For me, Sybil and Matthew's deaths, those wretched events forced upon the writers by the actors' decision to quit, never happened. With Tom, these two were my favorite characters. Besides, without them, Tom and Mary seem to have lost their soul. To continue the story, I found plenty of wonderful AU here that were much more to my taste. That's why, as far as I'm concerned, the show itself ends with Sybil's return at Downton in 3 x 4.
Watching again that episode, I wondered why Matthew seemed more compassionate than judgmental in front of Tom's situation. It was an opportunity to explore their relationship that I always enjoyed a lot.
Tom barely succeeded in reaching his room before the sobs he had forcefully contained for too long began to shake his whole body. At this moment, all the dangerous trip back to Dowton, and even the excruciating moments he has just experienced, standing the accused in front of Sybil's family, were completely out of his thoughts. All he could think about was his fears for Sybil's safety, and the overwelming feeling that he had failed her.
He had sworn to devote every moment of his life to Sybil's happiness, and there he was, having left her to fend for himself in a dangerous and foreign country. The fact that he would have been much more dangerous for her to travel with him wasn't to be taken into account. He shouldn't have attended these meetings, he shouldn't have agreed to witness the burning of Drumgoole castle. No matter what he had thought at the time, that the Anglo-Irish landlords had to be thrown out of Ireland, that these actions needed to be reported by journalists that were on the Irish people's side. That he had to be there, as a witness, to make sure that there would be no violence. He shouldn't have gone. Not with beloved Sybil to think about, pregnant with his child. As a new wave of anguish and guilt washed over him, he sobbed even more desperately.
Making his way to his own room, Matthew heard the muffled sounds and hesitated for a moment. Like the other members of the Crawley family, he had been appalled to learn what his brother-in-law had done. It was against all his principles, all his education, all what what he standed for. But on the other hand, he had come to be very fond of his young brother-in-law.
When he had first met Tom as Sybil's husband, and not as a chauffeur he barely knew – Matthew liked to walk- he had felt compassion for him, and a sense of kinship, drawn from the memory of his first contacts with the Grantham family. Of course, their acceptance of him, at least Robert's, had been much easier, and the social gap far less challenging. He had been raised as a gentleman, and had already known most of the social codes that were so undecipherable for Tom. But he knew how it felt to be frown upon and patronized by the Dowager, by his magnificent but haughty fiance, or glared at by Carson, perhaps the most snobish of them all. He could understand his provoking attitude at his first dinner with the family. Besides, Matthew loved and admired Sybil, who had obviously seen something unique in the man. These were the reasons why Matthew, the morning after that disastrous dinner, had talked his soon to be brother-in-law out of taking a room at the pub.
And that's why on the following days he had taken the young man under his wing, acting as a buffer between him and Lord Grantham. His well-meaning strategy had led him to spend time with Tom and allowed him to understand precisely what dear Sybil had seen in him. On an intellectual level, Tom was brilliant and amazingly well-read, and that was all the more impressive if one remembered that he had left school at 12. His political analysis were deep and nuanced, even if his conclusions were too radical for Matthew's point of view. On the human level, he was a generous, sensitive, passionate young man, uncanningly perceptive, and suprisingly devoid of bitterness or prejudice.
Then Tom, with a few well-chosen words, had saved his wedding day, had saved the happiness of his future, and Mary's as well, or at least Matthew hoped so. From that moment, Matthew had seen in him the younger brother he'd never had.
All this thoughts rushing into his mind, Matthew had stopped in front of Tom's door. The sobs hadn't stopped. Would you leave a brother in such a pain ? Tom had helped him in a decisive and difficult moment, shouldn't he do the same now, even if he couldn't understand what had possessed Tom to do what he had done ?
Matthew hesitated one moment more. Would Tom welcome his interferrence ? His already battered pride might not take too kindly to be seen in such a state.
Reaching a decision, Matthew knocked rather loudly at the door, then waited a moment to let Tom pull himself together.
"Tom ? Could I speak to you a moment ? I'd like to understand what happened exactly. I know there is more to it than what you said to Robert."
"Come in", said Tom with a slightly hoarse voice.
Matthew entered the room. It was only dimly lit, which allowed him to pretend he didn't see Tom's reddened eyes.
"Tell me what happeded, Tom", repeated Matthew. "I'm sure you didn 't want to burn that house."
Tom let out a shaky, bitter laugh. "I'm touched by your trust in me, Matthew, but you're wrong. I did attend several meetings that were precisely all about burning Anglo-Irish ladlords' proprieties. Their kind have starved and oppressed the Irish people for centuries, expelling their tenants from their home as soon as they couldn't pay the rent, letting them die in a ditch. And Lord Drumgoole was a staunch supporters of the hardest form of repression."
