 ever been
before, in reprobating any such alliance for him, as most unequal and degrading.
Her way was clear, though not quite smooth. - She spoke then, on being so
entreated. - What did she say? - Just what she ought, of course. A lady always
does. - She said enough to show there need not be despair - and to invite him to
say more himself. He had despaired at one period; he had received such an
injunction to caution and silence, as for the time crushed every hope; - she had
begun by refusing to hear him. - The change had perhaps been somewhat sudden; -
her proposal of taking another turn, her renewing the conversation which she had
just put an end to, might be a little extraordinary! - She felt its
inconsistency; but Mr. Knightley was so obliging as to put up with it, and seek
no farther explanation.
    Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure;
seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little
mistaken; but where, as in this case, though the conduct is mistaken, the
feelings are not, it may not be very material. - Mr. Knightley could not impute
to Emma a more relenting heart than she possessed, or a heart more disposed to
accept of his.
    He had, in fact, been wholly unsuspicious of his own influence. He had
followed her into the shrubbery with no idea of trying it. He had come, in his
anxiety to see how she bore Frank Churchill's engagement, with no selfish view,
no view at all, but of endeavouring, if she allowed him an opening, to soothe or
to counsel her. - The rest had been the work of the moment, the immediate effect
of what he heard, on his feelings. The delightful assurance of her total
indifference towards Frank Churchill, of her having a heart completely
disengaged from him, had given birth to the hope, that, in time, he might gain
her affection himself; - but it had been no present hope - he had only, in the
momentary conquest of eagerness over judgment, aspired to be told that she did
not forbid his attempt to attach her. - The superior hopes which gradually
opened were so much the more enchanting. - The affection, which he had been
asking to be allowed to create if he could, was already his! - Within half an
hour, he had passed from a thoroughly distressed state of mind, to something so
like perfect happiness, that it could bear no
