“I am the wretchedest being in the world at a civil falsehood.” “I do not believe any such thing,” replied Emma. – “I am persuaded that you can be as insincere as your neighbours, when it is necessary.”
– Jane Austen
Emma, Chapter 27. Frank Churchill is in conversation with Emma about the Broadwood piano that has arrived at the Bates’s home for Jane Fairfax. There is irony in what he says about being miserable telling a falsehood, for he himself is being false. Secretly engaged to Jane, he bought the piano for her, a fact that will be revealed later in the story. But Frank encourages people to believe that the piano was sent by Colonel Campbell and not by him. Emma is of course blithely unaware of his falseness, as seen when she jokes about him being insincere when he needs to be.