Chapter One: An Introduction
"I do like the pattern on this one, what do you think, Peter?" Miss Matty asked her brother as she stood in the village stores and looked at the new fabrics Mrs Johnson had ordered in from London.
"Yes, lovely," Peter said vacantly as he looked instead at the paintbrushes Mr Johnson had bought especially for him after the village's demand for finely executed notices seemed to have risen dramatically to the point that Peter almost had a title, official sign-writer. It didn't really have a ring to it, he'd have to work on that. Matty looked at him sensing his thoughts were elsewhere.
"Peter, you have to look," she stressed quietly, he apologised and looked down at the flowery pattern.
"Do you intend to wear it or decorate tables with it?" he asked.
"Peter!" she said in embarrassment that the shopkeepers would hear him, luckily the doorbell went and the incident was instantly forgotten.
"Such news, such news!" Miss Pole was saying excitedly under her breath, the doorbell sounded again and Miss Tomkinson and Mrs Forester followed as expected, "we have seen them," she stressed, to whoever was listening, which happened to be Miss Matty, her brother turned his attentions back to his brushes and asked Mr Johnson about ordering some coloured inks.
"The mother, so fine," Mrs Forester said and nodded in approval.
"And so well turned out," Miss Tomkinson added, Mrs Forester nodded in agreement and both looked at Miss Pole who fumed in anger.
"I am to tell Miss Matty," she stressed in high-pitched annoyance, she looked at Matty and ignored her followers, "the mother is a very fine looking woman," she said as though the other two had not already said the same, "the daughter," she stressed the word and her eyes widened as she shook her head, "oh what a shame," she said rather too loudly and Matty raised her hands to her mouth in shock.
"What, what is the matter with her?" she asked in concern.
"Nothing," Mrs Forester said quickly and reassuringly, she shook her head and smiled at Matty, "it is truly nothing," she said again.
"Nothing?" Miss Pole repeated in amazement, "her hair," she stressed, "it is white," she finished and she grimaced at Miss Matty.
"Only a small section of it," Miss Tomkinson said as Matty stood wondering what she should say.
"Is the mother's hair white?" Matty asked wondering- though she knew it was silly- with great interest just how big a section of white hair this young girl had.
Miss Pole shook her head slowly and again raised her eyebrows. "It is dark brown, natural," she said.
"Oh dear," Miss Matty said, "how unfortunate," she did not know what else to say, "but she is a pretty girl?" she asked.
Miss Pole shook her head, "oh, I would not know about that, Miss Matty," she said, "it is very hard to see if she is," she shrugged, "all one sees is the hair."
"I thought she was a pretty girl," Mrs Forester offered, "but we were not close enough."
"So you have not met them then?" Mrs Johnson the shopkeeper's wife spoke bluntly with a raised eyebrow, Miss Pole straightened up and looked over the counter at her rival.
"We merely saw them as we were on our way to your shop."
"On your way here?" Mrs Johnson smiled, "well then, what can I help you with ladies?" she smiled a little more and revealed a row of smug teeth.
"I need," Miss Pole's eyes darted around the shop not wanting to be outdone, "half a dozen eggs."
"Already?" Mr Johnson's ears pricked up and he moved to join his wife behind the counter, "Did the boy not deliver your goods this morning?" he asked in surprise.
"No," Miss Pole said quickly and she shook her head, "I mean, yes, he did." She realised she could not lie so obviously, "I am making a very large cake." She finished dramatically.
The doorbell went again and the ladies, so preoccupied with Miss Pole's argumentative nature, had not noticed the very newcomers they spoke of accompanied by Mr Buxton cross the road and enter the shop.
Miss Matty felt herself blush as she smiled at Mr Buxton; that had begun to happen to her lately. His attitudes had changed since he first returned to Cranford, she had watched him soften and grow as a person as he let his son marry for love and then leave his house with his bride for a different life in London. The old landowner was now only occupied by the company of his young ward, Erminia, who often invited Miss Matty to their grand house and took pleasure in seeing her guardian happy in conversation with the gentle spinster.
Matty looked at the floor in embarrassment at her blush but once again her behaviour went unnoticed by her friends as they had all turned interestedly towards the two ladies who stood in their presence.
