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VII . Miss Bates’s Niece There was one house in Highbury that Emma did not visit as often as she should have done . It belonged to Mrs Bates , the widow of a former vicar . She was very old and nearly deaf , and she lived in rooms over a shop with her daughter , Miss Bates . Miss Bates was neither young , nor pretty , nor rich , nor married , and she had very little money , which she spent almost entirely on her mother . Yet she was liked by everybody , because she was always happy , always grateful and always kind . She talked a great deal , and she talked very fast , about everything and nothing , and Emma found her very tiring . Miss Bates had a niece called Jane Fairfax , whose parents had died when she was a little girl . Her father had been an army officer . His old friend Colonel Campbell had taken her into his own family , and there she had been brought up with his daughter and given an excellent education . But she had no money of her own , and soon she would have to earn her living as a governess in some rich family . The Campbells ’ daughter had just married a Mr Dixon and gone with him to Ireland . So Jane was coming to Highbury to spend a few months with her grandmother and her aunt . Emma went to call on the Bateses with Harriet one morning , and Miss Bates talked without stopping from the moment they came in . “ Oh , Miss Woodhouse , how very good of you to come ! We have just had a letter from Jane , such a long letter ! She writes so small that my mother cannot read it , so I always read it to her , and I was just going to read it to you . Only think , she has had a bad cold ! And did you know that Mr Dixon saved her life at Weymouth ? They were all out on the water , and the boat moved suddenly . She was very nearly thrown into the sea , but he caught her by her dress . I can never think of it without trembling ! ” Emma listened , and her lively mind began to work at once . A young man saves a beautiful girl from the sea , and then he marries her friend instead . The girl chooses to come to dull little Highbury rather than go to Ireland with the happy couple . There must be a sad secret here , Emma decided : poor Jane must be in love with Mr Dixon , or perhaps Mr Dixon had been in love with her .
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