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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
81
He
even
took
in
my
father
once,
by
dressing
himself
up
as
a
lady
that
was
passing
through
the
town
and
wished
to
see
the
Rector
of
Cranford,
‘who
had
published
that
admirable
Assize
Sermon.’
Peter
said
he
was
awfully
frightened
himself
when
he
saw
how
my
father
took
it
all
in,
and
even
offered
to
copy
out
all
his
Napoleon
Buonaparte
sermons
for
her—
him,
I
mean—
no,
her,
for
Peter
was
a
lady
then.
He
told
me
he
was
more
terrified
than
he
ever
was
before,
all
the
time
my
father
was
speaking.
He
did
not
think
my
father
would
have
believed
him;
and
yet
if
he
had
not,
it
would
have
been
a
sad
thing
for
Peter.
As
it
was,
he
was
none
so
glad
of
it,
for
my
father
kept
him
hard
at
work
copying
out
all
those
twelve
Buonaparte
sermons
for
the
lady—
that
was
for
Peter
himself,
you
know.
He
was
the
lady.
And
once
when
he
wanted
to
go
fishing,
Peter
said,
‘Confound
the
woman!’—
very
bad
language,
my
dear,
but
Peter
was
not
always
so
guarded
as
he
should
have
been;
my
father
was
so
angry
with
him,
it
nearly
frightened
me
out
of
my
wits:
and
yet
I
could
hardly
keep
from
laughing
at
the
little
curtseys
Peter
kept
making,
quite
slyly,
whenever
my
father
spoke
of
the
lady’s
excellent
taste
and
sound
discrimination.”
[Picture:
Confound
the
woman]
“Did
Miss
Jenkyns
know
of
these
tricks?”
said
I.
“Oh,
no!
Deborah
would
have
been
too
much
shocked.
No,
no
one
knew
but
me.
I
wish
I
had
always
known
of
Peter’s
plans;
but
sometimes
he
did
not
tell
me.
He
used
to
say
the
old
ladies
in
the
town
wanted
something
to
talk
about;
but
I
don’t
think
they
did.
They
had
the
St
James’s
Chronicle
three
times
a
week,
just
as
we
have
now,
and
we
have
plenty
to
say;
and
I
remember
the
clacking
noise
there
always
was
when
some
of
the
ladies
got
together.
But,
probably,
schoolboys
talk
more
than
ladies.
At
last
there
was
a
terrible,
sad
thing
happened.”
Miss
Matty
got
up,
went
to
the
door,
and
opened
it;
no
one
was
there.
She
rang
the
bell
for
Martha,
and
when
Martha
came,
her
mistress
told
her
to
go
for
eggs
to
a
farm
at
the
other
end
of
the
town.
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