Mr Buxton spoke, "Yes, I thought I would find you all in here," he said softly and he raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. "I would like to introduce you to my new tenants," he told them, "this is Mrs Walker and her daughter Miss Walker, I trust you ladies will make them most welcome." The two ladies curtseyed a little, the daughter more obviously so than the mother, who was by all accounts accurately grand. "Mr Johnson, our mayor and his wife," Mr Buxton politely introduced all of the people in the shop one by one, they were practically the entirety of Cranford so he felt obliged, and besides, Miss Matty Jenkyns was in the room and he wished to catch her eye again.
"Miss Tomkinson, Mrs Forester, Miss Pole," at her name the little spinster's eyes lit up and she curtseyed much more impressively than her friends had done which made Mr Buxton pause and make a short noise that might have been mistaken for a laugh, her cheeks shone red as she looked up at him but the impressive gentleman had already turned his gaze to his friend and he smiled at her, "Miss Matty Jenkyns and her brother, Mr Jenkyns." He did not look at Peter but kept his eyes on Matty.
"How do you do?" Miss Matty said politely as she nodded kindly to the Walkers, "we are thrilled to meet you both," she spoke for the group.
"Thank you, Miss Jenkyns," Mrs Walker said in a low voice, "and thank you, Mr Buxton," she turned to her landlord, "for the introductions." The ladies laughed a little and Mr Buxton smiled and bowed.
"I doubt you shall remember them all," Mr Johnson spoke and Mrs Walker smiled a little and nodded as the nervous villagers laughed again politely.
"Is there anything you need? Anything my husband and I can help you with?" Mrs Johnson piped up smelling an opportunity.
"Mr Buxton had kindly provided us with a few things," Mrs Walker said in thanks, "we shall not need anything at the moment, thank you."
"No doubt you have unpacking to do," Mr Buxton broke an uncomfortable silence and Mrs Walker and her daughter both nodded and smiled in thanks at the excuse to leave. "Let me escort you back to your new home."
"Thank you," Mrs Walker spoke and she turned a little before the daughter spoke at last.
"It was v-very lovely to meet you all," she said in a quiet voice and she smiled though her face was still towards the floor.
"Yes," Mrs Walker agreed and she smiled once more and bowed her head a little. The villagers too bowed their heads and Miss Walker spoke again as Mr Buxton held open the door first for the mother and then the daughter, "goodbye," she said to them and Miss Matty smiled back at her and also said "goodbye."
"They seemed nice," Peter said as he left the shop with his sister, he held in a brown envelope three paintbrushes that he had liked the feel of, his sister had left empty handed. They had all gone their separate ways without comment to each other on the newcomers, but Peter knew that his sister would- like the other ladies in the shop- want to talk about them now they were quite out of earshot.
"The poor girl," Matty said quietly and she shook her head sadly, "that hair is so unbecoming, I wonder why the mother has not made her dye it."
Peter shrugged, "I did not think it was bad," he admitted, "I thought it made her look very interesting!"
"Interesting!" Matty said in shock and she looked up at her brother, "Peter, it is most unbecoming, and with such a plain look too, I fear Miss Pole was right, you cannot find beauty there for the hair is all you see."
Peter scoffed, "It was barely a couple of inches," he said in amazement, "what must you think of my hair?" he joked but his sister did not laugh.
"I must make them something," she wondered what ingredients she had at home and what sort of cake or biscuit she could bake as a welcoming gift.
"Go back and buy that fabric and you can make her a bonnet if you are so put off by it," he joked and he laughed but she ignored him and continued to think of the state of the larder.
Miss Matty walked along the main road that ran through Cranford dressed in her Sunday best. She had seen her friends that morning in church and of course all of them had been hoping to see the new neighbours again, however they were not present. Matty supposed this was because they had only just moved to the town and they had a lot to attend to, she was on her way to their house now, she had got up early and prepared biscuit dough that she had cut into circles and stars on her return from church and baked in the oven. She had covered them in her basket and she wished to give them as a welcoming gift. She was very nervous, she always was among strangers but she had a feeling that they would accept her gift with good grace, they had seemed polite worldly ladies.
