Chapter 12
Mary was just coming out of Matthew's room when Edith and Anthony approached.
"How did it go?" Edith asked.
"Alright," Mary was coy.
"Only alright?" Edith raised an eyebrow.
Mary's smile was infectious.
"He told me he had always loved me, and he asked me to marry him. Naturally I said yes."
Edith threw her arms around her sister.
"Don't tell anyone yet though, Matthew and I are going to announce the engagement when he gets out of here."
"Mum's the word." Edith said.
"Congratulations Lady Mary." Anthony said.
"Thank you, Sir Anthony." Mary embraced him as well, which took him by surprise.
"We'll see you at dinner." Edith said, as she pushed open the door to Matthew's room.
OO
"It's good to see you, Edith, Sir Anthony." Matthew said. "Thank you so much for what you did yesterday."
"It had to be done." Anthony said, "I wasn't about to let a lowlife like him get away. Congratulations by the way, we just saw Lady Mary."
"I should never have let her go." Matthew sighed, "If I'd known what Carlisle would try and trap her into..."
"If it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else." Anthony said, "There is no shortage of his ilk out there, looking to prey on people."
"You sound like you have experience of his type." Matthew said.
"When she was a foolish young girl my late wife wrote a serious of rather indiscreet letters to a young man of whom she was enamoured." Anthony replied. "She was in London doing her first season and she met Carlisle. He tried to hold if over her. Then she met me and was honest with me. I confronted Carlisle with the fact that I knew. It rather took the wind out of his sails, I think. Holding him to ransom was a pleasure."
"I would probably have frozen or bled to death without your help, Edith." Matthew said. "Please, let me give you something towards getting your coat cleaned."
"Honestly Matthew, there's no need."
OO
Edith had excused herself to get some tea.
Anthony took a seat beside Matthew's bed.
"So how are you?" He asked.
"Well, I keep knocking things over or dropping them because I forget I can't move my arm. But you wouldn't believe how much a limb that doesn't move can hurt."
"Oh, I can believe it." Anthony said.
"Does it get easier to cope?"
"With time. By far the most difficult aspect of an injury like this is dressing and undressing. I can manage to eat and write okay, it's things like not being able to drive that get to me most."
"I'm going to miss that." Matthew sighed, "At least you will be alright when you and Edith get married because she can drive, Mary can't."
"We'll need to be very patient with our women." Anthony said, "Neither of them have experience of undressing men, we have to teach them how it's done."
"And reinforce with rewards." Matthew grinned.
"Of course," Anthony flushed. "I will have a talk with my valet, he may be able to recommend someone for you. I engaged him because he used to be a nurse so had experience with injuries like ours."
"That would be very helpful, thank you." Matthew said.
"It's easy to get despondent and feel like giving up, I went through enough times when I felt like putting a bullet in my own head," Anthony said, "But somehow the thought of Edith kept me from doing that, I knew it would destroy her if she had known I'd killed myself. You're Lord Grantham's heir so you have a lot to live for, even more now that you have Lady Mary."
"Do you still have nightmares and flashbacks?" Matthew asked.
"Yes," Anthony said, "I would be lying if I said I didn't. They are easier to live with now."
"I find I can't talk to Mary about my experiences. I have tried but I just can't find the words."
"Try writing them down, or writing poetry." Anthony said. "It has helped me a lot. You don't have to show it to anyone if you don't want to, but I find it helps to see it outside of yourself, it doesn't seem nearly as terrifying then."
"Did you ever find out who shot you?" Matthew asked, "I mean, I know very well who shot me, and in some ways that makes it harder to live with."
"I never knew his name." Anthony said. "He was a young cadet in the German military police and he didn't even look old enough to have finished school."
"He probably hadn't." Matthew said.
"No, you're right. By the end the Kaiser was calling up increasingly younger men, most of them little more than boys. I pitied them to be honest. They were deprived of their childhood and forced to grow up far too quickly in a conflict they neither asked for nor understood."
OO
Anthony came for dinner at Downton that night. Edith could tell that neither her father nor grandmother was happy about this, but she did not care. She felt that her father owed Anthony something, since he had prevented Carlisle's escape from the scene. Anthony stayed close to Edith, and kept his good arm around her. Edith felt warm and secure.
Anthony summoned his chauffeur at around ten pm and went outside to say goodnight to his sweet one.
He had told Mary that he may be able to help Matthew find a valet, for which Mary was grateful.
"You will have to learn as well, Mary." Edith teased. "No man is going to want his valet present on his wedding night after all."
"You're a naughty girl, Lady Edith." Anthony said.
Mary went back inside.
"I might have to spank you." Anthony teased.
"Oh please do." Edith laughed, "That would be rather fun."
OO
When his valet came to undress him for bed that night Anthony asked.
"Perkins, do you know of any young men looking for a position?"
"Are you unhappy with my services, Sir Anthony?"
"Not at all, Perkins, in fact I could not fault you. I was actually thinking of young Mr Crawley. Up until now he has dressed and undressed himself, but that will not be possible now."
"I can't think of anyone off the top of my head, Sir Anthony, but I will make some enquiries."
"Thank you, that's all I ask." Anthony said.
"Will Sir Richard Carlisle get jail tiem for what he did?" Perkins asked.
Anthony shrugged.
"I don't know. Mr Crawley is a solicitor and thinks he probably would not get much more than eighteen months for unlawful wounding. If they could prove attempted murder that might be a different matter, but the likelihood is that Carlisle would have aimed at his heart had that been his intention. We shall just have to wait and see."
And with that, Anthony knew they would have to be content for now.
