if Emma had really wanted to go to town, she mightn't have done so a little more often, at the very least. As she does when she really wants to spend an afternoon or evening somewhere, Emma could prop up Mr. W. with a bevy of attentive friends (who'd be more than happy to stay at Hartfield with him a day or two, I'm sure, and who would fuss over him very well.) I almost think that in some ways, Emma has a bit in common with Frank Churchill that way---there are plenty of reasons to explain that it's their elders (or sometimes the weather) who make it 'impossible' for them to go someplace, when they really aren't terribly driven to go in the first place...and there seem to be ways to get around at least part of the those obstancles, when they really wish to! I wonder if Mr. W. isn't almost as much an 'excuse' for Emma not to go to town (and therefore into larger society) once in awhile as Mrs. C. is for Frank to not visit Highbury more often?!! Just a thought---I would not wish anyone to fly into a rage!! (But I'm just enough like Mr. Knightley to slightly suspect the 'Oh, it can't be done' excuses!)