Emma 爱玛 - Chapter 47

"Harriet, poor Harriet!"--Those were the words; in them lay the tormenting ¹ ideas which Emma could not get rid of, and which constituted the real misery ² of the business to her. Frank Churchill had behaved very ill by herself--very ill in many ways,--but it was not so much his behaviour as her own, which made her so angry with him. It was the scrape which he had drawn ³ her into on Harriet's account, that gave the deepest hue ⁴ to his offence.--Poor Harriet! to be a second time the dupe of her misconceptions and flattery. Mr. Knightley had spoken prophetically, when he once said, "Emma, you have been no friend to Harriet Smith."--She was afraid she had done her nothing but disservice.--It was true that she had not to charge herself, in this instance as in the former, with being the sole and original author of the mischief ⁵; with having suggested such feelings as might otherwise never have entered Harriet's imagination; for Harriet had acknowledged her admiration ⁶ and preference of Frank Churchill before she had ever given her a hint on the subject; but she felt completely guilty of having encouraged what she might have repressed. She might have prevented the indulgence and increase of such sentiments. Her influence would have been enough. And now she was very conscious that she ought to have prevented them.--She felt that she had been risking her friend's happiness on most insufficient ⁷ grounds. Common sense would have directed her to tell Harriet, that she must not allow herself to think of him, and that there were five hundred chances to one against his ever caring for her.--"But, with common sense," she added, "I am afraid I have had little to do.", ,She was extremely angry with herself. If she could not have been angry with Frank Churchill too, it would have been dreadful.-- As for Jane Fairfax, she might at least relieve her feelings from any present solicitude ⁸ on her account. Harriet would be anxiety enough; she need no longer be unhappy about Jane, whose troubles and whose ill-health having, of course, the same origin, must be equally under cure.--Her days of insignificance ⁹ and evil were over.--She would soon be well, and happy, and prosperous.-- Emma could now imagine why her own attentions had been slighted. This discovery laid many smaller matters open. No doubt it had been from jealousy ¹⁰.--In Jane's eyes she had been a rival; and well might any thing she could offer of assistance or regard be repulsed ¹¹. An airing in the Hartfield carriage would have been the rack, and arrowroot from the Hartfield storeroom must have been poison. She understood it all; and as far as her mind could disengage itself from the injustice ¹² and selfishness of angry feelings, she acknowledged that Jane Fairfax would have neither elevation ¹³ nor happiness beyond her desert. But poor Harriet was such an engrossing ¹⁴ charge! There was little sympathy to be spared for any body else. Emma was sadly fearful that this second disappointment would be more severe than the first. Considering the very superior claims of the object, it ought; and judging by its apparently ¹⁵ stronger effect on Harriet's mind, producing reserve and self-command, it would.-- She must communicate the painful truth, however, and as soon as possible. An injunction of secresy had been among Mr. Weston's parting words. "For the present, the whole affair was to be completely a secret. Mr. Churchill had made a point of it, as a token of respect to the wife he had so very recently lost; and every body admitted it to be no more than due decorum."-- Emma had promised; but still Harriet must be excepted. It was her superior duty., ,In spite of her vexation, she could not help feeling it almost ridiculous, that she should have the very same distressing ¹⁶ and delicate office to perform by Harriet, which Mrs. Weston had just gone through by herself. The intelligence, which had been so anxiously announced to her, she was now to be anxiously announcing to another. Her heart beat quick on hearing Harriet's footstep and voice; so, she supposed, had poor Mrs. Weston felt when she was approaching Randalls. Could the event of the disclosure bear an equal resemblance!-- But of that, unfortunately, there could be no chance., , ,"What news do you mean?" replied Emma, unable to guess, by look or voice, whether Harriet could indeed have received any hint., ,"About Jane Fairfax. Did you ever hear any thing so strange? Oh!--you need not be afraid of owning it to me, for Mr. Weston has told me himself. I met him just now. He told me it was to be a great secret; and, therefore, I should not think of mentioning it to any body but you, but he said you knew it.", ,The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂 。,Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦
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