Cranford, Chapter 4 - A Visit To An Old Bachelor

Relax and enjoy listening to the fourth, rather poignant chapter of Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novel. Miss Matty, Miss Pole, and our narrator pay a very enjoyable visit to Miss Matty's former sweetheart, Thomas Holbrook. Little do they know that events are about to take a sad turn.

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

Dickens' A Christmas Carol is continuing on Premium Tracks.

Transcript

Hello it's mandy here welcome back to cranford thanks for joining me tonight and i'm going to be reading chapter four a visit to an old bachelor just to give you a snippet about elizabeth gaskell she lived with her aunt hannah lumb for most of her childhood they lived in a large red brick house which was called the heath elizabeth grew to be a beautiful young woman well-groomed tidily dressed kind gentle and considerate she also really loved living in the country okay so before i begin please go right ahead and make yourself really comfortable relax your hands relax your shoulders and relax your jaw that's it chapter four a visit to an old bachelor a few days after a note came from mr holbrooke asking us impartially asking both of us in a formal old-fashioned style to spend a day at his house a long june day for it was june now he named that he had also invited his cousin miss pole so that we might join in a fly which could be put up at his house i expected miss mattie to jump at this invitation but no miss pole and i had the greatest difficulty in persuading her to go she thought it was improper and was even half annoyed when we utterly ignored the idea of any impropriety in her going with two other ladies to see her old lover then came a more serious difficulty she didn't think deborah would have liked her to go this took us half a day's good hard talking to get over but at the first sentence of relenting i seized the opportunity and wrote and dispatched an acceptance in her name fixing day and hour that all might be decided and done with the next morning she asked me if i would go down to the shop with her and there after much hesitation we chose out three caps to be sent home and tried on that the most becoming might be selected to take with us on thursday she was in a state of silent agitation all the way to woodley to woodley she had evidently never been there before and although she little dreamt i knew anything of her early story i could perceive she was in a tremor at the thought of seeing the place which might have been her home and round which it is probable that many of her innocent girlish imaginations had clustered it was a long drive there through paved jolting lanes miss matilda sat bolt upright and looked wistfully out of the windows as we drew near the end of our journey the aspect of the country was quiet and pastoral woodley stood among fields and there was an old-fashioned garden where roses and current bushes touched each other and where the feathery asparagus formed a pretty background to the pinks and ghillie flowers there was no drive up to the door we got out as a little gate and walked up a straight box edged path my cousin might make a drive i think said miss paul who was afraid of earache and had only her cap on i think it is very pretty said miss mattie with a soft plaintiveness in her voice and almost in a whisper for just then mr holbrook appeared at the door rubbing his hands in very effervescence of hospitality he looked more like my idea of don quixote than ever and yet the likeness was only external his respectable housekeeper stood modestly at the door to bid us welcome and while she led the elder ladies upstairs to a bedroom i begged to look about the garden my request evidently pleased the old gentleman who took me all around the place and showed me his 6 and 20 cows named after the different letters of the alphabet as we went along he surprised me occasionally by repeating apt and beautiful quotations from the poets ranging easily from shakespeare and george herbert to those of our own day he did this as naturally as if he were thinking aloud and their true and beautiful words were the best expression he could find for what he was thinking and feeling to be sure he called byron my lord byron and pronounced the name of goethe strictly in accordance with the english sound of the letters as goethe says ever verdant palaces etc all together i never met with a man before or since who had spent so long a life in a secluded and not impressive country with ever increasing delight in the daily and yearly change of season and beauty when he and i went in we found that dinner was nearly ready in the kitchen for so i suppose the room ought to be called as there were oak dressers and cupboards all round all over by the side of the fireplace and only a small turkey carpet in the middle of the flag floor the room might have been easily made into a handsome dark oak dining parlor by removing the oven and a few other appurtenances of a kitchen which were evidently never used the real cooking place being at some distance the room in which we were expected to sit was a stiffly furnished ugly apartment but that in which we did sit was what mr holbrooke called the counting house where he paid his labourers their weekly wages at a great desk near the door the rest of the pretty sitting room looking into the orchard and all covered over with dancing tree shadows was filled with books they lay on the ground they covered the walls they strewed the table he was evidently half ashamed and half proud of his extravagance in this respect they were of all kinds poetry and wild weird tales prevailing he evidently chose his books in accordance