Cranford, Chapter 13 - Stopped Payment

Relax and drift off to sleep listening to the thirteenth chapter of Elizabeth Gaskell's gently humorous yet socially penetrating classic novel, in which Miss Matty does a very kind deed in the face of difficult news.

For more gentle writing you might like Ted the Shed, also available on Free Tracks.

Transcript

Hello there,

It's Mandy here.

Thanks so much for joining me tonight and welcome back to the world of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell.

We've reached chapter 13 which is called Stopped Payment and just before we start an interesting fact about Elizabeth Gaskell is that she loved to travel and was always keen to escape the smoky atmosphere of Manchester.

Some of her favourite British destinations were North Wales,

The Lake District and Silverdale in Lancashire.

She loved meeting new people and her trips away provided locations,

Plots and material for her writing.

She also ventured abroad most years travelling in Europe.

She was usually accompanied by at least one of her daughters rather than her husband as he preferred to holiday alone.

So before I start please go ahead and make yourself really comfortable.

Settle down into your chair or your bed.

Relax your hands.

Loosen your shoulders and soften your jaw.

That's wonderful.

So if you're ready then I'll begin.

Chapter 13.

The very Tuesday morning on which Mr Johnson was going to show the fashions,

The postwoman brought two letters to the house.

I say the postwoman but I should say the postman's wife.

He was a lame shoemaker,

A very clean honest man,

Much respected in the town but he never brought the letters round except on unusual occasions such as Christmas Day or Good Friday and on those days the letters which should have been delivered at eight in the morning did not make their appearance until two or three in the afternoon for everyone liked poor Thomas and gave him a welcome on these festive occasions.

