Edith Crawley. He had recognised the name immediately, when he saw her article in the morning paper. Lady Edith Crawley. He was almost sure it was her, but he would check it later. First he must read her article, if it was any good. But he was quite sure it was, since she had managed to get it published in The Times.
The article was even better than he had expected, both the writing and the argumentation. Witty, even a little funny. The woman who had written this would be perfect for a column in The Sketch. If she was perfect for the other thing he had in mind for her, he didn't know yet, maybe she was terribly ugly.
He went to the cabinet with clippings and brought out the folder of the Crawleys. There was the pictures and articles of Lady Mary's wedding to the future Earl of Grantham. And then there was that little news-item, yes, Lady Edith Crawley, he had remembered it right!
'The marriage between Sir Anthony Strallan of Locksley and Lady Edith Crawley, the daughter of Robert and Cora Crawley, The Earl and Countess of Grantham, that was planned to take place yesterday, was called off in the last minute by the groom. No new date is set for the ceremony.'
She had been jilted at the altar! With any luck she would be quite vulnerable after a thing like that!
Well, if he wanted to have a chance to seduce her, he couldn't let her know that he knew she had been jilted. So he crumpled the clipping and threw it into the fireplace in the back office. If she came to work here she was bound to look up her own family among the clippings. And maybe his as well, he thought, and took out the old clippings from his own wedding from their folder and let the fire take them as well.
Maybe he was unnecessarily careful, he wasn't even sure that he would find this woman attractive at all. But since she was such a good writer, there was really no risk in offering her a job. If he found out that she was unattractive he would just keep his hands off her. In this case, he could only win.
Besides, if he remembered she had been jilted, the readership might do so as well, and that would add some extra spice when they read her articles.
So he sat down to write her a letter with an offer to write a column in The Sketch.
...
AN: I think that there is no way that Gregson, as a newspaper man, could not have heard of Edith's jilting.
