Author's Note: Thanks to RHatch89 and kmby67 for reviewing the last chapter, and thanks also kmby67 for following the story. I hope you all will enjoy the delayed chapter. Please review and follow.

Suffering the Suffrage, Part Two

The next morning,

Just before lunch, Downton house was once again a hive of activity. Even though Cora and Mary had gone to visit the Dowager Countess in her cottage, there were still a number of preparations that needed to be made before lunch. Several guests were set to arrive then, and with the number of guests expected by dinner, Mrs. Patmore was the queen of the hive in the kitchen. Even William was standing at the kitchen door, ready to fulfill any request the cook might have.

"As if it isn't enough to have another guest at dinner, I can't even get you to follow the simplest of orders, Daisy? We are serving pork loin and scalloped potatoes. Scalloped potatoes. You don't put scalloped potatoes into pork loin sauce!" Mrs. Patmore picked up a handful of potato medallions from the raw juices of the pork loin and flung them at Daisy. Even though she whimpered, Daisy stood there and let the potato slices land on her face. Mrs. Patmore was indifferent. "Wasted hours peeling and cutting those potatoes just so, and now you've gone and ruined the whole lot! Now I've got to order more potatoes, have them peeled and cut into exact sizes, and have them prepared for dinner! Silly girl!"

"Yes, ma'am." As Mrs. Patmore turned away to fuss over another cooking assistant, William walked over to Daisy and leaned close. Daisy jumped in surprise. "Don't worry, Daisy. It was a mistake anyone could have made."

"I've been in this kitchen for two years now. I ought to know better."

"You've been in this kitchen for two years now. Missus Patmore knows that she can count on you and this was a little mistake."

"I guess so. I just want to do better. I've had enough of her yelling at me."

William placed a reassuring hand on Daisy's right shoulder. "Tell you what: I'll go and get some potatoes from the market. That should put Missus Patmore in the right mood." Daisy nodded in agreement, and William dashed out the kitchen. "I'll be back before the afternoon tea."

The Dowager Countess' cottage

"I suppose dinner this evening will be far more dramatic than the usual affair to which I've become accustomed. All three of my granddaughters and their beaus at one table?" Violet chuckled. "How exciting. I suppose there should be a proposal before the end of the meal."

Violet, Cora and Mary had gathered at the Dowager Countess' home for lunch, instead of partaking it amid the hustle and bustle at Downton. Mary wore a simple gray dress with gold buttons down the front of the dress; Cora had chosen to wear a light pink satin dress with a matching hat to draw out the blue in her eyes. Violet, appropriately enough, had worn a purple dress with black lace trim. The three generations of Crawley women dined on a light lunch.

"If Papa would be reasonable, I would marry Pamuk now," Mary smiled.

"So, the proposal was made, and Robert refused to consent to it?"

"Yes, and that was nearly a year ago. My prospects in London have considerably dried up since then."

"Why would he refuse such a match? A Turkish ambassador's family must be well enough off, to afford two houses on two separate continents. And he is well enough connected in social circles. Perhaps a marriage to a good Englishwoman is just what the ambassador would need to make peace and dispel all these rumors of wars," Violet sniffed.

Cora sighed, "Robert doesn't feel that a match with Pamuk is the best that Mary can do. In his eyes, Pamuk is a foreigner and a foreigner should marry into an English family."

"Is there any risk that you would have to become an Ottoman princess, Mary?"

"I'm not sure," Mary said tensely. "Pamuk suggested once that I should visit Istanbul, but I do believe that was flirtation and not a serious statement that I would have to move."

"Robert may have given one reason, but I believe he has another in mind." Cora raised her eyebrows in askance at Violet. "Since this business with the Entail has been resolved, I believe that Robert still holds high hopes for Mary's chances of marriage. In short, he believes there are better alternatives possible. You must show him that there are not."

"Do you mean that I should tell him of my rendezvous with Pamuk?"

"Certainly not!" Cora objected. "After all that your grandmothers and I went through, your Granny is certainly not suggesting that."

"Actually I am suggesting something of the sort." Cora's and Mary's mouths opened in surprise. "If nothing else, Robert puts the reputation of this family first. If there is enough gravity to the matter, Robert will acquiesce his personal desires. It is a far better route than to elope with the ambassador's son if you should find yourself a rejected wife."

"I suppose." Mary took a sip of her tea, creating a sense of mystery around her words.

"At any rate," Violet continued, nonplussed, "I do have a minor personal matter to discuss with you, Cora. It seems that I am in need of a lady's maid. Mine ran off to get married."

"Poor dear; is there anything worse than losing one's maid?" Cora said sympathetically.

"Why would she leave me? I've been as gentle as a lamb…Most of the time."

"Granny, you're as gentle as a lamb if lambs had teeth," Mary chuckled.

"Don't worry. I'll put an advertisement out for a maid, and I'll get Mrs. O' Brien's opinion on what good qualities are for a maid, what sort of duties she usually has to carry out."

