" She must abide by the evil of having refused him, whatever it may be; and as to the refusal itself, I will no pretned to say that I might not influence her a little; but I assure you there was very little for me or for anybody to do. His appearance is so much against him, and his manner so bad, that if she ever were disposed to favour him, she is not now." That was not the sense I got when Harriet came to Emma with the letter. She was torn and tending toward accepting the proposal. Emma had to do some fast talking to get Harriet to refuse Martin. She even had to imply the end of their friendship.

and here...