One-sided love
Anna loves Lady Mary's hair. Of all the Crawley girls, Mary's is the most beautiful. Long, dark and shiny, Anna loves the way the hair seems to shimmer in the dim light of her bedroom. Brushing Lady Mary's hair, Anna thinks how lucky Mary is to have such hair, Lady Sybil's is wild and requires much taming and is nowhere near as soft as Mary's. Poor Lady Edith has thin hair that takes much styling and even then never seems to do as it is told. It really is unfortunate for Edith, but then, Anna knows that Edith has always been the least favoured of the girls.
Styling Lady Mary's hair is her favourite task of the day, she loves the soft texture and the way it seemingly styles itself, it takes so little effort to make it look stunning. Anna is truly in awe of it. Letting down her own hair each night, she wonders what she would look like with long, dark hair. Brushing her own smooth, blonde hair, she thinks admiringly of Lady Mary's hair and how she wishes she could have hair like that. How she wishes she could have coffee coloured hair that waves and shimmers so naturally.
Years later, when scandal and lies have ruined Lady Mary forever, Anna realises that she may always love and admire Lady Mary's hair but it's the only thing about her she does admire. As Anna's husband brushes her hair, full of admiration for her blonde locks, she realises that actually, her hair is pretty perfect after all.
