"I hope you are a good man", Robert Crawley said.
Bertie looked at him in surprise. The two of them were left alone together in the dining room, but this was obviously not going to be the usual light after dinner conversation.
"For your own sake", Robert added.
"I'm trying my best", Bertie said. "But is there any man who is entirely good?"
This philosophical approach didn't sit well with the Earl.
"Don't try to avoid the issue", Robert said with a stern look.
Bertie didn't know how to answer that, so he just looked at his future father-in-law with knitted brows.
"Edith has had enough bad luck in her life", Robert added. "So just see to it that you are never part of that!"
"I will try my best", Bertie said.
"Trying is not enough. Do it! If you ever hurt her... ever in your life... if you cheat on her... or make her regret that she married you... I swear that I will personally hunt you down and have you killed!"
"I have no intention to hurt her. None whatsoever. In fact I love her just as much as you do. Probably even more, if I dare say so. I just want Edith to be happy. Her and Marigold."
"Alright. As long as you understand that." Robert smiled at Bertie. Then he added: "And if you mistreat her after I'm gone I promise to come back and haunt you."
Bertie wasn't sure if the Earl was joking. He looked serious enough.
...
"Do you find my mother scary?" Bertie asked Edith later that evening.
Edith wondered what this came from all of a sudden. But Bertie's Mother was a rather imposing lady.
"Well, perhaps a little", Edith said. "But we do get along rather well now. I'm glad that I told her about Marigold."
"Well, she is nothing compared to your father, I can tell you that!" Bertie said with a shudder.
Edith looked at Bertie in consternation. Her kind and supporting Father, who had taken everything about Marigold so well. What had he said to Bertie?
"He basically promised to come back and haunt me if I ever in my whole life treated you badly."
"Really? He is a bit over-protective, isn't he?" Edith laughed. "Like a Papa Bear."
AN: Thank you to Kitoky on Tumblr, who gave me the idea. Or rather, whom I stole the idea from. Hope it was OK!
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