But With The Increase Of Serious And

In The First Place, Cranford Is In Possession Of The Amazons; All The Holders Of Houses Above A Certain Rent Are Women. If A Married Couple Come To Settle In The Town, Somehow The Gentleman Disappears; He Is Either Fairly Frightened To Death By Being The Only Man In The Cranford Parties, Or He Is Accounted For By Being With His Regiment, His Hip, Or Closely Engaged In Business All The Week In The Great Neighbouring Commercial Town Of Drumble, Distant Only Twenty Miles On A Railroad. In Short, Whatever Does Become Of The Gentlemen, They Are Not At Cranford.

In All Disappointments Sympathy Is A Great Balm.

Mr. Thornton Felt That In This Influx No One Was Speaking To Margaret, And Was Restless Under This Apparent Neglect. But He Never Went Near Her Himself; He Did Not Look At Her. Only, He Knew What She Was Doing — Or Not Doing — Better Than Anyone Else In The Room. Margaret Was So Unconscious Of Herself, And So Much Amused By Watching Other People, That She Never Thought Whether She Was Left Unnoticed Or Not.

It Is The First Changes Among Familiar Things That Make Such A Mystery Of Time To The Young; Afterwards We Lose The Sense Of The Mysterious. I Take Changes In All I See As A Matter Of Course. The Instability Of All Human Things Is Familiar To Me, To You It Is New And Oppressive." (mr. Bell)

She Had A Bracelet On One Taper Arm, Which Would Fall Down Over Her Round Wrist. Mr. Thornton Watched The Replacing Of This Troublesome Ornament With Far More Attention Than He Listened To Her Father. It Seemed As If It Fascinated Him To See Her Push It Up Impatiently, Until It Tightened Her Soft Flesh; And Then To Mark The Loosening—the Fall. He Could Almost Have Exclaimed—'there It Goes, Again!