Viewing the man in front of him, Dr. Clarkson realized he was having a very strong, emotional reaction. It was ingrained into his thought process to analyse symptoms before coming to a decision, so he internally began doing so.

He could feel his pupils dilate, and he was leaning forward unnecessarily into the younger man's personal space while maintaining direct eye contact. On top of this, he was faintly mirroring the other man's gestures and could feel that his heart rate was slightly above average. Prognosis: lust.

John Clarkson immediately restrained himself and attempted to listen to what the other male was saying. The man in question's name was Thomas and he had often noticed the man working at Downton, not a marvelous feat considering he was a footman and opened the door. However, he had also recognized in himself a slight attraction for the younger man, which had led to a staunch resolution to ignore him. Again not a marvelous feat as most visitors were expected to ignore the servants. There were several reasons why John was forcing himself to restrain his attraction, the first being that the doctor wished to maintain his good reputation among the Crawley's. He was sure Robert would find his having an affair with his footman very bad form indeed and the fierce dowager certainly had the influence to arrange for him to be run out of the county, should his inclinations come to light. The second reason was that Thomas's age was closer to John's youngest son's age than to John's own, placing Thomas rather firmly in the category of 'too young'. This reason ran closely into the third reason for his restraint which was, supposing he were to start a relationship with the other man, how would he ever be able to explain it to his children? Finally, on top of all the negative repercussions a relationship of this kind could potentially cause, was the lingering certainty that Thomas would reject him either because he was not that way inclined or because of Dr. Clarkson's age. All in all, Dr. Clarkson considered it far safer to ignore the other man.

Yet the object of his attraction had accosted him and was requesting his help in training to be a war doctor. Politeness dictated that John did not sprint for the door screaming, so instead he was listening politely and getting dangerously close to flirting. He had to shut this conversation down quickly, before he did something ridiculous. With this in mind, John rather brusquely promised to look into the matter for him before promptly exiting through the front door.

John looked into the matter rather more quickly than he might have, had it been another servant who had made the request. Once it was done however, he rather dreaded having to approach the man and inform him of his appointment. It rather interfered with his policy of ignoring Thomas wherever possible. Still, a final meeting and his distraction would not even play the minimal role in his life that he currently did. This relief enabled John to calmly give Thomas the news at the Crawley's garden party before the war was announced and everything went to hell in a rather official manner. From then on his life was so hectic in caring for wounded soldiers that he hardly had time to worry how the ex-footman would be coping with the intense training and then life on the front line. Yet he was able to utilize his limited time he had to do just that.