Chaperones

Sybil came down to breakfast the next morning, expecting to be the second one down after her father, as she usually was, but instead she found that she was nowhere near the first at the table this morning. Her father was in his usual place, but the Duke of Crowsburg sat next to him, a strange expression on his face as he stirred sugar idly into his coffee and half-listened to what Mary was saying. Edith was also down at the table, and it couldn't have been clearer that she was only there to annoy Mary.

Sybil slid into her seat. "You're both up early," she said to Mary and Edith.

"I didn't want Philip to leave without getting a chance to say goodbye," Mary said. She cocked her head charmingly at the duke. "I was a little worried that the little accident last night might have made you too eager to leave."

The duke laughed. "Oh, no. I wouldn't begrudge you a thing like that." He smiled at Mary. There was some falseness there, but Sybil had to think that no one ever could really enjoy having their outfit ruined and their evening spoiled. "These things happen sometimes. You won't punish that man, will you, Lord Grantham?"

Sybil's father looked up from his newspaper. "I was planning to agree to whatever Carson- our butler- suggested. It's much more his purview than mine."

"I'm afraid that it's my fault, in a way," Mary said. "I do believe I encouraged Carson to take Thomas on, even though he had some sort of problem . It seems he isn't as up to the task as I had thought."

The duke shook his head. "No, no, I'm sure that's not the case. I don't think it had anything to do with his hand. In any event, it would be a shame to have a man without work because of a mistake. No one could have held on to a tray with a knock like the one he got."

No one seemed to understand how to respond to that. "Well, if you feel that strongly about it," Mary said. "It's kind of you."

"Is it?" the duke asked. He returned his attention to his eggs and sausage.

"Most men would have a harder time brushing off an insult to their dignity like that," Edith said. Mary glared at her.

"Forgiveness is a virtue," Sybil cut in before Mary could say something to Edith.

"I don't believe that causing a scene with your household staff would have done very much to endear me to your family," the duke said. "Especially since I was taking advantage of your generosity already." He chuckled. "Besides, it's not as though I could challenge him to a duel. That's the real kind of satisfaction people want for injury."

"And would you like to be endeared to us?" Mary asked.

"I wouldn't mind it." The duke's small and strange smile was back on his face. Edith scowled into her coffee.

"I've been meaning to ask," Lord Grantham said, "are you much of a hunting man?"

"I'm more of a city fellow, I'll admit," the duke said. "I've gone shooting a few times, and I can ride, but I'm sure I don't hold a candle to good country stock like yourself."

"It's a matter of practice, I'm sure," Mary said. "If you like to ride, I'd love to show you around the estate here. There's some wonderful trails."

"Not today, I'm afraid," the duke said. "I haven't brought the right clothes. But some other time, certainly."

"I've been thinking of holding a hunt, later in the month," Lord Grantham said. "It's the start of deer season, after all, and I'd like to make the best of the weather while it lasts. Would you be interested in such a thing?"

"So long as you can put me up for the night afterwards, I could hardly say no," the duke said. "Just let me know the day, and I'll make time."

"Do you think that Count Lohengramm would like an invitation as well? You seemed to be getting on with him, Edith." Lord Grantham tacked on that last part as though he couldn't quite believe it.

Edith seemed surprised to be asked. "I'm not sure."

"I found him to be quite different in person than his reputation suggested," the duke said. "But I have heard that he is a sporting type."

"What kind of sports?" Edith asked. Mary made a face that she hid behind a bite of toast. It was probably only the duke's presence that prevented Mary from making some sort of remark.

"Oh, I don't know. I believe he fought a duel on behalf of Viscountess Schafhausen a few years ago now."

"I assume he won?" Lord Grantham asked.

"I think it was called a tie," the duke said.

"Hunh. Well, I'll invite him. No harm in it, anyway." Lord Grantham paused for a moment, considering. "You know, I'd like to meet his staff, as well. Get a taste of how the fleet is being run these days. Make something of a party of it."

This pronouncement from Lord Grantham was met with nothing but an awkward few nods from his daughters.

"I ought to be going," the duke said, wiping his mouth delicately. "I shouldn't overstay my welcome."

"You're doing nothing of the sort," Mary said. "I'm sorry that I can't monopolize your time a little longer."

"If there is to be a hunt later this month, I'm sure I will see you then."

"Of course. Or perhaps we'll encounter each other in the city?"

"Perhaps," the duke said. "I always find the city a rather poor place for meeting people. An estate like this offers a much more charming milieu."

"What about your own estate?" Edith asked. Mary kept her social smile on and resisted shooting her a glare.

"I'm afraid as a woeful bachelor, I don't know the first thing about entertaining. I keep a rather minimal staff." He chuckled. "I sometimes feel like I've lived my whole life as a guest at other people's houses."

"Didn't your mother used to entertain?" Lord Grantham asked.

"Oh, when I was young. After my father died, she didn't have much of the heart for it."

"Ah," Lord Grantham said. "A pity."

The duke smiled. "Is it? I believe it's a relief: I'd make a poor host. I often find in a large party of people, there's only one who I would like to speak to."

"Heavens," Mary said. "I hope all of our guests didn't bore you last night."

"Not at all," the duke said. "I was quite pleasantly surprised." He stood. "I really must be going."

Lord Grantham and Mary also stood. "I will let you know about the hunt," Lord Grantham said.

"I look forward to it." They shook. The duke turned to Mary and gave a neat little half-bow. "It has been a pleasure."

"I'm glad," Mary said. "I look forward to seeing you again."

"Of course."

