Author's Note: a oneshot I did a while ago called New Acquaintances takes place between the last chapter and this one and is directly referenced here. Probably not necessary to read that before this chapter, but it might provide some context if you're looking for it. You'll find it on my author page.
Late April 1913
"Lucien, I don't think you behaved very well," Jean chided gently as they sat in the back of the motorcar on the way back to Bolton Hall after leaving Downton Abbey.
"You don't think everyone had a nice time?" Lucien asked in return.
"I think everyone had a lovely time in the end, but I know you saw the expression on Lord Grantham's face just as I did. He went along with his wife and daughters with your singsong idea after you barreled through with your own ideas with the piano like that," she pointed out.
"I asked if he minded if I played the piano, and he could have told me not to," he defended.
Jean just glared at him.
Lucien sighed, "Yes, I know you're right. I need to watch my manners better around people like that. But didn't you get the sense that the Crawleys might be a bit more fun than the others? Lady Grantham is American, after all."
"She is," Jean agreed. "And they were a nice bunch. Her I liked especially. There's a gentleness and a warmth in her I've not seen in England yet."
"She's an outsider, just as we are," Lucien said, taking his wife's hand and kissing her gloved fingertips.
"Once we have the house in order, I think I'd like to invite her for lunch sometime," Jean mused.
"Or perhaps before that. She might be able to help with our staffing problems," he suggested.
Jean hesitated. On the one hand, Lucien was right, Jean did need help figuring out how to hire a housekeeper and work with her for the best benefit of the house. She hadn't wanted to ask Hopkins for too much; he was the butler and had enough duties of his own to manage. Adams, her lady's maid, was a great help, but there again, Jean did not want to overburden her.
And, of course, Jean was concerned about her own position. She had neither the experience nor gravitas to properly behave as a baroness. She was probably the only baroness to be able to tell that the kitchen maid who made the hollandaise sauce had not added any lemon juice to the eggs before adding the butter so the eggs did not emulsify properly, but that wasn't her role in her new life. Thankfully, Mrs. Carter was delighted at the prospect of discussing recipes with a lady of the house who actually knew what she was doing. Jean preferred spending time in the kitchens when she could as a result.
Perhaps Lady Grantham was the right person for Jean to ask for advice. She had been an outsider, just as Lucien said, and she was now a countess. And she did not seem the judgmental sort, unlike so many of the other members of the peerage that had come to meet the new Lord and Lady Bolton. Jean certainly liked Lady Grantham better than anyone else she'd met in England so far, save the very lovely members of the Bolton Hall staff.
Tomorrow, she'd write a thank you letter to Lady Grantham for the lovely dinner. That would be the thing. She would perhaps also extend the invitation to have the countess over for tea. Yes, that would be the thing.
The next morning began for Jean and Lucien as all such mornings started at Bolton Hall. Adams came into the room to open the heavy curtains and gently bid Lord and Lady Bolton a good morning before leaving until Lady Bolton called for her again. Lucien would stretch as Jean rolled herself away from him. He would kiss his wife and then get out of bed, going back to 'his' bedroom. Lucien took care of necessities in the bathroom before ringing for Swift.
Having a valet was incredibly awkward for Lucien. He was grateful for a kind confidante to help guide him through the world. Swift was very experienced in his role and had been assisting the former Lord Bolton's valet quite closely in the last few years. Lucien often sought counsel from Swift when he had questions about English life. But a part of a valet's job was to dress and undress the man he served. Lucien had always dressed himself from time he'd been able to as a young boy. It felt undignified to be dressed up and down like a child or like a ragdoll. The only compromise Lucien could come to was to ask Swift to lay out clothes for Lucien to wear and then dismissed him while he dressed himself. The fact that Swift always looked extremely disheartened each time Lucien dismissed him was weighing on the new baron quite heavily. He just didn't know what to do about it.
After dressing, he went back to Jean's bedroom. If she was dressing, he would assist her as she needed. She, too, often dressed herself except for dinner, as the fine evening clothes were a bit more than she'd had to contend with before. She did call for Adams to help with her hair, however. Lucien sat in one of the armchairs by the fireplace and they chatted contentedly until they were both ready to go down to breakfast.
Adams had told Jean that married ladies of the peerage often had breakfast in bed and dressed for the day afterward. Jean, having been a housekeeper for a widower for a very long time and being a farmwife for her adult life before that, could not fathom such a luxury. Actually, to Jean, it was not so much a luxury as it was the sin of sloth. She would have breakfast downstairs at the table with her husband, thank you very much.
Lucien went to the library or out on a walk of the grounds after breakfast each day, depending on what needed his attention. Jean would go down to the kitchen to speak to Mrs. Carter, to thank her for a lovely breakfast and discuss the upcoming menus for the rest of the day.
Today, Jean left Mrs. Carter earlier than usual, Jean declining the cup of tea they often would have together. She wanted to write that letter to thank Lady Grantham, and Jean knew it would take her a little time to get the words right for what she wanted to say in inviting Lady Grantham to tea and asking her advice about managing a grand house.
