Cranford

proposal, if ever it was made, was knocked on the head by Captain
Brown’s decided ‘Get her a flannel waistcoat and flannel drawers, ma’am,
if you wish to keep her alive. But my advice is, kill the poor creature
at once.’

[Illustration: ‘To see the Alderney.’]

Miss Betsy Barker dried her eyes, and thanked the Captain heartily; she
set to work, and by and by all the town turned out to see the Alderney
meekly going to her pasture, clad in dark gray flannel. I have watched
her myself many a time. Do you ever see cows dressed in gray flannel in
London?

Captain Brown had taken a small house on the outskirts of the town,
where he lived with his two daughters. He must have been upwards of
sixty at the time of the first visit I paid to Cranford after I had left
it as a residence. But he had a wiry, well-trained, elastic figure, a
stiff military throw-back of his head, and a springing step, which made
him appear much younger than he was. His eldest daughter looked almost
as old as himself, and betrayed the fact that his real was more than his
apparent age. Miss Brown must have been forty; she had a sickly, pained,
careworn expression on her face, and looked as if the gaiety of youth