“And so she is to come to us next Friday or
Saturday, and the Campbells leave town in their way
to Holyhead the Monday following— as you
will find from Jane’s letter. So sudden!—You
may guess, dear Miss Woodhouse, what a flurry it has
thrown me in! If it was not for the drawback
of her illness—but I am afraid we must
expect to see her grown thin, and looking very poorly.
I must tell you what an unlucky thing happened to me,
as to that. I always make a point of reading
Jane’s letters through to myself first, before
I read them aloud to my mother, you know, for fear
of there being any thing in them to distress her.
Jane desired me to do it, so I always do: and
so I began to-day with my usual caution; but no sooner
did I come to the mention of her being unwell, than
I burst out, quite frightened, with `Bless me! poor
Jane is ill!’— which my mother, being
on the watch, heard distinctly, and was sadly alarmed
at. However, when I read on, I found it was not
near so bad as I had fancied at first; and I make
so light of it now to her, that she does not think
much about it. But I cannot imagine how I could
be so off my guard. If Jane does not get well
soon, we will call in Mr. Perry. The expense
shall not be thought of; and though he is so liberal,
and so fond of Jane that I dare say he would not mean
to charge any thing for attendance, we could not suffer
it to be so, you know. He has a wife and family
to maintain, and is not to be giving away his time.
Well, now I have just given you a hint of what Jane
writes about, we will turn to her letter, and I am
sure she tells her own story a great deal better than
I can tell it for her.”
“I am afraid we must be running away,”
said Emma, glancing at Harriet, and beginning to rise—“My
father will be expecting us. I had no intention,
I thought I had no power of staying more than five
minutes, when I first entered the house. I merely
called, because I would not pass the door without
inquiring after Mrs. Bates; but I have been so pleasantly
detained! Now, however, we must wish you and
Mrs. Bates good morning.”
And not all that could be urged to detain her succeeded.
She regained the street—happy in this, that
though much had been forced on her against her will,
though she had in fact heard the whole substance of
Jane Fairfax’s letter, she had been able to
escape the letter itself.
CHAPTER II
Jane Fairfax was an orphan, the only child of Mrs.
Bates’s youngest daughter.
The marriage of Lieut. Fairfax of the _______ regiment of infantry,
and Miss Jane Bates, had had its day of fame and pleasure,
hope and interest; but nothing now remained of it, save the melancholy
remembrance of him dying in action abroad—of 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 very limited means could
command, and growing up with no advantages of connexion
or improvement, to be engrafted on what nature had
given her in a pleasing person, good understanding,
and warm-hearted, well-meaning relations.
