myself—I was always rather afraid of the
Cranford ladies at cards, for it was the most
earnest and serious business they ever
engaged in—were anxious to be of the " pool."
Even Miss Barker, while declaring she did not
know Spadille from Manille, was evidently
hankering to take a hand. The dilemma was
soon put an end to by a singular kind of
noise. If a Baron's daughter-in-law could
ever be supposed to snore, I should have said
Mrs. Jamieson did so then; for, overcome by
the heat of the room, and inclined to doze by
nature, the temptation of that very comfortable
arm-chair had been too much for her,
and Mrs. Jamieson was nodding. Once or
twice she opened her eyes with an effort, and
calmly but unconsciously smiled upon us;
but, by-and-bye, even her benevolence was
not equal to this exertion, and she was sound
asleep.

" It is very gratifying to me," whispered
Miss Barker at the card-table to her three
opponents, whom, notwithstanding her
ignorance of the game, she was " basting " most
unmercifully—" very gratifying, indeed, to see
how completely Mrs. Jamieson feels at home
in my poor little dwelling; she could not
have paid me a greater compliment."—Miss
Barker provided me with some literature, in
the shape of three or four handsomely bound
fashion-books ten or twelve years old,
observing, as she put a little table and a candle
for my especial benefit, that she knew young
people liked to look at pictures. Carlo lay,
and snorted, and started at his mistress's feet.
He, too, was quite at home. The card-table
was an animated scene to watch; four ladies'
heads, with niddle-noddling caps, all nearly
meeting over the middle of the table, in their
eagerness to whisper quick enough and loud
enough: and every now and then came Miss
Barker's " Hush, ladies! if you please, hush!
Mrs. Jamieson is asleep."

It was very difficult to steer clear between
Mrs. Forrester's deafness and Mrs. Jamieson's
sleepiness. But Miss Barker managed her
arduous task well. She repeated the whisper
to Mrs. Forrester, distorting her face
considerably, in order to show, by the motions of
her lips, what was said; and then she smiled
kindly all round at us, and murmured to
herself, " Very gratifying, indeed; I wish my
poor sister had been alive to see this day."

Presently the door was thrown wide open;
Carlo started to his feet, with a loud snapping
bark, and Mrs. Jamieson awoke: or, perhaps,
she had not been asleep—as she said almost
directly, the room had been so light she had
been glad to keep her eyes shut, but had been
listening with great interest to all our amusing
and agreeable conversation. Peggy came in
once more, red with importance. Another
tray! " Oh, gentility! " thought I, " can you
endure this last shock? " For Miss Barker
had ordered (nay, I doubt not prepared,
although she did say, " Why! Peggy, what
have you brought us? " and looked pleasantly
surprised at the unexpected pleasure) all sort
of good things for supper—scalloped oysters,
potted lobsters, jelly, a dish called " little
Cupids," (which was in great favour with the
Cranford ladies; although too expensive to
be given, except on solemn and state
occasions), maccaroons sopped in brandy, I should
have called it, if I had not known its more
refined and classical name; in short, we were
evidently to be feasted with all that was
sweetest and best: and we thought it better
to submit graciously, even at the cost of our
gentility—which never ate suppers in general
—but which, like most non-supper-eaters, was
particularly hungry on all special occasions.

Miss Barker, in her former sphere, had, I
dare say, been made acquainted with the
beverage they call cherry-brandy. We none
of us had ever seen such a thing, and rather
shrunk back when she proffered it us—"just
a little, leetle glass, ladies; after the oysters
and lobsters, you know. Shell-fish are
sometimes thought not very wholesome." We
all shook our heads, like female mandarins;
but, at last, Mrs. Jamieson suffered herself to
be persuaded, and we followed her lead. It
was not exactly unpalatable, though so hot
and so strong that we thought ourselves bound
to give evidence that we were not accustomed
to such things, by coughing terribly—almost
as strangely as Miss Barker had done, before
we were admitted by Peggy.

"It's very strong," said Miss Pole, as she
put down her empty glass; I do believe
there's spirit in it."

"Only a little drop—just necessary to make
it keep! " said Miss Barker. " You know we
put brandy-paper over preserves to make
them keep. I often feel tipsy myself from
eating damson tart."

I question whether damson tart would have
opened Mrs. Jamieson's heart as the cherry-
brandy did; but she told us of a coming
event, respecting which she had been quite
silent till that moment.

"My sister-in-law, Lady Glenmire, is coming
to stay with me."

There was a chorus of " Indeed! " and
then a pause. Each one rapidly reviewed
her wardrobe, as to its fitness to appear in
the presence of a Baron's widow; for, of
course, a series of small festivals were always
held in Cranford on the arrival of a visitor at
any of our friends' houses. We felt very
pleasantly excited on the present occasion.

Not long after this, the maids and the
lanterns were announced. Mrs. Jamieson
had the sedan chair, which had squeezed itself
into Miss Barker's narrow lobby with some
difficulty; and, most literally, stopped the
way. It required some skilful manoeuvring
on the part of the old chairmen (shoemakers
by day; but, when summoned to carry the
sedan, dressed up in a strange old livery—long
great-coats, with small capes, coeval with the
sedan, and similar to the dress of the class
in Hogarth's pictures) to edge, and back, and