Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
132
“As
I
was
stepping
out
of
Gordon’s
shop
to-day,
I
chanced
to
go
into
the
‘George’
(my
Betty
has
a
second-cousin
who
is
chambermaid
there,
and
I
thought
Betty
would
like
to
hear
how
she
was),
and,
not
seeing
anyone
about,
I
strolled
up
the
staircase,
and
found
myself
in
the
passage
leading
to
the
Assembly
Room
(you
and
I
remember
the
Assembly
Room,
I
am
sure,
Miss
Matty!
and
the
minuets
de
la
cour!);
so
I
went
on,
not
thinking
of
what
I
was
about,
when,
all
at
once,
I
perceived
that
I
was
in
the
middle
of
the
preparations
for
to-morrow
night—
the
room
being
divided
with
great
clothes-maids,
over
which
Crosby’s
men
were
tacking
red
flannel;
very
dark
and
odd
it
seemed;
it
quite
bewildered
me,
and
I
was
going
on
behind
the
screens,
in
my
absence
of
mind,
when
a
gentleman
(quite
the
gentleman,
I
can
assure
you)
stepped
forwards
and
asked
if
I
had
any
business
he
could
arrange
for
me.
He
spoke
such
pretty
broken
English,
I
could
not
help
thinking
of
Thaddeus
of
Warsaw,
and
the
Hungarian
Brothers,
and
Santo
Sebastiani;
and
while
I
was
busy
picturing
his
past
life
to
myself,
he
had
bowed
me
out
of
the
room.
But
wait
a
minute!
You
have
not
heard
half
my
story
yet!
I
was
going
downstairs,
when
who
should
I
meet
but
Betty’s
second-cousin.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
