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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
178
CHAPTER
XII.
ENGAGED
TO
BE
MARRIED
WAS
the
“poor
Peter”
of
Cranford
the
Aga
Jenkyns
of
Chunderabaddad,
or
was
he
not?
As
somebody
says,
that
was
the
question.
In
my
own
home,
whenever
people
had
nothing
else
to
do,
they
blamed
me
for
want
of
discretion.
Indiscretion
was
my
bug-bear
fault.
Everybody
has
a
bug-bear
fault,
a
sort
of
standing
characteristic—
a
pièce
de
résistance
for
their
friends
to
cut
at;
and
in
general
they
cut
and
come
again.
I
was
tired
of
being
called
indiscreet
and
incautious;
and
I
determined
for
once
to
prove
myself
a
model
of
prudence
and
wisdom.
I
would
not
even
hint
my
suspicions
respecting
the
Aga.
I
would
collect
evidence
and
carry
it
home
to
lay
before
my
father,
as
the
family
friend
of
the
two
Miss
Jenkynses.
In
my
search
after
facts,
I
was
often
reminded
of
a
description
my
father
had
once
given
of
a
ladies’
committee
that
he
had
had
to
preside
over.
He
said
he
could
not
help
thinking
of
a
passage
in
Dickens,
which
spoke
of
a
chorus
in
which
every
man
took
the
tune
he
knew
best,
and
sang
it
to
his
own
satisfaction.
So,
at
this
charitable
committee,
every
lady
took
the
subject
uppermost
in
her
mind,
and
talked
about
it
to
her
own
great
contentment,
but
not
much
to
the
advancement
of
the
subject
they
had
met
to
discuss.
But
even
that
committee
could
have
been
nothing
to
the
Cranford
ladies
when
I
attempted
to
gain
some
clear
and
definite
information
as
to
poor
Peter’s
height,
appearance,
and
when
and
where
he
was
seen
and
heard
of
last.
For
instance,
I
remember
asking
Miss
Pole
(and
I
thought
the
question
was
very
opportune,
for
I
put
it
when
I
met
her
at
a
call
at
Mrs
Forrester’s,
and
both
the
ladies
had
known
Peter,
and
I
imagined
that
they
might
refresh
each
other’s
memories)—
I
asked
Miss
Pole
what
was
the
very
last
thing
they
had
ever
heard
about
him;
and
then
she
named
the
absurd
report
to
which
I
have
alluded,
about
his
having
been
elected
Great
Lama
of
Thibet;
and
this
was
a
signal
for
each
lady
to
go
off
on
her
separate
idea.
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