 perplexed as to etiquettes of
address.
    »Well, I really think,« said Miss Pole, »I had better just go and tell Mrs.
Forrester about our little difficulty. One sometimes grows nervous; and yet one
would not have Lady Glenmire think we were quite ignorant of the etiquettes of
high life in Cranford.«
    »And will you just step in here, dear Miss Pole, as you come back, please,
and tell me what you decide upon? Whatever you and Mrs. Forrester fix upon, will
be quite right, I'm sure. Lady Arley, Sir Peter,« said Miss Matty to herself,
trying to recall the old forms of words.
    »Who is Lady Glenmire?« asked I.
    »Oh, she's the widow of Mr. Jamieson - that's Mrs. Jamieson's late husband
you know - widow of his eldest brother. Mrs. Jamieson was a Miss Walker,
daughter of Governor Walker. Your ladyship. My dear, if they fix on that way of
speaking, you must just let me practise a little on you first, for I shall feel
so foolish and hot saying it the first time to Lady Glenmire.«
    It was really a relief to Miss Matty when Mrs. Jamieson came on a very
unpolite errand. I notice that apathetic people have more quiet impertinence
than others; and Mrs. Jamieson came now to insinuate pretty plainly that she did
not particularly wish that the Cranford ladies should call upon her
sister-in-law. I can hardly say how she made this clear; for I grew very
indignant and warm, while with slow deliberation she was explaining her wishes
to Miss Matty, who, a true lady herself, could hardly understand the feeling
which made Mrs. Jamieson wish to appear to her noble sister-in-law as if she
only visited county families. Miss Matty remained puzzled and perplexed long
after I had found out the object of Mrs. Jamieson's visit.
    When she did understand the drift of the honourable lady's call, it was
pretty to see with what quiet dignity she received the intimation thus
uncourteously given. She was not in the least hurt - she was of too gentle a
spirit for that; nor was she exactly conscious of disapproving of Mrs.
Jamieson's conduct; but there was something of this feeling in her mind, I am
sure, which made her pass from the subject to others in a less flurried and more
composed manner than usual. Mrs. Jamieson was, indeed, the more flurried of the
two, and I could see she
