by Jayne Bamber
“Elegant, agreeable manners, I was prepared for,” said Mr. Churchill, “but I confess that, considering everything, I had not expected more than a very tolerably well-looking woman of a certain age. I did not know that I was to find a pretty young woman in Mrs. Weston.”
Here Mr. Parker would have his share in the conversation, expressing all the pleasure and gratitude he felt at Mrs. Weston’s warm welcome. “I would never have expected such hospitality anywhere,” said he, “outside of Sanditon. Such kindness, such open-hearted goodness, has certainly led me to expect every pleasure in such society as I am sure to find everywhere in Highbury, and your Mrs. Weston has been the beginning of all my assurance.”
“You cannot see too much perfection in Mrs. Weston for my feelings,” said Emma. “Were you to guess her to be eighteen, I should listen with pleasure, but she would be ready to quarrel with you for using such words. Do not let her imagine that you have spoken of her as a pretty young woman.”
“I hope I should know better,” he replied. “Depend upon it, fair Miss Woodhouse – in addressing Mrs. Weston, I understand whom I might praise without any danger of being thought extravagant in my terms.”
Emma wondered whether the same suspicion of what might be expected from their knowing each other, which had taken strong possession of her mind, had ever crossed his; and whether Mr. Churchill’s compliments were to be considered as marks of acquiescence. She must see more of him to understand his ways; at present she only felt they were agreeable. Mr. Parker, too, seemed a most pleasing young man – certainly more so than Rebecca had ever painted him.
They were presently joined by Mary Bennet, who had finally extricated herself from the tedium of Mr. Elton’s company, for Miss Fairfax had brought the children outdoors to play, and Mr. Elton had thought it the right time to take his leave. Mary was greeted most civilly by the gentlemen, who had made her acquaintance at the very same ball in London last September that had first brought Rebecca to Mr. Knightley’s notice, and Emma chided herself that she had ever thought herself dependent on Jane Fairfax for a description of Mr. Churchill, when she might have wheedled some information out of Mary!
Mr. Weston began to talk of departing, and after a glance out the window, Mr. Churchill agreed. “You have business at the Crown, and a great many errands for Mrs. Weston at Ford’s. Sidney and I will take the opportunity of paying a visit, which must be paid some day or other, and therefore may as well be paid now. I have the honor of being acquainted with a neighbor of yours, Miss Woodhouse – a lady residing in or near Highbury, in a family by the name of Fairfax. I shall have no difficulty, I suppose, in finding the house, though Fairfax, I believe, is not the proper name – I should rather say Barnes, or Bates. Do you know any family of that name?”
“To be sure, we do,” cried his father. “Mrs. Bates – we passed her house – I saw Miss Bates at the window. True, true, you are acquainted with Miss Fairfax; I remember you knew her in Sanditon, and a fine girl she is.”
“There is no necessity for our calling this morning,” said Mr. Parker. “Another day would do as well, but as I consider myself rather an ambassador of Sanditon, I should not wish my manners to be found wanting.”
“Indeed,” Mr. Weston cried. “Ordinarily I should urge you to go directly, only, as it happens, Miss Fairfax is here at Hartfield.”
“Is she?” Mr. Parker and Mr. Churchill exchanged a look of astonishment.
John furrowed his brow and was moved to speak up at last. “You saw her with the Campbells, when she was the equal of everybody she mixed with, but her family here lives in rather reduced circumstances – she has lately taken up the role of governess at Hartfield. That is her just over there,” he pointed out the window, where Jane Fairfax was merrily chasing Henry and George across the lawn.
Mr. Parker approached the window, and pulled back the drapes to have a look. “Why yes, it certainly is her. We must greet her, Frank. I am determined we must show her every civility; I think it the right thing to do.”
John stood up from the sofa, adding his own agreement to Mr. Parker’s speech. He opened up the glass double-doors that led out to the back garden, and escorted them all outside.
