Contains mild spoilers. My Mom and I pondered on this:
What happened to the Buxton’s plot device, er, I mean dog, Napolean?
Some theories:
1) Master Harry’s family killed it for food while the baby cried and cried and cried.
2) Lady Ludlow’s son and his Italian mustache boyfriend took it back to Italy with them where they all lived happily ever after.
3) The elder Mr. Buxton stabbed it to death with a ceremonial dagger in an elaborate ritual to make Peggy’s greedy idiot brother his son instead of William.
4) The Old Biddies smothered it with their lace to punish Peggy and William for their public depravity, having been shocked at how she allowed him to brush crumbs off her skirt. I can hear Miss Mattie’s sister saying that one does not permit one’s husband to brush one’s crumbs, even in one’s private bedchamber, until after one year of marriage, if at all, ever. “That is the way here in Cranford.”
5) The pastor accidentally ran it over with his carriage and felt bad until he recalled his humiliation when the dog interrupted his church service.
6) It died unexpectedly of (fill-in-the-blank).
7) Handsome Peter got bored of Cranford and took it back to India with him. Disappointing Peter is an actor he hired to fool Mattie & the Old Biddies.
Film Sloth 