Farewell and Adieu
To circa1910 and WhyWhyNot for the kindness and encouragement they extended to an old hack writer right up until the end.
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Carson sat Mrs. Hughes down at their favourite table in the snug and then went to the bar to collect her glass of wine and his pint of bitter.
He had just made it to the bar when he heard singing coming from the public bar; singing led by a very familiar, sightly off-key, baritone.
We'll rant and roar like true British lovers
We'll range and we'll roam all over the world
And someday we'll make it back to Downton
Downton to Downton is eight thousand leagues
Carson peered over the partition and blinked. Several times.
The Earl of Grantham was sitting at a table, flanked on one side by Mr. Matthew Crawley and on the other by Sir Anthony Strallan. Tom Branson was sitting across from the Earl.
As Carson watched the Earl said something to Branson while Sir Anthony moved his finger back and forth keeping time. Branson wrote something down on a sheet of paper in front of him. Mr. Crawley shook his head like he was disagreeing with what was being written.
Carson turned back to the publican and raised his eyebrows.
The publican shrugged. "They've been working on that song since I opened up."
For an instant Carson thought of trying to get the Earl out of there but he realized the intervention would be more embarrassing than the singing so he picked up the drinks and headed back to Elsie.
As he sat down Carson had no way of knowing that it was the last time he would ever see two of the singers.
"What is going on over there?" Elsie gestured at the public bar with her head.
Carson was just about to answer when the singing started again; a solo tenor, Mr. Crawley he thought.
Farewell and Adieu to you sweet Crawley Ladies
Farewell and Adieu to you Ladies of Downtown
You've cut up our hearts and fed them to the fishes
We shall never see you again