t and found Miss Pole dressed
in solemn array, though there were only Mrs. Forrester, crying quietly
and sadly, and Mrs. FitzAdam present. Miss Pole was armed with a card,
on which I imagine she had written some notes.

"Miss Smith," she began, when I entered (I was familiarly known to all
Cranford as Mary, but this was a state occasion), "I have conversed in
private with these ladies on the misfortune which has happened to our
friend, and one and all have agreed that while we have a superfluity, it
is not only a duty but a pleasure--a true pleasure, Mary!"--her voice
was rather choked just here, and she had to wipe her spectacles before
she could go on--"to give what we can to assist her--Miss Matilda
Jenkyns. Only in consideration of the feelings of delicate independence
existing in the mind of every refined female"--I was sure she had got
back to the card--"we wish to contribute our mites in a secret and
concealed manner, so as not to hurt the feelings I have referred to."

Well, the upshot of this solemn meeting was that each of those dear old
ladies wrote down the sum she could afford annually, signed the paper
and sealed it mysteriously, and I was commissioned to get my father to
administer the fund in such a manner that Miss Jenkyns should imagine
the money came from her own improved investments.

As I was going, Mrs. Forrester took me aside, and in the manner of one
confessing a great crime the poor old lady told me how very, very little
she had to live on--a confession she was brought to make from a dread
lest we should think that the small contribution named in her paper bore
any proportion to her love and regard for Miss Mary. And yet that sum
which she so eagerly relinquished was, in truth, more than a twentieth
part of what she had to live on. And when the whole income does not
nearly amount to a hundred pounds, to give up a twentieth of it will
necessitate many careful economies and many pieces of self-denial--small
and insignificant in the world's account, but bearing a different value
in another account book that I have heard of.

The upshot of it all was that dear Miss Matty was comfortably installed
in her own house, and added to her slender income by selling tea! This
last was my idea, and it was a proud moment for me when it realized. The
small dining-room was converted into a shop, without any of its
degrading characteristics, a table formed the counter, one window was
retained unaltered and the