Page:Jane Austen (Sarah Fanny Malden 1889).djvu/148

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
"EMMA."
135

not in the least suspecting that she was addressing a lover. 'The expression of the eye is most correct, but Miss Smith has not those eye-brows and eye-lashes; it is the fault of her face that she has them not.'

"'Do you think so?' replied he. 'I cannot agree with you. It appears to me a most perfect resemblance in every feature. I never saw such a likeness in my life. We must allow for the effects of shade, you know.'

"'You have made her too tall, Emma,' said Mr. Knightley.

"Emma knew that she had, but would not own it; and Mr. Elton warmly added—

"'Oh, no; certainly not too tall—not in the least too tall. Consider she is sitting down, which naturally presents a different—which, in short, gives exactly the idea—and the proportions must be preserved, you know. Proportions, fore-shortening—oh, no; it gives one exactly the idea of such a height as Miss Smith's—exactly so, indeed.'

"'It is very pretty,' said Mr. Woodhouse. 'So prettily done. Just as your drawings always are, my dear. I do not know anybody who draws so well as you do. The only thing I do not thoroughly like is that she seems to be sitting out of doors with only a little shawl over her shoulders; and it makes one think she must catch cold.'

"'But, my dear papa, it is supposed to be summer; a warm day in summer. Look at the tree.'

"'But it is never safe to sit out of doors, my dear.'

"'You, sir, may say anything,' cried Mr. Elton, 'but I must confess that I regard it as a most happy thought, the placing Miss Smith out of doors; and the tree is touched with such inimitable spirit. Any