with his own tastes not because such and such were classical or established favourites ah he said we farmers ought not to have much time for reading yet somehow one can't help it what a pretty room said miss mattie sotto voce what a pleasant place said i aloud almost simultaneously nay if you like it replied he but can you sit on these great black leather three-cornered chairs i like it better than the best parlor but i thought ladies would take that for the smarter place it was the smarter place but like most smart things not at all pretty or pleasant or home-like so while we were at dinner the servant girl dusted and scrubbed the counting house chairs and we sat there all the rest of the day we had pudding before meat and i thought mr holbrook was going to make some apology for his old-fashioned ways for he began i don't know whether you like newfangled ways oh not at all said miss mattie no more do i said he my housekeeper will have these in her new fashion or else i tell her that when i was a young man we used to keep strictly to my father's rule no broth no ball no ball no beef and always began dinner with broth then we had suet puddings boiled in the broth with the beef and then the meat itself if we did not sup our broth we had no ball which we liked a deal better and the beef came last of all and only those had it who had done justice to the broth and the ball now folks begin with sweet things and turn their dinners topsy-turvy when the ducks and green peas came we looked at each other in dismay we had only two pronged black handled forks it is true the steel was as bright as silver but what were we to do miss mattie picked up her peas one by one on the point of the prongs miss pole sighed over her delicate young peas as she left them on one side of her plate untasted for they would drop between the prongs i looked at my host the peas were going wholesale into his capacious mouth shoveled up by his large round-ended knife i saw i imitated i survived my friends in spite of my precedent could not muster up courage enough to do an ungentile thing and if mr holbrook had not been so heartily hungry he would probably have seen that the good peas went away almost untouched after dinner a clay pipe was brought in and a spittoon and asking us to retire to another room where he would soon join us if we disliked tobacco smoke he presented his pipe to miss mattie and requested her to fill the bowl this was a compliment to a lady in his youth but it was rather inappropriate to propose it as an honor to miss mattie who had been trained by her sister to hold smoking of every kind in utter abhorrence but if it was a shock to her refinement it was also a gratification to her feelings to be thus selected so she daintily stuffed the strong tobacco into the pipe and then we withdrew it is very pleasant dining with a bachelor said miss mattie softly as we settled ourselves in the counting house i only hope it is not improper so many pleasant things are what a number of books he has said miss pole looking around the room and how dusty they are i think it must be like one of the great dr johnson's rooms said miss mattie what a superior man your cousin must be yes said miss pole he's a great reader but i'm afraid he has got into very uncouth habits with living alone oh uncouth is too hard a word i should call him eccentric very clever people always are replied miss mattie when mr holbrook returned he proposed a walk in the fields but the two elder ladies were afraid of damp and dirt and had only very unbecoming collages to put on over their caps so they declined and i was again his companion in a turn which he said he was obliged to take to see after his men he strode along either wholly forgetting my existence or soothed into silence by his pipe and yet it wasn't silence exactly he walked before me with a stooping gate his hands clasped behind him and as some tree or cloud or glimpse of distant upland pastures struck him he quoted poetry to himself saying it out loud in a grand sonorous voice with just the emphasis that true feeling and appreciation give we came upon an old cedar tree which stood at one end of the house the cedar spreads his dark green layers of shade capital term layers wonderful man i didn't know whether he was speaking to me or not but i put in an assenting wonderful although i knew nothing about it just because i was tired of being forgotten and of being consequently silent he turned sharp round hi you may say wonderful why when i saw the review of his poems in blackwood i set off within an hour and walked seven miles to mistletoe for the horses were not in the way and ordered them now what color are ash buds in march is the man going mad thought i he is very like don quixote what color are they i say repeated he vehemently i am sure i don't know sir said i with the meekness of ignorance i knew you didn't no more did i an old fool that i am till this young man comes and tells me black as ash buds in march and i've lived all my life in the country more shame for me not to know black they are jet black madam and he went off again swinging along to the music of some rhyme he had got hold of when we came back nothing would serve him but he must read us the poems he had been speaking of and miss pole encouraged him in his proposal i thought because she wished me to hear his beautiful reading of which she had boasted but she afterwards said it was because she got to a difficult part of her crochet and wanted to count her stitches without having to talk whatever he had proposed would have been right to miss mattie although she did fall sound asleep within five minutes after he'd begun a long poem called loxley hall and had a