As Mr. Parker hastened directly to Jane’s side, Mr. Churchill offered Emma and Mary each one of his arms, and led them up the garden path at a more sedate pace. “My friend is certainly an energetic fellow, is he not?” He gave Emma a confidential smile. “I am sure he shall be just as eagerly pleased by the whole of Highbury ere long, and so shall I, I feel quite sure of it!”
He made a few more pleasant observations about how well he regarded what he had seen of the place, and the three of them eventually approached Jane Fairfax, who was looking rather cross as being thus detained from her young charges. “Mr. Churchill,” she said with a nod. “I am pleased you and Mr. Parker are enjoying Hartfield.” She gave Emma only the barest acknowledgement, before quickly moving away from them.
“And there you have it,” Emma whispered to Mr. Churchill. “Just what one might expect from any conversation with Jane Fairfax!”
***
The subject of Jane Fairfax was revisited the following morning, when the two gentlemen returned, this time in the company of Mrs. Weston.
Mrs. Weston was chiefly occupied in gossiping at one side of the room with Rebecca, and Emma could very well guess what they were speaking of. Rebecca had made her sentiments known to Emma, upon discovering that Mr. Parker had accompanied Mr. Frank Churchill to Highbury.
Mr. Parker, for his part, seemed more pleasantly surprised to encounter Lady Rebecca, and wasted little time in recommending himself to her that morning.
“What an astonishing thing it is,” cried he. “I had no notion that there was any reason to suspect I might encounter you in this part of the country – curious is it not, how we are all so connected to one another? But of course, you might have had more suspicion of such a thing occurring, for you must have had some notice of Frank’s coming, and must have recalled from meeting him at the ball last autumn, that he is one of my dearest friends. I do not at all recall hearing that you were a cousin to Miss Woodhouse, whom I have heard is quite the foremost lady of the village, and whom I hope to soon be on such friendly terms as I am with your ladyship.”
Emma thought this a most conciliatory speech, though Rebecca was inclined to respond only with a very droll look at him.
“We did have notice of Mr. Churchill’s coming,” Emma replied, feeling the need to say something. “While we did not realize you were to accompany him, Rebecca deduced that the two of you must have been well acquainted with one another in Sanditon, and with Miss Fairfax as well. But it is a curious thing, for she would say very little of her acquaintance with you, when we asked her about it. She is so very reserved!”
“I am not the least bit surprised to discover you are acquainted with her,” Rebecca replied. “Mr. Sidney Parker possesses, I think, such happy manners that he is easily able to attach himself to everyone he meets!” At this, she moved across the room to speak with Mrs. Weston in hushed whispers, leaving the gentleman to Emma, as Mary had gone to visit the poor on a charitable visit, encouraged by Mr. Elton.
Emma returned to the subject of Jane Fairfax, having received no reply to her observation that the lady was reserved; she tried again. “Were either of you much acquainted with Miss Fairfax in Sanditon?”
Mr. Parker laughed, all good humor and affability. “A most unfair question,” he cried. “It is always the lady's right to decide on the degree of acquaintance. Miss Fairfax must already have given her account – I shall not commit myself by claiming more than she may choose to allow.”
“Upon my word! You answer as discreetly as she would do herself,” Emma replied, screwing up her face in teasing annoyance. “But her account of everything leaves so much to be guessed, she is so very reserved, so very unwilling to give the least information about anybody, that I really think you may say what you like of your acquaintance with her.”
Mr. Parker nodded his agreement. “Did you ever hear Miss Fairfax play?”
“Ever hear her,” repeated Emma. “You forget how much she belongs to Highbury. I have heard her every year of our lives since we both began. She plays charmingly.”
“You think so, do you? I wanted the opinion of someone who could really judge. She appeared to me to play well – that is, with considerable taste – but I know nothing of the matter myself. I am excessively fond of music, but without the smallest skill or right to judge anybody's performance,” said Mr. Parker, and he leaned in close to her, as if to confide some great secret. “I have often heard her playing admired by a very musical gentleman, who is in love with another woman – engaged to her – on the point of marriage – yet he would never ask his betrothed to sit down to the instrument, if the lady in question could sit down instead – never seemed to like to hear one if he could hear the other. That, I thought, in a man of known musical talent, was some proof.”