The house that the Walkers were renting from Mr Buxton was a small cottage very near to the village stores in the centre of Cranford, it was only a short walk from everything really, Miss Matty had barely walked eight houses from her own before she was there, she had allowed herself ten minutes and it had taken her just less than two, it was not twelve yet. She wondered nervously if it was too early for her to call but she pushed her silly frets to the back of her head and bravely walked to their garden gate and opened it.
Miss Walker, the daughter with the large streak of white hair opened the door to Matty and she smiled in surprise at seeing her.
"We met yesterday," Miss Matty said quietly.
"Yes, I remember," Miss Walker said quietly with a small smile, "you are Miss Jenkyns."
Matty blushed, "my, my late sister was Miss Jenkyns," she said quietly, "My friends call me Miss Matty," she informed the newcomer.
"Oh, I s-see," Miss Walker said and she still smiled, her mother's voice was heard from inside the house and she turned and held her hands in front of her as her mother came to the door. "It is Miss Matty Jenkyns," Miss Walker informed her mother.
"Miss Jenkyns, I see my daughter has not yet invited you in," Mrs Walker said rather shortly and the daughter blushed and stepped aside, she bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, please, d-do come in," she said softly and Matty smiled in thanks and entered the house.
"Thank you, Mrs Walker, Miss Walker, I will not stay," Matty said looking instead at the impressive woman dressed in black who smiled down at her, both mother and daughter were tall, taller than Miss Matty but the daughter was much less elegant with it than the mother who stood confident and calm. "I merely wished to welcome you to Cranford without the entire village looking on, as, as they were yesterday," Matty joked a little and the daughter smiled at her in appreciation. "I have baked you a little welcoming gift," she held out the basket.
"That is most kind of you Miss Jenkyns," Mrs Walker said and she looked at her daughter with a raised eyebrow and the girl took the basket gratefully.
"Yes, thank you, very much," she said in agreement and she opened her mouth to speak again, but she closed it as she looked up at her mother and blushed, 'I shall take these to the kitchen," she said to her mother.
"Thank you, Amelia," Mrs Walker said her daughter's name and Miss Matty's eyes lit up thankful for the piece of information.
"When you are settled you must both come to my house for tea," Miss Matty told Mrs Walker, "the ladies of the village are very excited that you have moved into this house and would love an opportunity to meet you in a less formal setting," she smiled.
"Thank you, Miss Jenkyns," Mrs Walker said again.
"I shall leave you to your unpacking," Matty said after a pause realising nothing else was going to be said. Mrs Walker smiled and opened the door for her and Matty said her goodbyes and heard the door close as she walked to the garden gate, as she reached it the door behind her opened again and Miss Amelia Walker rushed out to her.
"Oh, Miss Jenkyns, I have your basket and lace," she told her and tried to hand it to her, "thank you for the- for the biscuits, they smell wonderful."
"You have laid them out on a plate?" Matty asked looking down at her basket.
"Yes," Miss Walker said nervously, "I thought you might need this," she pressed the basket awkwardly into Matty's hands and she took it.
Matty smiled and blushed, she looked up at the tall girl, pale and lightly freckled, she could see in the sunlight that the rest of her hair was a chestnut colour but the large section on the top right side was as white as her own brother's hair. "Thank you my dear, that was very thoughtful," she said and Amelia Walker blushed pink and nodded silently before pushing the gate for the visitor and holding it open for her.
As Miss Matty sat in the carriage that took her to Mr Buxton's home she thought about the Walkers. It had been a week now since they had moved into the town and yet they had not accepted any invitations to tea or reciprocated the hospitality shown to them. Her friends had been, as she had, to take welcoming gifts, Mrs Forester's butter had been accepted gratefully as had Miss Tomkinson's lace and Miss Pole's milk- which coincidentally had also come from Miss Forester's cow, but this hadn't been mentioned. No one had anything new to report, no one had stayed to tea and though Mrs Walker had greeted them all gratefully all had found her quite cold and the daughter nervous and awkward. Miss Matty had been reminded of herself by the daughter and so she did not feel as strongly as Miss Pole who declared that Miss Amelia Walker needed lessons in politeness, Miss Matty thought that the girl would benefit greatly from some confidence but it must have been hard to be confident when she was burdened with the slight disfigurement of her shocking hair. Her hair of course had been covered in many conversations, why did she not dye it? She had not even been wearing a bonnet when she met them all the first time in the village stores, etc.
