Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
188
None
of
the
ladies
in
Cranford
chose
to
sanction
the
marriage
by
congratulating
either
of
the
parties.
We
wished
to
ignore
the
whole
affair
until
our
liege
lady,
Mrs
Jamieson,
returned.
Till
she
came
back
to
give
us
our
cue,
we
felt
that
it
would
be
better
to
consider
the
engagement
in
the
same
light
as
the
Queen
of
Spain’s
legs—
facts
which
certainly
existed,
but
the
less
said
about
the
better.
This
restraint
upon
our
tongues—
for
you
see
if
we
did
not
speak
about
it
to
any
of
the
parties
concerned,
how
could
we
get
answers
to
the
questions
that
we
longed
to
ask?—
was
beginning
to
be
irksome,
and
our
idea
of
the
dignity
of
silence
was
paling
before
our
curiosity,
when
another
direction
was
given
to
our
thoughts,
by
an
announcement
on
the
part
of
the
principal
shopkeeper
of
Cranford,
who
ranged
the
trades
from
grocer
and
cheesemonger
to
man-milliner,
as
occasion
required,
that
the
spring
fashions
were
arrived,
and
would
be
exhibited
on
the
following
Tuesday
at
his
rooms
in
High
Street.
Now
Miss
Matty
had
been
only
waiting
for
this
before
buying
herself
a
new
silk
gown.
I
had
offered,
it
is
true,
to
send
to
Drumble
for
patterns,
but
she
had
rejected
my
proposal,
gently
implying
that
she
had
not
forgotten
her
disappointment
about
the
sea-green
turban.
I
was
thankful
that
I
was
on
the
spot
now,
to
counteract
the
dazzling
fascination
of
any
yellow
or
scarlet
silk.
I
must
say
a
word
or
two
here
about
myself.
I
have
spoken
of
my
father’s
old
friendship
for
the
Jenkyns
family;
indeed,
I
am
not
sure
if
there
was
not
some
distant
relationship.
He
had
willingly
allowed
me
to
remain
all
the
winter
at
Cranford,
in
consideration
of
a
letter
which
Miss
Matty
had
written
to
him
about
the
time
of
the
panic,
in
which
I
suspect
she
had
exaggerated
my
powers
and
my
bravery
as
a
defender
of
the
house.
But
now
that
the
days
were
longer
and
more
cheerful,
he
was
beginning
to
urge
the
necessity
of
my
return;
and
I
only
delayed
in
a
sort
of
odd
forlorn
hope
that
if
I
could
obtain
any
clear
information,
I
might
make
the
account
given
by
the
signora
of
the
Aga
Jenkyns
tally
with
that
of
“poor
Peter,”
his
appearance
and
disappearance,
which
I
had
winnowed
out
of
the
conversation
of
Miss
Pole
and
Mrs
Forrester.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