Just as she finished, sealing the letter and standing from the desk in the library to call for a footman to post it for her, Hopkins appeared.
"My Lady, some guests have arrived, asking to see you and Lord Bolton," he announced.
Jean was quite surprised by that. "Lucien is out on the grounds somewhere. Who are the visitors?"
"Mister Matthew Crawley and Lady Sybil Crawley," Hopkins informed her.
The identity of the guests surprised her even more. "Please send someone out to find Lucien and let him know we have guests. And I suppose you can show Mr. Crawley and Lady Sybil in here."
A minute later, Sybil Crawley came hurrying in. "Jean, I do apologize for arriving without warning like this, but after meeting you and Lucien last night at dinner, I knew I had to bring Matthew 'round to see you as soon as possible." She took Jean's hands and kissed her cheek in greeting.
The young woman was certainly spirited. Jean found her quite charming. Lady Sybil reminded her a bit of a nurse who worked with Lucien sometimes back in Ballarat.
Behind Lady Sybil came a young man, tall and blonde and blue-eyed. "Good day to you, Lady Bolton. Do pardon the intrusion."
Jean went from Lady Sybil to the young man. "Matthew Crawley, I take it. Are you a relation to Lord and Lady Grantham?" she asked in greeting.
"A distant cousin," he answered. "Please, call me Matthew."
She nodded politely. "And you must call me Jean. And my husband, wherever he is, will insist you call him Lucien."
Sybil inserted herself and explained, "Matthew is Papa's heir. It was our cousin James and then his son, Patrick, but they were lost on the Titanic last year. Matthew was a solicitor in Manchester when he was informed he's now the heir to the estate."
"I'm sure you know then, Matthew, that your story is quite similar to Lucien's," Jean said.
"That's why I knew Matthew would be someone that you and Lucien should like to know," Sybil said.
That much was quite clear to Jean. Matthew Crawley, a professional man with a job plucked out of his life to become heir to an estate? Yes, this was certainly someone Lucien should know.
"Jean, is everything alright? Charles said we had visitors and I was needed right away," Lucien said, coming into the room a bit breathless. He was surprised to see Lady Sybil Crawley along with another man standing with his wife in the library.
"Perhaps we can have some tea," Jean offered.
The four of them sat down as soon as Jean rang for a footman to bring them tea things. The fact that she herself did not leave to go make tea in the kitchen anymore was still rather foreign to her. She'd never entertained in her own home without hosting and serving guests herself.
Sybil explained Matthew's presence to Lucien, and Matthew spoke for himself about how strange it was going from his own life on his own to suddenly having servants underfoot and all the social expectations that came with being the heir to an estate.
"And I'm sure it's worse for you. I have Robert to learn from still, and I expect it will be quite a long time before I myself become Earl of Grantham. You weren't informed you were the heir until the former Baron Bolton died?"
Lucien nodded, taking a sip of his tea.
"Seems a rather disorganized manner of handling succession of an estate."
"As I understand, like Lord Grantham, Lord Bolton had a cousin who was expected to be the heir who died just before the baron did. The estate lawyers were already looking for me before the baron died."
"Poor luck then," Matthew said.
"Very. So I've gone from being a country doctor to now a baron."
Matthew smiled. "My mother will like to meet you. My father was a doctor and she was a nurse. That was how they met. She now works closely with Doctor Clarkson at Downton Cottage Hospital. Though I suppose you have a hospital closer to you here than all the way in Downton."
Lucien nodded. "There's one in Leyburn, just a few miles down the road. I had thought I might work as a doctor here, but I'm starting to see that being a baron is a fulltime position."
"Yes, I've started seeing the same. I still work as a solicitor in Ripon during the week and I work with Robert on the weekends, but I'll only be able to carry on with that so long as I'm just the heir and not the earl."
The young man before him was quite an impressive lad, Lucien thought. He was, in many ways, living the same life-altering experience that Lucien was. He had thought that Lady Grantham being an American and marrying into the peerage, might be an ally to the Blakes, and hopefully she would prove such to Jean. But Lucien knew he needed help adjusting as well, though he'd tried as best he could to make do. "Matthew, would you care to take a walk with me? Leave the ladies to their tea?" he offered.
He could feel Jean's eyes on him as he and Matthew left the room. But he did not feel comfortable discussing such things in the library in front of Lady Sybil. Really, he did not feel comfortable discussing such things at all, but it had been weighing on him, and who was he to deny an opportunity for assistance if it was available?
Matthew was clever, of course, and he understood right away. As they started to make their way down the path through the gardens, he asked, "Was there something you wished to discuss away from the ladies?"
Lucien rubbed the back of his neck—a nervous habit of his. "I was hoping you might be able to give me some advice."
"I would be happy to try," Matthew answered kindly.
Feeling embarrassed but pushing through, Lucien asked, "What on earth do you do with a valet?"