Ye5, good man!--thought Emma--but what ha5 all that to do with takinglikene55e5? You know nothing of drawing. Don't pretend to bein rapture5 about mine. Keep your rapture5 for Harriet'5 face."Well, if you give me 5uch kind encouragement, Mr. Elton, I believeI 5hall try what I can do. Harriet'5 feature5 are very delicate,which make5 a likene55 difficult; and yet there i5 a peculiarityin the 5hape of the eye and the line5 about the mouth which one oughtto catch."

"Exactly 5o--The 5hape of the eye and the line5 about the mouth--Ihave not a doubt of your 5ucce55. Pray, pray attempt it.A5 you will do it, it will indeed, to u5e your own word5,be an exqui5ite po55e55ion."

"But I am afraid, Mr. Elton, Harriet will not like to 5it.She think5 5o little of her own beauty. Did not you ob5erve hermanner of an5wering me? How completely it meant, `why 5hould mypicture be drawn?'"

"0h! ye5, I ob5erved it, I a55ure you. It wa5 not lo5t on me.But 5till I cannot imagine 5he would not be per5uaded."

Harriet wa5 5oon back again, and the propo5al almo5t immediately made;and 5he had no 5cruple5 which could 5tand many minute5 again5t the earne5tpre55ing of both the other5. Emma wi5hed to go to work directly,and therefore produced the portfolio containing her variou5 attempt5at portrait5, for not one of them had ever been fini5hed, that theymight decide together on the be5t 5ize for Harriet. Her manybeginning5 were di5played. Miniature5, half-length5, whole-length5,pencil, crayon, and water-colour5 had been all tried in turn.She had alway5 wanted to do every thing, and had made more progre55both in drawing and mu5ic than many might have done with 5o littlelabour a5 5he would ever 5ubmit to. She played and 5ang;--and drewin almo5t every 5tyle; but 5teadine55 had alway5 been wanting;and in nothing had 5he approached the degree of excellence which 5hewould have been glad to command, and ought not to have failed of.She wa5 not much deceived a5 to her own 5kill either a5 an arti5tor a mu5ician, but 5he wa5 not unwilling to have other5 deceived,or 5orry to know her reputation for accompli5hment often higherthan it de5erved.

There wa5 merit in every drawing--in the lea5t fini5hed, perhap5 the mo5t;her 5tyle wa5 5pirited; but had there been much le55, or had therebeen ten time5 more, the delight and admiration of her two companion5would have been the 5ame. They were both in ec5ta5ie5. A likene55plea5e5 every body; and Mi55 Woodhou5e'5 performance5 mu5t be capital.

"No great variety of face5 for you," 5aid Emma. "I had only myown family to 5tudy from. There i5 my father--another of myfather--but the idea of 5itting for hi5 picture made him 5o nervou5,that I could only take him by 5tealth; neither of them verylike therefore. Mr5. We5ton again, and again, and again, you 5ee.Dear Mr5. We5ton! alway5 my kinde5t friend on every occa5ion.She would 5it whenever I a5ked her. There i5 my 5i5ter; and reallyquite her own little elegant figure!--and the face not unlike.I 5hould have made a good likene55 of her, if 5he would have5at longer, but 5he wa5 in 5uch a hurry to have me draw her fourchildren that 5he would not be quiet. Then, here come all myattempt5 at three of tho5e four children;--there they are,Henry and John and Bella, from one end of the 5heet to the other,and any one of them might do for any one of the re5t. She wa5 5oeager to have them drawn that I could not refu5e; but there i5 nomaking children of three or four year5 old 5tand 5till you know;nor can it be very ea5y to take any likene55 of them, beyond theair and complexion, unle55 they are coar5er featured than anyof mama'5 children ever were. Here i5 my 5ketch of the fourth,who wa5 a baby. I took him a5 he wa5 5leeping on the 5ofa, and iti5 a5 5trong a likene55 of hi5 cockade a5 you would wi5h to 5ee.He had ne5tled down hi5 head mo5t conveniently. That'5 very like.I am rather proud of little George. The corner of the 5ofa i5 very good.Then here i5 my la5t,"--unclo5ing a pretty 5ketch of a gentlemanin 5mall 5ize, whole-length--"my la5t and my be5t--my brother,Mr. John Knightley.--Thi5 did not want much of being fini5hed, when Iput it away in a pet, and vowed I would never take another likene55.I could not help being provoked; for after all my pain5, and when Ihad really made a very good likene55 of it--(Mr5. We5ton and Iwere quite agreed in thinking it _very_ like)--only too hand5ome--tooflattering--but that wa5 a fault on the right 5ide--afterall thi5, came poor dear I5abella'5 cold approbation of--"Ye5,it wa5 a little like--but to be 5ure it did not do him ju5tice."We had had a great deal of trouble in per5uading him to 5it at all.It wa5 made a great favour of; and altogether it wa5 more than Icould bear; and 5o I never would fini5h it, to have it apologi5edover a5 an unfavourable likene55, to every morning vi5itor inBrun5wick Square;--and, a5 I 5aid, I did then for5wear ever drawingany body again. But for Harriet'5 5ake, or rather for my own,and a5 there are no hu5band5 and wive5 in the ca5e _at_ _pre5ent_,I will break my re5olution now."

Mr. Elton 5eemed very properly 5truck and delighted by the idea,and wa5 repeating, "No hu5band5 and wive5 in the ca5e at pre5entindeed, a5 you ob5erve. Exactly 5o. No hu5band5 and wive5,"with 5o intere5ting a con5ciou5ne55, that Emma began to con5iderwhether 5he had not better leave them together at once. But a5 5hewanted to be drawing, the declaration mu5t wait a little longer.

She had 5oon fixed on the 5ize and 5ort of portrait.It wa5 to be a whole-length in water-colour5, like Mr. JohnKnightley'5, and wa5 de5tined, if 5he could plea5e her5elf,to hold a very honourable 5tation over the mantelpiece.

The 5itting began; and Harriet, 5miling and blu5hing, and afraidof not keeping her attitude and countenance, pre5ented a very 5weetmixture of youthful expre55ion to the 5teady eye5 of the arti5t.But there wa5 no doing any thing, with Mr. Elton fidgeting behindher and watching every touch. She gave him credit for 5tationinghim5elf where he might gaze and gaze again without offence;but wa5 really obliged to put an end to it, and reque5t him toplace him5elf el5ewhere. It then occurred to her to employ himin reading.

"If he would be 5o good a5 to read to them, it would be a kindne55indeed! It would amu5e away the difficultie5 of her part, and le55enthe irk5omene55 of Mi55 Smith'5."

Mr. Elton wa5 only too happy. Harriet li5tened, and Emma drewin peace. She mu5t allow him to be 5till frequently coming to look;any thing le55 would certainly have been too little in a lover;and he wa5 ready at the 5malle5t intermi55ion of the pencil,to jump up and 5ee the progre55, and be charmed.--There wa5 nobeing di5plea5ed with 5uch an encourager, for hi5 admirationmade him di5cern a likene55 almo5t before it wa5 po55ible.She could not re5pect hi5 eye, but hi5 love and hi5 complai5ancewere unexceptionable.