who had never been introduced to her English relations. Major
Jenkyns wrote to propose that he and his wife should spend a night
at Cranford, on his way to Scotland--at the inn, if it did not suit
Miss Matilda to receive them into her house; in which case they
should hope to be with her as much as possible during the day. Of
course it MUST suit her, as she said; for all Cranford knew that
she had her sister's bedroom at liberty; but I am sure she wished
the Major had stopped in India and forgotten his cousins out and
out.

"Oh! how must I manage?" asked she helplessly. "If Deborah had
been alive she would have known what to do with a gentleman-
visitor. Must I put razors in his dressing-room? Dear! dear! and
I've got none. Deborah would have had them. And slippers, and
coat-brushes?" I suggested that probably he would bring all these
things with him. "And after dinner, how am I to know when to get
up and leave him to his wine? Deborah would have done it so well;
she would have been quite in her element. Will he want coffee, do
you think?" I undertook the management of the coffee, and told her
I would instruct Martha in the art of waiting--in which it must be
owned she was terribly deficient--and that I had no doubt Major and
Mrs Jenkyns would understand the quiet mode in which a lady lived
by herself in a country town. But she was sadly fluttered. I made
her empty her decanters and bring up two fresh bottles of wine. I
wished I could have prevented her from being present at my
instructions to Martha, for she frequently cut in with some fresh
direction, muddling the poor girl's mind as she stood open-mouthed,
listening to us both.

"Hand the vegetables round," said I (foolishly, I see now--for it