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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
218
Of
course,
I
had
but
one
answer
to
make;
and
I
never
saw
more
unaffected
sorrow
depicted
on
any
countenances
than
I
did
there
on
the
three
before
me.
“I
wish
Mrs
Jamieson
was
here!”
said
Mrs
Forrester
at
last;
but
to
judge
from
Mrs
Fitz-Adam’s
face,
she
could
not
second
the
wish.
“But
without
Mrs
Jamieson,”
said
Miss
Pole,
with
just
a
sound
of
offended
merit
in
her
voice,
“we,
the
ladies
of
Cranford,
in
my
drawing-room
assembled,
can
resolve
upon
something.
I
imagine
we
are
none
of
us
what
may
be
called
rich,
though
we
all
possess
a
genteel
competency,
sufficient
for
tastes
that
are
elegant
and
refined,
and
would
not,
if
they
could,
be
vulgarly
ostentatious.”
(Here
I
observed
Miss
Pole
refer
to
a
small
card
concealed
in
her
hand,
on
which
I
imagine
she
had
put
down
a
few
notes.)
“Miss
Smith,”
she
continued,
addressing
me
(familiarly
known
as
“Mary”
to
all
the
company
assembled,
but
this
was
a
state
occasion),
“I
have
conversed
in
private—
I
made
it
my
business
to
do
so
yesterday
afternoon—
with
these
ladies
on
the
misfortune
which
has
happened
to
our
friend,
and
one
and
all
of
us
have
agreed
that
while
we
have
a
superfluity,
it
is
not
only
a
duty,
but
a
pleasure—
a
true
pleasure,
Mary!”—
her
voice
was
rather
choked
just
here,
and
she
had
to
wipe
her
spectacles
before
she
could
go
on—
“to
give
what
we
can
to
assist
her—
Miss
Matilda
Jenkyns.
Only
in
consideration
of
the
feelings
of
delicate
independence
existing
in
the
mind
of
every
refined
female”—
I
was
sure
she
had
got
back
to
the
card
now—
“we
wish
to
contribute
our
mites
in
a
secret
and
concealed
manner,
so
as
not
to
hurt
the
feelings
I
have
referred
to.
And
our
object
in
requesting
you
to
meet
us
this
morning
is
that,
believing
you
are
the
daughter—
that
your
father
is,
in
fact,
her
confidential
adviser,
in
all
pecuniary
matters,
we
imagined
that,
by
consulting
with
him,
you
might
devise
some
mode
in
which
our
contribution
could
be
made
to
appear
the
legal
due
which
Miss
Matilda
Jenkyns
ought
to
receive
from——
Probably
your
father,
knowing
her
investments,
can
fill
up
the
blank.”
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