"
When I got back to Miss Matty's I really did begin to think that Mr
Peter might be thinking of Mrs Jamieson for a wife, and I was as
unhappy as Miss Pole about it. He had the proof sheet of a great
placard in his hand. "Signor Brunoni, Magician to the King of
Delhi, the Rajah of Oude, and the great Lama of Thibet," &c. &c.,
was going to "perform in Cranford for one night only," the very
next night; and Miss Matty, exultant, showed me a letter from the
Gordons, promising to remain over this gaiety, which Miss Matty
said was entirely Peter's doing. He had written to ask the signor
to come, and was to be at all the expenses of the affair. Tickets
were to be sent gratis to as many as the room would hold. In
short, Miss Matty was charmed with the plan, and said that to-
morrow Cranford would remind her of the Preston Guild, to which she
had been in her youth--a luncheon at the "George," with the dear
Gordons, and the signor in the Assembly Room in the evening. But
I--I looked only at the fatal words:-
"UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF THE HONOURABLE MRS JAMIESON."
She, then, was chosen to preside over this entertainment of Mr
Peter's; she was perhaps going to displace my dear Miss Matty in
his heart, and make her life lonely once more! I could not look
forward to the morrow with any pleasure; and every innocent
anticipation of Miss Matty's only served to add to my annoyance.
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