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257
Cranford
·
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
143
This
last
comparison
of
our
nightly
state
of
defence
and
fortification
was
made
by
Mrs
Forrester,
whose
father
had
served
under
General
Burgoyne
in
the
American
war,
and
whose
husband
had
fought
the
French
in
Spain.
She
indeed
inclined
to
the
idea
that,
in
some
way,
the
French
were
connected
with
the
small
thefts,
which
were
ascertained
facts,
and
the
burglaries
and
highway
robberies,
which
were
rumours.
She
had
been
deeply
impressed
with
the
idea
of
French
spies
at
some
time
in
her
life;
and
the
notion
could
never
be
fairly
eradicated,
but
sprang
up
again
from
time
to
time.
And
now
her
theory
was
this:—
The
Cranford
people
respected
themselves
too
much,
and
were
too
grateful
to
the
aristocracy
who
were
so
kind
as
to
live
near
the
town,
ever
to
disgrace
their
bringing
up
by
being
dishonest
or
immoral;
therefore,
we
must
believe
that
the
robbers
were
strangers—
if
strangers,
why
not
foreigners?—
if
foreigners,
who
so
likely
as
the
French?
Signor
Brunoni
spoke
broken
English
like
a
Frenchman;
and,
though
he
wore
a
turban
like
a
Turk,
Mrs
Forrester
had
seen
a
print
of
Madame
de
Staël
with
a
turban
on,
and
another
of
Mr
Denon
in
just
such
a
dress
as
that
in
which
the
conjuror
had
made
his
appearance,
showing
clearly
that
the
French,
as
well
as
the
Turks,
wore
turbans.
There
could
be
no
doubt
Signor
Brunoni
was
a
Frenchman—
a
French
spy
come
to
discover
the
weak
and
undefended
places
of
England,
and
doubtless
he
had
his
accomplices.
For
her
part,
she,
Mrs
Forrester,
had
always
had
her
own
opinion
of
Miss
Pole’s
adventure
at
the
“George
Inn”—
seeing
two
men
where
only
one
was
believed
to
be.
French
people
had
ways
and
means
which,
she
was
thankful
to
say,
the
English
knew
nothing
about;
and
she
had
never
felt
quite
easy
in
her
mind
about
going
to
see
that
conjuror—
it
was
rather
too
much
like
a
forbidden
thing,
though
the
rector
was
there.
In
short,
Mrs
Forrester
grew
more
excited
than
we
had
ever
known
her
before,
and,
being
an
officer’s
daughter
and
widow,
we
looked
up
to
her
opinion,
of
course.
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