Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
226
I
gave
her
a
hearty
kiss,
and
ran
after
my
father.
The
result
of
our
conversation
was
this.
If
all
parties
were
agreeable,
Martha
and
Jem
were
to
be
married
with
as
little
delay
as
possible,
and
they
were
to
live
on
in
Miss
Matty’s
present
abode;
the
sum
which
the
Cranford
ladies
had
agreed
to
contribute
annually
being
sufficient
to
meet
the
greater
part
of
the
rent,
and
leaving
Martha
free
to
appropriate
what
Miss
Matty
should
pay
for
her
lodgings
to
any
little
extra
comforts
required.
About
the
sale,
my
father
was
dubious
at
first.
He
said
the
old
rectory
furniture,
however
carefully
used
and
reverently
treated,
would
fetch
very
little;
and
that
little
would
be
but
as
a
drop
in
the
sea
of
the
debts
of
the
Town
and
County
Bank.
But
when
I
represented
how
Miss
Matty’s
tender
conscience
would
be
soothed
by
feeling
that
she
had
done
what
she
could,
he
gave
way;
especially
after
I
had
told
him
the
five-pound
note
adventure,
and
he
had
scolded
me
well
for
allowing
it.
I
then
alluded
to
my
idea
that
she
might
add
to
her
small
income
by
selling
tea;
and,
to
my
surprise
(for
I
had
nearly
given
up
the
plan),
my
father
grasped
at
it
with
all
the
energy
of
a
tradesman.
I
think
he
reckoned
his
chickens
before
they
were
hatched,
for
he
immediately
ran
up
the
profits
of
the
sales
that
she
could
effect
in
Cranford
to
more
than
twenty
pounds
a
year.
The
small
dining-parlour
was
to
be
converted
into
a
shop,
without
any
of
its
degrading
characteristics;
a
table
was
to
be
the
counter;
one
window
was
to
be
retained
unaltered,
and
the
other
changed
into
a
glass
door.
I
evidently
rose
in
his
estimation
for
having
made
this
bright
suggestion.
I
only
hoped
we
should
not
both
fall
in
Miss
Matty’s.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
