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Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
48
Very
soon
after—
at
least
during
my
long
visit
to
Miss
Matilda—
I
had
the
opportunity
of
seeing
Mr
Holbrook;
seeing,
too,
his
first
encounter
with
his
former
love,
after
thirty
or
forty
years’
separation.
I
was
helping
to
decide
whether
any
of
the
new
assortment
of
coloured
silks
which
they
had
just
received
at
the
shop
would
do
to
match
a
grey
and
black
mousseline-delaine
that
wanted
a
new
breadth,
when
a
tall,
thin,
Don
Quixote-looking
old
man
came
into
the
shop
for
some
woollen
gloves.
I
had
never
seen
the
person
(who
was
rather
striking)
before,
and
I
watched
him
rather
attentively
while
Miss
Matty
listened
to
the
shopman.
The
stranger
wore
a
blue
coat
with
brass
buttons,
drab
breeches,
and
gaiters,
and
drummed
with
his
fingers
on
the
counter
until
he
was
attended
to.
When
he
answered
the
shop-boy’s
question,
“What
can
I
have
the
pleasure
of
showing
you
to-day,
sir?”
I
saw
Miss
Matilda
start,
and
then
suddenly
sit
down;
and
instantly
I
guessed
who
it
was.
She
had
made
some
inquiry
which
had
to
be
carried
round
to
the
other
shopman.
“Miss
Jenkyns
wants
the
black
sarsenet
two-and-twopence
the
yard”;
and
Mr
Holbrook
had
caught
the
name,
and
was
across
the
shop
in
two
strides.
“Matty—
Miss
Matilda—
Miss
Jenkyns!
God
bless
my
soul!
I
should
not
have
known
you.
How
are
you?
how
are
you?”
He
kept
shaking
her
hand
in
a
way
which
proved
the
warmth
of
his
friendship;
but
he
repeated
so
often,
as
if
to
himself,
“I
should
not
have
known
you!”
that
any
sentimental
romance
which
I
might
be
inclined
to
build
was
quite
done
away
with
by
his
manner.
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