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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
107
The
card-table
was
an
animated
scene
to
watch;
four
ladies’
heads,
with
niddle-noddling
caps,
all
nearly
meeting
over
the
middle
of
the
table
in
their
eagerness
to
whisper
quick
enough
and
loud
enough:
and
every
now
and
then
came
Miss
Barker’s
“Hush,
ladies!
if
you
please,
hush!
Mrs
Jamieson
is
asleep.”
It
was
very
difficult
to
steer
clear
between
Mrs
Forrester’s
deafness
and
Mrs
Jamieson’s
sleepiness.
But
Miss
Barker
managed
her
arduous
task
well.
She
repeated
the
whisper
to
Mrs
Forrester,
distorting
her
face
considerably,
in
order
to
show,
by
the
motions
of
her
lips,
what
was
said;
and
then
she
smiled
kindly
all
round
at
us,
and
murmured
to
herself,
“Very
gratifying,
indeed;
I
wish
my
poor
sister
had
been
alive
to
see
this
day.”
Presently
the
door
was
thrown
wide
open;
Carlo
started
to
his
feet,
with
a
loud
snapping
bark,
and
Mrs
Jamieson
awoke:
or,
perhaps,
she
had
not
been
asleep—
as
she
said
almost
directly,
the
room
had
been
so
light
she
had
been
glad
to
keep
her
eyes
shut,
but
had
been
listening
with
great
interest
to
all
our
amusing
and
agreeable
conversation.
Peggy
came
in
once
more,
red
with
importance.
Another
tray!
“Oh,
gentility!”
thought
I,
“can
you
endure
this
last
shock?”
For
Miss
Barker
had
ordered
(nay,
I
doubt
not,
prepared,
although
she
did
say,
“Why,
Peggy,
what
have
you
brought
us?”
and
looked
pleasantly
surprised
at
the
unexpected
pleasure)
all
sorts
of
good
things
for
supper—
scalloped
oysters,
potted
lobsters,
jelly,
a
dish
called
“little
Cupids”
(which
was
in
great
favour
with
the
Cranford
ladies,
although
too
expensive
to
be
given,
except
on
solemn
and
state
occasions—
macaroons
sopped
in
brandy,
I
should
have
called
it,
if
I
had
not
known
its
more
refined
and
classical
name).
In
short,
we
were
evidently
to
be
feasted
with
all
that
was
sweetest
and
best;
and
we
thought
it
better
to
submit
graciously,
even
at
the
cost
of
our
gentility—
which
never
ate
suppers
in
general,
but
which,
like
most
non-supper-eaters,
was
particularly
hungry
on
all
special
occasions.
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