Emma Chapter Seven Summary

Harriet receives a love letter from our farmer-friend, Mr. Martin.
Emma, of course, is outraged on her friend’s behalf. How could Mr. Martin dream of lowering Harriet to his social station?
Unable to decide how to respond to the letter, Harriet turns to Emma for advice.
After reading Mr. Martin’s letter, Emma is secretly troubled – it sure doesn’t sound like a farmer’s letter. It’s too well-written.
Emma wonders if Mr. Martin is actually more of a gentleman than she’d thought.
She decides to ignore her better instincts, however. After all, a farmer is a farmer – at the end of the day, he still smells like the cows.
Emma refuses to sway Harriet’s decision (although she’s secretly determined to stop Harriet from making the biggest mistake of her life).
Hilarity ensues.
Harriet wants to like Mr. Martin’s letter.
Emma doesn’t say anything.
Harriet thinks Mr. Martin’s letter might be too short. That’s how you judge the quality of a letter, right?
Emma secretly cringes at Harriet’s standards, but she senses that Harriet might be moving in the right direction.
Wait – didn’t we say that Emma wasn’t going to push Harriet into anything? Well, yes.
But we weren’t quite telling the truth. That’s because Emma wasn’t quite truthful with herself.
Emma doesn’t quite push Harriet into rejecting Mr. Martin. (OK, that’s not quite true. But let’s go with it for now.)
Although she seems faintly troubled at the thought of hurting Mr. Martin, Harriet decides she’d far rather refuse him than disagree with her friend.
After the letter is written, Emma pats Harriet on the head (not literally, but you get the picture).
Recognizing that Harriet seems glum, Emma attempts to cheer her up by talking about the fabulous Mr. Elton.
She’s convinced that Mr. Elton has taken Harriet’s portrait in order to show it to his family – and she soon convinces Harriet, as well.

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