He had only himself to please in his choice;his fortune was his own;for as to Frank,it was more than being tacitly brought up as his uncle's heir,it had become so avowed an adoption as to have him assume the name of Churchill on coming of age.It was most unlikely,therefore,that he should ever want his father's assistance.His father had no apprehension of it.The aunt was a capricious woman,and governed her husband entirely;but it was not in Mr Weston's nature to imagine that any caprice could be strong enough to affect one so dear,and,as he believed,so deservedly dear.He saw his son every year in London,and was proud of him;and his fond report of him as a very fine young man had made Highbury feel a sort of pride in him too.He was looked on as sufficiently belonging to the place to make his merits and prospects a kind of common concern.
Mr Frank Churchill was one of the boasts of Highbury,and a lively curiosity to see him prevailed,though the compliment was so little returned that he had never been there in his life.His coming to visit his father had been often talked of but never achieved.
Now,upon his father's marriage,it was very generally proposed,as a most proper attention,that the visit should take place.There was not a dissentient voice on the subject,either when Mrs Perry drank tea with Mrs and Miss Bates,or when Mrs and Miss Bates returned the visit.Now was the time for Mr Frank Churchill to come among them;and the hope strengthened when it was understood that he had written to his new mother on the occasion.For a few days,every morning visit in Highbury included some mention of the handsome letter Mrs Weston had received.‘I suppose you have heard of the handsome letter Mr Frank Churchill has written to Mrs Weston?I understand it was a very handsome letter,indeed.Mr Woodhouse told me of it.Mr Woodhouse saw the letter,and he says he never saw a handsomer letter in his life.’
It was,indeed,a highly-prized letter.Mrs Weston had,of course,formed a very favourable idea of the young man;and such a pleasing attention was an irresistible proof of his great good sense,and a most welcome addition to every source and every expression of congratulation which her marriage had already secured.She felt herself a most fortunate woman;and she had lived long enough to know how fortunate she might well be thought,where the only regret was for a partial separation from friends whose friendship for her had never cooled,and who could ill bear to part with her.
She knew that at times she must be missed;and could not think,without pain,of Emma's losing a single pleasure,or suffering an hour's ennui from the want of her companionableness:but dear Emma was of no feeble character;she was more equal to her situation than most girls would have been,and had sense and energy,and spirits that might be hoped would bear her well and happily through its little difficulties and privations.And then there was such comfort in the very easy distance of Randalls from Hartfield,so convenient for even solitary female walking,and in Mr Weston's disposition and circumstances,which would make the approaching season no hindrance to their spending half the evenings in the week together.
Her situation was altogether the subject of hours of gratitude to Mrs Weston,and of moments only of regret;and her satisfaction-her more than satisfaction-her cheerful enjoyment,was so just and so apparent,that Emma,well as she knew her father,was sometimes taken by surprise at his being still able to pity ‘poor Miss Taylor,’when they left her at Randalls in the centre of every domestic comfort,or saw her go away in the evening attended by her pleasant husband to a carriage of her own.But never did she go without Mr Woodhouse's giving a gentle sigh,and saying:
‘Ah,poor Miss Taylor!She would be very glad to stay.’
There was no recovering Miss Taylor-nor much likelihood of ceasing to pity her;but a few weeks brought some alleviation to Mr Woodhouse.The compliments of his neighbours were over;he was no longer teased by being wished joy of so sorrowful an event;and the wedding-cake,which had been a great distress to him,was all eaten up.His own stomach could bear nothing rich,and he could never believe other people to be different from himself.What was unwholesome to him he regarded as unfit for anybody;and he had,therefore,earnestly tried to dissuade them from having any wedding-cake at all,and when that proved vain,as earnestly tried to prevent anybody's eating it.He had been at the pains of consulting Mr Perry,the apothecary,on the subject.Mr Perry was an intelligent,gentlemanlike man,whose frequent visits were one of the comforts of Mr Woodhouse's life;and,upon being applied to,he could not but acknowledge (though it seemed rather against the bias of inclination)that wedding-cake might certainly disagree with many-perhaps with most people,unless taken moderately.With such an opinion,in confirmation of his own,Mr Woodhouse hoped to influence every visitor of the newly-married pair;but still the cake was eaten;and there was no rest for his benevolent nerves till it was all gone.
There was a strange rumour in Highbury of all the little Perrys being seen with a slice of Mrs Weston's wedding-cake in their hands;but Mr Woodhouse would never believe it.