He used to say he was well restored with eating for there were three or four houses where knout would serve them but he must share in their breakfast and by the time he had done his last breakfast he came to some other friend who was beginning dinner but come what might in the way of temptation Tom was always sober civil and smiling and as Miss Jenkins used to say it was a lesson in patience that she doubted not would call out that precious quality in some minds where but for Thomas it might have lain dormant and undiscovered patience was certainly very dormant in Miss Jenkins mind she was always expecting letters and always drumming on the table till the postwoman had called or gone past on Christmas Day and Good Friday she drummed from breakfast till church from church time till two o'clock unless when the fire wanted stirring when she invariably knocked down the fire irons and scolded Miss Matty for it but equally certain was the hearty welcome and the good dinner for Thomas Miss Jenkins standing over him like a bold dragoon questioning him as to his children what they were doing what school they went to upbraiding him if another was likely to make its appearance but sending even the little babies the shilling and the mince pie which was her gift to all the children with half a crown in addition for both father and mother the post was not half of so much consequence to dear Miss Matty but not for the world would she have diminished Thomas's welcome and his dole though I could see that she felt rather shy over the ceremony which had been regarded by Miss Jenkins as a glorious opportunity for giving advice and benefiting her fellow creatures but Miss Matty would steal the money all in a lump into his hand as if she were ashamed of herself Miss Jenkins gave him each individual coin separate with a there that's for yourself that's for Jenny etc Miss Matty would even beckon Martha out of the kitchen while he ate his food and once to my knowledge winked at its rapid disappearance into a blue cotton pocket handkerchief Miss Jenkins almost scolded him if he didn't leave a clean plate however heaped it might have been and gave an injunction with every mouthful I have wandered a long way from the two letters that awaited us on the breakfast table that Tuesday morning mine was from my father Miss Matty's was printed my father's was just a man's letter I mean it was very dull and gave no information beyond that he was well that they'd had a good deal of rain that trade was very stagnant and that there were many disagreeable rumors afloat he then asked me if I knew whether Miss Matty still retained her shares in the town and county bank as there were very unpleasant reports about it though nothing more than he'd always foreseen and had prophesied to Miss Jenkins years ago when she would invest their little property into it the only unwise step that clever woman had ever taken to his knowledge the only time she ever acted against his advice I knew however if anything had gone wrong of course I was not to think of leaving Miss Matty while I could be of any use etc who is your letter from my dear mine is a very civil invitation signed Edwin Wilson asking me to attend an important meeting of the shareholders of the town and county bank to be held in Jumbo on Thursday the 21st I am sure it is very attentive of them to remember me I didn't like to hear of this important meeting for though I didn't know much about business I feared it confirmed what my father said however I thought ill news always came fast enough so I resolved to say nothing about my alarm and merely told her that my father was well and sent his kind regards to her she kept turning over and admiring her letter at last she spoke I remember they're sending one to Deborah just like this but that I didn't wonder at for everybody knew she was so clear headed I am afraid I couldn't help them much indeed if they came to account I should be quite in the way for I never could do sums in my head Deborah I know rather wished to go and went so far as to order a new bonnet for the occasion but when the time came she had a bad cold so they sent her a very polite account of what they had done chosen a director I think it was do you think they want me to help them choose a director I am sure I should choose your father at once my father has no shares in the bank said I oh no I remember he objected very much to Deborah's buying any I believe but she was quite the woman of business and always judged for herself and here you see they have paid eight percent all these years it was a very uncomfortable subject to me with my half knowledge so I thought I would change the conversation and I asked at what time she thought we had better go and see the fashions well my dear she said the thing is this it is not etiquette to go till after 12 but then you see all Cranford will be there and one does not like to be too curious about dress and trimmings and caps with all the world looking on it is never genteel to be over curious on these occasions Deborah had the knack of always looking as if the latest fashion was nothing new to her a manner she had caught from Lady Ali who did see all the new modes in London you know so I thought we would just slip down for I do want this morning soon after breakfast half a pound of tea and then we could go up and examine the things at our leisure and see exactly how my new silk gown must be made and then after 12 we could go with our minds disengaged and free from thoughts of dress we began to talk of Miss Mattie's new silk gown I discovered that it would be really the first time in her life that she'd had to choose anything of consequence for herself for Miss Jenkins had always been the more decided character whatever her taste might have been and it is astonishing how such people carry the world before them by the mere force of will Miss Mattie anticipated the sight of the glossy folds with as much delight as if the five sovereigns set apart for the purchase could buy all the silks in the shop and remembering my own loss of two hours in a toy shop before I could tell on what wonder to spend a silver threepence I was very glad that we were going early that dear Miss Mattie might have leisure for the delights of perplexity if a happy sea green could be met with the gown was to be sea green if not she inclined to maize and I to silver gray and we discussed the requisite number of breaths until we arrived at the shop door we were to buy the tea select the silk and then clamber up the iron corkscrew stairs that led into what was once a loft though now a fashion showroom the young men at Mr Johnson's had on their best looks and their best cravats and pivoted themselves over the counter with surprising activity they wanted to show us upstairs at once but on the principle of business first and pleasure afterwards we stayed to purchase the tea here Miss Mattie's absence of mind betrayed itself if she was made aware that she had been drinking green tea at any time she always thought it her duty to lie awake half through the night afterward I have known her to take it in ignorance many a time without such effects and consequently green tea was prohibited the house yet today she herself asked for the obnoxious article under the impression that she was talking about the silk however the mistake was soon rectified and then the silks were unrolled in good truth