Cranford

Mrs Brown confirms Miss Pole’s twin-brother story and recounts her military marriage

Asked by the narrator whether Miss Pole’s story about the twin brothers is true, Mrs Brown (the signora, who prefers this English name) confirms it. Her brother-in-law Thomas, who often helps them in their conjuring act, is frequently mistaken for her husband, which she finds baffling. She describes how Thomas’s clumsy, fist-like grip in the ball trick contrasts with her husband’s graceful flourish, and notes that Thomas has never been to India and lacks the proper manner of wearing a turban. Asked about India, she reveals that her husband Sam served as a sergeant in the 31st regiment, and that she drew a lot to accompany him when the regiment was ordered there, preferring that to the slow death of being parted from him.

Mrs Brown’s grief over losing six children during her time in India

Mrs Brown confides to the narrator that the years in India brought unimaginable sorrow: she lost six children, each one dying “like little buds nipped untimely.” She describes the wild, searching look in the eyes of mothers who have lost children—a look the narrator has only ever seen on such women. Though she vowed after each death that she could never love again, each new child brought not only its own love but a deeper love compounded by the memory of its dead siblings. Fearing that the birth of Phoebe would drive her mad with grief if this child too were taken, she begged her husband Sam to let her journey down to Calcutta with the baby, hoping the slow, purposeful travel might “work off” the madness rising within her.