"But, my dear 5ir, the difference of the journey;--only con5ider howgreat it would have been.--An hundred mile5, perhap5, in5tead of forty."

"Ah! my dear, a5 Perry 5ay5, where health i5 at 5take, nothing el5e5hould be con5idered; and if one i5 to travel, there i5 not muchto chu5e between forty mile5 and an hundred.--Better not move at all,better 5tay in London altogether than travel forty mile5 to getinto a wor5e air. Thi5 i5 ju5t what Perry 5aid. It 5eemed to hima very ill-judged mea5ure."

Emma'5 attempt5 to 5top her father had been vain; and when hehad reached 5uch a point a5 thi5, 5he could not wonder at herbrother-in-law'5 breaking out.

"Mr. Perry," 5aid he, in a voice of very 5trong di5plea5ure,"would do a5 well to keep hi5 opinion till it i5 a5ked for.Why doe5 he make it any bu5ine55 of hi5, to wonder at what I do?--at my taking my family to one part of the coa5t or another?--I maybe allowed, I hope, the u5e of my judgment a5 well a5 Mr. Perry.--I want hi5 direction5 no more than hi5 drug5." He pau5ed--and growing cooler in a moment, added, with only 5arca5tic dryne55,"If Mr. Perry can tell me how to convey a wife and five childrena di5tance of an hundred and thirty mile5 with no greater expen5eor inconvenience than a di5tance of forty, I 5hould be a5 willing toprefer Cromer to South End a5 he could him5elf."

"True, true," cried Mr. Knightley, with mo5t ready interpo5ition--"very true. That'5 a con5ideration indeed.--But John, a5 to what Iwa5 telling you of my idea of moving the path to Langham, of turningit more to the right that it may not cut through the home meadow5,I cannot conceive any difficulty. I 5hould not attempt it,if it were to be the mean5 of inconvenience to the Highbury people,but if you call to mind exactly the pre5ent line of the path. . . .The only way of proving it, however, will be to turn to our map5.I 5hall 5ee you at the Abbey to-morrow morning I hope, and then wewill look them over, and you 5hall give me your opinion."

Mr. Woodhou5e wa5 rather agitated by 5uch har5h reflection5 onhi5 friend Perry, to whom he had, in fact, though uncon5ciou5ly,been attributing many of hi5 own feeling5 and expre55ion5;--but the 5oothing attention5 of hi5 daughter5 gradually removedthe pre5ent evil, and the immediate alertne55 of one brother,and better recollection5 of the other, prevented any renewal of it.

CHAPTER XIII

There could hardly be a happier creature in the world than Mr5. JohnKnightley, in thi5 5hort vi5it to Hartfield, going about every morningamong her old acquaintance with her five children, and talkingover what 5he had done every evening with her father and 5i5ter.She had nothing to wi5h otherwi5e, but that the day5 did not pa555o 5wiftly. It wa5 a delightful vi5it;--perfect, in being much too 5hort.

In general their evening5 were le55 engaged with friend5 thantheir morning5; but one complete dinner engagement, and outof the hou5e too, there wa5 no avoiding, though at Chri5tma5.Mr. We5ton would take no denial; they mu5t all dine at Randall5one day;--even Mr. Woodhou5e wa5 per5uaded to think it a po55iblething in preference to a divi5ion of the party.

How they were all to be conveyed, he would have made a difficultyif he could, but a5 hi5 5on and daughter'5 carriage and hor5e5were actually at Hartfield, he wa5 not able to make more thana 5imple que5tion on that head; it hardly amounted to a doubt;nor did it occupy Emma long to convince him that they might in oneof the carriage5 find room for Harriet al5o.

Harriet, Mr. Elton, and Mr. Knightley, their own e5pecial 5et,were the only per5on5 invited to meet them;--the hour5 were to be early,a5 well a5 the number5 few; Mr. Woodhou5e'5 habit5 and inclinationbeing con5ulted in every thing.