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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
54
After
dinner,
a
clay
pipe
was
brought
in,
and
a
spittoon;
and,
asking
us
to
retire
to
another
room,
where
he
would
soon
join
us,
if
we
disliked
tobacco-smoke,
he
presented
his
pipe
to
Miss
Matty,
and
requested
her
to
fill
the
bowl.
This
was
a
compliment
to
a
lady
in
his
youth;
but
it
was
rather
inappropriate
to
propose
it
as
an
honour
to
Miss
Matty,
who
had
been
trained
by
her
sister
to
hold
smoking
of
every
kind
in
utter
abhorrence.
But
if
it
was
a
shock
to
her
refinement,
it
was
also
a
gratification
to
her
feelings
to
be
thus
selected;
so
she
daintily
stuffed
the
strong
tobacco
into
the
pipe,
and
then
we
withdrew.
“It
is
very
pleasant
dining
with
a
bachelor,”
said
Miss
Matty
softly,
as
we
settled
ourselves
in
the
counting-house.
“I
only
hope
it
is
not
improper;
so
many
pleasant
things
are!”
“What
a
number
of
books
he
has!”
said
Miss
Pole,
looking
round
the
room.
“And
how
dusty
they
are!”
“I
think
it
must
be
like
one
of
the
great
Dr
Johnson’s
rooms,”
said
Miss
Matty.
“What
a
superior
man
your
cousin
must
be!”
“Yes!”
said
Miss
Pole,
“he’s
a
great
reader;
but
I
am
afraid
he
has
got
into
very
uncouth
habits
with
living
alone.”
“Oh!
uncouth
is
too
hard
a
word.
I
should
call
him
eccentric;
very
clever
people
always
are!”
replied
Miss
Matty.
[Picture:
Now,
what
colour
are
ash-buds
in
March]
When
Mr
Holbrook
returned,
he
proposed
a
walk
in
the
fields;
but
the
two
elder
ladies
were
afraid
of
damp,
and
dirt,
and
had
only
very
unbecoming
calashes
to
put
on
over
their
caps;
so
they
declined,
and
I
was
again
his
companion
in
a
turn
which
he
said
he
was
obliged
to
take
to
see
after
his
men.
He
strode
along,
either
wholly
forgetting
my
existence,
or
soothed
into
silence
by
his
pipe—
and
yet
it
was
not
silence
exactly.
He
walked
before
me
with
a
stooping
gait,
his
hands
clasped
behind
him;
and,
as
some
tree
or
cloud,
or
glimpse
of
distant
upland
pastures,
struck
him,
he
quoted
poetry
to
himself,
saying
it
out
loud
in
a
grand
sonorous
voice,
with
just
the
emphasis
that
true
feeling
and
appreciation
give.
We
came
upon
an
old
cedar
tree,
which
stood
at
one
end
of
the
house—
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