第6章

Charles was now free enough to hazard a few questions in his turn.'What o'clock was it?'—'Eleven.'—'Eleven!—And I am not at all sleepy.Mama said I should be asleep before ten.—Do you think Miss Osborne will keep her word with me, when Tea is over?''Oh! yes.—I suppose so.'—tho'she felt that she had no better reason to give than that Miss Osborne had not kept it before.—'When shall you come to Osborne Castle?'—'Never, probably.—I am not acquainted with the family.''But you may come to Wickstead and see Mama, and she can take you to the Castle.—There is a monstrous curious stuff'd Fox there, and a Badger—anybody would think they were alive.It is a pity you should not see them.'—On rising from Tea, there was again a scramble for the pleasure of being first out of the room, which happened to be increased by one or two of the card parties having just broken up and the players being disposed to move exactly the different way.Among these was Mr.Howard—his sister leaning on his arm—and no sooner were they within reach of Emma, than Mrs.B.calling her notice by a friendly touch, said 'Your goodness to Charles, my dear Miss Watson, brings all his family upon you.Give me leave to introduce my Brother—Mr.H.'Emma curtsied, the gentleman bowed—made a hasty request for the honour of her hand in thenext two dances, to which as hasty an affirmative was given, and they were immediately impelled in opposite directions.—Emma was very well pleased with the circumstance;—there was a quietly- chearful, gentlemanlike air in Mr.H.which suited her—and in a few minutes afterwards, the value of her Engagement increased, when as she was sitting in the Card-room somewhat screened by a door, she heard Lord Osborne, who was lounging on a vacant Table near her, call Tom Musgrave towards him and say, 'Why do not you dance with that beautiful Emma Watson?—I want you to dance with her—and I will come and stand by you.'—'I was determining on it this very moment my Lord, I'll be introduced and dance with her directly.'—'Aye do—and if you find she does not want much Talking to, you may introduce me by and bye.'— 'Very well my Lord.If she is like her Sisters, she will only want to be listened to.—I will go this moment.I shall find her in the Tea room.That stiff old Mrs.E.has never done tea.'—Away he went— Lord Osborne after him—and Emma lost no time in hurrying from her corner, exactly the other way, forgetting in her haste that she left Mrs.Edwardes behind.—'We had quite lost you'—said Mrs.E.—who followed her with Mary, in less than five minutes.—'If you prefer this room to the other, there is no reason why you should not be here, but we had better all be together.'Emma was saved the Trouble of apologizing, by their being joined at the moment by Tom Musgrave, who requesting Mrs.E.aloud to do him the honour of presenting him to Miss Emma Watson, left that good Lady without any choice in the business, but that of testifying by the coldness of her manner that she did it unwillingly.The honour of dancing with her, was solicited without loss of time—and Emma, however she might like to be thought a beautiful girl byLord or Commoner, was so little disposed to favour Tom Musgrave himself, that she had considerable satisfaction in avowing her prior Engagement.—He was evidently surprised and discomposed.—The stile of her last partner had probably led him to believe her not overpowered with applications.—'My little friend Charles Blake,'he cried, 'must not expect to engross you the whole evening.We can never suffer this—It is against the rules of the Assembly—and I am sure it will never be patronised by our good friend here Mrs.E.; She is by much too nice a judge of Decorum to give her license to such a dangerous Particularity.'—'I am not going to dance with Master Blake Sir.'The Gentleman a little disconcerted, could only hope he might be more fortunate another time—and seeming unwilling to leave her, tho'his friend Lord Osborne was waiting in the Doorway for the result, as Emma with some amusement perceived—he began to make civil enquiries after her family.—'How comes it, that we have not the pleasure of seeing your Sisters here this Evening?—Our Assemblies have been used to be so well treated by them, that we do not know how to take this neglect.'—'My eldest Sister is the only one at home—and she could not leave my Father.'—'Miss Watson the only one at home!—You astonish me!—It seems but the day before yesterday that I saw them all three in this Town.But I am afraid I have been a very sad neighbour of late.I hear dreadful complaints of my negligence wherever I go, and I confess it is a shameful length of time since I was at Stanton.—But I shall now endeavour to make myself amends for the past.'—Emma's calm curtsey in reply must have struck him as very unlike the encouraging warmth he had been used to receive from her Sisters, and gave him probably the novel sensation of doubting his owninfluence, and of wishing for more attention than she bestowed.The dancing now recommenced; Miss Carr being impatient to call, everybody was required to stand up—and Tom Musgrave's curiosity was appeased, on seeing Mr.Howard come forward and claim Emma's hand—'That will do as well for me'—was Lord Osborne's remark, when his friend carried him the news—and he was continually at Howard's Elbow during the two dances.—The frequency of his appearance there, was the only unpleasant part of her engagement, the only objection she could make to Mr.Howard.—In himself, she thought him as agreable as he looked; tho'chatting on the commonest topics he had a sensible, unaffected, way of expressing himself, which made them all worth hearing, and she only regretted that he had not been able to make his pupil's Manners as unexceptionable as his own.—The two dances seemed very short, and she had her partner's authority for considering them so.—At their conclusion the Osbornes and their Train were all on the move.'We are off at last,'said his Lordship to Tom—'How much longer do you stay in this Heavenly place?— till Sunrise?'—'No faith! my Lord, I have had quite enough of it.I assure you—I shall not shew myself here again when I have had the honour of attending Lady Osborne to her Carriage.I shall retreat in as much secrecy as possible to the most remote corner of the House, where I shall order a Barrel of Oysters, and be famously snug.''Let us see you soon at the Castle; and bring me word how she looks by daylight.'—Emma and Mrs.Blake parted as old acquaintance, and Charles shook her by the hand and wished her 'goodbye'at least a dozen times.From Miss Osborne and Miss Carr she received something like a jerking curtsey as they passed her; even Lady Osborne gave her a look ofcomplacency—and his Lordship actually came back.after the others were out of the room, to 'beg her pardon', and look in the window seat behind her for the gloves which were visibly compressed in his hand.