being never able to suppose that other people could feel differently from himself, he was very much disposed to think Miss Taylor had done as sad a thing for herself as for them, and would have been a great deal happier if she had spent all the rest of her life at Hartfield.  Emma smiled and chatted as cheerfully as she could, to keep him from such thoughts; but when tea came, it was impossible for him not to say exactly as he had said at dinner,

“Poor Miss Taylor!—­I wish she were here again.  What a pity it is that Mr. Weston ever thought of her!”

“I cannot agree with you, papa; you know I cannot.  Mr. Weston is such a good-humoured, pleasant, excellent man, that he thoroughly deserves a good wife;—­and you would not have had Miss Taylor live with us for ever, and bear all my odd humours, when she might have a house of her own?”

“A house of her own!—­But where is the advantage of a house of her own?  This is three times as large.—­And you have never any odd humours, my dear.”

“How often we shall be going to see them, and they coming to see us!—­We shall be always meeting! We must begin; we must go and pay wedding visit very soon.”

“My dear, how am I to get so far?  Randalls is such a distance.  I could not walk half so far.”

“No, papa, nobody thought of your walking.  We must go in the carriage, to be sure.”

“The carriage!  But James will not like to put the horses to for such a little way;—­and where are the poor horses to be while we are paying our visit?”

“They are to be put into Mr. Weston’s stable, papa.  You know we have settled all that already.  We talked it all over with Mr. Weston last night.  And as for James, you may be very sure he will always like going to Randalls, because of his daughter’s being housemaid there.  I only doubt whether he will ever take us anywhere else.  That was your doing, papa.  You got Hannah that good place.  Nobody thought of Hannah till you mentioned her—­James is so obliged to you!”

“I am very glad I did think of her.  It was very lucky, for I would not have had poor James think himself slighted upon any account; and I am sure she will make a very good servant:  she is a civil, pretty-spoken girl; I have a great opinion of her.  Whenever I see her, she always curtseys and asks me how I do, in a very pretty manner; and when you have had her here to do needlework, I observe she always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it.  I am sure she will be an excellent servant; and it will be a great comfort to poor Miss Taylor to have somebody about her that she is used to see.  Whenever James goes over to see his daughter, you know, she will be hearing of us.  He will be able to tell her how we all are.”

Emma spared no exertions to maintain this happier flow of ideas, and hoped, by the help of backgammon, to get her father tolerably through the evening, and be attacked by no regrets but her own.  The backgammon-table was placed; but a visitor immediately afterwards walked in and made it unnecessary.