Matty did not feel snubbed, not personally anyway, for the whole town seemed to have been snubbed, so little was known about the neighbours that she could not help thinking that perhaps the two of them were grieving some great loss. She knew from the black she wore and from what Mr Buxton had told her that Mrs Walker was a widow but she did not know how recent that had happened. Perhaps that would account for the lack of enthusiasm to mix socially and it would account indeed for the premature white stripe in the daughter's hair.
Matty resigned herself not to be nosy, it was not her business and she would not ask Mr Buxton unless it came up in conversation. She was going to see her friends at their grand house for afternoon team it would be pleasant.
Erminia, the lively young thing was there to meet her at the gate. "Oh Miss Matty," she said excited under her breath as she practically pulled her from the carriage by the arm and they started to walk up the path to the house, "you shall never guess- we have another visitor, Mr Buxton seemed to think she would be company for me, but she is not interested at all in anything interesting!"
"Erminia, slow down!" Miss Matty told her as she could not understand a word the girl was saying.
"You must have seen her in the town, I mean, you cannot miss her," Erminia stressed with a flash of her eyes and a sly grin, "Miss Amelia Walker," she said her name, "the new girl, with the hair," she added.
"They are here? The Walkers accepted an invitation to tea?" Miss Matty said in what sounded a little like outrage but she had meant only shock.
"Just Miss Walker," Erminia corrected as they walked up the steps of the house, "The mother will not go anywhere," she rolled her eyes. "I just had to warn you in case you were expecting an entertaining afternoon."
"You are a terrible girl," Matty scolded but she was too fond of Erminia for her to take any offence or for Miss Matty to mean it. They entered the house together and Erminia pulled Miss Matty into the parlour where Mr Buxton sat with the other guest. He stood up and smiled at both women in what appeared to be relief Matty smiled at him and curtseyed a little.
"Miss Matty," he said her name also in relieved tones, "we were wondering where you had got to. You have met Miss Walker," he said and Matty smiled at the young guest who seemed paler than when she had last seen her.
"Hello, Miss Walker," she said kindly, "I am surprised -oh, and pleased to see you," she stumbled a little with her words and Amelia Walker who had also stood up bowed her head a little and smiled up at Matty, a genuine smile it was quite different to her mother's.
"I am glad to see you, Miss Jenkyns," she admitted, "I wished to thank you once again for the gift you gave to us, my mother and I enjoyed the biscuits very much."
"Oh, you are welcome," Matty said in surprise again.
"I thought Miss Amelia might benefit from some company her own age," Mr Buxton explained, "and so might Erminia," he joked and looked at his ward who smiled politely but did not look at Amelia.
"I'm just saying," Peter insisted, "that I do not think it is a good idea."
"She is a very nice girl and everyone is so desperate to meet her," Matty went on.
"From what you told me of this afternoon she is a very timid girl," Peter insisted still, "Are you sure she did not accept this invitation on the basis that she thought it would just be you Matilda?" Peter smiled, "because I can understand her very well if she wishes to be with you, a lovely kind old thing, but half a dozen of your nosy neighbours!" he scoffed, "the girl will sit there petrified!"
"I still believe that it was Miss Erminia's boisterous attitude that put Miss Walker in an uneasy state."
"And you do not think that Miss Pole's attitude might put her in a similar position?"
"I think it is important that they all see that she is a nice girl and that it is not personal that her mother has not accepted any invitations. Miss Walker will explain to them that her mother is a solitary woman with much on her mind."
"Why can you not explain that to them?" Peter asked sympathetically.
"Because they will be jealous of me if I am to entertain Miss Walker and they are not." Matty finished. "It is arranged, Peter, I have already told Miss Pole."
Peter sighed and wondered why he'd even bothered arguing. He decided he would make himself scarce the next morning, he did not wish to view the girl's discomfort at the ladies of Cranford's take on the Spanish Inquisition.