Emma III

Emma quarrels with him, saying that Harriet is a lovely girl and sure to be the daughter of a noble family and as such she should look higher than a marriage with a farmer in a country village. She has settled that Harriet shoudl marry Mr Elton, the new vicar who is handsome and charming, and quite genteel, though his family were in trade. Harriet is quite prepared to fall in love with Elton, because Emma is encouraging her. Mr Elton visits Hartfield often and seems taken with Harriet. At Christmas soon after the wedding, Emma's sister and her family come to stay and Mr Knightly visits to see his brothers children. He and Emma make up their quarrel. Then just before Christmas day, Mr Elton having been at a party at the Westons' house, has a little too much wine and makes a proposal to Emma. She is horrified. He tells her that he never thought of Harriet, she is well below him on the social scale. Emma is furious that he should think of her as a possible bride when the Woodhouses are so much higher in rank than him. Elton goes away from Highbury for a holiday, and Emma has to tell Harriet that they were mistaken and he is not in love with her at all. Harriet takes it badly and is very upset. Jane Fairfax, the neiece of the Bates ladies, comes to stay for a visit. Her aunt is Miss Bates, the talkative but kindly spinster lady who lives in a small flat in Highbury, and is not at all well off. Jane's parents died when she was a baby and she was adopted by Colonel Campbell, a friend of her fathers who took her into his home and treated her as a daughter. However Jane has no fortune and is going to become a governess now that she is old enough. Emma has never really liked her, as Jane, while pleasant, is so accomplished and well educated that she makes Emma feel inferior.