A/N: I proudly present chapter 2. Thank you for reading, for the following and the reviews!

Duchess: Thank you for the further encouragement! I'd love to write some fanfiction about Edith and Sir Anthony after their wedding, but I want to wait for the things, which will happen in series 3. Whatever it will be... (in worst case I'll write some AU).


Edith was the first of her family entering the dining room for breakfast. Not even her father was there. She wasn't sad about this, because she was still thinking about finding excuses for leaving the house as soon as possible.

The last night, of which she had spent most awake and considering, had finally ended in an uncomfortable sleep. Edith felt shattered. She was tired, but she was clear in her the decision. After the breakfast she would try to speak to Sir Anthony. She had to know what had changed his mind so sudden.

Lady Cora was the first one, who finally appeared. She looked tired. Edith presumed that her parents had talked the whole night about the upcoming events.

"Good morning, Edith," the Countess said and kissed her daughter's forehead. "As good as this morning can be."

"Good morning, Mama," Edith replied. She tried a smile. Her mother was thinking about the war only. She hadn't noticed Edith's sorrow, not a little bit. Her second daughter's prospects were – of course - of secondary importance only. But…

Edith looked at her mother and felt that she wasn't fairly to her. Lady Cora looked pale. She had to cope with so many things right now. There were the loss of her baby, the trouble with Matthew being or not being the heir and Mary marrying or not marrying him, the Pamuk affair and now probably the fear that her husband had to go o war. Yes, her mother was worrying about a basket full of things, but nevertheless Edith wished Lady Cora would care a just little bit about or even noticed her misery.

Being the brave daughter she had had always been, Edith tried to converse. "Do you think…," she started shyly. "Do you think that Papa will be called up again?"

Cora looked over the table to her daughter. Edith had just expressed her own misgivings. "I don't know," she answered. "I hope he'll stay here with us. Thinking of his age we might be lucky."

Edith sighed. "In my view… I'm afraid, he wants to go and fight."

That's what I'm afraid of, too, Lady Cora thought, when she answered Edith's words with a serious glance.

"Who wants to go and fight?" Mary asked. She was just entering the room and caught Edith's last sentence.

"Papa," her sister replied.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Of course, he wants to go to the continent. He's an officer. It is his duty."

Her mother shook her head. "You of all of our daughters should remember how it was with her father away in the war; with him far away and for us not knowing, what would happen to him. For me there is nothing glorious and shining in a war. People will be hurt or even worst they will die. There will be people known to us, who will suffer such a destiny, and for God's sake I don't your father being one of them. So, please talk of duty in this context."

Despite her mother's stony face Mary wasn't prepared to give up on this matter. "The Germans forced us into this war and it's our duty to fight them," she retorted. "Britain and its officers have got a long and successful military tradition. But, well, tradition has always been something Americans will still have to learn."

Edith started to hate herself for initiating this topic and she hated Mary for capturing it. It ended as it had always done with Mary in the centre of attention and herself suffering quietly.

Meanwhile Lady Cora hadn't finished with her eldest daughter. She looked at Mary with anger. "So, because of this tradition you want your father to risk…" She stopped, because her husband entered the room.

"Good morning," Robert Crawley said. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all," Edith hurried to say. She smiled at him. Fur further distraction she told him: "I'd love to drive around a bit this morning. Can I take a horse and carriage?"

Lord Grantham, still a bit suspicious about the atmosphere in the room, nodded. "Of, course, you can, Edith."

"The weather is really lovely," his wife agreed. She was thankful for the new topic. "Maybe we can go out for walk later today, Robert. And, Edith, please be back fur luncheon in time."

XXX

Edith lost her courage right in the middle of the way from Downton Abbey to Sir Anthony's house. Due to the fact that she did know, what Mary might have told him, she felt uncertain about what to say, how to start. What, if Mary hadn't been involved in this? What, if something she herself had said or done was the reason for his behaviour?

She stopped the carriage and thought about it for a moment. Several moments arose before her inner eye, but there was nothing uncomfortable or bad she remembered. Edith had never felt especially brave or heroic. In addition it took awhile until her interest in Sir Anthony had became more than the result of her bet with Mary. Seeing him going away yesterday's afternoon left her behind with a broken heart. She realised in this moment how much her fondness had grown, how deep the affection she felt really was.

Is it wrong to try to get an explanation? Edith thought. Is it stupid to make the attempt to put everything right? She was irresolute, but only for an additional minute. She knew Sir Anthony for some time now. He would listen to her clarification. If he felt only a bit of the affection like she did, he had to.

She had this still in mind, when she arrived in front of his house. Edith stopped the carriage, strengthened her self-confidence for a second and left finally the cart. Arrived at the front door she rang the bell. It took a little while until the butler opened.

"Good morning," Edith said with a polite smile. "I'd like to speak to Sir Anthony."

The butler gave a little cough. "I'm terribly sorry, Lady Edith, but Sir Anthony is not here at moment."

"Not here?" Edith asked confused. She felt like someone had poured icy water over her.

"Yes, he went to Ripon this morning to see his lawyer about some matter regarding the estate and won't be back before dinner."

"Oh." Edith fought against the increasing disappointment. Why he wasn't here? Why he preferred to see his lawyer in Ripon instead of speaking with her about what had happened? She felt tears filling her eyes and a sobbing arising in her throat.

"Is there anything else, I can do for you?" Sir Anthony's butler looked impatient.

"No." Edith shook her hat. "No, thank you."

Still fighting the tears and the sobbing she went back to the carriage. Was could be such an important estate matter that Sir Anthony had to talk about it with his lawyer on the day after the afternoon he had planned to proposed. This certainly had to be an elusion. Apparently he didn't want to talk to her, to anyone.

Still deep in thoughts she drove away. Very short after she passed main gate something forced her to look back. She wasn't able to say later, what it had been, but she felt a strong appeal to do it. What Edith saw made her heart nearly stop.

Upstairs, at a window in the second floor she espied Sir Anthony's figure. He was obviously watching her leaving.