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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
50
CHAPTER
IV.
A
VISIT
TO
AN
OLD
BACHELOR
A
FEW
days
after,
a
note
came
from
Mr
Holbrook,
asking
us—
impartially
asking
both
of
us—
in
a
formal,
old-fashioned
style,
to
spend
a
day
at
his
house—
a
long
June
day—
for
it
was
June
now.
He
named
that
he
had
also
invited
his
cousin,
Miss
Pole;
so
that
we
might
join
in
a
fly,
which
could
be
put
up
at
his
house.
I
expected
Miss
Matty
to
jump
at
this
invitation;
but,
no!
Miss
Pole
and
I
had
the
greatest
difficulty
in
persuading
her
to
go.
She
thought
it
was
improper;
and
was
even
half
annoyed
when
we
utterly
ignored
the
idea
of
any
impropriety
in
her
going
with
two
other
ladies
to
see
her
old
lover.
Then
came
a
more
serious
difficulty.
She
did
not
think
Deborah
would
have
liked
her
to
go.
This
took
us
half
a
day’s
good
hard
talking
to
get
over;
but,
at
the
first
sentence
of
relenting,
I
seized
the
opportunity,
and
wrote
and
despatched
an
acceptance
in
her
name—
fixing
day
and
hour,
that
all
might
be
decided
and
done
with.
The
next
morning
she
asked
me
if
I
would
go
down
to
the
shop
with
her;
and
there,
after
much
hesitation,
we
chose
out
three
caps
to
be
sent
home
and
tried
on,
that
the
most
becoming
might
be
selected
to
take
with
us
on
Thursday.
She
was
in
a
state
of
silent
agitation
all
the
way
to
Woodley.
She
had
evidently
never
been
there
before;
and,
although
she
little
dreamt
I
knew
anything
of
her
early
story,
I
could
perceive
she
was
in
a
tremor
at
the
thought
of
seeing
the
place
which
might
have
been
her
home,
and
round
which
it
is
probable
that
many
of
her
innocent
girlish
imaginations
had
clustered.
It
was
a
long
drive
there,
through
paved
jolting
lanes.
Miss
Matilda
sat
bolt
upright,
and
looked
wistfully
out
of
the
windows
as
we
drew
near
the
end
of
our
journey.
The
aspect
of
the
country
was
quiet
and
pastoral.
Woodley
stood
among
fields;
and
there
was
an
old-fashioned
garden
where
roses
and
currant-bushes
touched
each
other,
and
where
the
feathery
asparagus
formed
a
pretty
background
to
the
pinks
and
gilly-flowers;
there
was
no
drive
up
to
the
door.
We
got
out
at
a
little
gate,
and
walked
up
a
straight
box-edged
path.
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