His wife asked him to meet her in the library. He thought the request odd but they've just seen a young woman being buried and Sybil walking off with the chauffeur, so maybe she just needs a little sympathy and comfort. Although he has no idea why this has to happen in the library.

When he walks in, she stares at him with an icy look on her face.

"Why did you do it?"

"Why did I do what?"

"Kiss the maid."

"I haven't kissed a maid." Shit, he shouldn't have lied.

"Don't you dare lie to me Robert Crawley. Because I saw you. And I heard you. You said that nothing had happened yet. You wanted to take her to bed."

"I don't know what I wanted." He said this a lot louder than he should have, but Cora's plain statement about wishes he wanted to keep hidden from her forever have put him off guard.

"But you do know that. You wanted to sleep with that woman while I was fighting for my life."

"I didn't know you were fighting for your life."

"What did you think I was doing? Having a rest?" Cora now speaks a lot louder than she should as well.

"No. But nobody told me how bad it was."

"Maybe they would have told you had you asked. Or maybe you'd have seen it for yourself had you actually come to my room. But you were busy with that maid."

"Cora, that is unfair. When I found out how you were, I almost broke down with the fear of losing you."

"Yes. And as soon as you didn't have to fear for that anymore you went back to your little maid."

"She wanted to say goodbye."

"You kissed her after you had told me that we were all right." They are both shouting now. He should stop this conversation, he should fall to his knees and beg Cora's forgiveness but he can't.

"It is not only my fault, you know"

"No, I don't know that. Because I didn't kiss anyone else."

"Maybe not."

"Certainly not."

"But you didn't kiss me either. Not really. Your heart wasn't in it anymore."

"And that is reason enough for you to kiss someone else? After almost 30 years of marriage? 30 years Robert, 30 years."

"You didn't care for me anymore. Do you have any idea for how long we haven't, well, you know what I mean. It has been more than 4 months, Cora."

"And because you needed to satisfy your urges you kissed a maid. Instead of just telling me what you wanted."

"I tried Cora, I tried. But you just wouldn't listen."

"Maybe you didn't try hard enough."

"Oh, I did try hard enough. But everything, everything is more important to you than this marriage. And I just can't stand it anymore." And with that he leaves his wife, the woman he has loved for nearly thirty years, alone in their library. He meets his daughters in the entrance hall, all three of them rooted to the spot. All three of them looking like their mother in their own specific ways. The hurt in their eyes speaks volumes.

"I suppose you've heard us."

"The people in the village have heard you."

"Well, you aren't little girls anymore. We don't have to hide our troubles from you." He knows he is being incredibly unkind to his daughters but he just can't face them at the moment, so he leaves them where they are.

They don't talk for weeks. A gloom is cast over Downton Abbey, a gloom that seemingly will never lift. Sybil left Downton a few days after the fight to go to Dublin and marry Tom, Matthew left a few days after her to live in Manchester again where he wouldn't be reminded of what he had lost at Downton. Mary and Edith stay, hardly speaking to one another because there is nothing left to say between them. They both have their own troubles to deal with. They have both lost their faith in love, even if Sybil's letters are full of praise for Tom. The Dowager still comes for dinner on occasion but keeps fighting with both her son and daughter-in-law. After much prodding, Mary finally told her what her parents had fought about and she is dismayed by what her son has done but she also thinks that Cora is punishing him too harshly.

She has reached a point at which she just can't stand it anymore. Her parents haven't really talked to each other for over three months now and they cast a gloom over everyone. She is an adult and should be beyond caring about whether her parents get along or not. And she is beyond that point. As does everyone else, she knows that her parents' marriage is just one of convenience and the turn their relationship has taken is not surprising. They only surprising aspect about it is that it didn't happen at least 28 years earlier. As she walks past the library her father calls to her.

"What is it?" she asks rather unfriendly. Not because he cheated on her mother but because he is making everyone miserable. Just as her mother is.

"Mary, don't be so unfriendly." He is one to talk.

"Why not? It's not as if this was a house full of joy."

"I just wanted to know if you had heard anything from Matthew."

"No. Why would I hear from him?"

"I don't know. I just thought that you two"

"That us two what?"

"I don't know. Would find your way to each other."

"We won't. There are unresolved issues between us. Issues that can never be resolved. And I'd rather not have that in a marriage." She knows this was below the belt but she just couldn't help herself.

"Mary, if you have the chance to make it better"

"I don't Papa. And stop pestering me. Matthew won't marry me. He can't. And I can't marry him either. Just forget about that stupid idea."

"Mary"

"No."

She storms past her mother when she leaves the library. She knows that her mother is about to say something but her mother is making her just as miserable as her father is, so she doesn't stop.

"What was that?" She is shocked by her own words. It's the first time in months that she has talked to her husband without it being absolutely necessary.

"I asked her if she had heard from Matthew. I suppose she took it the wrong way. She is not in a very good mood."

"She isn't the only one."

