November, 29th, Kingston upon Hull,
Dearest Elsie,
I cannot say how much I enjoyed your last letter. I find such comfort in your soft cursive hand. I must admit that I traced each line with my fingers; knowing how lovingly you had written them with your delicate pen only a few days before. I fear I am becoming sentimental in my exile.
Thank you for passing along the supportive words from Lady Mary, Mr. Branson, The Bates' and other staff. I was surprised by James' inclusion in your last letter. I would have thought he would flourish under Mr. Barrow's administration. Well, wonders never cease, as they say. Please tell Mrs. Patmore that she must not compromise her cooking to avenge me. It might reflect poorly on herself or Daisy.
I am encouraged by your account of your conversation with Lady Grantham. I almost feel sorry for His Lordship, faced with so much animosity, that he must decamp to London, but I am not yet ready to forgive the insults of last week. Please tell Anna how very sorry I am that my problems with His Lordship have caused a separation between her and John. Hopefully, the family will follow to London soon.
It was naïve of me to think my leaving would have no impact on the staff. I am glad to hear you have put Mr. Barrow in his place for the time being, but I doubt he will stay there.
Speaking of Mr. Barrow, I am sorry to hear the wine pairings have been so atrocious, though not astonished to hear that it is so. Tell Mr. Barrow he should use my cellar notebook. It has all the family's favorite wines noted and what dishes they best compliment. It also has some suggestions for some of Mrs. Patmore's tried and true menus. If he sticks to this, he should be fine. And please advise him if he doesn't know the difference between the Tokay Aszu and the Tokai Friulano he should not serve either. They have both been scarce since the war and I'd hate for them to be wasted on the wrong course in his ignorance. I wish I had given you the cellar key, but it would not have been fair to expect you to fight off Mrs. Patmore on the one hand and Mr. Barrow on the other.
I am pleased the Banns are proceeding well. I certainly hope none of my previous wives get wind of it... Only two Sundays more.
I am trying to be useful and stay busy here in Hull. I have shown Suzanne several of your housekeeping tricks. I don't know if she is just humoring me or if she is finding them useful. She did like the trick with the clothes pins, and I have seen her use it when she does not think I am looking, so I think it was genuinely helpful. I will be joining Nathan on the boat tomorrow and am looking forward to some physical work. I have felt so idle and restless. I must be driving Suzanne mad in her own home. She must be growing tired of hearing me speak about you, but it is the one topic that buoys my spirits.
The only other topics in this house are the weather; cool, crisp and clear, thank you; and which boats found the largest schools of fish today; not Nathan's. Both topics are very essential to life here, but I miss our talks of literature and music and the linen rota. The air is full of fish smells and the soot from the boats. I miss the smell of polish and lemon and lavender. Above all things, my love, I miss you.
Some of the boat names are quite humorous. I will try to remember a few of the cleverer ones in future letters. The only name I can remember right now is the Belle of Argyll, since it reminded me of you. It is a lovely little tug that guides the larger ships up the river. They have even painted a band of tartan around the smoke stack.
I have seen my Uncle Timothy and Cousin Fredrick. Fredrick has been very friendly and is a jolly soul. He laughs easily and loudly. You would like him. Uncle is rather frail, but he is as gentle as I remember. I have been joining them for tea or dinner almost every other day. It is nice to have family again.
Their business is much larger than I ever imagined. There is a small project that I've been helping Fredrick with in the evenings. I believe they would be able to find work for me if it comes to that, though I hope it does not. Still, it is nice to know we have options.
I must end now, or the poor courier will strain himself delivering this letter. I shall write again tomorrow.
Always and ever yours,
Charles
P.S. I came across this poem. I know how you enjoy Ms. Brontë. I am counting the days until I call you 'Wife'.
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night's decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
E.J. Brontë
CE—
The day after His Lordship and Mr. Bates had left for London, things had calmed and the household was running smoothly enough for Elsie to visit the Dowager House as she'd been invited to do 'at her leisure'. Elsie had found that phrase amusing. I know as much about leisure as the Dowager Countess knows about weekends. She laughed to herself.
Elsie had left over Mr. Barrow's protestations that she was needed. She'd caught him up short on that. "You are serving luncheon to the three young ladies today, Mr. Barrow. If you cannot handle that without me, I suggest you look for a different line of work." It was just Thomas trying to throw his weight around again and she had reached her limit of tolerance. Her eyes asked him if he was ready to go toe to toe with her. His eyes said that he was not.
As she walked, she felt his most recent letter in her dress pocket. He was getting sentimental in his exile, but then, so was she. At first glance the Brontë poem had seemed melancholy, being about death and dreary days, but she'd quickly understood why it spoke to him. Around her, the trees along the village road were dropping the last of their yearly burdens. Each leaf that fell was like the tick of a clock counting down the time until they would be together again. Even in winter's dreary days, there can be joys, if we only accept them.
When she reached the Dowager House, Mrs. Hughes was ushered into the sitting room swiftly and efficiently. Whatever Mrs. Hughes thought of the Dowager Countess, she had always run her household with a silent efficiency that Elsie admired. Whenever Mr. Carson spoke of 'the proper way' to do things, he meant the Dowager's way.
Elsie now faced, the three headed beast of Cora, Violet and Isobel, a sort of Crawley Cerberus. They all looked at her with differing levels of concern and kindness.
"We've next to no time for planning, Mrs. Hughes, so I'm afraid we've taken some liberties in your absence," Cora opened the proceedings.
Over the next hour, Elsie was told all about her wedding. She might have taken offense at their presumptions, but she was oddly touched. They were taking as much care with her wedding as they had with Lady Mary's or Lady Edith's, though there was much less time. Elsie suspected this was more owing to their respect for Mr. Carson than for her, especially on the Dowager Countess' part, but she was touched nonetheless.
