Chapter 7 – Sir Richard and Lavinia

Sir Richard Carlisle crunched the letter in his hands. Lady Mary Crawley had written him another letter full of good cheer but not indicating when she would return to London nor was there an invitation to Downton for him contained within the letter. He had now received two letters like this in response to his letters telling her how much he wanted to spend more time with her. She had seemed very interested when they had met at Cliveden. She had said that she would write him, and she had responded positively when he had suggested that they meet again both in London and Yorkshire.

He thought back to his meeting with Miss Lavinia Swire. That had been quite the surprise. Miss Swire had very reluctantly helped him with exposing her uncle and the Marconi scandal, but she was so negative he thought he would never see her again. Yet she had appeared in his office several weeks ago demanding a very unusual favor. She was now engaged to a Lieutenant Crawley from Yorkshire, formerly of Manchester. Matthew Crawley had been the heir to the Downton Estate for a few years before the Earl and Countess had finally had a son in the first year of the war. It seemed her courtship with the good Lieutenant was rather fast and she had agreed to marry him after barely knowing him and now she thought there were things that needed to be discovered.

Miss Swire had not known of his acquaintance with Lady Mary Crawley. She had not known that she was doing him a huge favor. Miss Swire had thought she was calling in a favor of her own. Better that she should not know the truth; that Lavinia Swire had delivered him information on a silver platter. Information that would be very helpful in persuading Mary to pursue a relationship and eventually marry him.

Richard had feigned disinterest when Lavinia had told him how she was engaged and had gone to Yorkshire to meet Matthew's family. And just how odd it was that the new heir to Downton seemed to resemble her fiancé, even if he was family. How odd it was that her fiancé seemed closer to Lady Mary and how the new heir, Albert seemed more attached to her than her other sisters. At one point he had turned to Miss Swire and said;

"What is it that you would like me to do? What are you implying with your observations? And what do you hope to accomplish with all this. If you are happy with your fiancé, why not just marry him and forget the rest. He is no longer the heir, I'm sure you could convince him to move to London after the war. Really Miss Swire, what do you think I could do for you?"

Lavinia had fidgeted in her seat and seemed to be rethinking her visit. But Richard had waited patiently. He wanted her to say it and then he would come up with a plan; a plan to "help" Miss Swire, but more importantly a plan to help himself and his goal of marrying into a rich aristocratic family. Lavinia had taken a deep breath and then spoke slowly.

"I have been very helpful to you in the past Sir Richard and I do believe you owe me in kind. I am very happy with my fiancé, but I am convinced that I do not know the whole story. He had never shared with me that he was to be heir to Downton, I only found that out from his mother. But she would reveal no more and the servants were unlikely to speak to me as well. I suspect that there was a relationship between my fiancé and Lady Mary Crawley, a relationship he has not apprised me of. And then I also cannot get out of my mind the baby's resemblance to Matthew. I know they are distantly related, but if you could see three of them as I saw them, they appear as a little family. I need to know if that baby is really Matthew's. That perhaps Matthew still is the heir and this child is his illegitimate child with Lady Mary and that their parents covered the whole thing up by claiming it was their child."

Richard had looked at her intently. Of course, he knew this is what she had been implying but to hear her say it in such detail. It was truly interesting. And he thought to himself that the girl was losing it. It made no sense. If the child were that of Mary and Matthew, they simply would have gotten married. They would not have covered it up in such a fashion. But he decided to use her paranoia to his advantage. A story like this could give him a huge advantage with Lady Mary. A story like this, even if not true could turn that whole family upside down and a story like this could possibly force Mary's hand to marriage. The whole thing was scandalous and delicious.

"Miss Swire, I understand your concerns. But I advise you think about what you are accusing your fiancé and his extended family of, it would be the scandal of the century. Do you really want that said about your fiancé? Why not just forget it and move on?"

She had looked at her lap and then back at him.

"I just cannot. We would never be happy together. And certainly not if he has a family with another woman. Please investigate and keep it quiet and let me know what you uncover."

Richard steeled his response.

"And what is there in this for me? Will I be able to publish this scandal if it turns out to be true?"

Lavinia thought for a moment. She did not want to destroy Matthew, but she needed to know with certainty. And if her worst suspicions were true; she could not be with him anyway. He deserved to be punished. They all did, if this was true.

"Yes, you will have yourself the scandal of the century."

Richard thought back to that moment in his office. She was clearly insanely jealous; he would use this to his advantage. He had agreed to investigate and meet with her again in several weeks' time if he had uncovered anything.

