Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell (best fantasy books to read .txt) đ
- Author: Elizabeth Gaskell
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Miss Barker, in her former sphere, had, I daresay, been made acquainted with the beverage they call cherry-brandy. We none of us had ever seen such a thing, and rather shrank back when she proffered it usâ ââjust a little, leetle glass, ladies; after the oysters and lobsters, you know. Shellfish are sometimes thought not very wholesome.â We all shook our heads like female mandarins; but, at last, Mrs. Jamieson suffered herself to be persuaded, and we followed her lead. It was not exactly unpalatable, though so hot and so strong that we thought ourselves bound to give evidence that we were not accustomed to such things by coughing terriblyâ âalmost as strangely as Miss Barker had done, before we were admitted by Peggy.
âItâs very strong,â said Miss Pole, as she put down her empty glass; âI do believe thereâs spirit in it.â
âOnly a little dropâ âjust necessary to make it keep,â said Miss Barker. âYou know we put brandy-pepper over our preserves to make them keep. I often feel tipsy myself from eating damson tart.â
I question whether damson tart would have opened Mrs. Jamiesonâs heart as the cherry-brandy did; but she told us of a coming event, respecting which she had been quite silent till that moment.
âMy sister-in-law, Lady Glenmire, is coming to stay with me.â
There was a chorus of âIndeed!â and then a pause. Each one rapidly reviewed her wardrobe, as to its fitness to appear in the presence of a baronâs widow; for, of course, a series of small festivals were always held in Cranford on the arrival of a visitor at any of our friendsâ houses. We felt very pleasantly excited on the present occasion.
Not long after this the maids and the lanterns were announced. Mrs. Jamieson had the sedan-chair, which had squeezed itself into Miss Barkerâs narrow lobby with some difficulty, and most literally âstopped the way.â It required some skilful manoeuvring on the part of the old chairmen (shoemakers by day, but when summoned to carry the sedan dressed up in a strange old liveryâ âlong greatcoats, with small capes, coeval with the sedan, and similar to the dress of the class in Hogarthâs pictures) to edge, and back, and try at it again, and finally to succeed in carrying their burden out of Miss Barkerâs front door. Then we heard their quick pit-a-pat along the quiet little street as we put on our calashes and pinned up our gowns; Miss Barker hovering about us with offers of help, which, if she had not remembered her former occupation, and wished us to forget it, would have been much more pressing.
VIII âYour LadyshipâEarly the next morningâ âdirectly after twelveâ âMiss Pole made her appearance at Miss Mattyâs. Some very trifling piece of business was alleged as a reason for the call; but there was evidently something behind. At last out it came.
âBy the way, youâll think Iâm strangely ignorant; but, do you really know, I am puzzled how we ought to address Lady Glenmire. Do you say, âYour Ladyship,â where you would say âyouâ to a common person? I have been puzzling all morning; and are we to say âMy Lady,â instead of âMaâam?â Now you knew Lady Arleyâ âwill you kindly tell me the most correct way of speaking to the peerage?â
Poor Miss Matty! she took off her spectacles and she put them on againâ âbut how Lady Arley was addressed, she could not remember.
âIt is so long ago,â she said. âDear! dear! how stupid I am! I donât think I ever saw her more than twice. I know we used to call Sir Peter, âSir Peterââ âbut he came much oftener to see us than Lady Arley did. Deborah would have known in a minute. âMy ladyââ ââyour ladyship.â It sounds very strange, and as if it was not natural. I never thought of it before; but, now you have named it, I am all in a puzzle.â
It was very certain Miss Pole would obtain no wise decision from Miss Matty, who got more bewildered every moment, and more perplexed as to etiquettes of address.
âWell, I really think,â said Miss Pole, âI had better just go and tell Mrs. Forrester about our little difficulty. One sometimes grows nervous; and yet one would not have Lady Glenmire think we were quite ignorant of the etiquettes of high life in Cranford.â
âAnd will you just step in here, dear Miss Pole, as you come back, please, and tell me what you decide upon? Whatever you and Mrs. Forrester fix upon, will be quite right, Iâm sure. âLady Arley,â âSir Peter,âââ said Miss Matty to herself, trying to recall the old forms of words.
âWho is Lady Glenmire?â asked I.
âOh, sheâs the widow of Mr. Jamiesonâ âthatâs Mrs. Jamiesonâs late husband, you knowâ âwidow of his eldest brother. Mrs. Jamieson was a Miss Walker, daughter of Governor Walker. âYour ladyship.â My dear, if they fix on that way of speaking, you must just let me practice a little on you first, for I shall feel so foolish and hot saying it the first time to Lady Glenmire.â
It was really a relief to Miss Matty when Mrs. Jamieson came on a very unpolite errand. I notice that apathetic people have more quiet impertinence than others; and Mrs. Jamieson came now to insinuate pretty plainly that she did not particularly wish that the Cranford ladies should call upon her sister-in-law. I can hardly say how she made this clear; for I grew very indignant and warm, while with slow deliberation she was explaining her wishes to Miss Matty, who, a true lady herself, could hardly understand the feeling
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