Matthew

"Lady Mary Crawley and Lady Edith Crawley."

He turns around and looks at them. Lady Edith looks almost nondescript while her older sister looks slightly haughty. He leans towards his mother. "So the Earl and Countess didn't come after all. They sent their daughters in their stead. They probably think too highly of themselves to leave the Abbey for something like this family reunion."

"No they don't. They are in New York, visiting my mother's mother and brother, a trip they had planned in July. So they asked my sister and me to represent them. They would have come if they weren't on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean."

He wishes there was a hole in the ground he could vanish into. He turns to his mother for help but she has started to talk to someone else and isn't even listening. "Lady Mary, I am sorry, I hope you know this was just a joke."

"Of course I do, Mr?"

"Crawley. Matthew Crawley." He doesn't think that Lady Mary really believes that he was making a joke.

"Matthew Crawley. Your great-great-grandfather was the younger brother of the third Earl." "Something like that anyway."

"That makes us fourth cousins."

"If you say so." He realizes that he has just been incredibly rude to her.

"I am sorry Lady Mary. I am not myself right now. I actually am quite nice, even though I must appear rather rude to you."

She smiles at him and says "yes you do" but there is a twinkle in her eye. He wants to make it up to her and the only thing that comes to his mind is to ask her for a dance at the ball later that night.

"I don't suppose there are any free spaces on your dance card?" She raises an eyebrow at him but answers evenly. "There are. The first I have to dance with my cousin Patrick, of course. But the supper dance is still free. So if you are willing to sit next to me while eating you could have that one."

"It would be my pleasure, Lady Mary."

"Drop the Lady, just call me Mary."

Mary

She has no idea why she has just agreed to dance with that upstart cousin of hers, let alone give him the supper dance and allow him to call her 'Mary'. But there is something about him that intrigues her. He seemed honest and not too keen on pleasing her and that is refreshing. She looks forward to the ball and it is not because of the dance she'll have to share with Patrick. Her parents are pushing her to make the engagement official, but she is reluctant. She wants to be Countess of Grantham one day, but she doesn't want to marry Patrick. She doesn't love him and thinks that she never will. She has known Patrick almost all her live. She wants what her parents have. A marriage based on love and she is sure that that won't happen to her with Patrick. He is nice enough but he isn't more than a compromise and she sometimes thinks that he is a rather bad compromise. She is looking forward to the ball because of the dance she'll share with Matthew and the supper she will have with him. They might even have a decent conversation.

She dances the first dance with Patrick and they hardly talk but that is not unusual for them. After the dance he asks her if she is still free for the supper dance. When she says no he replies "I'll ask Edith then. It'll make her happy." "Very happy, I suppose", she answers. She wishes she could feel for Patrick what Edith feels but she can't.

"Mary". She turns around and looks into eyes so impossibly blue they almost sweep her of her feet. Matthew holds out his hand to her and she takes it. He dances her across the ballroom and keeps a running commentary on the other ladies' dresses. It is obvious he knows nothing about fashion but it is just as obvious that he is joking. She joins him in this endeavor and by the end of the dance they can hardly stand straight for laughing. They sit down for supper and he asks her why she had to dance the first dance with her cousin Patrick.

"Because I am supposed to marry him. I don't have a brother and he is my father's heir. Strictly speaking Patrick's father James is my father's heir. But he is older than my father, so it is unlikely that he will ever be the earl. And if he is it won't be for long. But to all intends and purposes, Patrick is the future Earl of Grantham."

"And your parents want him to marry you so that the title will stay in the immediate family."

"It's not about the title. It's about the money. My mother's money. The estate was almost bankrupt until my parents got married. My mother was an incredibly rich American heiress and all her money is tied to the estate."

"And your mother doesn't want her fortune to go to a cousin."

"My father doesn't want that either. It would break his heart. My mother gave up so much for him." "And your father is aware of that?"

"Yes. He is more aware of it than my mother is, I think."

"Would you mind me asking you a personal question about your parents?"

"No. If I don't want to answer it, I don't have to."

"How are your parents getting along?"

"I can answer that. Splendidly. They are blissfully happy. The trip to New York was my father's birthday present for my mother. He said he wanted to make her smile. But he does that by entering any room that she is in. And it is the other way around too."

"That is what you want too and you don't think you'll have it with Patrick."

"I won't. I've known him all my life, there is no love lost between us. How did you know that?"

"I am a lawyer, I know people."

"You also make people tell you things they might regret telling you."

"I won't breathe a word to anyone. I promise. What do you think about all those suffragettes being assaulted?"

She smiles at him, thankful for the change of topic. "I think it's horrid. I believe that women should have the right to vote. All women. What do you think?"

"I agree."

"You do? You are a man."

"Yes. And as a man I think that women should be allowed to vote."

"Impressive."

"I'll take that as a compliment." After supper she lets herself be taken outside by Matthew and they keep on talking for what feels like hours.

When she is in bed later that night she realizes that she can't wait to see him again the next day.