"So you did it ?" exclaimed Matthew. "You actually set fire to that house ?"
"Well, not exactly. I was a bit worried by the violence of some of the speeches. When they decided to go to Drumgoole castle, I asked to go with them as a member of the press, to testify that there had been no violence against the persons. They know me, they knew that if thing would go out of hand, I would write about it, in spite of my sympathies for the Irish cause… But never mind that, as Edith said. The truth is that I left Sybil, my love, pregnant with my child, to fend for herself alone in a troubled country, in a situation that I brought on her."
"You said it was part of a plan."
Tom sighed. "My job has always been dangerous, even without these meetings. I knew something like that might happen. I knew what the RIC can do to the family of the men they hunt down. So I made Sybil promise that if I was on the run some day, she would go to Downton. She refused, unless I'd promise to do the same. So it was decided that if I was in trouble, I would warn her to leave the flat and we would take the boat together. She made me promise also not to wait for her if the danger was too pressing. And the Tans were already all over the docks, looking us. I couldn't wait for her, or we'd have been caught."
"We ?" asked Matthew.
"I was with my cousin Liam, one of my sisters' son. I went to Drumgoole to look after him as well. I couldn't let him get caught. He's my sister's only child left, after his brother was killed during the Easter Rising."
"See ? You had no choice. You did what Sybil wanted you to do. Why didn 't you tell all that to Cousin Robert ?"
"What difference does it make ? I shouldn't have put her in that situation in the first place, by attending these meetings."
"Well, some choices are hard to make. If you hadn't go to Drumgoole Castle, maybe your nephew would have been killed, maybe some people from the castle would have been killed. Do you think Sybil would have preferred that ? Whatever happens, her status as an English earl's daughter will protect her, you know it."
"I'd like to be sure of that", sighed Tom.
Matthew patted Tom's shoulder. "She'll be there tomorrow, you'll see. You should try to sleep now, you'll need some rest to face the rest of the family again tomorrow."
Tom gave a very unconvinced nod. He was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep one minut untill Sybill arrived. But rising his head to look at his brother-in-law, who stood in front of him, he gave him a small smile.
"Good night Matthew and… thant you", he said heartfully. The fear, the guilt were still there, but it was good to know that somebody was on his side in that hostile, judgmental atmosphere.
Matthew was quite sure that Robert wasn't sleeping either. And actually he found him brooding in the library, a glass of whisky in his hands.
"Robert, can I have a word with you ? I've just talked to Tom and he gave me a more complete account of what happened. It can help you defend him in front of the authorities, tomorrow."
"Well, what the damned fool has to say for himself now ?" said Robert sharply.
As he calmly exposed what Tom had just said to him, Matthew kept his eyes on Robert's face, but saw little change in his stormy, outraged expression.
"So you see", finished Matthew, "Tom only wanted to make sure that there would be no violence to the persons."
"Well, if he wanted to make sure of that, why didn't he tell the authorities what these men were up to ?"
"You're not serious ? I know you have heard of the RIC's methods ! And would Tom betray men who are on his side ?"
"But why does he have to be on the side of people who burn private proprieties in the first place ?"
"Maybe because he's part of a people that has been unfairly treated for centuries."
"Oh, is that so ? I see he seems to have converted at least on of us to his radical views."
If you belonged to that part of the people, everywhere in the world, whose options in life are strictly limited from their very birth, who are doomed to have nothing or almost nothing, however hard they work, what would you do ? wanted to say Matthew. But he didn't, knowing all too well how unable Robert was of such a stretch of the imagination. And anyway, was it Robert's fault if said imagination, and his very own options in life, had been stricly limited as well, by a very special kind of education ?
So he said instead. "I'm just trying to take into account that he comes from a very different world, a violent one, as yourself pointed out. Besides, were you always wise yourself, at 26 ?"
"I know that at least I never burnt anyone's house. And don't remind me what a young, irresponsible fool he is. How could he take good care of Sybil ? I know that something like that was bound to happen."
"But do you think Sybil wants to be taken care of ? I don't. I think Sybil always looked for a marriage of equals. And Tom offered her that."
Robert snorted. "In my opionion she got far more of that than she bargained for. Anyway, you needn't preach me tolerance, Matthew. My mind is set already. I will go to London tomorrow, but only for Sybil's sake."
Matthew sighed inwardly. The following days would be hard for Tom, and as a consequence for Sybil. But at least they'll have him on their side.
I know that to some people, Tom and Matthew are "of the same age", because in some episode, Cora says so. But to her, who is much older, it can seem so even if their age are not exactly the same. I imagine a much younger Tom because of the episode of slop protest. For me, it was very juvenile and I hardly imagine a man in his thirties doing such a thing. Besides, Allen Leech's boyish looks give credit to that hypothesis.
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