“Proof, indeed!” said Emma, highly amused. “Mr. Dixon is very musical, is he? We shall know more about them all from you in half an hour than Miss Fairfax would have vouchsafed in half a year.”
Mr. Parker rewarded her guess with a very charming smile. “Yes, Mr. Dixon and Miss Campbell were the persons, and I thought it a very strong proof.”
Emma smiled back at him, the now silent Frank Churchill momentarily forgotten. “How did Miss Campbell appear to like it?”
“It was her very particular friend, you know.”
“Poor comfort!” said Emma, laughing. “One would rather have a stranger preferred than one's very particular friend – with a stranger it might not recur again – but the misery of having a very particular friend always at hand, to do everything better than one does oneself! Poor Miss Campbell! Well, I am glad she is gone to settle in Ireland.”
“You are right,” Frank Churchill said, giving his friend a queer look. “It was not very flattering to Miss Campbell, but she really did not seem to feel it.”
“So much the better – or so much the worse – I do not know which. But there was one person, I think, who must have felt it: Miss Fairfax herself. She must have felt the improper and dangerous distinction.”
Mr. Parker guffawed. “As to that, I do not—”
“Oh, do not imagine that I expect an account of Miss Fairfax's sensations from you, or from anybody else. They are known to no human being, I guess, but herself. But if she continued to play whenever she was asked by Mr. Dixon, one may guess what one chooses.” Here she spared Mr. Parker an arch look, and was delighted at last to have somebody understand so very well her feelings for the most accomplished Miss Jane Fairfax.
Mr. Churchill cleared his throat, and leaned forward; he would be noticed by Emma once more. “Certainly you, who have known Miss Fairfax from a child, and who now reside under the same roof as she, must be a better judge of her character.”
“I have known her from a child, undoubtedly,” Emma admitted. “We have been children and women together, and it is natural to suppose that we should be intimate, that we should have taken to each other whenever she visited her family. But we never did. I hardly know how it has happened. A little, perhaps, from that wickedness on my side which was prone to take disgust towards a girl so idolized and so cried up as she always was, by her aunt and grandmother, and all their set. And then, her reserve—I never could attach myself to anyone so completely reserved.”
“It is a most repulsive quality, indeed,” said Mr. Parker. “Oftentimes very convenient, no doubt, but never pleasing. There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.”
“Not until the reserve ceases towards oneself, and then the attraction may be the greater,” Mr. Churchill rejoined, with another curious look about him.
“Oho! I believe Miss Fairfax has quite a champion,” Emma cried with wicked glee. “Shall we venture to to the schoolroom, sir, and see if her reserve has ceased?”
Mr. Parker laughed, and Mr. Churchill began to look rather chagrined. “No indeed,” he replied, brushing Emma’s arm with the tips of his fingers as he laughed along with her. “I am much happier where I am, I can assure you.”
The rest of the visit passed in such high spirits, with such a unity of thought in these three merry companions, that upon its conclusion Emma felt herself so well acquainted with both gentlemen, that she could hardly believe it to be only their second meeting. Neither was exactly what she had expected. Mr. Parker was rather less tiresome than Rebecca had led her to believe, and very tall and handsome. Mr. Churchill, who had long occupied her thoughts, was certainly more pleasant than she had imagined him; he seemed less a man of the world in some of his notions, less the spoiled child of fortune, therefore better than she had expected. And with two such gentlemen to occupy her and her companions at Hartfield, Emma was very happy indeed.
***
Mary returned from her charitable errands greatly fatigued, but nonetheless very well pleased with herself, having encountered Mr. Elton as she went about her business. She cried off of joining them for dinner, wishing to take a bowl of soup in her room and retire early. Rebecca was growing concerned indeed that she may be obliged to act upon Mr. Knightley’s most unwelcome and boorishly given advice, and advise Mary against welcoming any further attentions from the rapacious vicar, but had not the opportunity that night.