by this time the shop was pretty well filled for it was Cranford market day and many of the farmers and country people from the neighborhood around about came in sleeking down their hair and glancing shyly about from under their eyelids as anxious to take back some notion of the unusual gaiety to the mistress or to the lasses at home and yet feeling they were out of place among the smart shop men and gay shawls and summer prints one honest looking man however made his way up to the counter at which we stood and boldly asked to look at a shawl or two the other country folk confined themselves to the grocery side but our neighbor was evidently too full of some kind intention towards mistress wife or daughter to be shy and it soon became a question with me whether he or miss mattie would keep their shop men the longest time he thought each shawl more beautiful than the last and as for miss mattie she smiled and sighed over each fresh bale that was brought out one color set off another and the heap together would as she said make even the rainbow look poor i am afraid said she hesitating whichever i choose i shall wish i had taken another look at this lovely crimson it would be so warm in winter but spring is coming on you know i wish i could have a gown for every season said she dropping her voice as we all did in cranford whenever we talked of anything we wished for but could not afford however she continued in a louder and more cheerful tone it would give me a great deal of trouble to take care of them if i had them so i think i'll only take one but which must it be my dear and now she hovered over a lilac with yellow spots while i pulled out a quiet sage green that had faded into insignificance under the more brilliant colors but which was nevertheless a good silk in its humble way our attention was called off to our neighbor he had chosen a shawl of about 30 shillings value and his face looked broadly happy under the anticipation no doubt of the pleasant surprise he would give to some molly or jenny at home he had tugged 11 purse out of his britches pocket and had offered a five pound note in payment for the shawl and for some parcels which had been brought round to him from the grocery counter and it was just at this point that he attracted our notice the shop man was examining the note with a puzzled doubtful air town and county bank i am not sure sir but i believe we have received a warning against notes issued by this bank only this morning i will just step and ask mr johnson sir but i'm afraid i must trouble you for payment in cash or in a note of a different bank i never saw a man's countenance fall so suddenly into dismay and bewilderment it was almost piteous to see the rapid change dang it said he striking his fist down on the table as if to try which was the harder the chap talks as if notes and gold were to be had for the picking up miss mattie had forgotten her silk gown in her interest for the man i don't think she had caught the name of the bank and in my nervous cowardice i was anxious that she should not and so i began admiring the yellow spotted lilac gown that i had been utterly condemning only a minute before but it was of no use what bank was it i mean what bank did your note belong to town and county bank let me see it said she quietly to the shop man gently taking it out of his hand as he brought it back to return to the farmer mr johnson was very sorry but from the information he had received the notes issued by that bank were little better than waste paper i don't understand it said miss mattie to me in a low voice that is our bank is it not the town and county bank yes said i this lilac silk will just match the ribbons in your new cap i believe i continued holding up the folds so as to catch the light and wishing that the man would make haste and be gone and yet having a new wonder that had only just sprung up how far was it wise or right in me to allow miss mattie to make this expensive purchase if the affairs of the bank were really so bad as the refusal of the note implied but miss mattie put on the soft dignified manner peculiar to her rarely used and yet which became her so well and laying her hand gently on mine she said never mind the silks for a few minutes dear i don't understand you sir turning now to the shop man who had been attending to the farmer is this a forged note oh no ma'am it is a true note of its kind but you see ma'am it's a joint stock bank and there are reports out that it is likely to break mr johnson is only doing his duty ma'am as i'm sure mr dobson knows but mr dobson could not respond to the appealing bow by any answering smile he was turning the note absently over in his fingers looking gloomily enough at the parcel containing the lately chosen shawl it's hard upon a poor man said he as earns every farthing with the sweat of his brow however there's no help for it you must take back your shawl my man little must go on with her cloak for a while and your figs for the little ones i promised them to them i'll take them but the backhoe and the other things i will give you five sovereigns for your note my good man said miss mattie i think there is some great mistake about it for i am one of the shareholders and i'm sure they would have told me if things had not been going on right the shop man whispered a word or two across the table to miss mattie she looked at him with a dubious air perhaps so she said but i don't pretend to understand business i only know if it is going to fail and if honest people are to lose their money because they have taken our notes i can't explain myself said she suddenly becoming aware that she'd got into a long sentence with four people for audience only i would rather exchange my gold for the note if you please turning to the farmer and then you can take your wife the shawl it is only going without my gown a few days longer she continued speaking to me then i have no doubt everything will be cleared up but if it is cleared up the wrong way said i why then it will only have been common honesty in me as a shareholder to have given this good man the money i am quite clear about it in my own mind but you know i can never speak quite as comprehensively as others can only you must give me your note mr dobson if you please and go on with your purchases with these sovereigns the man looked at her with silent gratitude too awkward to put his thanks into words but he hung back for a minute or two fumbling with his note i'm loath to make another one lose instead of me if it is a loss but you see five pounds is a deal of money to a man with a family and as you say ten to one in a day or two the note will be as good as gold again no hope of that my friend said the shop man the more reason why i should take it said miss mattie quietly she pushed her sovereigns towards the man who slowly laid his note down in exchange thank you i will wait a day or two before i purchase any of these silks perhaps you will then have a greater choice my dear will you come upstairs we inspected the fashions with as minute and curious an interest as if the gown to be made after them had been bought i could not see that the little event in the shop below had in the least damped miss mattie's curiosity as to the make of sleeves or the sit of skirts she once or twice exchanged congratulations with me on our private and leisurely view of the bonnets and shawls