she ought. Why she
(06:51):
did not like Jane Fairfax might be a difficult question
to answer. Mister Knightley had once told her it was
because she saw in her the really accomplished young woman
which she wanted to be thought herself. And though the
accusation had been eagerly refuted at the time, there were
moments of self examination in which her conscience could not
quite acquit her. But she could never get acquainted with her.
(07:15):
She did not know how it was, but there was
such coldness and reserve, such apparent indifference whether she pleased
or not. And then her aunt was such an eternal talker,
and she was made such a fuss with by everybody.
And it had always been imagined that they were to
be so intimate because their ages were the same. Everybody
(07:36):
had supposed they must be so fond of each other.
These were her reasons. She had no better. It was
a dislike so little, Just every imputed fault was so
magnified by fancy that she never saw Jane Fairfax the
first time after any considerable absence without feeling that she
had injured her. And now when the due visit was
(07:57):
paid on her arrival after a two years interval, she
was particularly struck with the very appearance and manners which
for those two whole years she had been depreciating. Jane
Fairfax was very elegant, remarkably elegant, and she had herself
the highest value for elegance. Her height was pretty just
(08:17):
such as almost everybody would think tall, and nobody could
think very tall. Her figure particularly graceful, her size a
most becoming medium between fat and thin, though a slight
appearance of ill health seemed to point out the likeliest
evil of the two. Emma could not but feel all this,
and then her face. Her features, there was more beauty
(08:40):
in them altogether than she had remembered. It was not regular,
but it was a very pleasing beauty. Her eyes, a
deep gray with dark eyelashes and eyebrows, had never been
denied their praise. But the skin, which she had been
used to cavil at as wanting color, had a clearness
and delicacy which reach needed no fuller bloom. It was
(09:02):
a style of beauty of which elegance was the reigning character,
and as such she must, in honor by all her
principles admire it. Elegance which, whether of person or of
mind she saw so little in Highbury there not to
be vulgar, was distinction and merit. In short, she sat
during the first visit looking at Jane Fairfax with two
(09:25):
fold complacency, the sense of pleasure and the sense of
rendering justice, and was determining that she would dislike her
no longer When she took in her history, indeed her
situation as well as her beauty. When she considered what
all this elegance was destined to, what she was going
to sink from, how she was going to live, it
seemed impossible to feel anything but compassion and respect, especially
(09:49):
if to every well known particular entitling her to interest
were added the highly probable circumstance of an attachment to
mister Dixon, which she had so naturally started to herself.
In that case, nothing could be more pitiable or more
honorable than the sacrifice. As she had resolved on. Emma
was very willing now to acquit her of having seduced
(10:10):
mister Dixon's actions from his wife, or of anything mischievous,
which her imagination had suggested at first. If it were love,
it might be simple, single successless love. On her side alone,
she might have been unconsciously sucking in the sad poison
while a share of his conversation with her friend, and
from the best the purest of motives, might now be
(10:31):
denying herself this visit to Ireland and resolving to divide
herself effectually from him and his connections by soon beginning
her career of laborious duty upon the whole. Emma left
her with such softened, charitable feelings as made her look
around in walking home and lament that Highbury afforded no
young man worthy of giving her independence, nobody she could
(10:52):
wish to scheme about for her. These were charming feelings,
but not lasting. Before she had committed herself by any
post public profession of eternal friendship for Jane Fairfax, or
done more towards a recantation of past prejudices and errors
than saying to mister Knightley, she certainly is handsome. She
is better than handsome. Jane had spent an evening at
(11:14):
Hartfield with her grandmother and aunt, and everything was relapsing
much into its usual state. Former provocations reappeared. The aunt
was as tiresome as ever, more tiresome because anxiety for
her health was now added to admiration of her powers,
and they had to listen to the description of exactly
how little bread and butter she ate for breakfast, and
(11:36):
how small a slice of mutton for dinner, as well
as to see exhibitions of new caps and new work
bags for her mother and herself. And Jane's offenses rose again.
They had music, Emma was obliged to play, and the
thanks and praise which necessarily followed appeared to her an
affectation of candor, an air of greatness, meaning only to
(11:56):
show off in higher style her own very superior performance.
She was besides, which was the worst of all, So cold,
so cautious, there was no getting at her real opinion.
Wrapped up in a cloak of politeness, she seemed determined
to hazard nothing. She was disgustingly, was suspiciously reserved. If
(12:16):
anything could be more where all was most She was
more reserved on the subject of Weymouth and the Dixons
than anything. She seemed bent on giving no real insight
into mister Dixon's character, or her own value for his company,
or opinion of the suitableness of the match. It was
all general approbation and smoothness, nothing delineated or distinguished. It
(12:37):
did her no service. However, her caution was thrown away.
Emma saw its artifice and returned to her first surmises.
There probably was something more to conceal than her own preference.
Mister Dixon perhaps had been very near changing one friend
for the other, or been fixed only to Miss Campbell
for the sake of the future twelve thousand pounds. The
(12:58):
like reserve prevailed on other top She and mister Frank
Churchill had been at Weymouth at the same time. It
was known that they were a little acquainted, But not
a syllable of real information could Emma procure as to
what he truly was. Was he handsome? She believed he
was reckoned, a very fine young man. Was he agreeable?
(13:20):
He was generally thought so. Did he appear a sensible
young man, a young man of information at a watering
place or in a common London acquaintance. It was difficult
to decide on such points. Manners were all that could
be safely judged of under a much longer knowledge than
they had had yet. Of mister Churchill. She believed everybody
(13:41):
found his manners pleasing. Emma could not forgive her end
of Chapter two,
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