Courtesy and Contempt

Chapter 14

Chapter 14Mr. Lodge loved company in his own way. He liked it very much when his friends visited him; and for various united reasons, from his long residence in Hartfield and his good-naturedness, from his fortune, his house and his daughter, he could command the visits of his own small circle to a large extent as he wished. He didn't have much contact with any families outside of this circle; his horror of the late hours and big dinner parties made him unsuitable for any acquaintance, except for those who would visit him on his own terms. Fortunately for him, there were many in Highbury, including Randalls in the same parish, and Donwell Abbey in the adjacent community, the seat of Mr. Hill. Not infrequently, through Emma's persuasion, he had some of the chosen and best with him to eat: but evening parties were what he preferred; and,

real, long-standing appreciation brought the Winstones and Mr. Hill; and of Mr. Alton, a young man who lived alone without disliking it, the privilege of exchanging every free evening of his own empty solitude for the elegance and company of Mr. Lodges Salon and the smile of his lovely daughter was in no danger of throwing away.

Then came a second movement; Among the most accessible were Mrs. and Miss Bates and Mrs. Goddard, three ladies who almost always served an invitation from Hartfield and who were picked up and carried home so often that Mr. Lodge thought it was not a difficulty for either James or the horses. If it had only taken place once a year, it would have been a complaint.

Mrs Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady who had almost everything but tea and quadrille behind her. She lived with her single daughter to a very small extent and was treated with all the respect and esteem that a harmless old lady can arouse in such unfavorable circumstances. Her daughter enjoyed a highly unusual popularity for a woman who was neither young, handsome, rich, nor married. Miss Bates found herself in the worst predicament in the world because she enjoyed much of the public favor; and she had no intellectual superiority to atone for herself or to scare those who might hate her to outward respect. She had not been able to boast of beauty or wisdom. Her youth had passed without distinction, and her center of life was dedicated to caring for a failing mother, and the effort to earn a small income goes as far as possible. And yet she was a happy woman, and a woman whom no one called without good will. It was their own general goodwill and contented temperament that performed such miracles. She loved every body, was interested in the happiness of each body, had a quick eye for the merits of each body; considered himself an extremely happy creature and was surrounded by blessings from such an outstanding mother and so many good neighbors and friends and a home that lacked nothing. The simplicity and cheerfulness of her being, her contented and grateful spirit were a recommendation for everyone and a source of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip. and a woman whom no one called without good will. It was their own general goodwill and contented temperament that performed such miracles. She loved every body, was interested in the happiness of each body, had a quick eye for the merits of each body; considered himself an extremely happy creature and was surrounded by blessings from such an outstanding mother and so many good neighbors and friends and a home that lacked nothing. The simplicity and cheerfulness of her being, her contented and grateful spirit were a recommendation for everyone and a source of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip. and a woman whom no one called without good will. It was their own general goodwill and contented temperament that performed such miracles. She loved every body, was interested in the happiness of each body, had a quick eye for the merits of each body; considered himself an extremely happy creature and was surrounded by blessings from such an outstanding mother and so many good neighbors and friends and a home that lacked nothing. The simplicity and cheerfulness of her being, her contented and grateful spirit were a recommendation for everyone and a source of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip. was interested in the happiness of all, quickly saw the merits of all; considered himself an extremely happy creature and was surrounded by blessings from such an outstanding mother and so many good neighbors and friends and a home that lacked nothing. The simplicity and cheerfulness of her being, her contented and grateful spirit were a recommendation for everyone and a source of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip. was interested in the happiness of all, quickly saw the merits of all; considered himself an extremely happy creature and was surrounded by blessings from such an outstanding mother and so many good neighbors and friends and a home that lacked nothing. The simplicity and cheerfulness of her being, her contented and grateful spirit were a recommendation for everyone and a source of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip. her contented and grateful spirit was a recommendation for everyone and a treasure trove of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip. her contented and grateful spirit was a recommendation for everyone and a treasure trove of bliss for herself. She was a great speaker on small matters, which suited Mr. Lodge exactly, full of trivial messages and harmless gossip.

Mrs. Goddard was the mistress of a school —not a seminary or institution, or anything that, in long sentences of sophisticated nonsense, explained combining liberal appropriation with elegant morality, on new principles and new systems—and where young ladies for enormous salary could be screwed out of health and vanity—but a genuine, honest, old-fashioned boarding school where a reasonable amount of accomplishments could be turned into a reasonable Price was sold and where girls could be sent out the way and plunge into a little education without running the risk of coming back as a child prodigy. Mrs. Goddard's school enjoyed a high reputation – and rightly so; because Highbury was considered a particularly healthy place on earth: she had a spacious house and garden, gave the children plenty of healthy food, let them walk around a lot in the summer, and in the winter she dressed her frostbite with her own hands. It was no wonder that she was now followed by a train of twenty young couples to the church. She was a simple, motherly kind of woman who had worked hard in her youth and now believed she was entitled to the occasional vacation of a tea visit; and having previously owed much to the kindness of Mr. Lodge, he felt his special claim on her to leave her tidy salon, hang around with fancy work whenever she could, and win or lose a few sixpences by his fireplace.

