Previously: Mary pushed the door wide open. Matthew was not gone. He was sitting on her bed.
Tuesday, August 24, 1920
London
Grantham House
When they had arrived at Grantham House Matthew had recognized Rosamund's automobile. He had thought Mary, Edith, Violet and Rosamund were all on their way to Scotland by now. He assumed that maybe Mary had worried she had left the gas on in Grantham House and she had sent the chauffeur to check. But as he walked by he saw the chauffeur snoozing in the driver's seat. Very mysterious. So he anticipated running into someone in the house. Just not Mary.
One of the lessons from pilot training Matthew had never forgotten was 'to look up'. The instructor had hammered it home. "Civilians never look up. You are fighting in three dimensions. Your enemy can be coming from any direction, front, back, right, left, up, down. Look around, look down, look up!" Remembering that lesson had saved Matthew's life many, many times.
Looking up Matthew had seen Mary ducking around a pillar on the next floor. What was she doing? Why was she even here? He decided to find out once the others left.
When he got to the head of the stairs he stopped and listened. He could hear Mary running down a hall. He followed. Only one door was ajar. He went in. A bedroom. He looked under the bed. Nothing. The only other hiding place was the closet. He sat on the bed and waited.
-0-
She stared at him.
"I thought you had gone to Scotland" he said as he stood.
"Grannie was feeling ill so she and I delayed a day. Edith and Aunt Rosamund went on ahead."
"That's too bad. I hope she's better tomorrow. If there's anything I can..."
Mary did not let him finish. She let loose with a harangue which had been building up since she had asked herself why she was hiding in her own house.
"Do not give me any of your hypocritical concern" she hissed at Matthew. "You are not concerned about us at all. All you care about is money. Grannie is just an expense to you. The sooner she is dead the better as far as you are concerned. As soon as you thought that I was my way to Scotland you were in here converting my home into a tenement. Where are our children and I supposed to live? In some slum somewhere?" She stopped and stood glaring at him, panting.
Matthew so wanted to grab her and kiss her but he waited until she was breathing normally before replying. "Because I am concerned about where you and our" putting heavy emphasis on the 'our' "children are going to live I am going to get rid of this white elephant as soon as I can. Converting it to flats for single gentlemen is the most profitable and best use for it. As for it being your home I thought Downton Abbey was your home. We cannot afford to keep both. Pick one." He paused, giving her a chance to respond, but when she didn't he continued. "Know this. I will keep you and our children very well in deed but it will not be in the same style your father kept you and your mother and sisters in before the war. He went broke doing that. You will not have to do without. You will enjoy quality but not in the same quantity. You may have to wear the same outfit two or three times during the Season. You will have a generous budget but you will have to live within it. And you will have a London house, but more along the lines of your aunt's house than this monstrosity."
"How very middle class!" Mary spat.
Throughout Matthew had not raised his voice and he did not now. "If by 'middle class' you mean living within our means then yes. Our children will have a future unlike your father's children."
"You are impossible. You will never be one of us. I see no point in marrying you." She pulled the engagement ring off and threw it at Matthew. It ricocheted off of his cheek and sailed across the bedroom. She then stormed out the bedroom door.
Matthew stood where he was and listened to Mary depart. He heard her stomp down the stairs, wrench the front door open and then slam it shut. When the reverberations had ended and his anger subsided he sighed and sat on the bed. He felt his cheek. It stung. He looked around the bedroom. He didn't see the ring conveniently laying on top of anything. He stood up, sighed again, and then got down on his hands and knees to look for it.