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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
136
At
length
we
set
off;
and
at
the
door
under
the
carriage-way
at
the
“George,”
we
met
Mrs
Forrester
and
Miss
Pole:
the
latter
was
discussing
the
subject
of
the
evening
with
more
vehemence
than
ever,
and
throwing
X’s
and
B’s
at
our
heads
like
hailstones.
She
had
even
copied
one
or
two
of
the
“receipts”—
as
she
called
them—
for
the
different
tricks,
on
backs
of
letters,
ready
to
explain
and
to
detect
Signor
Brunoni’s
arts.
We
went
into
the
cloak-room
adjoining
the
Assembly
Room;
Miss
Matty
gave
a
sigh
or
two
to
her
departed
youth,
and
the
remembrance
of
the
last
time
she
had
been
there,
as
she
adjusted
her
pretty
new
cap
before
the
strange,
quaint
old
mirror
in
the
cloak-room.
The
Assembly
Room
had
been
added
to
the
inn,
about
a
hundred
years
before,
by
the
different
county
families,
who
met
together
there
once
a
month
during
the
winter
to
dance
and
play
at
cards.
Many
a
county
beauty
had
first
swung
through
the
minuet
that
she
afterwards
danced
before
Queen
Charlotte
in
this
very
room.
It
was
said
that
one
of
the
Gunnings
had
graced
the
apartment
with
her
beauty;
it
was
certain
that
a
rich
and
beautiful
widow,
Lady
Williams,
had
here
been
smitten
with
the
noble
figure
of
a
young
artist,
who
was
staying
with
some
family
in
the
neighbourhood
for
professional
purposes,
and
accompanied
his
patrons
to
the
Cranford
Assembly.
And
a
pretty
bargain
poor
Lady
Williams
had
of
her
handsome
husband,
if
all
tales
were
true.
Now,
no
beauty
blushed
and
dimpled
along
the
sides
of
the
Cranford
Assembly
Room;
no
handsome
artist
won
hearts
by
his
bow,
chapeau
bras
in
hand;
the
old
room
was
dingy;
the
salmon-coloured
paint
had
faded
into
a
drab;
great
pieces
of
plaster
had
chipped
off
from
the
fine
wreaths
and
festoons
on
its
walls;
but
still
a
mouldy
odour
of
aristocracy
lingered
about
the
place,
and
a
dusty
recollection
of
the
days
that
were
gone
made
Miss
Matty
and
Mrs
Forrester
bridle
up
as
they
entered,
and
walk
mincingly
up
the
room,
as
if
there
were
a
number
of
genteel
observers,
instead
of
two
little
boys
with
a
stick
of
toffee
between
them
with
which
to
beguile
the
time.
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