Cranford

Ladies’ Conjuring Discussions

The three Cranford ladies and the narrator spend the evening discussing conjuration, sleight of hand, magic, and witchcraft. Miss Pole leans toward scientific skepticism, Mrs Forrester believes everything from ghosts to death-watches, and Miss Matty wavers between them, restrained by her desire to live up to her late sister Miss Jenkyns’s rational example. Miss Pole becomes so absorbed in studying the relevant volume of the old Encyclopædia that she threatens to spoil their planned game of Preference, but the others gently prevail upon her to set aside her studies and play cards, which she eventually does.

Visit to the Cranford Assembly Rooms

The next evening, the ladies walk the short distance to the “George” inn, where Miss Matty sighs before the cloak-room mirror over memories of her youth. They take seats in the second front row and are joined by Lady Glenmire and Mrs Jamieson, with shopkeepers settling on the benches behind. The narrator reflects on the room’s faded aristocratic glory, recalling tales of county beauties, the Gunnings, and Lady Williams, who there fell for a handsome young artist. The ladies maintain strict dignified posture, refusing to turn around or make any noise in this place of public amusement, while Mrs Jamieson falls asleep.

Signor Brunoni’s Performance Opening

After a long wait watching the obstinate green curtain with its odd staring eyes, the audience is finally revealed a magnificent gentleman in Turkish costume seated at a table. Miss Pole insists this cannot be Signor Brunoni because he wears a beard, while Miss Matty sorrowfully observes through her eye-glass that turbans are indeed in fashion. When the performer announces himself as Signor Brunoni in broken English so disjointed that the parts have no cohesion, Miss Pole continues to express disbelief at his bearded, turbaned appearance. The Signor at last perceives the futility of his speech and proceeds to action.

CAPÍTULO IX.

Chapter IX of Cranford depicts the aftermath of the magician Signor Brunoni’s performance, contrasting the varied reactions of the Cranford ladies and resolving their unease through the unexpected presence of the rector. The narrator observes astonishment, skepticism, moral disquiet, and eventual reassurance, culminating in Miss Pole’s persistent denial of the magician’s authenticity.

Astonishment at the Magician’s Unexplained Tricks

The narrator confesses genuine astonishment at Brunoni’s tricks, unable to account for them even when Miss Pole attempts to expose his methods by reading aloud the “receipts” for common illusions. The Grand Turk, Brunoni’s assistant, glares at Miss Pole in indignation at her expository efforts, prompting her tart observation that unchristian looks are only to be expected from a “Mussulman.”

Divergent Audience Reactions to the Performance

Audience response fractures along sharply individual lines. Miss Pole remains skeptical, absorbed in diagrams and receipts, and declares she could replicate every trick with two hours’ study of the Encyclopædia and a flexible third finger. Miss Matty and Mrs Forrester are thoroughly mystified. Mrs Jamieson repeatedly wipes her spectacles, suspecting a defect in the lenses rather than true legerdemain. Lady Glenmire, drawing on her experience of Edinburgh curiosities, is genuinely impressed and refuses to accept Miss Pole’s dismissive account.

Moral Qualms Over Attending the Show

Miss Matty and Mrs Forrester, sitting just ahead of the narrator, grow so awestruck that they begin whispering moral doubts about their attendance. Miss Matty fears they are “lending encouragement to something that was not quite” respectable. Mrs Forrester confesses equal discomfort, particularly troubled that her own pocket-handkerchief seemed to appear inside a loaf of bread, and wonders uneasily whether the churchwarden Dakin could have been the supplier.

Miss Matty Requests Rector’s Approval for the Show

Miss Matty half-turns to the narrator and asks her, as a comparative stranger in Cranford, to look around and report whether the rector is present. She reasons that if Mr Hayter has sanctioned the show with his attendance, then the Church itself must approve, which would greatly ease her troubled conscience.

Rector’s Presence Eases Group Concerns

The narrator complies and locates the rector amid the audience. She returns to Miss Matty with the news that “the Church was smiling approval,” and this assurance immediately calms Miss Matty’s anxiety. The rector’s presence serves as an ecclesiastical seal of legitimacy on what might otherwise have seemed dubious entertainment.