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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
11
Such
was
the
impression
made
upon
me
by
the
Brown
family
when
I
first
saw
them
all
together
in
Cranford
Church.
The
Captain
I
had
met
before—
on
the
occasion
of
the
smoky
chimney,
which
he
had
cured
by
some
simple
alteration
in
the
flue.
In
church,
he
held
his
double
eye-glass
to
his
eyes
during
the
Morning
Hymn,
and
then
lifted
up
his
head
erect
and
sang
out
loud
and
joyfully.
He
made
the
responses
louder
than
the
clerk—
an
old
man
with
a
piping
feeble
voice,
who,
I
think,
felt
aggrieved
at
the
Captain’s
sonorous
bass,
and
quivered
higher
and
higher
in
consequence.
On
coming
out
of
church,
the
brisk
Captain
paid
the
most
gallant
attention
to
his
two
daughters.
He
nodded
and
smiled
to
his
acquaintances;
but
he
shook
hands
with
none
until
he
had
helped
Miss
Brown
to
unfurl
her
umbrella,
had
relieved
her
of
her
prayer-book,
and
had
waited
patiently
till
she,
with
trembling
nervous
hands,
had
taken
up
her
gown
to
walk
through
the
wet
roads.
I
wonder
what
the
Cranford
ladies
did
with
Captain
Brown
at
their
parties.
We
had
often
rejoiced,
in
former
days,
that
there
was
no
gentleman
to
be
attended
to,
and
to
find
conversation
for,
at
the
card-parties.
We
had
congratulated
ourselves
upon
the
snugness
of
the
evenings;
and,
in
our
love
for
gentility,
and
distaste
of
mankind,
we
had
almost
persuaded
ourselves
that
to
be
a
man
was
to
be
“vulgar”;
so
that
when
I
found
my
friend
and
hostess,
Miss
Jenkyns,
was
going
to
have
a
party
in
my
honour,
and
that
Captain
and
the
Miss
Browns
were
invited,
I
wondered
much
what
would
be
the
course
of
the
evening.
Card-tables,
with
green
baize
tops,
were
set
out
by
daylight,
just
as
usual;
it
was
the
third
week
in
November,
so
the
evenings
closed
in
about
four.
Candles,
and
clean
packs
of
cards,
were
arranged
on
each
table.
The
fire
was
made
up;
the
neat
maid-servant
had
received
her
last
directions;
and
there
we
stood,
dressed
in
our
best,
each
with
a
candle-lighter
in
our
hands,
ready
to
dart
at
the
candles
as
soon
as
the
first
knock
came.
Parties
in
Cranford
were
solemn
festivities,
making
the
ladies
feel
gravely
elated
as
they
sat
together
in
their
best
dresses.
As
soon
as
three
had
arrived,
we
sat
down
to
“Preference,”
I
being
the
unlucky
fourth.
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