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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
99
And
now
Miss
Betty
Barker
had
called
to
invite
Miss
Matty
to
tea
at
her
house
on
the
following
Tuesday.
She
gave
me
also
an
impromptu
invitation,
as
I
happened
to
be
a
visitor—
though
I
could
see
she
had
a
little
fear
lest,
since
my
father
had
gone
to
live
in
Drumble,
he
might
have
engaged
in
that
“horrid
cotton
trade,”
and
so
dragged
his
family
down
out
of
“aristocratic
society.”
She
prefaced
this
invitation
with
so
many
apologies
that
she
quite
excited
my
curiosity.
“Her
presumption”
was
to
be
excused.
What
had
she
been
doing?
She
seemed
so
overpowered
by
it
I
could
only
think
that
she
had
been
writing
to
Queen
Adelaide
to
ask
for
a
receipt
for
washing
lace;
but
the
act
which
she
so
characterised
was
only
an
invitation
she
had
carried
to
her
sister’s
former
mistress,
Mrs
Jamieson.
“Her
former
occupation
considered,
could
Miss
Matty
excuse
the
liberty?”
Ah!
thought
I,
she
has
found
out
that
double
cap,
and
is
going
to
rectify
Miss
Matty’s
head-dress.
No!
it
was
simply
to
extend
her
invitation
to
Miss
Matty
and
to
me.
Miss
Matty
bowed
acceptance;
and
I
wondered
that,
in
the
graceful
action,
she
did
not
feel
the
unusual
weight
and
extraordinary
height
of
her
head-dress.
But
I
do
not
think
she
did,
for
she
recovered
her
balance,
and
went
on
talking
to
Miss
Betty
in
a
kind,
condescending
manner,
very
different
from
the
fidgety
way
she
would
have
had
if
she
had
suspected
how
singular
her
appearance
was.
“Mrs
Jamieson
is
coming,
I
think
you
said?”
asked
Miss
Matty.
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