Had it been allowable entertainment, had there been no pain to her friend, or reproach to herself, in the waverings of Harriet’s mind, Emma would have been amused by its variations.  Sometimes Mr. Elton predominated, sometimes the Martins; and each was occasionally useful as a check to the other.  Mr. Elton’s engagement had been the cure of the agitation of meeting Mr. Martin.  The unhappiness produced by the knowledge of that engagement had been a little put aside by Elizabeth Martin’s calling at Mrs. Goddard’s a few days afterwards.  Harriet had not been at home; but a note had been prepared and left for her, written in the very style to touch; a small mixture of reproach, with a great deal of kindness; and till Mr. Elton himself appeared, she had been much occupied by it, continually pondering over what could be done in return, and wishing to do more than she dared to confess.  But Mr. Elton, in person, had driven away all such cares.  While he staid, the Martins were forgotten; and on the very morning of his setting off for Bath again, Emma, to dissipate some of the distress it occasioned, judged it best for her to return Elizabeth Martin’s visit.

How that visit was to be acknowledged—­what would be necessary—­ and what might be safest, had been a point of some doubtful consideration.  Absolute neglect of the mother and sisters, when invited to come, would be ingratitude.  It must not be:  and yet the danger of a renewal of the acquaintance!—­

After much thinking, she could determine on nothing better, than Harriet’s returning the visit; but in a way that, if they had understanding, should convince them that it was to be only a formal acquaintance.  She meant to take her in the carriage, leave her at the Abbey Mill, while she drove a little farther, and call for her again so soon, as to allow no time for insidious applications or dangerous recurrences to the past, and give the most decided proof of what degree of intimacy was chosen for the future.

She could think of nothing better:  and though there was something in it which her own heart could not approve—­something of ingratitude, merely glossed over—­it must be done, or what would become of Harriet?

CHAPTER V

Small heart had Harriet for visiting.  Only half an hour before her friend called for her at Mrs. Goddard’s, her evil stars had led her to the very spot where, at that moment, a trunk, directed to The Rev. Philip Elton, White-Hart, Bath, was to be seen under the operation of being lifted into the butcher’s cart, which was to convey it to where the coaches past; and every thing in this world, excepting that trunk and the direction, was consequently a blank.

She went, however; and when they reached the farm, and she was to be put down, at the end of the broad, neat gravel walk, which led between espalier apple-trees to the front door, the sight of every thing which had given her so much pleasure the autumn before, was beginning to revive a little local agitation; and when they parted, Emma observed her to be looking around with a sort of fearful curiosity, which determined her not to allow the visit to exceed the proposed quarter of an hour.  She went on herself, to give that portion of time to an old servant who was married, and settled in Donwell.