Shortly after lunch with her father and Edith, Sybil departed for Rippon in a car chauffeured by Tom. Sybil had chosen a pale yellow dress, blue coat, and a purple hat for the occasion of attending the rally in the town square. "I don't suppose women's rights?" Tom inquired over his shoulder.

"I suppose I do," Sybil replied.

"If you do, here are some pamphlets you should read." Tom handed the stack of pamphlets to Sybil over the back of his seat.

Sybil perused the pamphlets. Each one of them proclaimed in bold, large letters the distressing plight of women in England. liberation starts at home, one declared. mothers have minds too, another proclaimed. In silence on the peaceful country road, Sybil quickly read over the pamphlets' contents.

Her silence unsettled Tom. "I just thought, you might be interested in some reading material. Seeing as how you chose that frock; it's not common for a woman of your class to choose a dress with no skirt for her debut ball."

Sybil smiled to herself at the compliment. "It seems so unlikely: a revolutionary and a chauffeur."

"I'm a socialist, not a revolutionary. And I won't be a chauffeur forever."

"What else do you plan to do?"

"A journalist perhaps. I think it's so amazing how they live their lives always journeying, completely free to dictate their own living standards. They keep all the rest of us informed while they take all the risks of being on the road."

"I agree: There is something fascinating about living in control of one's one life," Sybil grinned.

Within an hour of Sybil's departure, wondrous aromas poured out from the Downton kitchen and guests began to pour into the home.

The Crawley family—minus Sybil, of course—was present to greet the first of their guests, the Viscounts of Bradford. Dudley and Edwin Kent arrived in a convertible carriage with the top lowered, drawn by two large black horses that seemed to symbolize the family's wealth and power. Dudley sat upright in a dashing charcoal gray traveling suit. Edwin, who sat beside him, seemed more composed and sober than he had a mere year earlier, and wore a tweed traveling suit that fitted his new persona of composure. Dudley enthusiastically shook hands with Robert and hugged Cora as though she was his mother. Cora gasped in shock but chuckled pleasantly.

Violet leaned close to Mary. "Is that Sybil's beau greeting Cora with such affinity?"

"Yes, Granny.

"He ought to be a little more reserved than that. If he tries to greet me like that, I should think the boy has had a strong drink for the road."

"No, that would be the other brother. Last year, he was so drunk as to be a complete and total nuisance. I'm surprised his family would send him back here," Edith whispered caustically

"Perhaps he met one of us and found her more intriguing than the others," Mary suggested.

"I'm sure you don't mean yourself, Mary. It's not as though you haven't got a harem of suitors as it is."

"At least Sybil has a beau of her age. Sir Antony is older than Papa, or have you two discussed that yet?" Mary said, cutting her eyes at Edith.

"Now, now, ladies, retract your claws. The young men approach to greet us," Violet whispered to her granddaughters. Dudley shook hands with everyone and smiled nicely, but his eyes betrayed his disappointment. When he stood aside to let Edwin make pleasantries, Violet whispered to Mary, "I do hope Sybil will return in time for tea. It is unwise to keep the heir of a Duke disappointed."

It was Edwin's gesture that disarmed everyone. While he shook hands with Mary, Violet, and Lord and Lady Grantham, he dropped into a sweeping bow and gently kissed Edith's hand. Robert cleared his throat, causing Edwin to jump and look abashed. Robert leaned closer to Cora. "I don't appreciate a gentleman, even a viscount, approaching my daughter in that way."

"Well, dinner just became a great deal more interesting," Violet chuckled.

William returned to Downton just before tea with five more pounds of potatoes for scalloping, and was immediately dispatched to serve tea to Violet, Cora, Edith, and Mary. Meanwhile, Dudley requested a private tea with Robert in the library. Robert chose to remain standing while Dudley sat down. The young man wrung his hands together and lowered his eyes to the floor. Sensing his unease, Robert asked, "What did you want to discuss with me, Lord Kent? Have your accommodations so far been uncomfortable?"

"Lord Grantham, I…" Dudley stopped and glared at the floor. Robert took a sip of his tea but remained standing, studying Dudley. The boyishly young man brushed back his curly jet black hair, steadied himself, and cleared his throat. "Lord Grantham, I have reason to believe that I have become infatuated with Sybil. Actually, I have every reason to believe that I am utterly in love with her."

Robert sighed internally. 'A proposal of marriage for my youngest daughter before I have married off the eldest; nothing could have prepared me for this.' He retained his composure. "And what reasons are those?"

"She's lovely, intelligent, and a wonderful person." Dudley grinned. "Yes. I am very certainly in love with Sybil."

"And what do you intend to do about those feelings for my daughter?"

"I should like to marry her."

"And I should like to marry off my eldest daughter first. Unfortunately….Sybil just turned eighteen and entered society this past fall. She's barely of age to marry. Give her time, at least until the start of the season."

"Barely of age to marry? With all due respect," Dudley stood up, "Lord Grantham, Sybil is a member of London society now."

"Sit down, boy," Robert admonished gently. Dudley complied. "I do not believe that either of you are ready to marry yet. At least give it until the start of the London season. I want Sybil to be fully prepared for a marriage before I consent to it. Are you willing to give her that?"