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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
104
The
spring
evenings
were
getting
bright
and
long
when
three
or
four
ladies
in
calashes
met
at
Miss
Barker’s
door.
Do
you
know
what
a
calash
is?
It
is
a
covering
worn
over
caps,
not
unlike
the
heads
fastened
on
old-fashioned
gigs;
but
sometimes
it
is
not
quite
so
large.
This
kind
of
head-gear
always
made
an
awful
impression
on
the
children
in
Cranford;
and
now
two
or
three
left
off
their
play
in
the
quiet
sunny
little
street,
and
gathered
in
wondering
silence
round
Miss
Pole,
Miss
Matty,
and
myself.
We
were
silent
too,
so
that
we
could
hear
loud,
suppressed
whispers
inside
Miss
Barker’s
house:
“Wait,
Peggy!
wait
till
I’ve
run
upstairs
and
washed
my
hands.
When
I
cough,
open
the
door;
I’ll
not
be
a
minute.”
And,
true
enough
it
was
not
a
minute
before
we
heard
a
noise,
between
a
sneeze
and
a
crow;
on
which
the
door
flew
open.
Behind
it
stood
a
round-eyed
maiden,
all
aghast
at
the
honourable
company
of
calashes,
who
marched
in
without
a
word.
She
recovered
presence
of
mind
enough
to
usher
us
into
a
small
room,
which
had
been
the
shop,
but
was
now
converted
into
a
temporary
dressing-room.
There
we
unpinned
and
shook
ourselves,
and
arranged
our
features
before
the
glass
into
a
sweet
and
gracious
company-face;
and
then,
bowing
backwards
with
“After
you,
ma’am,”
we
allowed
Mrs
Forrester
to
take
precedence
up
the
narrow
staircase
that
led
to
Miss
Barker’s
drawing-room.
There
she
sat,
as
stately
and
composed
as
though
we
had
never
heard
that
odd-sounding
cough,
from
which
her
throat
must
have
been
even
then
sore
and
rough.
Kind,
gentle,
shabbily-dressed
Mrs
Forrester
was
immediately
conducted
to
the
second
place
of
honour—
a
seat
arranged
something
like
Prince
Albert’s
near
the
Queen’s—
good,
but
not
so
good.
The
place
of
pre-eminence
was,
of
course,
reserved
for
the
Honourable
Mrs
Jamieson,
who
presently
came
panting
up
the
stairs—
Carlo
rushing
round
her
on
her
progress,
as
if
he
meant
to
trip
her
up.
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