but i was all the time not so sure that our examination was so utterly private for i caught glimpses of a figure dodging behind the cloaks and mantles and by a dexterous move i came face to face with miss pole also in morning costume the principal feature of which was her being without teeth and wearing a veil to conceal the deficiency come on the same errand as ourselves but she quickly took her departure because as she said she had a bad headache and did not feel herself up to conversation as we came down through the shop the civil mr johnson was awaiting us he had been informed of the exchange of the note for gold and with much good feeling and real kindness but with a little want of tact he wished to condole with miss mattie and impress upon her the true state of the case i could only hope that he'd heard an exaggerated rumor for he said that her shares were worse than nothing and that the bank could not pay a shilling in the pound i was glad that miss mattie seemed still a little incredulous but i couldn't tell how much of this was real or assumed with that self-control which seemed habitual to ladies of miss mattie's standing in cranford who would have thought their dignity compromised by the slightest expression of surprise dismay or any similar feeling to an inferior in station or in a public shop however we did walk home very silently i am ashamed to say i believe i was rather vexed and annoyed at miss mattie's conduct in taking the note to herself so decidedly i had so set my heart upon her having a new silk gown which she wanted sadly in general she was so undecided anybody might turn her round and in this case i'd felt it was no use attempting it but i was not the less put out at the result somehow after 12 o'clock we both acknowledged to a sated curiosity about the fashions and to a certain fatigue of body which was in fact depression of mind that indisposed us to go out again but still we never spoke of the note till all at once something possessed me to ask miss mattie if she would think it her duty to offer sovereigns for all the notes of the town and county bank she met with i could have bitten my tongue out the minute i had said it she looked up rather sadly and as if i had thrown a new perplexity into her already distressed mind and for a minute or two she didn't speak then she said my own dear miss mattie without a shade of reproach in her voice my dear i never feel as if my mind was what people call very strong and it's often hard enough work for me to settle what i ought to do with the case right before me i was very thankful that i saw my duty this morning with the poor man standing by me but it's rather a strain upon me to keep thinking and thinking what i should do if such and such a thing happened and i believe i had rather wait and see what really does come and i don't doubt i shall be helped then if i don't fidget myself and get too anxious beforehand you know love i'm not like tabora if tabora had lived i've no doubt she would have seen after them before they had got themselves into this state we had neither of us much appetite for dinner though we tried to talk cheerfully about indifferent things when we returned into the drawing room miss mattie unlocked her desk and began to look over her account books i was so penitent for what i had said in the morning that i didn't choose to take upon myself the presumption to suppose that i could assist her i rather left her alone as with puzzled brow her eye followed her pen up and down the ruled page by and by she shut the book locked the desk and came and drew a chair to mine where i sat in moody sorrow over the fire i stole my hand into hers she clasped it but did not speak a word at last she said with forced composure in her voice if that bank goes wrong i shall lose 149 pounds 13 shillings and fourpence a year i shall only have 13 pounds a year left i squeezed her hand hard and tight i did not know what to say presently it was too dark to see her face i felt her fingers work convulsively in my grasp and i knew she was going to speak again i heard the sobs in her voice as she said i hope it's not wrong not wicked but oh i am so glad poor deborah is spared this she could not have borne to come down in the world she had such a noble lofty spirit this was all she said about the sister who had insisted on investing their little property in that unlucky bank we were later in lighting the candle than usual that night and until that light shamed us into speaking we sat together very silently and sadly however we took to our work after tea with a kind of forced cheerfulness which soon became real as far as it went talking of that never-ending wonder lady glenmar's engagement miss mattie was almost coming round to think it a good thing i don't mean to deny that men are troublesome in a house i don't judge from my own experience for my father was neatness itself and wiped his shoes on coming in as carefully as any woman but still a man has a sort of knowledge of what should be done in difficulties that it is very pleasant to have one at hand ready to lean on now lady glenmire instead of being tossed about and wondering where she is to settle will be certain of a home amongst pleasant and kind people such as our good miss pole and mrs forrester and mr hoggins is really a very personable man and as for his manners why if they are not very polished i have known people with very good hearts and very clever minds too who were not what some people reckoned refined but who were both true and tender she fell off into a soft reverie about mr holbrooke and i didn't interrupt her i was so busy maturing a plan i'd had in my mind for some days but which this threatened failure of the bank had brought to a crisis that night after miss mattie went to bed i treacherously lighted the candle again and sat down in the drawing room to compose a letter to the argo jenkins a letter which should affect him if he were peter and yet seem a mere statement of dry facts if he were a stranger the church clock peeled out too before i had done the next morning news came both official and otherwise that the town and county bank had stopped payment miss mattie was ruined she tried to speak quietly to me but when she came to the actual fact that she would have but about five shillings a week to live on she could not restrain a few tears i am not crying for myself dear said she wiping them away i believe i am crying for the very silly thought of how my mother would grieve if she could know she always cared for us so much more than for herself but many a poor person has less and i'm not very extravagant and thank god when the neck of mutton and martha's wages and the rent are paid i have not a farthing owing poor martha i think she'll be sorry to leave me miss mattie smiled at me through her tears and she would fain have had me see only the smile not the tears to be continued

Reviews

I had a lovely sleep while listening to this chapter, so I will need to listen again to find out what happened! Many thanks Mandy!💞🕊️

Poor Miss Mattie! Women had no protection or chance for employment then. Marriage was always the “solution”. Thanks again for the wonderful reading Mandy 🙏🏻

This story, better than any other, buts me to sleep so fast! I have no idea what happened, which means I can always listen again! Thanks Mandy, for your reading. Love your different voices for each character!