An uneventful few weeks later, Mrs Woodhouse was informed by her daughter that at the dinner party that had been given the previous evening she (Emma) had made the acquaintance of a Miss Harriet Smith, who was a very pleasant and agreeable young lady. In subsequent weeks, Mrs Woodhouse was kept informed of the developing friendship between the two girls - wise enough not to make any objections or to voice her concerns until she had a good enough reason to justify the resentment that would be caused by what she was well aware her daughter would consider to be unnecessary meddling in her personal affairs. However, this resolution was shortly to be tried by an unavoidable confrontation.
Having failed in an appeal to Mrs Weston and her friendship with Emma, Mr Knightley then decided try another - this time to the maternal feelings of Mrs Woodhouse. She was in her customary position by the fire in the drawing room when he entered with the words "I urgently need to talk to you about something important - about Emma."
"What is it? Has something happened to her? Is she hurt?"
She was panicking, almost hysterical at the thought of anything unpleasant happening to her daughter, of having to watch her child's life destroyed as hers had been.
"No, no" he said hastily,"nothing like that. I'm just concerned about her new friendship with Harriet Smith - I don't think that it will do either of them any good." Sadly, a feeling of despair at the circumstances made the retort he received more than a little caustic.
"And pray why so Mr Knightley? I myself cannot see any particular harm in my daughter's choice of a friend. From what I know, Harriet Smith is a good-tempered and sweet girl who Emma likes and enjoys the company of. I fail to see what is so objectionable about that - or even why you see any need to tell me what is good for my daughter." Irritation at her need for circumspection - even in the face of her daughter's errors - and the knowledge that if Mr Knightley said anything of that sort in Emma's hearing it would guarantee a deepening of the friendship, sharpened Mrs Woodhouse's tongue as she endeavoured to force her only ally into abandoning the subject.
A clipped speech about the dangerous effects of such unconscious flattery on Emma was instantly followed by a strong rebuttal about Emma being 'perfectly capable of judging circumstances for herself' and the following one about Emma doing harm to Harriet was met with such an indignant speech about Mrs Woodhouse being as good a mother as she could under her 'unfortunate circumstances' that Mr Knightley ungraciously submitted and with a snort of disgust at what he saw as maternal blindness stalked out as his antagonist sunk, exhausted, into the depths of her chair.
However, this unpleasant sacrifice soon bore fruit as Emma entered the room and saucily enquired "What have you done to poor dear Mr Knightley Mama - I saw him leave looking like someone had told him that all his beloved books had gone missing!"
"I am afraid we were talking about you Emma darling, and this new intimacy with Miss Smith."
"But why should that make him so annoyed Mama?" All traces of humour had left Emma's voice as a childlike innocence entered the questioning tone of her voice.
"Mr Knightley thinks that this friendship will only cause both of you harm and I will admit I am prepared to admit that there are merits to his point."
"Well,"Emma scoffed indignantly," I see no reason for Mr Knightley to pass any judgements on my friends but," the childlike tone resuming," would you tell me what you dislike about Harriet."
With this opportunity, Mrs Woodhouse carefully reminded Emma of Miss Smith's situation and how the intimacy she presently had with Emma would spoil her, making her discontent with her circumstances." No Mama, I would never..."
"It is not consciously done Emma but you are doing something. Now I think that what you should be doing is continue being friendly towards Miss Smith but now do not try to control her and allow her to make her own choices about affairs of the heart." She hoped for an immediate assurance, but all Emma did was rise from her chair and walk out of the room.
I hope that you are all still enjoying this story and will continue reading - bearing in mind I have no plan, no plot and no self-discipline whatsoever (meaning I only update once in a blue moon). Just out of interest, could anyone who reviews please let me know what they think about Mrs Woodhouse - I'm not sure if she's taking over the story or not!
