The following morning Margaret proposed to Emma that they should walk.
Emma was glad to find some improvement in her sister’s spirits and
temper, and was willing to relieve the rest of the household of the
fear of a relapse. Accordingly the two sisters set out. They took the
road towards the town, Margaret saying nothing as to their object, and
Emma making no enquiry. It did not occur to her that her sister had
other motives than the wish for air and exercise.
“I have hardly had time to talk to you, Emma, since I came home, but
the fact is that Jane is so fond of me that, when we are together, she
can seldom spare me for ten minutes. She is an amazing clever woman,
and one of the best judges of character and manners I ever saw.”
This seemed rather to indicate the smallness of Margaret’s acquaintance
than the correctness of Mrs Robert’s judgment. Emma, however, made no
objection, and Margaret hurried on to a yet more agreeable subject.
“I am sure, Emma, you must be struck with Tom Musgrave’s manners. Is he
not the most pleasing young man you ever met?”
“I cannot say that I admire him at all,” replied Emma.
“Not admire him!” cried Margaret. “That must be because he did not
admire you. He did not dance with you at the ball I know. I dare say
too, he was not in spirits; if I had been there it would have been
different. If you knew him as well as I do, and had received so much
attention from him, and knew what he thought of yourself as I do, you
would see him with very different eyes.”
Emma saw no necessity to reply, and Margaret continued to talk of
Tom Musgrave’s qualities and affection for herself without more
encouragement than her own pleasure in the topic. She was only checked
at last by the sound of horses.
“Heavens!” she cried, looking back, “there he is coming, and some
others with him, all on horseback. Who can they be? I did not expect
him so soon.”
“Were you expecting him?” asked Emma, with surprise. “Is it to be
supposed that we walked this way to meet him?”
“Well, and where is the harm if we did? I wish you would look at the
two gentlemen, and tell me if you know who they are.”
Emma felt that the evil of the situation need not be increased by any
display of curiosity, and Margaret had to drop behind and admire the
hedgerow to gain a glimpse of the horsemen.
“I declare I believe it is Lord Osborne and Mr Howard with Tom. How
tiresome! Tom will never stop when he is with Lord Osborne. How very
provoking!”
Emma half wished herself at home, but the sound of the sharp-trotting
horses overtaking them might have been very pleasant had she not
already determined otherwise.
The gentlemen drew up beside the high narrow footpath, on which
the sisters were walking. Lord Osborne dismounted and, leading his
horse, walked by the side of Emma, while Tom was off in a moment in
ever-faithful imitation, only to find himself exposed to the appealing
glances and soft whispers of Margaret. Emma saw with some concern that
Mr Howard remained on horseback, and only acknowledged their presence
by a formal bow.
Lord Osborne meanwhile must be attended to, as he seemed to be doing
his best to please, and she could not but be entertained by the air of
deference and attention with which the dashing Tom Musgrave interposed
from behind to applaud his lordship’s remarks and confirm all his
statements.
Thus they walked to a bend in the road, where a lane turning off seemed
to lead towards home. Emma turned to her sister, saying:
“Surely this should be our way home.”
“I am sure I am quite ready to go,” said Margaret, whose mortification
at Tom’s neglect was only too apparent.
“But I thought you were come here to see the hounds throw off,” said
Lord Osborne to Emma; “and what is the use of going home before you
reach the covert?”
Emma protested that she had not known where the hunt was to meet.
“Still you may as well come on now you are so near. My sister and Miss
Carr are to be there, and I want to introduce you to them.”
Emma expressed the opinion that Miss Osborne might well be more
surprised than pleased at such an intrusion.
“No, indeed, on my honour, my sister wishes to know you. Tom Musgrave
knows what she said last night.”
He looked over his shoulder at his friend, but left no time for more
than a simple assent from Tom.
“I believe I was wrong in what I said,” he continued. “I want to
introduce my sister to you. Is that right?”
Emma could not quite control a smile.
“I am much obliged to you, my lord, but indeed I cannot comply with
your request, and as Miss Osborne is not expecting to meet us to-day,
she will experience no disappointment.”
More than ordinary firmness was required on Emma’s part before the
young lord of the manor could be brought to see that her denial was
not of a nature to be overruled. But at last the two young men had
ridden on, and Emma and an angry Margaret were walking in the opposite
direction. Then Emma made a movement which she regretted almost before
it was made. Recollecting that Mr Howard had smiled once and spoken not
at all, she turned her head, only to find Lord Osborne more than half
turned in the saddle, and on the instant she fancied, but could not be
sure, that Mr Howard turned too.
Margaret was not accustomed to lag behind her neighbours in the general
surprise excited by the words, deeds and deportment of others. Now,
when a younger sister, after a few days’ residence at home, appeared
so ready not only to flout Tom Musgrave, who had hitherto been the
only connecting link with the Castle, but even to flout the Castle
itself, Margaret, having exhausted her vocabulary day after day on the
surprising doings of Miss A. and the amazing gentility of Mr B., may be
pardoned for being for once at a loss for words. A life-habit however
will reassert itself, even at the age of twenty-five, and she was
soon eagerly expressing astonishment, and thence came to the stage of
enquiry.
“How many times have you met Lord Osborne?”
Emma replied that he had been present at the Assembly Ball.
“Yes, I know you saw him there, but you did not dance even with Tom
Musgrave.”
Emma reminded her that the gentlemen had waited on their father after
the ball.
“Yes, but to dismount and walk with us! Upon my word!” Further
exclamation was checked by the reappearance of Mr Howard who, all in a
moment, overtook them, dismounted, and was walking by the side of Emma.
“I thought you were going to hunt,” she said.
Mr Howard replied that he had only ridden out for pleasure, not for
so important and imperative a business as fox-hunting. It was evident
that he considered walking with the Miss Watsons quite as pleasant as
riding, and that he was in no hurry to remount.
“Will you allow my sister to do herself the honour of calling on
you?” he said presently. “Your kindness to her little boy has quite
captivated her, and Charles is as anxious as herself to carry on the
acquaintance. She has been ill since the Assembly, or the offer would
have been made before.”
Emma, with heightened colour, confessed that it would give her great
pleasure to become better acquainted both with Charles and his mother.
“I could not but hesitate to make my application,” he continued,
“having so lately heard that of my pupil rejected. You will not, I
hope, really refuse Miss Osborne’s overtures.”
Emma after a momentary hesitation replied that in the County of
Shropshire it was on occasion thought unwise to attach full value to
the assertions of young men, and she surmised it might be the same in
the County of Surrey.
“You do less than justice both to yourself and to my friends,” said Mr
Howard gently. “I assure you the wish was in truth expressed by Miss
Osborne.”
Emma did not reply, but she wondered if her feeling of gratification
arose from the wish ascribed to Miss Osborne or the solicitude shown by
Mr Howard. Margaret seized the opportunity of the pause, and leaning
past her sister, questioned Mr Howard.
“Is it really true, Mr Howard, that Miss Carr is so very beautifully
fair?”
“She certainly is fair,” he replied, astonished at the question.
“Mr Musgrave is a great deal at the Castle, is he not?”
Mr Howard replied that he was.
“I do not wonder at it. He must be a great favourite with the ladies. I
should think his manners must recommend him everywhere.”
“He is more intimate with Lord Osborne than with the others of the
family,” observed Mr Howard, with a suppressed smile, which Emma
construed into amusement at the idea of Miss Osborne’s admiring her
brother’s hanger-on; and she silently diverted herself with fancying
the probable degree of esteem which Tom Musgrave’s complaisance and
flattery would win for him.