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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
8
If
we
walked
to
or
from
a
party,
it
was
because
the
night
was
so
fine,
or
the
air
so
refreshing,
not
because
sedan-chairs
were
expensive.
If
we
wore
prints,
instead
of
summer
silks,
it
was
because
we
preferred
a
washing
material;
and
so
on,
till
we
blinded
ourselves
to
the
vulgar
fact
that
we
were,
all
of
us,
people
of
very
moderate
means.
Of
course,
then,
we
did
not
know
what
to
make
of
a
man
who
could
speak
of
poverty
as
if
it
was
not
a
disgrace.
Yet,
somehow,
Captain
Brown
made
himself
respected
in
Cranford,
and
was
called
upon,
in
spite
of
all
resolutions
to
the
contrary.
I
was
surprised
to
hear
his
opinions
quoted
as
authority
at
a
visit
which
I
paid
to
Cranford
about
a
year
after
he
had
settled
in
the
town.
My
own
friends
had
been
among
the
bitterest
opponents
of
any
proposal
to
visit
the
Captain
and
his
daughters,
only
twelve
months
before;
and
now
he
was
even
admitted
in
the
tabooed
hours
before
twelve.
True,
it
was
to
discover
the
cause
of
a
smoking
chimney,
before
the
fire
was
lighted;
but
still
Captain
Brown
walked
upstairs,
nothing
daunted,
spoke
in
a
voice
too
large
for
the
room,
and
joked
quite
in
the
way
of
a
tame
man
about
the
house.
He
had
been
blind
to
all
the
small
slights,
and
omissions
of
trivial
ceremonies,
with
which
he
had
been
received.
He
had
been
friendly,
though
the
Cranford
ladies
had
been
cool;
he
had
answered
small
sarcastic
compliments
in
good
faith;
and
with
his
manly
frankness
had
overpowered
all
the
shrinking
which
met
him
as
a
man
who
was
not
ashamed
to
be
poor.
And,
at
last,
his
excellent
masculine
common
sense,
and
his
facility
in
devising
expedients
to
overcome
domestic
dilemmas,
had
gained
him
an
extraordinary
place
as
authority
among
the
Cranford
ladies.
He
himself
went
on
in
his
course,
as
unaware
of
his
popularity
as
he
had
been
of
the
reverse;
and
I
am
sure
he
was
startled
one
day
when
he
found
his
advice
so
highly
esteemed
as
to
make
some
counsel
which
he
had
given
in
jest
to
be
taken
in
sober,
serious
earnest.
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