The Railroad Accident
The child is safe, the news must now be broken to his daughters, and Miss Jenkyns, looking as if about to faint, asks for her bonnet: she must go to those girls, and God pardon her if she has ever spoken contemptuously of the Captain. The chapter closes on this image of remorse overtaking the social proprieties of Cranford in the face of sudden, heroic death.
第二章
Chapter II opens in the immediate aftermath of Captain Brown’s fatal railway accident. Miss Jenkyns departs to attend to Miss Jessie Brown, leaving Miss Matty and the narrator weeping quietly by the fire. The chapter traces the grief, death, and eventual resolution surrounding the Brown sisters: Miss Jessie’s desperate effort to shield her dying sister from the news of their father’s death, her determined attendance at his funeral, Miss Brown’s peaceful passing, Miss Jessie’s bleak financial prospects, the unexpected return of Major Gordon, and a closing glimpse of an aged Miss Jenkyns in later years, still fondly recalling Captain Brown.
The News of Captain Brown’s Death
Miss Jenkyns arrays herself and goes out, instructing Miss Matilda to give the man a glass of wine. While she is away, Miss Matty and the narrator huddle over the fire, speaking in low, awestruck voices and quietly weeping. Miss Jenkyns returns in a silent, somber mood and reluctantly reports that Miss Jessie has fainted and that she and Miss Pole struggled to revive her. As soon as she recovered, Miss Jessie begged one of them to sit with her sister. That night is sorrowful, with only a partial account of the accident available.
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