Quotes
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[Mary assisted Dr Harrison in setting Jem Hearne's broken arm]
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Dr Harrison was full of praise for you. He said you were the equal of a man.
Mary Smith : Did he?
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : And I corrected him. No woman is the equal of a man - she is his superior in every single case.
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Miss Matty Jenkyns : Miss Pole, have pity. The poor girl is distraught. And well might we all be with Jem Hearne dead and the town without a carpenter.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Speculation is the enemy of calm.
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[Mary has brought oranges as a present for Matty and Deborah]
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : I would prefer it if I did not enjoy oranges. Consuming them is a most incommodious business.
Miss Matty Jenkyns : There is not such a lot of juice, Deborah dear - only when they are sliced with a knife.
Mary Smith : At home we make a little hole in our oranges and we suck them.
[Deborah looks horrified]
Miss Matty Jenkyns : That is the way I like to take them best, but Deborah says it is vulgar and altogether too redolent of a ritual undertaken by little babies. My sister does not care for the expression
[whispers]
Miss Matty Jenkyns : "suck".
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : [primly] We will repair to our rooms... and consume our fruit in solitude.
[embarrassed, Deborah gets up and leaves the table]
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[Mary Smith is coming to stay with Matty and Deborah Jenkyns and they are preparing her bedroom]
Miss Matty Jenkyns : Ought we to light a fire, do you suppose?
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : [horrified] A fire? Our guest gave us a deal of information in her letter, but I saw no mention of her being ill.
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Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Jem Hearne has had nothing but jelly and egg wine for a week. If the bones are to knit, some solid food is needed.
Mary Smith : Does rice pudding count as solid food?
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Martha made this - it could be eaten with a fork!
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[a young mother has fallen over in the street and Captain Brown has helped her to her feet]
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : I don't object to his helping her up - it's an act of Christian kindness. But to take her arm and offer to escort her home shows a *revolting* want of decorum.
Mary Smith : [teasing Deborah] Perhaps Captain Brown has been reading too much Dickens.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : I think it altogether likely. Vulgar sentiment is so contageous.
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Dr. Morgan : All the rest will know the news by tea time.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Or sooner, Dr. Morgan. This is Cranford.
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Miss Deborah Jenkyns : That man has put me in a most invidious position.
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Miss Deborah Jenkyns : If I allow her to do as she would wish she would be in contravention of all polite codes. What will people think of her? And worse, what will be said?
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Martha : Dr. Morgan's at the door.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Dr. Morgan's at the door, *Madam*.
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Miss Matty Jenkyns : Well, have you the leisure to speak to all of your patients in person, before the new young gentleman arrives?
Dr. Morgan : I'm afraid I have not, but I have had occasion to inform Miss Pole.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Miss Pole?
Dr. Morgan : I shall repair to my consulting room to write to all the rest, and they will know the news by teatime.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Or sooner, Dr. Morgan.
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Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Dr. Harrison was full of praise for you. He said you were the equal of a man.
Mary Smith : Did he?
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Yes. And I corrected him. No woman is the equal of a man. She is his superior, in every single case.
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Martha : Miss Jessie Brown's in the hall.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : Miss Jessie Brown's in the hall, *Madam*.
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Miss Deborah Jenkyns : [Opening a gift from Captain Brown] Oh, Captain Brown. This is highly individual.
Captain Brown : It's a coal shovel. Manufactured from oak, by myself.
Miss Matty Jenkyns : Oh, sister. A thing we have wished for for an age.
Captain Brown : Miss Deborah, I hope you will accept it. A token of my gratitude.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns : I assure you, sir. No such token is required. We are no longer merely neighbors. We are friends.
