She would have been too happy but for poor Harriet;
but every blessing of her own seemed to involve and
advance the sufferings of her friend, who must now
be even excluded from Hartfield. The delightful
family party which Emma was securing for herself,
poor Harriet must, in mere charitable caution, be kept
at a distance from. She would be a loser in
every way. Emma could not deplore her future
absence as any deduction from her own enjoyment.
In such a party, Harriet would be rather a dead weight
than otherwise; but for the poor girl herself, it
seemed a peculiarly cruel necessity that was to be
placing her in such a state of unmerited punishment.
In time, of course, Mr. Knightley would be forgotten,
that is, supplanted; but this could not be expected
to happen very early. Mr. Knightley himself would
be doing nothing to assist the cure;— not
like Mr. Elton. Mr. Knightley, always so kind,
so feeling, so truly considerate for every body, would
never deserve to be less worshipped than now; and
it really was too much to hope even of Harriet, that
she could be in love with more than three men
in one year.
CHAPTER XVI
It was a very great relief to Emma to find Harriet
as desirous as herself to avoid a meeting. Their
intercourse was painful enough by letter. How
much worse, had they been obliged to meet!
Harriet expressed herself very much as might be supposed,
without reproaches, or apparent sense of ill-usage;
and yet Emma fancied there was a something of resentment,
a something bordering on it in her style, which increased
the desirableness of their being separate.—
It might be only her own consciousness; but it seemed
as if an angel only could have been quite without
resentment under such a stroke.
She had no difficulty in procuring Isabella’s
invitation; and she was fortunate in having a sufficient
reason for asking it, without resorting to invention.—There
was a tooth amiss. Harriet really wished, and
had wished some time, to consult a dentist. Mrs.
John Knightley was delighted to be of use; any thing
of ill health was a recommendation to her—and
though not so fond of a dentist as of a Mr. Wingfield,
she was quite eager to have Harriet under her care.—When
it was thus settled on her sister’s side, Emma
proposed it to her friend, and found her very persuadable.—
Harriet was to go; she was invited for at least a fortnight;
she was to be conveyed in Mr. Woodhouse’s carriage.—It
was all arranged, it was all completed, and Harriet
was safe in Brunswick Square.
Now Emma could, indeed, enjoy Mr. Knightley’s
visits; now she could talk, and she could listen with
true happiness, unchecked by that sense of injustice,
of guilt, of something most painful, which had haunted
her when remembering how disappointed a heart was
near her, how much might at that moment, and at a little
distance, be enduring by the feelings which she had
led astray herself.