The date was set with Mr. Travis for Monday, December 12th. The Wedding Breakfast would be held at the Dowager House and none of the Downton staff would be required. The combined staffs of the Dowager House and Crawley House would be supplemented by staff from the Grantham Arms. Mr. Molesley would be excused from his duties from Crawley House long enough to attend the service.
There was no detail too small but that they had not already addressed it. All they really needed from Elsie was to choose the bridal party, schedule a dress fitting and relay any questions or information to Mr. Carson.
"The girls have insisted on handling the flowers and I am afraid are being very secretive." Cora told Elsie when the subject arose.
Finally, they came to the part of the planning that was the most problematic.
"And after the reception? Where are Mr. Carson and I to go?" It was unclear if things would be resolved between His Lordship and the butler by then. His Lordship might take it ill if the ladies presumed too much and set the Carson's up in an estate cottage.
"Perhaps we should just plan to take a room at the Grantham Arms?" Elsie suggested. The shocked and almost disgusted looks on their faces told her this would be unacceptable.
"I have a solution." Isobel piped up. "I shall give you Crawley House for the days immediately after the wedding. I can vacate for a few days. That will allow us to plan for the wedding night," Elsie blushed here, "and will not get Robert's feathers in a ruffle."
"You can stay at Downton, Cousin Isobel," Cora suggested.
"Or you would be welcome here," Lady Violet surprised them all with her offer.
"Well, that's all settled then. Wonderful." Cora exclaimed, gathering her things. "I hate to leave you, but I have promised to run an errand for Lady Mary.
"You do understand, Mrs. Hughes, that, while I agree with you and Mr. Carson on many things, I will not cross His Lordship in this matter. The girls and Lady Violet and Mrs. Crawley will handle the wedding arrangements with my blessing, but publicly, I must stand with Lord Grantham. I hope you do not hold it against me, as there is no quarrel between you and I."
"As you say, your ladyship, this is a matter between his lordship and Mr. Carson." Even if he were in the wrong, Elsie would side with Mr. Carson, and often had. She did not fault Her Ladyship for supporting her husband. She realized the difficult position Lady Grantham was in and sympathized. "Unfortunately, we both seem to love stubborn men, m'lady." Cora patted her hand gratefully at this before she rose to leave.
Elsie wondered if she should excuse herself now, but the Dowager Countess ordered another round of tea and cakes brought in, so she felt obliged to stay. She was actually enjoying herself. She had always gotten along with Mrs. Crawley rather well, even if she didn't always agree with her progressive thinking. And, Elsie would admit this to no one, especially Charles, she was even enjoying the Dowager's company today.
After some small chatter of village gossip, the Dowager finally addressed the elephant in the room.
"So, how are we going to make peace between our stubborn Lord and our stubborn butler?" She looked at Elsie over the top of her tea cup.
Elsie had been anticipating this question and had a ready answer. "All Mr. Carson requires is a sincere apology."
"Well, Isobel, it seems you may have houseguests for some time." All three ladies smiled at this comment, albeit sadly. Violet found it difficult to comprehend Robert's current conduct. She had not seen him before he left for London. She had not tried to. Violet was torn. Of course, she could not condone his actions, but, on some level, she felt responsible for her son's current behavior. "I can't imagine what has gotten into him. He was such a good child, I fear I indulged him." It was her attempt at an apology.
Elsie had not planned to say anything against His Lordship; not to his mother. But the Dowager Countess had opened the conversation so Elsie continued it. "Mr. Carson says he acts this way sometimes because he's bored." Elsie spoke cautiously, "With all due respect, I've heard of Earls who actually do things. There's one over in Egypt right now, searching for lost pharaohs. Others have explored the Arctic and the Antarctic. They do more than stalk around their estates sighing and wondering why life is so damned dull." That was perhaps going too far, she backpedaled quickly.
"I mean, look at the two of you. You both seem to stay occupied with various causes or boards or running your house. What exactly does Lord Grantham do? Mr. Branson runs the estate, Lady Grantham runs the house, there's nothing left for him to do."
Isobel carefully noted, "He does rather put the idle in the 'idle rich'."
The Dowager considered this carefully. "The Earls of Grantham have usually been rather active. His grandfather bred horses and dogs. His father liked to travel and collect rare books from around the world…"
"And he established the hospital," Isobel added.
"I'm afraid the money issues of the estate dominated things when he was young and Robert never seemed to find a passion to fill his time after things were settled. I guess he likes shooting things, but I don't think he even talks to the gamekeeper about the status of the flocks. I'm afraid to admit he is rather an idle person." Violet was just thinking out loud now.
Elsie wondered, "Is it that simple then? Does he just need a hobby?"
"Perhaps he should take up gardening?" Isobel suggested.
Elsie looked at Violet, her eyes asking, Do you want to take this one, or should I? She found herself looking at an identical expression and a pair of eyes asking her the identical question. So, instead of explaining to Isobel exactly what was wrong with her suggestion, the two women simply began laughing hysterically.
When it had died down and Isobel had good-naturedly accepted their apologies it was time for Elsie to return to Downton.
"Thank you, once again for all you are doing for Mr. Carson and me. I am very appreciative and he will be even more so."
"It is our pleasure," Isobel beamed.
"And do not concern yourself with Lord Grantham, I shall find him a hobby." Violet promised her. And she meant it.
A/N- I get that production costs keep Robert tied to the estate, so he can't go to Egypt (which is good, because he'd probably die), but I don't understand why he doesn't breed horses or dogs, Queen Elizabeth does.