Speculation that Aga Jenkyns is the long-lost Peter Jenkyns
Recalling the baby’s serious illness at Chunderabaddad, Mrs Brown says it was the kindness of Aga Jenkyns, who took them in, that saved Phoebe’s life. The narrator seizes on the name “Jenkyns”—a name associated with kindness, since the nice old lady daily takes Phoebe for walks. A sudden idea strikes the narrator: could the Aga Jenkyns be the long-lost Peter Jenkyns? Though many report him dead and others claim he has risen to become Great Lama of Thibet, Miss Matty believes him alive, and the narrator resolves to make further inquiry.
第十二章
The chapter opens with the question of whether “poor Peter” of Cranford might be the Aga Jenkyns of Chunderabaddad. The narrator, determined to prove herself discreet after being criticized for indiscretion, vows to collect evidence before reporting her suspicions to her father, the family friend of the two Miss Jenkynses.
Poor Peter’s Identity
The identity of the mysterious “poor Peter” remains unresolved. The narrator’s efforts to investigate whether Peter and the Aga are the same person set the stage for the chapter’s unfolding events in the ladies’ society of Cranford.
The Investigation Plan
The narrator approaches her fact-finding mission among the Cranford ladies with the same result as a ladies’ committee described by her father—where each person pursues her own line of thought to her own satisfaction, with little advancement of the subject at hand.
The Fruitless Inquiry
When the narrator asks Miss Pole at Mrs Forrester’s house about the last thing they heard of Peter, each lady veers off on her own tangent. Mrs Forrester becomes absorbed in the veiled prophet of Lalla Rookh, cosmetics, and hair oils, while Miss Pole proceeds through llamas to Peruvian bonds, the share market, and her opinion of joint-stock banks.
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