And so strong had this nervous
feeling of hers become, that she was fain to get up and go and
convince herself that he was really there by listening through the
door to his even, regular breathing--I don't like to call it
snoring, but I heard it myself through two closed doors--and by-
and-by it soothed Miss Matty to sleep.
I don't believe Mr Peter came home from India as rich as a nabob;
he even considered himself poor, but neither he nor Miss Matty
cared much about that. At any rate, he had enough to live upon
"very genteelly" at Cranford; he and Miss Matty together. And a
day or two after his arrival, the shop was closed, while troops of
little urchins gleefully awaited the shower of comfits and lozenges
that came from time to time down upon their faces as they stood up-
gazing at Miss Matty's drawing-room windows. Occasionally Miss
Matty would say to them (half-hidden behind the curtains), "My dear
children, don't make yourselves ill;" but a strong arm pulled her
back, and a more rattling shower than ever succeeded. A part of
the tea was sent in presents to the Cranford ladies; and some of it
was distributed among the old people who remembered Mr Peter in the
days of his frolicsome youth. The Indian muslin gown was reserved
for darling Flora Gordon (Miss Jessie Brown's daughter).
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