She and Emma were left to their own devices, as Jane would dine with the children, and John was to take his meal in his study, as Emma informed her was rather a bad habit of his.
At liberty to speak with perfect candor in the dining room, just the two of them, Emma began directly with questioning Rebecca about Mr. Parker. “You did not tell me that Mr. Parker was so very charming,” Emma chided her.
Rebecca rolled her eyes, disappointed that her cousin had been taken in by the smarmy entrepreneur. “Do you think so?”
“Certainly,” Emma replied. “I thought both he and Mr. Churchill perfectly charming. Indeed, I feel very well acquainted with them already, and look forward to seeing more of them.”
“That is certainly a relief, for I think it cannot be avoided now,” Rebecca teased her.
“Were you really so displeased with them both? You hardly said a word to either gentleman,” Emma said
“I am happy that they have made you happy,” Rebecca replied cautiously. “I found myself perfectly content to observe you from some remove, with your excellent Mrs. Weston.”
“Ha, I see what you were about. No doubt the two of you are already speculating which of the two gentlemen shall capture my heart!”
“So what if we were? Tell me honestly, Emma, which of them do you prefer?”
“I do not know that I prefer either of them, in the way you mean.”
“Perhaps not yet, but she and I are both of the opinion that you must very soon form a decided preference for at least one of the two gentlemen come amongst us. Indeed, I should think it a fine thing if you did, particularly if it were Mr. Frank Churchill.”
“So you like him better, do you?” Emma laughed.
“Is he not your preference as well? I had understood you to have long held an interest in the gentleman so uniquely connected to you, through Mrs. Weston.”
“My curiosity is certainly satisfied – and I am very well pleased with him. But I am no less pleased with Mr. Parker. Do not think to distract me – I find myself very ill-used by your unflattering description of him, for you had me thinking he must be a very odious man, and I found his manners quite affable.”
“You would not be the first, I am sure.”
“Rebecca, what do you know? Tell me!”
Rebecca considered how to reply. She hardly wished to make any mention of Georgiana, who had been quite taken with Mr. Parker, and who
had expressed a sense of ill-usage herself, after his most recent visit in London. Rebecca could only surmise that Mr. Parker had little wish to accept her invitation to Lady Catherine’s wedding breakfast, where she had strongly implied to Mr. Parker that he might only enjoy Georgiana’s society under the direct supervision of all of their family. Whether Mr. Parker really had any partiality for Georgiana, she had been unable to determine at the time, but seeing him recommend himself to Emma so easily now made it seem increasingly unlikely.
“It is only that I find him a terrible bore,” Rebecca finally replied. “You may find Sanditon an interesting enough subject now, but you shall no longer care to hear of it, ere long. It is all he talks about!”
“He spoke candidly enough about Jane Fairfax,” Emma grinned. “Mr. Churchill, I think, is more disposed to think well of her, and neither gentleman would say much of anything about their previous acquaintance, although Mr. Parker gave me reason to believe there was something to all that talk of Mr. Dixon, the man Miss Bates told us saved Jane’s life!”
Rebecca laughed. “So you think Miss Fairfax attached to the fiancé of her longtime companion, Miss Campbell? I for one cannot credit it – I had rather thought it likely she might be attached to one of your new beaux. But perhaps I am mistaken, for they are certainly all your own conquests now.”
Emma smiled wistfully. “I do not know that we should talk of such things,” she said ruefully. “In truth, I feel rather guilty, enjoying myself as much as I have these last few days. It cannot be quite right, I think, to be in such fine spirits before I am even into half-mourning. Is it not very wrong of me, to be so very well contented, so soon after…?”
“Oh – oh no, Emma,” Rebecca said, resting her hand atop her cousin’s. “Surely your father and Isabella would not wish to see your spirits remain so depressed, when you might have every opportunity of enjoying yourself. I am certain it is not what they would wish for you. Indeed, is that not why I am here, to lift your spirits?”