I own none of the characters of Downton Abbey.
The Quiet Man
Chapter 7
John Bates sat on the bed in his room and finally got round to reading the latest letter he'd received from his mother – she wrote to him without fail every Sunday. He'd been handed it this morning, but had just stuffed it into his pocket to read later, not really expecting it to contain anything unusual. His mind had been on other matters.
O'Brien had overheard a conversation concerning Anna, and it had been the main topic of conversation amongst the staff at breakfast. It had been playing on his mind ever since.
"Seems our Anna has made quite an impression with Lady Rosamund during her little 'holiday' in London," O'Brien had announced, with a nasty sneer to her voice. There was no love lost between the two women, everyone knew that.
Bates' ears had pricked up at the mention of Anna's name, although he had remained his usual quiet self and made no comment. He missed dearest Anna's presence so very much, even though he had resisted allowing any further development of the feelings between them - to protect her.
But he missed just seeing her bonny face. He missed sitting next to her at meal times and feeling her move just that little bit closer to him. He missed all the little looks and smiles she sent in his direction. Oh yes, he missed her very much indeed.
But as he had told her, it was good practice for them to get used to being apart, and not seeing each other every day. Although his Lordship had not actually let him go yet following his confession to Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes, he was certain it was only a matter of time. No one with any sense would want to keep a proven thief and drunkard in their employ.
"What do you mean?" Thomas had asked as they had their breakfast.
"I overheard her Ladyship telling his Lordship that she'd had a request from Lady Rosamund in London, asking her if she would consider letting Anna go so that she could have her as her own personal Lady's Maid. So looks like she'll be moving on, lucky cow," O'Brien had explained, begrudgingly.
"She'd be a fool to turn it down if she gets offered it – Lady Rosamund loves to travel, and Anna would get to go with her. Some people have all the luck," Thomas had said resentfully. He never was one to be glad for other people's good fortune.
"Is it definite then? Is she even going to come back here to Downton?" Daisy had asked in her naïve way.
"Don't go jumping to any conclusions just yet, young Daisy. Anna will have to escort Mrs Patmore safely back to Downton, won't she? We don't know if her Ladyship even agreed to let her go, now do we? And you should know better than to start such rumours," Mrs Hughes had told O'Brien disapprovingly.
"I'm only repeating what I heard, that's all," O'Brien had said, defensively.
As Bates digested this information, he knew that he had no right to long to see Anna again. Anna was a beautiful young woman who deserved a man far better than he – or maybe she should just concentrate on her position, it really would be a wonderful opportunity for her to travel with Lady Rosamund. So it probably would be best all round if Anna were to stay in London and he was to just quietly leave Downton, but he couldn't help it - his heart selfishly longed to see her again.
And now as he read his mother's letter, he realised that there was maybe another reason why Anna would want to stay in London, and not see him again, to have nothing more to do with him. He was very surprised to learn that Anna had been to see his mother to obtain more information about the circumstances of his imprisonment.
His mother wrote at some length about what a nice young lady Miss Smith seemed - unlike that dreadful woman he had married. They had never got along at all, so no doubt his protective and biased mother had filled Anna in with her version of events concerning Vera.
Bates was shocked. What on earth had possessed Anna to start poking about in the dark and murky details of his past? No good would come of it he felt, even though his dear mother would no doubt paint him in as best a light as she could. But even so, nothing could change the facts, the events that had occurred. Anna would no doubt be horrified and want nothing further to do with him once she learnt of his behaviour concerning his wife.
xXx
That evening as Bates helped his Lordship to dress for the evening, he chatted amiably to his valet as usual. This was one of the reasons that he was struggling to come to a decision about Bates' future – he felt very comfortable in the mans' company. He would have sworn on a bible that he was trustworthy, so he just could not believe that what Bates had confessed to could possibly be true. He was sure there simply had to be more to it, especially as he had received such an unusually lenient sentence, which suggested that there had been mitigating evidence.
But as Bates refused to elaborate any further as to the exact circumstances of his imprisonment, he felt that he was left with very little choice in the matter. But for now, he kept putting the decision off, because he was so reluctant to see his old war comrade go.
"So, Mrs Patmore will be back tomorrow, Bates. I imagine there may be a few ruffled feathers between her and Mrs Bird before things settle down again hmm?" Lord Grantham said.
He liked to feel that he had some idea of what was going on 'below stairs' in his household, so he had not hesitated to step in to sort out the problem with Mrs Patmore. It would normally have been taken care of by her Ladyship, but in view of his wife's 'delicate' condition and not wanting her to be worried by anything that could cause her undue stress, he had been happy to take care of things instead.
Frustratingly for Bates, he did not mention Anna returning, or any change in her future plans, and Bates would never dream of mentioning any gossip he'd heard, because he would never want his lordship to think he indulged in any kind of gossiping. It was essential that a valet was completely discreet and trustworthy.
"I'm sure they will work something out between them, your Lordship. I take it the operation was successful then?"
"So it would seem Bates, yes. I must say Mrs Bird has proved to be a worthy replacement, jolly good of the Crawleys to let her help us out in this way. But it will be good to get things back to normal."
"Indeed it will," Bates agreed.
He would have to wait until tomorrow to find out if Anna would be back – or not. And even if she was back, would she have changed her opinion of him? Had her eyes been opened to the true nature of his character, and would she now want nothing further to do with him – he would not blame her if that proved to be the case, but it would smash his heart into little pieces. Maybe it would be best then if she stayed in London, and he could retain his memories of how she had looked at him with such sweet, innocent, but naïve love.
