and himself, she owned to me she had rather
he had knocked her down, if he had only been
reading a higher style of literature. The
poor, brave Captain! he looked older, and
more worn, and his clothes were very threadbare.
But he seemed as bright and cheerful
as ever, unless he was asked about his
daughter's health.

"She suffers a great deal, and she must
suffer more; we do what we can to
alleviate her pain—God's will be done!" he
took off his hat at these last words. I found,
from Miss Pole, that everything had been
done, in fact. A medical man, of high repute
in that country neighbourhood, had been sent
for, and every injunction he had given was
attended to, regardless of expense. Miss Pole
was sure they denied themselves many things
in order to make the invalid comfortable;
but they never spoke about it; and as for
Miss Jessie! "I really think she's an angel,"
said poor Miss Pole, quite overcome. "To
see her way of bearing with Miss Brown's
crossness, and the bright face she puts on
after she's been sitting up a whole night and
scolded above half of it, is quite beautiful.
Yet she looks as neat and as ready to welcome
the Captain at breakfast-time, as if she had
been asleep in the Queen's bed all night. My
dear! you could never laugh at her prim
little curls or her pink bows again, if you
saw her as I have done." I could only feel
very penitent, and greet Miss Jessie with
double respect when I met her next. She
looked faded and pinched ; and her lips began
to quiver, as if she was very weak, when she
spoke of her sister. But she brightened, and
sent back the tears that were glittering in her
pretty eyes, as she said :—

"But, to be sure, what a town Cranford is
for kindness! I don't suppose any one has a
better dinner than usual cooked, but the best
part of all comes in a little covered basin for
my sister. The poor people will leave their
earliest vegetables at our door for her. They
speak short and gruff, as if they were ashamed
of it ; but I am sure it often goes to my
heart to see their thoughtfulness." The tears
now came back and overflowed ; but after a
minute or two, she began to scold herself,
and ended by going away, the same cheerful
Miss Jessie as ever.

"But why does not this Lord Mauleverer
do something for the man who saved his
life?" said I.

"Why, you see, unless Captain Brown has
some reason for it, he never speaks about
being poor; and he walked along by his lordship,
looking as happy and cheerful as a
prince; and as they never call attention to
their dinner by apologies, and as Miss Brown
was better that day, and all seemed bright,
I dare say his lordship never knew how much
care there was in the back-ground. He did
send game in the winter pretty often, but
now he is gone abroad."

I had often occasion to notice the use that
was made of fragments and small opportunities
in Cranford ; the rose leaves that were
gathered ere they fell, to make into a pot-
pourrie for some one who had no garden; the
little bundles of lavender-flowers sent to
strew the drawers of some town-dweller, or to
burn in the chamber of some invalid. Things
that many would despise, and actions which
it seemed scarcely worth while to perform,
were all attended to in Cranford. Miss
Jenkyns stuck an apple full of cloves, to be
heated and smell pleasantly in Miss Brown's
room; and as she put in each clove, she
uttered a Johnsonian sentence. Indeed, she
never could think of the Browns without
talking Johnson; and, as they were seldom
absent from her thoughts just then, I heard
many a rolling three-piled sentence.

Captain Brown called one day to thank Miss
Jenkyns for many little kindnesses, which I
did not know until then that she had rendered.
He had suddenly become like an old man; his
deep bass voice had a quavering in it; his
eyes looked dim, and the lines on his face
were deep. He did not—could not—speak
cheerfully of his daughter's state, but he
talked with manly pious resignation, and not
much. Twice over he said, "What Jessie has
been to us, God only knows!" and after the
second time, he got up hastily, shook hands
all round without speaking, and left the
room.

That afternoon we perceived little groups in
the street, all listening with faces aghast to
some tale or other. Miss Jenkyns wondered
what could be the matter, for some time
before she took the undignified step of sending
Jenny out to inquire.

Jenny came back with a white face of
terror.  "Oh, Ma'am! oh, Miss Jenkyns,
Ma'am! Captain Brown is killed by them
nasty cruel railroads!" and she burst into
tears. She, along with many others, had
experienced the poor Captain's kindness.

"How?—where—where? Good God!
Jenny, don't waste time in crying, but tell us
something." Miss Matey rushed out into the
street at once, and collared the man who was
telling the tale.

"Come in—come to my sister at once,—
Miss Jenkyns, the rector's daughter. Oh,
man, man ! say it is not true,"—she cried, as
she brought the affrighted carter, sleeking
down his hair, into the drawing-room, where
he stood with his wet boots on the new
carpet, and no one regarded it.

"Please, mum, it is true. I seed it myself,"
and he shuddered at the recollection. "The
Captain was a-reading some new book as he
was deep in, a-waiting for the down train;
and there was a little lass as wanted to come
to its mammy, and gave its sister the slip,
and came toddling across the line. And he
looked up sudden at the sound of the train
coming, and seed the child, and he darted on
the line and cotched it up, and his foot slipped,
and the train came over him in no time. Oh