Cranford

Miss Matty Redeems the Note

Miss Matty, having momentarily forgotten her gown in sympathy for the man, presses the shopman to identify the bank, and on hearing “Town and County Bank,” quietly takes the note from the shopman’s hand. The narrator, in “nervous cowardice,” tries to distract her by praising the lilac silk. Miss Matty, however, adopts a “soft dignified manner” rare to her and asks the shopman whether the note is forged. On being told it is genuine but that the bank is rumored to be failing, she offers Mr Dobson five sovereigns in exchange for his note, declaring that if honest people are to lose their money because they have taken the bank’s notes, then she, as a shareholder, ought to bear the loss. Mr Dobson, reluctant to substitute one victim for another, accepts with “silent gratitude.” Miss Matty resolves to wait a few days before purchasing her silk, “perhaps” finding a greater choice then, and asks to be shown upstairs.

Viewing Fashions and Meeting Miss Pole

The pair ascend the iron corkscrew stairs to the former loft, now a fashion show-room, and inspect the bonnets, shawls, sleeves, and skirts with minute and curious interest “as if the gown to be made after them had been bought.” The little drama in the shop has not damped Miss Matty’s curiosity in the least. The narrator, however, catches glimpses of a figure dodging behind cloaks and mantles, and by a “dexterous move” comes face to face with Miss Pole, also in morning costume—her principal feature being the absence of her teeth, concealed by a veil. Miss Pole, on the same private errand, quickly takes her departure, pleading a bad headache and claiming she does not feel “up to conversation.”