It cannot be, Cora is staggered. Yet having been in this condition before, there is little doubt.

Before they leave London she telephones the telegraph office and arranges for the doctor to meet her once they arrive at Downton. She longs to talk to Robert, to apprise him of her suspicions but she cannot.

That old dread, a long-lost friend, washes over her.

What if it isn't a boy?

But this time, in light of Mary, Matthew and the rest, it has morphed. Now as she watches the London skyline melt into lush countryside she thinks,

What if it is?