"I suppose that is true." He sounds so sad and for the first time in months she feels a tiny twinge of regret for being to him the way she is. But his treatment of her is just as bad, so she doesn't really care. She turns around and leaves.

"Cora," he calls after her. She turns around.

"What?"

"I was wondering if .. Forget it. It's nothing."

She knows that it isn't nothing. She knows what made her husband tell Mary to try to make things better between her and Matthew. She knows that he was wondering about tomorrow because tomorrow is there thirtieth wedding anniversary. She has been thinking about nothing else for a week but there is nothing to be done about it. She has decided to ignore it. Her husband kissed another woman and would have slept with that other woman had her own illness not prevented him from doing so. And he is of the opinion that she is to blame for it.

Their anniversary comes and goes and isn't acknowledged by anyone. She doesn't know why but she is a little disappointed that Robert hasn't even mentioned it. Both Mary and Edith were gone for the day but they are gone most days. She knows that Mary has taken to visiting Isobel and her Granny quite often and she has no idea of what Edith does. She tried to ask her about it several times but Edith only shrugged her shoulders and said "I am doing this and that. You know how it is" each time she tried to talk to her.

He comes into the breakfast room first as most days and sits down to read his paper. Usually his daughters follow him a little later and he usually talks them a little, although ever since the big fight they have become rather quiet. He supposes he deserves that in some way although he wishes they would talk to him at least a bit more.

When the door opens he supposes it to be Mary or Edith but when he turns around to greet either one of his daughters his eyes fall on his wife.

"What are you doing here?" he barks at her. He could kick himself for it. He should have said something nice, should have tried to have a conversation with her but for some reason he just doesn't seem to be able to react to her in a proper manner.

True to his way of greeting her, she looks rather taken aback but then answers "This is the breakfast room. I am having breakfast. Although I have to admit that I had hoped that you had already left."

He wants to throw something back at her but at that moment Carson enters with the morning post. He takes the letters of the plate, hands Cora her letters without saying another word and proceeds to open his own post.

"I don't believe it." Cora doesn't react to this or at least she tries not to. So he just goes on. "This letter is from Matthew. He's coming here. He says he wants to clear up a misunderstanding between himself and Mary. Maybe there is hope after all."

"Maybe there is hope for what?"

"Them getting married of course."

"No, Robert, there isn't. Mary has to marry Carlisle. Unless she" His wife stops mid-sentence.

"Unless she what?"

"Nothing Robert." He looks at her, really looks at her for the first time in months and in that moment he knows that there is something that weighs heavy on her heart, something that is not about him, or her, or them.

"Tell me," he says. She shakes her head.

"Why not?"

"There is nothing to tell. And if there was I couldn't tell you. That would not be an option." Her eyes are swimming with tears now and he grabs her hand because he wants to comfort her.

"Darling, please tell me. Whatever it is, just tell me. It might make it better." She looks at him as if she was about to unburden herself but then she shakes her head, says "I'm sorry" and leaves.

He wants to get to the bottom of it and even if it appears that his wife doesn't love him anymore, she still doesn't deserve to be so unhappy. Asking Mary about it is not a possibility, because while his daughter isn't exactly hostile towards him, she isn't friendly either. And she never talks about anything when being pushed. Talking to Carlisle is out of the question as well so that leaves only Matthew. The boy has a good head on his shoulders, maybe he will talk.

Matthew is coming back. She wonders if Mary has actually told him about Pamuk but she can't imagine that she did. Although Mary seems to have been in a weird mood for days now, being jumpy and nervous. She knows she should talk to her daughter, but Mary has stopped talking to her, no doubt taking her father's side in their horrible argument. It's been five months now, since their shouting match in the library. She has never been so unhappy. Not even during the first few months of her marriage did she feel like that. She felt alone and superfluous then, but at least at that point she hadn't known what it was like to have a happy marriage, she hadn't known what it was like and what it meant to be loved by the man of her dreams. But she lost his love, lost it to some maid, to someone who showed more interest in her husband than she did, someone he didn't mind telling what he wanted and needed. That is what bothers her most. That he didn't just tell her. He says he tried hard enough and maybe he did, but he certainly didn't tell her plainly enough what he wanted. She wishes he had, she wishes for it so much because then they'd still be happy because he wouldn't have kissed someone else and that she cannot forgive. Or she might be able to forgive it if he at least apologized for it. But he told her that this was just as much her fault as it was his. She knows she neglected him but she did not deserve her husband kissing someone else. She almost broke down when he called her 'darling' that morning, she almost told him everything right there and then, but she couldn't because she has to protect her daughter from her father's disappointment and she also has to protect Robert from the disappointment he will certainly feel. She doesn't think that he could bear it.

Mary walks past her in the entrance hall. "Mary," she says.

"What?"

"Your father's had a letter from Matthew."

"Oh?"

"He's coming back, at least for a little while. I think he wants to talk to you."

"Good. When is he coming?"

"Ask your father."