Cranford

第十一章

The narrator reflects that the mutual devotion of Signor Brunoni and his wife would have been the truest discouragement to matrimony, for through every sorrow they thought only of each other and of little Phoebe. Mrs. Brown, on being questioned about Miss Pole’s story of the twin brothers, confirms that her brother-in-law Thomas is often taken for the real Signor Brunoni, though she cannot conceive how, since Thomas lacks her husband’s graceful carriage and has never been to India. She then relates how she followed her husband, Sergeant Sam Brown of the 31st regiment, to India, where she lost six children, and how, when Phoebe was born, she set off alone to Calcutta carrying the baby, sustained by a picture of the Virgin and Child given her by a grieving officer’s wife. The kindness of natives and the aid of strangers enabled her to reach Calcutta and save her child, and later Sam earned his discharge and took up conjuring with Thomas’s help, the brothers’ likeness making many tricks succeed. Hearing that a certain Aga Jenkyns had helped them when Phoebe fell ill at Chunderabaddad, the narrator suddenly wonders whether this Aga Jenkyns might be the long-lost Peter, whose fate Miss Matty secretly believes has not been death but the dignity of Great Lama of Thibet.

Narrator’s reflection on the Brunoni couple’s mutual devotion amid hardship

The narrator reflects that, though Miss Pole’s warnings might give pause, it is the example of the Brunoni couple—Signor Brunoni and his wife—who most affect her thoughts on marriage. Despite their hardships and sorrows, the couple consistently think of each other and their child Phoebe rather than of themselves, and their joys are sharpest when shared through one another or through the little girl, offering an encouragement to conjugal devotion.