We wished to ignore the
whole affair until our liege lady, Mrs Jamieson, returned. Till
she came back to give us our cue, we felt that it would be better
to consider the engagement in the same light as the Queen of
Spain's legs--facts which certainly existed, but the less said
about the better. This restraint upon our tongues--for you see if
we did not speak about it to any of the parties concerned, how
could we get answers to the questions that we longed to ask?--was
beginning to be irksome, and our idea of the dignity of silence was
paling before our curiosity, when another direction was given to
our thoughts, by an announcement on the part of the principal
shopkeeper of Cranford, who ranged the trades from grocer and
cheesemonger to man-milliner, as occasion required, that the spring
fashions were arrived, and would be exhibited on the following
Tuesday at his rooms in High Street. Now Miss Matty had been only
waiting for this before buying herself a new silk gown. I had
offered, it is true, to send to Drumble for patterns, but she had
rejected my proposal, gently implying that she had not forgotten
her disappointment about the sea-green turban. I was thankful that
I was on the spot now, to counteract the dazzling fascination of
any yellow or scarlet silk.
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