Accordingly she spent the evening on a couch near to which Lord Osborne stationed himself, in order to enjoy a good view of her face. It was evident that his love for her had not made him more lively, or more talkative, and to judge from his manners that evening, he had not made much progress in politeness. He allowed all the little offices of civility to be performed by Sir William, never offering to hand her a cup of coffee, nor seeing when it was empty, and requiring removal; never noticing when her reel of silk dropped on the ground, or discovering if her embroidery frame was raised at the proper angle. His total neglect of all this, together with the little conversation he ever attempted to carry on, and the general reserve of his manner, entirely prevented Emma from entertaining the idea, that he was her serious admirer. Had she really supposed it, her manners might have been different, but as it was, she felt as much at ease with him, as with his brother-in-law, and treated him with equal frankness.
She never had thought him particularly agreeable, and it did not enter her head that he would wish to make himself so, for otherwise, he would probably have behaved very differently; at least so she concluded, when she contrasted his manner with that of some others of her acquaintance.
The sprain of her ankle occasioned her great pain all the evening, as Sir William guessed from the paleness of her cheeks, and the shade round her mouth at times; but she did all she could to conceal it, and chatted with him and Lady Gordon as long as they remained together.
But she never felt more relieved than when at his suggestion, the proposal for retiring was made early, in order to relieve her, for she had borne as much as she could in silence, and really felt once or twice on the point of fainting.
Lady Gordon took the most judicious step she could, for she summoned to her assistance the old house-keeper, who being peculiarly great in doctoring sprains, and all such accidental maladies, soon produced some remedy for the pain Emma was suffering. But it was evident it would be some days before she would be able to walk at all, and she very much regretted this deprivation, during the beautiful weather they were then enjoying.
