Emma

habits of the Churchills. He seemed to have all the life and spirit,
cheerful feelings, and social inclinations of his father, and nothing
of the pride or reserve of Enscombe. Of pride, indeed, there was,
perhaps, scarcely enough; his indifference to a confusion of rank,
bordered too much on inelegance of mind. He could be no judge, however,
of the evil he was holding cheap. It was but an effusion of lively
spirits.

At last he was persuaded to move on from the front of the Crown; and
being now almost facing the house where the Bateses lodged, Emma
recollected his intended visit the day before, and asked him if he had
paid it.

“Yes, oh! yes”—he replied; “I was just going to mention it. A very
successful visit:—I saw all the three ladies; and felt very much
obliged to you for your preparatory hint. If the talking aunt had taken
me quite by surprize, it must have been the death of me. As it was, I
was only betrayed into paying a most unreasonable visit. Ten minutes
would have been all that was necessary, perhaps all that was proper;
and I had told my father I should certainly be at home before him—but
there was no getting away, no pause; and, to my utter astonishment, I