Austen Said:

She checked herself, however, and submitted quietly to a little more praise than she deserved.

Their conversation was soon afterwards closed by the entrance of her father. She was not sorry. She wanted to be alone. Her mind was in a state of flutter and wonder, which made it impossible for her to be collected. She was in dancing, singing, exclaiming spirits; and till she had moved about, and talked to herself, and laughed and reflected, she could be fit for nothing rational.

Her father's business was to announce

and she had, therefore, an immediate excuse for disappearing.

The joy, the gratitude, the exquisite delight of her sensations may be imagined. The sole grievance and alloy thus removed in the prospect of Harriet's welfare, she was really in danger of becoming too happy for security.—

Serious she was, very serious in her thankfulness, and in her resolutions; and yet there was no preventing a laugh, sometimes in the very midst of them.

High in the rank of her most serious and heartfelt felicities, was

the reflection that

In the gayest and happiest spirits she set forward with her father; not always listening, but always agreeing to what he said; and, whether in speech or silence,

conniving at

They arrived.—Mrs. Weston was alone in the drawing-room:—but hardly had they been told of the baby, and Mr. Woodhouse received the thanks for coming, which he asked for, when a glimpse was caught through the blind, of two figures passing near the window.

said Mrs. Weston.

In half a minute they were in the room. Emma was extremely glad to see him—but there was a degree of confusion— a number of embarrassing recollections on each side. They met readily and smiling, but with a consciousness which at first allowed little to be said; and having all sat down again, there was for some time such a blank in the circle, that Emma began to doubt whether the wish now indulged, which she had long felt, of seeing Frank Churchill once more, and of seeing him with Jane, would yield its proportion of pleasure. When Mr. Weston joined the party, however, and when the baby was fetched, there was no longer a want of subject or animation— or of courage and opportunity for Frank Churchill to draw near her and say,

cried Emma, most happy to begin,

He thanked her with all his heart, and continued some time to speak with serious feeling of his gratitude and happiness.

said he, turning his eyes towards Jane.

But his spirits were soon rising again, and with laughing eyes, after mentioning the expected return of the Campbells, he named the name of Dixon.—

Emma

blushed, and

forbade

she cried,

he answered,

said Emma.

resumed he,

Emma spoke her pity so very kindly, that with a sudden accession of gay thought, he cried,

then sinking his voice, and looking demure for the moment—

He paused.—She coloured and laughed.—

Emma was delighted, and only wanted him to go on in the same style; but

his mind

was the next moment in his own concerns and

with

and his next words were,

replied Emma, archly;

But he laughed so heartily at the recollection, that Emma could not help saying,

He bowed.

she presently added, with a look of true sensibility,

he answered, warmly.

(inclining his head, and whispering seriously)

replied Emma; and she spoke so kindly, that he gratefully burst out,

The others had been talking of the child, Mrs. Weston giving an account of a little alarm she had been under, the evening before, from the infant's appearing not quite well.

This was her history; and particularly interesting it was to

Mr. Woodhouse,who

regretted that

Frank Churchill caught the name.

said he to Emma, and trying, as he spoke, to catch Miss Fairfax's eye.

Emma soon recollected, and understood him; and while she joined in the laugh, it was evident from Jane's countenance that she too was really hearing him, though trying to seem deaf.

he cried.

Jane was forced to smile completely, for a moment; and the smile partly remained as she turned towards him, and said in a conscious, low, yet steady voice,

He had a great deal to say in return, and very entertainingly; but Emma's feelings were chiefly with Jane, in the argument; and on leaving Randalls, and falling naturally into a comparison of the two men,

she felt, that