comfortable nap unobserved until he ended when the cessation of his voice wakened her up and she said feeling that something was expected and that miss pole was counting what a pretty book pretty madam it's beautiful oh yes i meant beautiful said she fluttered at his disapproval of her word it is so like that beautiful poem of dr johnson's my sister used to read i forget the name of it what was it my dear turning to me which do you mean ma'am what was it about i don't remember what it was about and i've quite forgotten what the name of it was but it was written by dr johnson and was very beautiful and very like what mr holbrook has just been reading i don't remember it said he reflectively but i don't know dr johnson's poems well i must read them as we were getting into the fly to return i heard mr holbrook say he should call on the ladies soon and inquire how they got home and this evidently pleased and fluttered miss at the time he said it but after we had lost sight of the old house among the trees her sentiments towards the master of it were gradually absorbed into a distressing wonder as to whether martha had broken her word and seized on the opportunity of her mistress's absence to have a follower martha looked good and steady and composed enough as she came to help us out she was always careful of miss mattie and tonight she made use of this unlucky speech dear ma'am to think of your going out in an evening in such a thin shore it's no better than muslin at your age ma'am you should be careful my age said miss mattie almost speaking crossly for her but she was usually gentle my age why how old do you think i am that you talk about my age well mum i should say you were not far short of 60 but folks looks is often against them and i'm sure i meant no harm martha i'm not yet 52 said miss mattie with grave emphasis for probably the remembrance of her youth had come very vividly before her this day and she was annoyed at finding that golden time so far away in the past but she never spoke of any former and more intimate acquaintance with mr holbrooke she had probably met with so little sympathy in her early love that she had shut it up close in her heart and it was only by a sort of watching which i could hardly avoid since miss pole's confidence that i saw how faithful her poor heart had been in its sorrow and in its silence she gave me some good reason for wearing her best cap every day and sat near the window in spite of her rheumatism in order to see without being seen down into the street he came he put his open palms upon his knees which were far apart as he sat with his head bent down whistling after we had replied to his inquiries about our safe return suddenly he jumped up well madam have you any commands for paris i am going there in a week or two to paris we both exclaimed yes madam i've never been there and always had a wish to go and i think if i don't go soon i might go at all so as soon as the hay has got in i shall go before harvest time we were so much astonished that we had no commissions just as he was going out of the room he turned back with his favorite exclamation god bless my soul madam but i nearly forgot half my errand here are the poems for you you admired so much the other evening at my house he tugged away at a parcel in his coat pocket goodbye miss said he goodbye mattie take care of yourself goodbye mattie take care of yourself and he was gone but he had given her a book and he had called her mattie just as he used to do 30 years ago i wish he would not go to paris said miss matilda anxiously i don't believe snails will agree with him he used to have to be very careful what he ate which was curious in so strong-looking a young man soon after this i took my leave giving many an injunction to martha to look after her mistress and to let me know if she thought that miss matilda was not so well in which case i would volunteer a visit to my old friend without noticing martha's intelligence to her accordingly i received a line or two from martha every now and then and about november i had a note to say her mistress was very low and sadly off her food and the account made me so uneasy that although martha did not decidedly summon me i packed up my things and went i received a warm welcome in spite of the little flurry produced by my impromptu visit but i had only been able to give a day's notice miss matilda looked miserably ill and i prepared to comfort and cosset her i went down to have a private talk with martha how long has your mistress been so poorly i asked as i stood by the kitchen fire well i think it's better than a fortnight it is i know it were one tuesday after miss pole had been that she went into this moping way i thought she were tired and it would go off with the night's rest but no she's gone on and on ever since till i thought it my duty to write to you mum you did quite right martha it is a comfort to think she has so faithful a servant about her and i hope you find your place comfortable well ma'am missus is very kind and there's plenty to eat and drink and no more work but what i can do easily but martha hesitated but what martha why it seems hard of missus not to let me have any followers there's such lots of young fellas in the town and many are one as as much as offered to keep company with me and i may never be in such a likely place again and it's like wasting an opportunity many a girl as i know would have adam unbeknownst a mistress but i've given my word and i'll stick to it or else this is just the house for missus never to be the wiser if they did come and it's such a capable kitchen there's such dark corners in it i'd be bound to hide anyone i counted up last sunday