And the family is loyal to him.
Lady Mary stood in her room with the ticket in hand and knew what the only possible thing to do could be. Bates really was loyal to the family. Maybe more than he should. Stealing the letter and forging papers for them without any explanation was an act of huge faith for which he could have paid dearly. The fact that he tasted the prison made this leap even more risky for him. The fact he refrained from killing Green in Downton when he was there meant he didn't want to do anything to bring trouble to all of them. And in the past Bates had left to protect them from infamy. Another selfless act.
So if he even went to London and helped Green fall under that car, for which he had a really good reason, then what? But the truth was that even if he was there, even if he was there to kill Green, this might have actually be an accident. Implicating him if that was the case would be a severe betrayal, because he would be hanged this time.
And it was not only Bates to consider in it. Anna, dear, sweet Anna would be severly affected if Bates was accused. The last time her husband was in jail she was ready to break. After her assault she went through a lot to keep him out of the harms way. Now, the second time in jail because of something that had happened to her might just finish her off. Life was not always fair, but this would just be cruel.
Just as she was about to throw the ticket into the fire her door opened and Cora entered the room. Mary, startled, dropped the ticket and after a moment moved fast to retrieve it, but her mother was faster.
"What is it?" the countess asked looking more closely at the small square. "A ticket from York to London… from a day before the picnic. Did you went to London through York?"
"No, mama" Mary answered without thinking. "Of course…"
"And third class? Whose is it?"
"It doesn't matter anymore." Mary tried reaching for the piece of paper but her mother withdrew it from her.
"I don't agree" Cora said knowing something was wrong. "I usually know when you're up to something and I know you're up to something now. and I expect you to tell me."
"I don't have to tell you anything. Besides, this is nothing that we should really care about."
"You care about it enough to try and keep it from me" Cora said "and that means it's something I should really be concerned about. If you won't tell me now I would go to your father and we would try to get to the bottom of it with him."
"No, mama, please, just leave it alone."
"I don't know who could have ridden to London on the day when that poor Lord Gilingham's valet was killed when everyone was preparing for the next day."
"How do you know about Green?" Mary blanched instantly.
"Lord Gillingham told me. You were really upset after his talk with him so I was worried."
"What did he tell you?" Mary asked quietly.
"That you asked him to dismiss the man and the same evening he was dead." Cora said watching as her daughter moved to the chair and sat down. "Although what would have been important to you about his valet is beyond me."
Mary decided she should stop talking. It seemed every word she uttered was somehow adding to the information her mother figured out.
"Mary, I really am going to go and ask your father, maybe he knows more what is going on with you lately." Cora threatened. "This, Green, asking your father not to take Bates to America… I know something is going on behind my back and I don't really like it."
"Bates was needed here, mama." Mary snapped at her. "Will you just let it all go!?"
"No, I most certainly will not." Cora said strongly, but quietly, knowing that being overheard from outside the door would not be good no matter what she managed to get from her daughter. "You know I can keep a secret, Mary, you know this. But I hate being kept in the dark. So, shall I go to your father to find out what you said to make him take Thomas instead of Bates to America?"
"Anna needed him here, mama." Mary finally admitted defeat. "She needed his support and she needed to be sure nothing has changed too much."
"I met them one evening at the restaurant, remember?"
"Yes, I do. I think they were trying to somehow go back to normalcy."
"After what? I know Anna was not really herself for some time but moods happen. You don't usually need a husband's presence to get it back to normal. Unless something happened between them and they needed to mend it. That scrape on her face. Did Bates turned violent? He seems to be a strong man…"
"No! Nothing like that" Mary said hastily not to give her mother a completely wrong impression. "Bates would never hit Anna. He can't even watch when she's simply sad."
"Then what happened?"
"During the concert Anna was attacked."
"What?!"
"She came down for some medicine and someone assaulted her… in a horrible way."
"Oh my God! In this house?!"
"Anna didn't tell anyone for fear Bates would get angry and kill the man, landing himself in prison and his neck in the noose. She moved back here to avoid Bates. I don't know how but Bates found out what happened to her and he managed to persuade her he didn't think any less of her but for a long time afterwards she was really fragile and simply needed him close."
Cora sat on the bed silently thinking about everything she has said.
"How could it happen here? If someone broke in here then why hasn't the police been called?"
"Nothing was stolen and nothing was broken, so I think Carson…" Mary tried to lead her mother on hoping she would accept the simple version of the story that she at one time believed, although putting it on Carson's head was giving her some headache.
"No… there is something more to it, Mary, that you're not telling me. What has Green, a ticket to London and…" Cora suddenly blanched. "Noone had broken in, right, Mary? It was the valet that… assaulted poor Anna. And Bates went to London to kill him!" Cora looked at Mary and saw the confirmation she needed. "Mary, we need to tell your father about it. If Bates is dangerous he needs to be out of this house and yur father would not let him go uness he knows why."
"We don't even know if he did it!" Mary was sying half an hour later when Cora managed to storm out of her room, find Robert and almost drag him into their bedroom to quickly relay all the story she knew so far. "He may have gone to London for other reason and never even met with Green."
"This does seem extreme, even for Bates. I know he can get angry, but he's no murderer." Robert said calmly. "But…" he started a moment later with a grave voice but wouldn't finish."
"Robert?" Cora asked, slighty scared about his thoughts. "But what?"
"If anyone hurt you or any of the girls… I think I would have asked Bates for help to do the same."
"So you've already decided he is guilty!?" Mary was suddenly angry. "We don't know. All we know is this could have been a coincidence. There were a lot of people on that street and it is said to be an accident."
"He could have made it to look like an accident, Mary." Robert admitted. "But you're right, we don't know what happened. And if we are to make any decision, whatever it is, we need to have the facts."
"What do you propose?"
"I think I need to talk with him as soon as we're back in Downton." He sighed. "I will ask him what happened."
"Are you sure he would tell you the truth?" Cora asked.
"I know it may seem unlikely to you, but I know he will not lie to me just like that."
"He may want to save his neck." Mary added. "Admitting killing Green could put him straight into the noose. And he knows what that could do to Anna."
"I'm not going to tell the police about what he told me, Mary. And I do not plan to sack him or Anna just because a terrible wrong has been done to both of them. And do not misunderstand me - if he was pushed to do this by something that was done to his wife, then I would consider him as much a victim in all of this."
"You can't be serious!" Cora said. "He may be a dangerous man!"
"Even if, he's not dangerous unless you're planning to hurt Anna…" Mary mumbled earning herself a glare from her father. "But it is true! How many times did we treat him badly just because we didn't know why he did something?" She was met with a guilty silence. "He never, never did anything that could bring us harm, unless there is something I don't know about, but I doubt. He and Anna are probably ones of really small group of people we can trust fully. And what he did for us here in London during last few days just proved it."
"And I will want to hear all about it when we get back home, darling." Cora looked pointedly at her husband. "Right now I just want you to accept that if he did do it then he needs to "
"Needs to what, Cora? To go?" Robert exclaimed. "Absolutely not. Unless you want to punish Anna as well for what happened to her. Anyway, we've already decided on what we need to do in the next days so we better go to sleep now." Robert said shepherding Cora out of the room.
"Goodnight mama, papa." Mary said a little scared now. She was having trouble with the idea of hiding what Bates might have done, but she came to think that he deserved much more from them after all the services he and Anna gave to this family. Gave freely and willingly, more than once incuring much sorrow from it. Mary just wished her parents would leave the questioning at least until they came back to Downton.
If she only knew what would happen during their return to Downton she wouldn't even waste another moment worrying about a prospect of that talk. She would probably get her parents to check the date of the return trip.