The investigation had been easy. It was no secret in London that Matthew Crawley was the unexpected heir to Downton following the sinking of the Titanic and the demise of the former heirs James and Patrick Crawley. And it had been no secret during the 1914 season prior to the war that Matthew and Lady Mary were an item. They more than an item. He had proposed marriage to her, and she had all but said yes. They had danced at every ball in London. She was on his arm at all the high-profile events; Ascot, Wimbledon and whatever else aristocratic people did. Richard had even found someone who had witnessed them kissing quite heavily at her younger sister Sybil's ball. This had not been simply a match of convenience, it seemed to be a love match.

So, Miss Swire had been right about that, her fiancé had definitely been in love with Mary Crawley and by all accounts she with him as well. Her more serious scandalous accusation was a figment of her imagination and jealousy. In fact, the birth of Lady Mary's brother and new heir to Downton, had been a direct cause of the dissolution of her relationship with Matthew Crawley. With her Mother's pregnancy, Lady Mary had hesitated and Matthew Crawley, full of pride had broken with her. With the advent of war, he had bought a commission and went off to fight for king and country, never seeing Lady Mary again. Until several weeks ago when he brought his new fiancé to Downton.

Richard had found people in the village of Downton who were willing to talk to his spies for money and they had eyewitness accounts of the countess birthing the new heir. And the Earl could not have been happier. It truly was their child. His resemblance to Matthew Crawley simply attributed to the Crawley genes. His attachment to his sister, most likely her attention to him. Those people in the village also told of a rumor that the former heir had broken with Lady Mary at the annual garden party on the day the war was announced.

Now that he had all the facts, Richard had to decide what to do with them. Which facts would he share with Miss Swire and which facts would he use to "convince" Lady Mary to share a life with him? Richard thought carefully. He would put Miss Swire off, tell her the investigation was taking much longer than he anticipated. In the interim, he would bide his time, attempt to lure Lady Mary back to London, enchant her, convince her they could have a life together. And if he was not successful, then he would have to use the "untrue" facts to force her hand.

A-A-A-A

Lavinia folded the letter from Matthew and put it back in the envelope. He had been back at the front a few months now and though she wrote him every day, she was lucky if she got a letter from him once every couple of weeks. He was busy fighting she supposed. But his letters seemed much more distant lately. Before they had gotten engaged, he had written her much more often and kept telling her of how he dreamed of a life together for them. He even wrote her a few love letters.

Now that she had committed to him, his letters were staler and colder. He did not give her much information about the war, he was not allowed to. But while he asked how she was and told her he missed home and her, the warmth and anticipation of prior letters was not there. He no longer wrote about how he envisioned their future together. He asked about her father, whether she had visited with his mother. And he consistently asked if she visited with his Crawley cousins and how baby Albert was as well as Mary and the girls. That was the way he phrased it "Mary and the girls." Did he even realize how obvious he was being? He clearly wanted to know what she had to say about his son and his lover.

It had been months since had enlisted Richard's help in uncovering this mystery and determining if her worst fears were true. And he told her he still had no information for her. It did not make sense. Richard was very resourceful, surely by now he had uncovered all there was to know about Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary Crawley. She would have to show up at his office unannounced again and get the information out of him. He owed her, he had to help her. The not knowing was driving her crazy.

She had visited Downton again a month ago. She mostly stayed with Isobel, who was a little more welcoming, though not forthcoming about all she wanted to know. Though when she spoke of Matthew and Mary in the same sentence there seemed to be a wistful glance in her eyes. She had even had tea again with the sisters. Sybil was now working in a hospital, and Edith was driving a tractor on a farm, so it turned out to be only Mary and herself, though Cora had sat in for most of the time. And then Albert, cute, origin suspicious, Albert had come in the middle of tea again. He hugged Cora, his supposed Mama, but then planted himself once again on Mary's lap. Mary was so warm with him, it only drilled in Lavinia's insecurities. Albert still reminded her of Matthew. The resemblance was uncanny.

Lavinia made up her mind. Tomorrow she would go back to Sir Richard's office and demand answers. If he was not there, she would find a way to search through his files. She was more determined than ever to know the truth of everything, no matter what the cost.

A/N – I'm back after a bit of an absence, I hope to update more regularly now. Thank you again for all the favorites, follows and especially the reviews. Please review this (somewhat shorter) chapter and let me know what you think. Is Lavinia losing her mind? What is Richard's "plans?"