night for i'll not deny i was crying because i had to shut the door in jem herne's face and he's a steady young man fit for any girl only i'd given missus my word martha was all but crying again and i had little comfort to give her for i knew from old experience of the horror with which both the miss jenkinses looked upon followers and in miss mattie's present nervous state this dread was not likely to be lessened i went to see miss pole the next day and took her completely by surprise for she'd not been to see miss matilda for two days and now i must go back with you my dear for i promised to let her know how thomas holbrooke went on and i'm sorry to say his housekeeper has sent me word today that he hasn't long to live poor thomas that journey to paris was quite too much for him his housekeeper says he's hardly ever been round his field since but just sits with his hands on his knees in the counting house not reading or anything but only saying what a wonderful city paris was paris has much to answer for if it's killed by cousin thomas for a better man never lived does miss matilda know of his illness asked i a new light as to the cause of her indisposition dawning upon me dear to be sure yes has she not told you i let her know a fortnight ago or more when first i heard of it how odd that she shouldn't have told you not at all i thought but i didn't say anything i felt almost guilty of having spied too curiously into that tender heart and i was not going to speak of its secrets hidden miss mattie believed from all the world i ushered miss pole into miss matilda's little drawing room and left them alone but i was not surprised when martha came to my bedroom door to ask me to go down to dinner alone for that mrs has had one of her bad headaches she came into the drawing room at tea time but it was evidently an effort to her and as if to make up for some reproachful feeling against her late sister miss jenkins which had been troubling her all the afternoon and for which she now felt penitent she kept telling me how good and how clever deborah was in her youth how she used to settle what gowns they were to wear at all the parties faint ghostly ideas of grim parties far away in the distance when miss mattie and miss pole were young and how deborah and her mother had started the benefit society for the poor and taught girls cooking and plain sewing and how deborah had once danced with the lord and how she used to visit at sir peter arley's and tried to remodel the quiet rectory establishment on the plans valley hall where they kept 30 servants and how she had nursed miss mattie through a long long illness of which i had never heard before but which i now dated in my own mind as following the dismissal of the suit of mr holbrooke so we talked softly and quietly of old times through the long november evening the next day miss pole brought us word that mr holbrooke was dead miss mattie heard the news in silence in fact from the account of the previous day it was only what we had to expect miss pole kept calling upon us for some expression of regret by asking if it was not sad that he was gone and saying to think of that pleasant day last june when he seemed so well and he might have lived this dozen years if he had not gone to that wicked paris where they're always having revolutions she paused for some demonstration on our part i saw miss mattie couldn't speak she was trembling so so i said what i really felt and after a call of some duration all the time of which i have no doubt miss pole thought miss mattie received the news very calmly our visitor took her leave miss mattie made a strong effort to conceal her feelings a concealment she practiced even with me but she has never alluded to mr holbrooke again although the book he gave her lies with her bible on the little table by her bedside she didn't think i heard her when she asked the little milliner of cranford to make her caps something like the honorable mrs jameson's or that i noticed the reply but she wears widow's caps mom oh i only meant something in that style not widows of course but rather like mrs jameson's this effort at concealment was the beginning of the tremulous motion of head and hands which i have seen ever since in miss mattie the evening of the day on which we heard of mr holbrooke's death miss matilda was very silent and thoughtful after prayers she called martha back and then she stood uncertain what to say martha she said at last you are young and then she made so long a pause that martha to remind her of her half finished sentence dropped a curtsy and said yes please mum 2 and 20 last 3rd of october please ma'am and perhaps martha you may sometime meet with a young man you like and who likes you i did say you were not to have followers but if you meet with such a young man and tell me and i find he is respectable i have no objection to his coming to see you once a week god forbid said she in a low voice that i should grieve any young hearts she spoke as if she were providing for some distant contingency and was rather startled when martha made her ready eager answer please ma'am there's jem herne and he's a joiner making three and six months a day and six foot one in his stocking feet please ma'am and if you'll ask about him tomorrow morning everyone will give him a character for steadiness and he'll be glad enough to come tomorrow night i'll be bound though miss mattie was startled she submitted to fate and love

Reviews

Dear sweet Miss Matty. Thanks for the reading Mandy 🙏🏻

Such rich writing— I could picture his counting house so vividly… and Miss Mattie still so enamored… glad to see she gave license to her young maid at the end! Thank you Mandy!❤️🙏🏼