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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
87
“Presently
my
mother
went
to
my
father.
I
know
I
thought
of
Queen
Esther
and
King
Ahasuerus;
for
my
mother
was
very
pretty
and
delicate-looking,
and
my
father
looked
as
terrible
as
King
Ahasuerus.
Some
time
after
they
came
out
together;
and
then
my
mother
told
me
what
had
happened,
and
that
she
was
going
up
to
Peter’s
room
at
my
father’s
desire—
though
she
was
not
to
tell
Peter
this—
to
talk
the
matter
over
with
him.
But
no
Peter
was
there.
We
looked
over
the
house;
no
Peter
was
there!
Even
my
father,
who
had
not
liked
to
join
in
the
search
at
first,
helped
us
before
long.
The
rectory
was
a
very
old
house—
steps
up
into
a
room,
steps
down
into
a
room,
all
through.
At
first,
my
mother
went
calling
low
and
soft,
as
if
to
reassure
the
poor
boy,
‘Peter!
Peter,
dear!
it’s
only
me;’
but,
by-and-by,
as
the
servants
came
back
from
the
errands
my
father
had
sent
them,
in
different
directions,
to
find
where
Peter
was—
as
we
found
he
was
not
in
the
garden,
nor
the
hayloft,
nor
anywhere
about—
my
mother’s
cry
grew
louder
and
wilder,
‘Peter!
Peter,
my
darling!
where
are
you?’
for
then
she
felt
and
understood
that
that
long
kiss
meant
some
sad
kind
of
‘good-bye.’
The
afternoon
went
on—
my
mother
never
resting,
but
seeking
again
and
again
in
every
possible
place
that
had
been
looked
into
twenty
times
before,
nay,
that
she
had
looked
into
over
and
over
again
herself.
My
father
sat
with
his
head
in
his
hands,
not
speaking
except
when
his
messengers
came
in,
bringing
no
tidings;
then
he
lifted
up
his
face,
so
strong
and
sad,
and
told
them
to
go
again
in
some
new
direction.
My
mother
kept
passing
from
room
to
room,
in
and
out
of
the
house,
moving
noiselessly,
but
never
ceasing.
Neither
she
nor
my
father
durst
leave
the
house,
which
was
the
meeting-place
for
all
the
messengers.
At
last
(and
it
was
nearly
dark),
my
father
rose
up.
He
took
hold
of
my
mother’s
arm
as
she
came
with
wild,
sad
pace
through
one
door,
and
quickly
towards
another.
She
started
at
the
touch
of
his
hand,
for
she
had
forgotten
all
in
the
world
but
Peter.
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