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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
105
And
now
Miss
Betty
Barker
was
a
proud
and
happy
woman!
She
stirred
the
fire,
and
shut
the
door,
and
sat
as
near
to
it
as
she
could,
quite
on
the
edge
of
her
chair.
When
Peggy
came
in,
tottering
under
the
weight
of
the
tea-tray,
I
noticed
that
Miss
Barker
was
sadly
afraid
lest
Peggy
should
not
keep
her
distance
sufficiently.
She
and
her
mistress
were
on
very
familiar
terms
in
their
every-day
intercourse,
and
Peggy
wanted
now
to
make
several
little
confidences
to
her,
which
Miss
Barker
was
on
thorns
to
hear,
but
which
she
thought
it
her
duty,
as
a
lady,
to
repress.
So
she
turned
away
from
all
Peggy’s
asides
and
signs;
but
she
made
one
or
two
very
malapropos
answers
to
what
was
said;
and
at
last,
seized
with
a
bright
idea,
she
exclaimed,
“Poor,
sweet
Carlo!
I’m
forgetting
him.
Come
downstairs
with
me,
poor
ittie
doggie,
and
it
shall
have
its
tea,
it
shall!”
In
a
few
minutes
she
returned,
bland
and
benignant
as
before;
but
I
thought
she
had
forgotten
to
give
the
“poor
ittie
doggie”
anything
to
eat,
judging
by
the
avidity
with
which
he
swallowed
down
chance
pieces
of
cake.
The
tea-tray
was
abundantly
loaded—
I
was
pleased
to
see
it,
I
was
so
hungry;
but
I
was
afraid
the
ladies
present
might
think
it
vulgarly
heaped
up.
I
know
they
would
have
done
at
their
own
houses;
but
somehow
the
heaps
disappeared
here.
I
saw
Mrs
Jamieson
eating
seed-cake,
slowly
and
considerately,
as
she
did
everything;
and
I
was
rather
surprised,
for
I
knew
she
had
told
us,
on
the
occasion
of
her
last
party,
that
she
never
had
it
in
her
house,
it
reminded
her
so
much
of
scented
soap.
She
always
gave
us
Savoy
biscuits.
However,
Mrs
Jamieson
was
kindly
indulgent
to
Miss
Barker’s
want
of
knowledge
of
the
customs
of
high
life;
and,
to
spare
her
feelings,
ate
three
large
pieces
of
seed-cake,
with
a
placid,
ruminating
expression
of
countenance,
not
unlike
a
cow’s.
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