Coming the next morning on business with Mr. Woodhouse, George Knightley gives his approbation to Emma for being so pleasant toward Jane, though the two disagree about the reason for Jane's reserve. He is about to give Emma a piece of news when he is interrupted by the arrival of Miss Bates and Miss Fairfax with thanks for a hindquarter of pork sent them by the Woodhouses. Miss Bates is also bursting with the news that Mr. Elton, who has been away only four weeks, is going to be married to a Miss Hawkins whom he has met at Bath. Jane still will not commit herself on anything, even on Mr. Elton, whom she has of course not yet met. George leaves with the other two visitors, and Emma is left with her father, who laments "that young people would be in such a hurry to marry — and to marry strangers too," and with her concern about how Harriet will feel when she learns the news.
After a heavy but short rain, Harriet arrives in a state of perturbation, but it is not because she has heard of Mr. Elton. Instead, she has been detained by the rain at Ford's, the principal fashionable shop in Highbury, where she encountered Robert Martin and his sister, who first ignored her and then came by to speak quite amiably and kindly with her. Emma has to admit to herself that they have acted worthily, but she is disturbed at Harriet's excitement over meeting Robert again, and to assuage it she is obliged to hurry on with the news about Mr. Elton. As Mr. Elton's rights to Harriet's attention gradually revive, Emma is rather glad of the meeting at Ford's for "deadening the first shock, without retaining any influence to alarm."
