Bertie looked at Sir Anthony, wondering why the man suddenly looked so shocked. Then he realised that he probably hadn't told him about Edith's daughter earlier on. He had only assumed that he had done so.
Bertie wanted to bite his tongue off for doing it now. But it was definitely too late to take it all back, so he tried to smooth it over somehow.
"She is a wonderful little girl", he said. "And I had already promised that she could bring her with her if she married me. I was quite looking forward to becoming a father to her. Knowing that she is E... - her daughter makes the little one still more precious to me, of course. And it makes the whole thing so much easier to understand. Why take the child from a big estate to live in a land agent's cottage? I thought that a little strange at the time. When she first asked me about it."
That single E was the last missing piece in Sir Anthony's puzzle. Now he knew for certain that he had something in common with this young disconcerted man.
They had both been courting Lady Edith Crawley. And they had both abandoned her.
...
So Edith still wasn't married, Anthony thought. She had had a child out of wedlock. Her life hadn't been at all as happy as Anthony had hoped for when he left her.
Anthony's first impulse was to go back to England, propose to Edith again and promise that he would take care of her and her child.
But of course, there had been too much water under the bridges. Edith didn't love him any longer, of course not. She loved this young and - in spite of his blabbering - rather sympathetic Marquess.
Edith had loved another man before she met Herbert Pelham but after Anthony left her. That relationship also seemed to be over for Edith by now - Herbert Pelham had said something about an editor who died in Germany, could that be the man?
Who ever the father of Edith's child was, he must have been someone who hadn't wanted to marry her. Or perhaps someone who hadn't been able to marry her, but still hadn't refrained from sleeping with her.
That man couldn't have been a gentleman, of course. If he had he wouldn't have seduced a young Lady, the daughter of and Earl, and then left her alone with a child that she had to hide.
In Sir Anthony's eyes Edith was not to blame for whatever had happened.
But Anthony himself was, to a certain extent.
...
Years had gone by since Sir Anthony left Edith that horrible day. Many things had happened to Edith, though nothing much had happened to Anthony himself.
The best thing Anthony could do for Edith now was probably to try to get young Herbert back to her.
But was Herbert Pelham worthy of Edith?
...
Sir Anthony looked at the young Marquess at the other side of the table.
If that woman really was Edith - which Sir Anthony was certain of now - was this man really worthy of her? No matter if she had a hidden child or not.
The fact that Herbert Pelham was a Marquess made him a distinguished man in Sir Anthony's eyes. But, at the same time, the man he saw in front of him seemed very immature and undignified. He really shouldn't be prattling like this about his girl's deepest secrets to a total stranger. Still less to someone who had known Edith.
A gentleman should know when to keep his mouth shut. And what to keep it shut about. Even when he was drunk.
On the other hand, Herbert Pelham didn't know that Sir Anthony wasn't a total stranger to Edith. Besides, Edith's secret was safe with Anthony. He would never do anything that would hurt her.
Except leaving her at the altar, he had to remind himself.
AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you for the many nice comments to last chapter! Please keep commenting!
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And thank you to everyone who wished me a good time in London! I had that.
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What would have happened if DA hadn't been such a tremendous success? What if they had ended it after season 3, when the actors' first contracts were over?
This is what I think would have happened, not always the same as what I wish would have happened:
1. Matthew wouldn't have died, of course. That story would have ended with him and Mary and George in the hospital.
2. Sybil wouldn't have died in childbirth, only almost. Clarkson would have saved her life. Little Sybbie would have had another name. The Bransons would have stayed at Downton until the end of the season and then moved away.
3. There would have been no Rose. She was there to replace Sybil.
4. What about Edith, then? I think JF planned the ending Edith got in S6 from the very beginning. The underdog who triumphs. She would have met someone like Bertie in the first CS, the one after S2 - a young man whom everybody felt sorry for - and he would have inherited a title and a big estate in the end of S3. And Robert would have said: "If anyone had told me Sybil would hitch up with a mechanic and Edith would marry one of the grandest men in England..." Marrying Sir Anthony wouldn't have been a big enough triumph.
5. Sir Anthony wouldn't have come back in that Christmas special. He wasn't mentioned even once during the war in S2. He came back only because JF needed him to jilt Edith.
6. There would be no Gregson and no Marigold and no Drewes. (Gregson was never supposed to marry Edith either. For the same reason, not a big enough triumph.)
And I for one would never have started writing fanfiction. Which has given me so much pleasure and so many friendly comments over the years. And made me investigate so many interesting things.