Driving Lessons

Lady Edith Crawley stood at the front door of Downton Abbey in the spring of 1915 impatiently tapping her toe waiting for the chauffeur for her very first driving lesson. The reason she wanted to learn to drive wasn't because young men were being called up for the war and the family could soon be without a driver. That was the story she had given her father and he had fallen for it. The real reason Edith wanted to learn to drive was to have a way to escape watching her older sister Mary flirt with every eligible man who crossed the threshold. Edith had always played second fiddle to Mary. At Edith's ball during her first coming out season their dislike of each other had become evident. Mary had made it a sport to pull away every man who showed even the slightest interest in Edith. She had retaliated by indulging in gossip and attempting to ruin Mary's chances with first one man and then the next.

The worst had come when a grown Patrick Crawley had arrived for a visit at Downton. Edith and Patrick had always been close as children. For Edith that closeness had grown into love. Of course her parents and Granny had offered up Patrick as another plaything for Mary and Mary had snatched him to ensure her future place in society. Edith was sure Mary would have discarded him in a minute if a better offer had come along. Edith had been waiting for that day but it was not to be as Patrick had died on the Titanic and Edith's hopes had died with him.

Edith had waited to take her revenge. Mary's affair with Pamuk had seemed like a perfect opportunity. That had gone terribly wrong as Mary had destroyed any hopes Edith had with Anthony Strallen. That had been last fall, before her youngest sister, Sybil left for a yearlong nursing course in London. Without Sybil's good-natured temperament, family dinners had become a chore and were even worse when Mary maneuvered to have every male eye on the room trained on her. The hurt Edith was feeling along with her natural awkwardness was making the situation impossible and she wanted… Well she didn't know exactly what she wanted but she did know she had enough of Mary and her constant flirting.

The chauffeur pulled up to the door not in the Renault that Edith had been expecting but in the town car. He stopped the engine and got out.

"Milady," he said in an Irish accent and rough voice that Edith had always found mildly irritating. "I was directed to give you driving lessons starting this morning."

"Where is the Renault?" Edith demanded. "Why have you brought this car?"

"This car is more suited for lessons," he said. He kept his tone neutral and his head down, as he opened the driver's door for her to enter the car.

Once Edith was seated inside she was surprised when he gave her instructions on how to adjust the seat and test for the distance to the pedals. He then told her to get out and go around the front.

"But aren't you going to start the car?" Edith asked. "I just want to know how to drive it."

"If you get stopped and don't know how to start the car, you'll be stranded," he said in an even tone.

First he demonstrated the technique, shut the car off and had Edith attempt it. After five tries she still hadn't managed to start the car and was getting more frustrated by the second. Her normally styled hair was coming loose from her hat and swinging in her face and her hat was threatening to fall off at any second. She could feel the tears of frustration starting to well in her eyes. She looked up at the chauffeur ready to reprimand him if her was laughing at her, but that wasn't the case. He had encouraged her to keep trying and pointed out that few people could get the technique on the first try. Finally on the eighth attempt Edith heard the engine turn over and quickly pulled her hand back to protect her thumb as he had mentioned. Unfortunately, she pulled her hand back too quickly and the crank shot off and flew directly into the chauffeur's shin.

"I didn't mean that to happen," she said in way of apology.

"No, problem, Milady," he said through gritted teeth. His face was turning red and there was a white line around his mouth. "I think that's enough for today. Would you like another lesson same time tomorrow?"

The next day Edith had managed to get the car started after two tries, but had only managed to get it lurch forward a few feet. The lessons continued almost daily for the next month. No matter how badly she did, the chauffeur encouraged her to keep trying. Edith noticed more than once the man clinging to the passenger door or the dashboard as though his life deepened on it. She was still having problems keeping the car to the correct side of the road, but she could shift gears and stop and go when she wanted. Finally, her father gave permission for her to drive into town.

