Cranford

Miss Matty’s Immediate Retrenchment

Miss Matty sets about the necessary retrenchment at once, showing herself an example of prompt right action under her altered circumstances. While she goes downstairs to break the news to Martha, the narrator slips out with a letter to the Aga Jenkyns, intending to obtain the exact address from the Signor Brunoni’s lodgings.

Retrieving the Aga Jenkyns’ Address

The narrator visits the signor’s lodgings, where the recuperating Brunoni and his wife are absorbed in planning their next tour and debating where the red letters of their placard will look most striking. After patiently giving several opinions on this important subject, the narrator secures the Aga Jenkyns’s address, which is spelled by sound and looks very peculiar. She posts the letter on her way home, pausing to reflect wonderingly on the little piece of paper now traveling toward the strange countries beyond the Ganges, before hurrying back so Miss Matty will not miss her.

Martha’s Refusal to Leave Service

Martha opens the door in tears, having just been told by Miss Matty that she must be let go. In a long, indignant speech, Martha declares she will never leave her mistress, citing her savings in the bank, her good stock of clothes, and her loyalty. She waves away the narrator’s attempts at “reason” and insists she would not “serve Mammon” by striking for wages like Rosy Fitz-Adam. When the narrator gently points out that Miss Matty can scarcely feed herself, Martha is struck afresh, but her grief quickly turns practical: she decides to make Miss Matty a fine pudding at her own expense, paying from her private tea-pot of savings, and forbids the narrator to tell.