Emma | Page 4

a
very considerable one--that I made the match myself. I made the match,
you know, four years ago; and to have it take place, and be proved in
the right, when so many people said Mr. Weston would never marry
again, may comfort me for any thing."
Mr. Knightley shook his head at her. Her father fondly replied, "Ah!
my dear, I wish you would not make matches and foretell things, for
whatever you say always comes to pass. Pray do not make any more
matches."
"I promise you to make none for myself, papa; but I must, indeed, for
other people. It is the greatest amusement in the world! And after such

success, you know!--Every body said that Mr. Weston would never
marry again. Oh dear, no! Mr. Weston, who had been a widower so
long, and who seemed so perfectly comfortable without a wife, so
constantly occupied either in his business in town or among his friends
here, always acceptable wherever he went, always cheerful-- Mr.
Weston need not spend a single evening in the year alone if he did not
like it. Oh no! Mr. Weston certainly would never marry again. Some
people even talked of a promise to his wife on her deathbed, and others
of the son and the uncle not letting him. All manner of solemn
nonsense was talked on the subject, but I believed none of it.
"Ever since the day--about four years ago--that Miss Taylor and I met
with him in Broadway Lane, when, because it began to drizzle, he
darted away with so much gallantry, and borrowed two umbrellas for
us from Farmer Mitchell's, I made up my mind on the subject. I
planned the match from that hour; and when such success has blessed
me in this instance, dear papa, you cannot think that I shall leave off
match-making."
"I do not understand what you mean by `success,'" said Mr. Knightley.
"Success supposes endeavour. Your time has been properly and
delicately spent, if you have been endeavouring for the last four years
to bring about this marriage. A worthy employment for a young lady's
mind! But if, which I rather imagine, your making the match, as you
call it, means only your planning it, your saying to yourself one idle
day, `I think it would be a very good thing for Miss Taylor if Mr.
Weston were to marry her,' and saying it again to yourself every now
and then afterwards, why do you talk of success? Where is your merit?
What are you proud of? You made a lucky guess; and that is all that
can be said."
"And have you never known the pleasure and triumph of a lucky
guess?-- I pity you.--I thought you cleverer--for, depend upon it a lucky
guess is never merely luck. There is always some talent in it. And as to
my poor word `success,' which you quarrel with, I do not know that I
am so entirely without any claim to it. You have drawn two pretty
pictures; but I think there may be a third--a something between the

do-nothing and the do-all. If I had not promoted Mr. Weston's visits
here, and given many little encouragements, and smoothed many little
matters, it might not have come to any thing after all. I think you must
know Hartfield enough to comprehend that."
"A straightforward, open-hearted man like Weston, and a rational,
unaffected woman like Miss Taylor, may be safely left to manage their
own concerns. You are more likely to have done harm to yourself, than
good to them, by interference."
"Emma never thinks of herself, if she can do good to others," rejoined
Mr. Woodhouse, understanding but in part. "But, my dear, pray do not
make any more matches; they are silly things, and break up one's
family circle grievously."
"Only one more, papa; only for Mr. Elton. Poor Mr. Elton! You like Mr.
Elton, papa,--I must look about for a wife for him. There is nobody in
Highbury who deserves him--and he has been here a whole year, and
has fitted up his house so comfortably, that it would be a shame to have
him single any longer--and I thought when he was joining their hands
to-day, he looked so very much as if he would like to have the same
kind office done for him! I think very well of Mr. Elton, and this is the
only way I have of doing him a service."
"Mr. Elton is a very pretty young man, to be sure, and a very good
young man, and I have a great regard for him. But if you want to shew
him any attention, my dear, ask him to come and dine with us some day.
That will be a much better thing. I dare say