Her first foray into town she had almost hit a stonewall and missed the space where she was supposed to park. Instead she had almost a foot of the sidewalk under the car and the wheels perched precariously on the curb. Other cars drove past, honking with the drivers laughing and pointing at her. She wanted to knock her head on the steering wheel and scream in frustration. Branson, the family chauffeur assured her it wasn't bad for a first attempt and that she just needed to try again. After three failed attempts Edith was finally able to get the car parked reasonably well along the street and they were headed back to the main house, with yet another lesson scheduled for the next day.

While she was driving along the road, Edith contemplated the relationship her family had with their staff. Each of them had their favorites among the staff, each of them except her. Mary had Carson, Anna and William the junior footman wrapped around her finger. Mama had O'Brien although why anyone would be attached the sour old spinster Edith couldn't fathom and her father had his valet. Sybil was fond of the man sitting next to her. The two of them had gotten into a couple of political scrapes that had incurred the wrath of her father. Their behavior at the garden party had been shocking with his standing there smiling at Sybil and whispering in her sister's ear. Edith had felt a twinge of jealousy, not for the man, but for Sybil's ease and pleasure in the company of someone who so obviously admired her. Edith had thought Sir Anthony had admired her. He paid some attention to her and it had been pleasant, but his attentions had turned away from her and now she was alone yet again.

They had reached the front of the house when Edith realized she was going to overshoot the driveway and pulled the brake while forgetting to push in the clutch. The car gave a great lurch as the engine momentarily roared and then promptly stalled.

"Not bad for today, Milady," Branson said. The faint sheen of perspiration on his brow bellied his calm words. "We'll try town again tomorrow."

"I think I'm ready to try on my own," Edith said confidently.

"Not quite yet, I'm afraid," he said.

"I shall have to speak to my father about this," she said as way of a slight threat.

"Your father has left your driving status up to me," Branson replied. "I'm afraid you aren't quite ready to solo yet."

"Very well then, tomorrow," she said in a dismissive tone before leaving the car on the lawn where it had landed and heading back up the driveway to the house.

After almost two and a half months of lessons, Branson had finally declared Edith ready for the road and she had set out on her own. Her first trip had been to a friend's house not too far away to catch up on the latest gossip among their circle of friends and then on to do some errands for her father. She would take any excuse to stay away from the house that afternoon as Mary was having guests to tea and the last thing Edith wanted to do was to sit and watch her sister hold court.

"We're having three officers over tomorrow for dinner. They're all fliers. It's terribly exciting," Lady Marybeth told her. "They're all single, do come and help me entertain them Lady Edith."

"Yes, certainly," Edith said. She smiled as she sipped her tea. Finally, she had an opportunity to do some socializing without her sister in attendance.

"Do you think your sister, Lady Mary might come as well? It would even out the numbers."

"I will mention it to her," Edith said, suddenly downcast. Was she never to escape the cloud of Mary?

As it turned out Mary was already engaged much to Edith's relief. On hearing about the small soiree her father, Robert Crawley insisted Edith be driven by Branson rather than drive herself.

"The road will be dark," he said. "I don't want you taking any unnecessary chances."

"More like no chance to snog a flier in the car," Edith though to herself, but kept her mouth shut.

The party went off without a hitch. The men were all Canadians and somewhat more brash than Edith was used to, but she still enjoyed herself. She even managed to flirt with one of them and received a few compliments. By the time she was headed back home she had arranged to meet him the next week for dinner at a local pub. Her parents would have a fit if they found out she was going to a pub, but she didn't care. It was a date. Finally, a man was paying attention to her and she was going to enjoy every second of it.

The car pulled up in front of the house and Branson came around to hand her out of the car. As she stepped down she was busy thinking about Captain William Bellamy. Her foot caught in the hem of her dress and she fell out of the car. She would have fallen face first on the gravel if Branson hadn't caught her.

"Careful there, Milady," he said as he set her back on her feet.

"Thank you, Branson," she murmured before she headed in the house. She silently gave thanks for Branson's patience in teaching her to drive and saving her from the fall. Things were starting to look up.