NovelGuide: Emma: Novel Summary: Chapter 28- Chapter 30

Chapter 28- Chapter 30

Chapter 28: Frank sits near Emma, and when Jane approaches the piano she seems full of emotion. After her playing, Frank tries to talk to Jane about the piano and the Campbells, and Emma sees that he is trying to get after something and make Jane nervous. Emma tells him to stop, as she was just guessing about where the piano may have come from. Miss Bates sees Mr. Knightley riding by and asks him in, saying that Miss Woodhouse and Miss Smith are there. He says he will stop in for a few minutes, but when Miss Bates adds that Mrs. Weston and Frank Churchill are also there, Knightley says that he is too busy to stop by after all and rides on.

Chapter 29: After their little bit of dancing at the Coles, the young people soon want a ball and begin planning. The Westons' house is talked about, but it is decided that none of the rooms are big enough for the ten couples that will be invited to dance, so it is decided that they will have it at the Crown Inn. The Westons and Frank and Emma go there to plan out how everything will be set up. Frank writes to his aunt and uncle saying that he will need to stay a few days more, and he asks Emma if she will dance the first two dances with him, and she accepts.

Chapter 30: Emma is quite excited about the upcoming ball, but is disappointed by Mr. Knightley's indifference to it. Soon the joy is over though, when Frank gets a letter from Mr. Churchill urging him to come home, as Mrs. Churchill is ill. Although he does not feel any real alarm over his aunt's illness, Frank must go. He stops by quickly to say goodbye to Emma, having already stopped off at the Bateses. He seems to be trying to tell Emma something serious, but she does not encourage it, thinking that she does not want to hear it. He says that she must be suspicious as to what he wants to say, and when he leaves, she thinks that he is more in love with her than she had thought. She thinks that she must be in love with him too, and that it would be quite odd if she were not. When Emma next sees Jane, she is irritated to see that Jane seems indifferent to the loss of the ball, but she blames some of Jane's indifference to the fact that she has been ill.