- The day after the party, Mr. Knightley comes over to Hartfield.
- He and Emma begin discussing Jane Fairfax: Mr. Knightley admires her perfection, Emma doesn’t.
- Mr. Woodhouse frets about Mrs. Bates (she’s actually pretty poor).
- Mr. Woodhouse decides to send her a bit of the hog he just slaughtered. Emma tells him she’s already sent half of it to the Bates house.
- Sure enough, five minutes later Miss Bates bustles in with Jane in tow, full of thanks for the pork.
- She’s also full of news. Mr. Elton is getting married to a woman he met in Bath (that’s a resort town in England).
- Her name is Miss Hawkins.
- Gossip on the street has it that Miss Hawkins has money – and not too much else going for her.
- Emma’s not surprised…but she dreads having to tell Harriet.
- Miss Bates bustles out; a rain shower starts. Five minutes after it stops, Harriet arrives.
- Emma’s terrified that she’s heard the news, too – but Harriet is a bundle of nerves for a whole different reason.
- She accidentally ran into Robert Martin and his sister in the store.
- Harriet hid behind a barrel at first.
- They saw her anyway. Bet that was awkward, huh?
- It seemed like Robert and his sister were going to shun Harriet, but then they decided that that was unkind. Harriet tells Emma that she and Robert spoke briefly.
- Emma is surprised – didn’t she help Harriet get over Robert a long time ago?
- She’s also a bit troubled by what seems like very gentlemanly behavior on Mr. Martin’s part. Could Mr. Knightley be right about him?
- Deciding that this adventure might help Harriet keep her mind off of Mr. Elton, Emma breaks the bad news about Elton’s marriage.
- Harriet is devastated – but strangely not as shaken by this as she was by running into Mr. Martin.