Donde Emma
rebela su intención de seguir uniendo parejas, se le recomienda que no lo haga
y se brindan detalles sobre el señor Weston.
Del original ingles Emma, de Jane Austen
"A simple, open-hearted man like Weston, and a
rational, unaffected woman like Miss Taylor, may be safely left to manage their
own concerns. You are more likely to have done harm to yourself, than good to
them, by interference."
"Emma never thinks of herself, if she can do
good to others," rejoined Mr. Woodhouse, understanding but in part.
"But, my dear, please do not make any more matches; they are silly things,
and break up one's family circle critically."
"Only one more, papa; only for Mr. Elton. Poor
Mr. Elton! You like Mr. Elton, papa,—I must look about for a wife for him.
There is nobody in Highbury who deserves him—and he has been here a whole year,
and has fixed up his house so comfortably, that it would be a shame to have him
single any longer—and I thought when he was joining their hands to-day, he
looked so very much as if he would like to have the same kind office done for
him! I think very well of Mr. Elton, and this is the only way I have of doing
him a service."
"Mr. Elton is a very pretty young man, to be
sure, and a very good young man, and I have a great regard for him. But if you
want to show him any attention, my dear, ask him to come and dine with us some
day. That will be a much better thing. I dare say Mr. Knightley will be so kind
as to meet him."
"With a great deal of pleasure, sir, at any
time," said Mr. Knightley, laughing, "and I agree with you entirely,
that it will be a much better thing. Invite him to dinner, Emma, and help him
to the best of the fish and the chicken, but leave him to chuse his own wife. Depend upon it, a man of six or
seven-and-twenty can take care of himself."
Mr. Weston was a
native of Highbury, and born of a respectable family, which for the last two or
three generations had been rising into gentility and property. He had received
a good education, but, on succeeding early in life to a small independence, had
become indisposed for any of the more homely pursuits in which his brothers
were engaged, and had satisfied an active, cheerful mind and social temper by
entering into the militia of his county, then embodied.
Captain Weston was
a general favourite; and when the chances of his military life had introduced
him to Miss Churchill, of a great Yorkshire family, and Miss Churchill fell in
love with him, nobody was surprized, except her brother and his wife, who had
never seen him, and who were full of pride and importance, which the connexion
would offend.
Miss Churchill,
however, being of age, and with the full command of her fortune—though her
fortune bore no proportion to the family-estate—was not to be dissuaded from
the marriage, and it took place, to the infinite mortification of Mr. and Mrs. Churchill, who threw her off with due
decorum. It was an unsuitable connexion, and did not produce much happiness.
Mrs. Weston ought to have found more in it, for she had a husband whose warm
heart and sweet temper made him think every thing due to her in return for the
great goodness of being in love with him; but though she had one sort of
spirit, she had not the best. She had resolution enough to pursue her own will
in spite of her brother, but not enough to refrain from unreasonable regrets at
that brother's unreasonable anger, nor from missing the luxuries of her former
home. They lived beyond their income, but still it was nothing in comparison of
Enscombe: she did not cease to love her husband, but she wanted at once to be
the wife of Captain Weston, and Miss Churchill of Enscombe.
Captain Weston,
who had been considered, especially by the Churchills, as making such an
amazing match, was proved to have much the worst of the bargain; for when his
wife died, after a three years' marriage, he was rather a poorer man than at
first, and with a child to maintain. From the expense of the child, however, he
was soon relieved. The boy had, with the additional softening claim of a
lingering illness of his mother's, been the means of a sort of reconciliation;
and Mr. and Mrs. Churchill, having no children of their own, nor any other
young creature of equal kindred to
care for, offered to take the whole charge of the little Frank soon after her
decease. Some scruples and some reluctance the widower-father may be supposed
to have felt; but as they were overcome by other considerations, the child was
given up to the care and the wealth of the Churchills, and he had only his own
comfort to seek, and his own situation to improve as he could.
A complete change
of life became desirable. He quitted the militia and engaged in trade, having
brothers already established in a good way in London, which afforded him a
favourable opening. It was a concern which brought just employment enough. He
had still a small house in Highbury, where most of his leisure days were spent;
and between useful occupation and the pleasures of society, the next eighteen
or twenty years of his life passed cheerfully away. He had, by that time,
realised an easy competence—enough to secure the purchase of a little estate
adjoining Highbury, which he had always longed for—enough to marry a woman as
portionless even as Miss Taylor, and to live according to the wishes of his own
friendly and social disposition.
It was now some
time since Miss Taylor had begun to influence his schemes; but as it was not
the tyrannic influence of youth on youth, it had not shaken his determination
of never settling till he could purchase Randalls, and the sale of Randalls was
long looked forward to; but he had gone steadily on, with these objects in
view, till they were accomplished. He had made his fortune, bought his house,
and obtained his wife; and was beginning a new period of existence, with every
probability of greater happiness than in any yet passed through. He had never
been an unhappy man; his own temper had secured him from that, even in his
first marriage; but his second must show him how delightful a well-judging and
truly cordial woman could be, and must give him the pleasantest proof of its
being a great deal better to choose than to be chosen, to excite gratitude than
to feel it.
He had only
himself to please in his choice: his fortune was his own; for as to Frank, it
was more than being tacitly brought up as his uncle's heir, it had become so confirmed
an adoption as to have him assume the name of Churchill on coming of age. It was
most unlikely, therefore, that he should ever want his father's assistance. His
father had no apprehension of it. The aunt was a capricious woman, and governed
her husband entirely; but it was not in Mr. Weston's nature to imagine that any
caprice could be strong enough to affect one so dear, and, as he believed, so
deservedly dear. He saw his son every year in London, and was proud of him; and
his fond report of him as a very fine young man had made Highbury feel a sort
of pride in him too. He was looked on as sufficiently belonging to the place to
make his merits and prospects a kind of common concern.
Mr. Frank
Churchill was one of the boasts of Highbury, and a lively curiosity to see him
prevailed, though the compliment was so little returned that he had never been
there in his life. His coming to visit his father had been often talked of but
never achieved. (Ingles más
fácil, con uso de sinónimos y vocabulario comprensible)
Vocabulario
Chuse embodied mortification
kindred
Ideas principales
Emma intends to keep joining couples. She thinks it is unusual a man
like Mr. Elton can not get a wife.
Mr. Weston found in Miss Taylor a very nice wife. He had been married to
Miss Churchill before, who gave him a child. Miss Churchill died. Mr. Weston
left the army and settled in Highbury. Mr. Weston´s son, Frank, was adopted by
Miss Churchill´s brother and his wife.
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