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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
43
I
had
once
or
twice
tried,
on
such
occasions,
to
prevail
on
Miss
Matty
to
stay,
and
had
succeeded
in
her
sister’s
lifetime.
I
held
up
a
screen,
and
did
not
look,
and,
as
she
said,
she
tried
not
to
make
the
noise
very
offensive;
but
now
that
she
was
left
alone,
she
seemed
quite
horrified
when
I
begged
her
to
remain
with
me
in
the
warm
dining-parlour,
and
enjoy
her
orange
as
she
liked
best.
And
so
it
was
in
everything.
Miss
Jenkyns’s
rules
were
made
more
stringent
than
ever,
because
the
framer
of
them
was
gone
where
there
could
be
no
appeal.
In
all
things
else
Miss
Matilda
was
meek
and
undecided
to
a
fault.
I
have
heard
Fanny
turn
her
round
twenty
times
in
a
morning
about
dinner,
just
as
the
little
hussy
chose;
and
I
sometimes
fancied
she
worked
on
Miss
Matilda’s
weakness
in
order
to
bewilder
her,
and
to
make
her
feel
more
in
the
power
of
her
clever
servant.
I
determined
that
I
would
not
leave
her
till
I
had
seen
what
sort
of
a
person
Martha
was;
and,
if
I
found
her
trustworthy,
I
would
tell
her
not
to
trouble
her
mistress
with
every
little
decision.
Martha
was
blunt
and
plain-spoken
to
a
fault;
otherwise
she
was
a
brisk,
well-meaning,
but
very
ignorant
girl.
She
had
not
been
with
us
a
week
before
Miss
Matilda
and
I
were
astounded
one
morning
by
the
receipt
of
a
letter
from
a
cousin
of
hers,
who
had
been
twenty
or
thirty
years
in
India,
and
who
had
lately,
as
we
had
seen
by
the
“Army
List,”
returned
to
England,
bringing
with
him
an
invalid
wife
who
had
never
been
introduced
to
her
English
relations.
Major
Jenkyns
wrote
to
propose
that
he
and
his
wife
should
spend
a
night
at
Cranford,
on
his
way
to
Scotland—
at
the
inn,
if
it
did
not
suit
Miss
Matilda
to
receive
them
into
her
house;
in
which
case
they
should
hope
to
be
with
her
as
much
as
possible
during
the
day.
Of
course
it
must
suit
her,
as
she
said;
for
all
Cranford
knew
that
she
had
her
sister’s
bedroom
at
liberty;
but
I
am
sure
she
wished
the
Major
had
stopped
in
India
and
forgotten
his
cousins
out
and
out.
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