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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
154
After
we
had
duly
condemned
the
want
of
candour
which
Mr
Hoggins
had
evinced,
and
abused
men
in
general,
taking
him
for
the
representative
and
type,
we
got
round
to
the
subject
about
which
we
had
been
talking
when
Miss
Pole
came
in;
namely,
how
far,
in
the
present
disturbed
state
of
the
country,
we
could
venture
to
accept
an
invitation
which
Miss
Matty
had
just
received
from
Mrs
Forrester,
to
come
as
usual
and
keep
the
anniversary
of
her
wedding-day
by
drinking
tea
with
her
at
five
o’clock,
and
playing
a
quiet
pool
afterwards.
Mrs
Forrester
had
said
that
she
asked
us
with
some
diffidence,
because
the
roads
were,
she
feared,
very
unsafe.
But
she
suggested
that
perhaps
one
of
us
would
not
object
to
take
the
sedan,
and
that
the
others,
by
walking
briskly,
might
keep
up
with
the
long
trot
of
the
chairmen,
and
so
we
might
all
arrive
safely
at
Over
Place,
a
suburb
of
the
town.
(No;
that
is
too
large
an
expression:
a
small
cluster
of
houses
separated
from
Cranford
by
about
two
hundred
yards
of
a
dark
and
lonely
lane.)
There
was
no
doubt
but
that
a
similar
note
was
awaiting
Miss
Pole
at
home;
so
her
call
was
a
very
fortunate
affair,
as
it
enabled
us
to
consult
together.
We
would
all
much
rather
have
declined
this
invitation;
but
we
felt
that
it
would
not
be
quite
kind
to
Mrs
Forrester,
who
would
otherwise
be
left
to
a
solitary
retrospect
of
her
not
very
happy
or
fortunate
life.
Miss
Matty
and
Miss
Pole
had
been
visitors
on
this
occasion
for
many
years,
and
now
they
gallantly
determined
to
nail
their
colours
to
the
mast,
and
to
go
through
Darkness
Lane
rather
than
fail
in
loyalty
to
their
friend.
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