These were the ladies that Emma was able to collect very often; and she was happy in power for her father's sake; although for herself it was not a cure for the absence of Mrs. Winstone. She was delighted to see that her father looked comfortable, and very happy with herself for having thought things up so well; but the quiet pro-chants of three such women made her feel that every evening spent in this way was actually one of the long evenings she had anxiously awaited.

As she sat one morning and was looking forward to such a conclusion of the day, a message was brought from Mrs. Goddard in which she asked in highly respectful words to be allowed to bring Miss Smith; a most welcome request: Miss Smith was a seventeen-year-old girl who Emma knew very well from seeing and for whom she had long been interested because of her beauty. A very gracious invitation was reciprocated, and the evening was no longer feared by the beautiful lady of the house.

Harriet Smith was someone's biological daughter. Someone had taken her to Mrs. Goddard's school a few years ago, and someone had recently elevated her from the position of a student to that of a boarding school student. That was all that was generally known about their history. She had no visible friends other than what she had acquired at Highbury and had just returned from a long visit to the countryside to some young ladies who had gone to school with her there.

She was a very pretty girl, and her beauty happened to be of a kind that Emma particularly admired. She was small, roundish and bright, with a beautiful flower, blue eyes, light hair, regular facial features and an appearance of great sweetness, and before the end of the evening Emma was as satisfied with her manners as with her person, and determined to continue the acquaintance.

She didn't notice anything particularly clever about Miss Smith's conversation, but she found it very engaging overall – not unpleasantly shy, not unwilling to speak – and yet far from pushing, showing herself so decently and becoming a reverence, so pleasantly grateful that she was accepted into Hartfield and so simply impressed by the look of everything in such a superior style, as she was used to having common sense and earning encouragement. Encouragement should be given. Those soft blue eyes and all that natural grace should not be wasted on highbury's inferior society and its connections. The acquaintance she had already made was not worthy of her. The friends she had just broken up with, even though they were very good people, had to harm her. They were a family named Martin, who knew Emma well in character, as she leased a large farm from Mr. Hill and lived in the parish of Donwell – very commendable, she believed – she knew that Mr. Hill thought very much of them – but they had to be rough and unpolished, and very unsuitable to be the intimacy of a girl, who just wanted a little more knowledge and elegance to be perfect. She would notice them; it would improve them; it would detach them from their bad acquaintances and introduce them to good company; she would form her opinion and manners. It would be an interesting and certainly a very friendly undertaking; become highly their own life situation, their free time and their strengths. and very unsuitable to be the confidants of a girl who just wanted a little more knowledge and elegance to be quite perfect. She would notice them; it would improve them; it would detach them from their bad acquaintances and introduce them to good company; she would form her opinion and manners. It would be an interesting and certainly a very friendly undertaking; become highly their own life situation, their free time and their strengths. and very unsuitable to be the confidants of a girl who just wanted a little more knowledge and elegance to be quite perfect. She would notice them; it would improve them; it would detach them from their bad acquaintances and introduce them to good company; she would form her opinion and manners. It would be an interesting and certainly a very friendly undertaking; become highly their own life situation, their free time and their strengths.

She was so busy admiring, talking and listening to those soft blue eyes and making all these plans in between that the evening flew away at a very unusual speed; and the dinner table, which always ended such parties and for which she was used to sitting and paying attention to the time due, was completely covered and ready and advanced to the fire before she realized it. With a zeal that went beyond the ordinary impulse of a spirit that was never indifferent to doing everything well and attentively, with the true benevolence of a mind enthusiastic about its own ideas, she then did all the honors of the world meal and helped and recommended the minced meat and baked oysters with an urgency of which she knew, that it would be acceptable for the early hours of the morning and the bourgeois scruples of its guests.

On such occasions, poor Mr. Lodge's feelings were in a sad struggle. He loved to have the cloth laid because it had been the fashion of his youth, but his belief that dinners were very unhealthy made him quite tired of seeing anything put on it; and while his hospitality would have welcomed his visitors in every way, his concern for their health made him saddened that they would eat.

Such another small basin of thin porridge like his own was all he could recommend with thorough self-affirmation; although he might force himself, while the ladies were comfortably clearing away the nicer things, to say:

"Woman. Bates, let me suggest you to venture into one of these eggs. A very soft-boiled egg is not unhealthy. Serle knows how to cook an egg better than anyone else. I wouldn't recommend an egg cooked by someone else; but you do not need to be afraid, they are very small, you see - one of our little eggs will not hurt you. Miss Bates, let Emma help you with a little cake – a tiny bit. Ours are all apple tarts. You don't need to be afraid of unhealthy preserves here. I don't guess the pudding. Mrs. Goddard, what do you say to half a glass of wine? A small half glass, placed in a cup of water? I don't think it could contradict you."

Emma let her father talk – but provided her visitors much more satisfactorily and had a special pleasure that evening to send her away happily. Miss Smith's luck was entirely in keeping with her intentions. Miss Lodge was such a great personality in Highbury that the prospect of the introduction had sparked as much panic as pleasure; but the humble, grateful little girl left with delighted feelings, delighted at the kindness with which Miss Lodge had treated her all evening, and finally shook her hand!