Carson was waiting at the door to show the duke out, but he paused in the doorway. "I say, if I am going to be coming back around here, you might tell that man- what did you say his name was?"

"Thomas," Mary supplied.

"Well you might tell Thomas that he doesn't have to worry about me." And with that, the duke vanished out the door into the hall.

"Well," Mary said, unsure of how to follow that up.

"He seems nice," Sybil said.

"He's just putting on a show," Edith said.

"I wonder why you would find it hard to believe that there are people in the world who are capable of being sincere," Mary said.

"It's because I've had rather few examples."

Lord Grantham looked like he wanted to make his escape, but at that moment, Carson returned to the dining room bearing the mail. Most of it was for Lord Grantham, which kept him at the table, but one delicate blue envelope was for Sybil.

"Who's that from?" Mary asked as Sybil opened it.

"Baroness Westpfale," Sybil said, examining the pretty handwriting on the card. Even though her father was in the room, and her parents did not exactly approve of Maggie, Sybil couldn't keep the happiness out of her voice.

"And what's she doing writing to you?" Edith asked, leaning over to peer at the card in Sybil's hand. She made a face when she read it. "It seems strange that she wouldn't invite all three of us."

Sybil thought of admitting that it was because she had done Maggie a favor, but instead she said, "I can ask if you can come, if you want."

"Come to where?" Lord Grantham asked, suddenly paying attention again, after he had sorted through his own mail.

"Baroness Westpfale has invited me to dinner," Sybil said. "Next week."

"At her house?"

"Yes."

"Your grandmother wouldn't approve of that," Lord Grantham said. "I heard her describe Baroness Westpfale as running a den of iniquity , several years ago." Sybil could just picture her grandmother saying that.

"She's not that bad, Papa," Sybil said. "I think she's perfectly charming."

"Hm."

"Do you want me to ask her if you can come?" Sybil asked Edith. "I can, if you want."

"There's nothing worse than being an uninvited guest," Mary said. "It should be beneath you."

"It doesn't seem like Papa even approves of you going," Edith said.

"Can I?" Sybil asked.

"Alone?" Lord Grantham looked her over. "No."

"If Edith comes?"

"I don't want to go," Edith said. This was just petulance, and Sybil shot a glare at Mary for ruining it.

A sudden, cheeky thought flashed through Sybil's mind. "What if I asked Cousin Matthew to come with me?" she asked. "He knows Baroness Westpfale, and I'm sure you could trust him to look after me, couldn't you?"

Mary stifled a strange expression. "And what makes you think Cousin Matthew would want to go?"

"I don't think he'd mind," Sybil said. "Who doesn't like going to a dinner party? Please, Papa?"

"If Matthew agrees," Lord Grantham said. "Though I rather hope he doesn't."

"Thank you," Sybil said. "I'll call on him today and ask."

Her father frowned into his coffee.

Sybil decided that the best way to convince Matthew would be in person, so she borrowed Tom and a car to go in to the capitol, and showed up at the law firm where Matthew was a partner. She had arrived right before lunch time, and asked the secretary to let him know that she was there. The law office's waiting room was professional, if not overly luxe. From behind the heavy wooden door with its rippled glass window, Sybil could indistinctly see suited men passing by and hear the low tones of conversations in the hall. This was a busy place, and when Matthew stepped out to see her, she felt a little bad about the harried expression on his face.

"Cousin Sybil," he said. "I certainly was not expecting to see you today."

"I'm sorry if I've interrupted something," she said. "I don't have urgent business- I really have just come to bother you. I can go, if you're busy."

"I was just about to get lunch," Matthew said. "If it's something that can be discussed over a sandwich…?" He trailed off.

Sybil smiled. "Of course."

He led her out of the law office and just down the blustery street. Sybil waved at Tom, who was waiting in the car, as they passed, and indicated that they would be heading into the pub on the corner. It was a dark and bustling place, and Matthew was clearly a regular, because he greeted a few of the waitstaff by name as he walked past the bar and slid into a booth in the corner. "I'm sorry that this probably isn't quite the setting you're used to dining in," he said.

"It's nice," Sybil said, looking up at the moose head mounted over their table. "I promise I won't take up too much of your time. It seems like it's very busy in there."

"No, I have some time," Matthew said. "I don't have any clients I need to meet with this afternoon, just trying to solve an issue with a will-" He cut himself off. "You're lucky that client privilege prevents me from talking about it, or I might start complaining to you. I'm sure you'd find it dreadfully boring."

"No, I'm sure I wouldn't," Sybil said. "I enjoy learning about things."

"You say that," Matthew said, "but if I got going on some sort of tangent about historical architecture or property law, you'd fall asleep on me."

"I swear I wouldn't," Sybil said.

"Can I make a confession to you?" Matthew asked.

"Of course."

"I had a nightmare last night that I was with your family, and for some reason I couldn't stop myself from going on and on about work, and I could tell that everyone found it so crass and boring, but I just kept going." He made a rather chagrined expression. "You must promise me that you'll stop me if I do start going on."

"But I would be interested," Sybil said. "As for everyone else, Mary has no trouble walking away from someone who bores her. And Edith-"

Matthew didn't stop his grimace when she mentioned Mary, but the waitress was coming over to take their orders, and so their conversation was thoroughly derailed. When she had gone, Matthew asked, "So, what is it that you came to see me about?"

Sybil put her most charming smile on. "I came to ask you a favor, I'm afraid."

"Well, I'm happy to help, if I can. I'm not sure what I can do for you, though."

"I know you know Baroness Westpfale," Sybil said. "She hasn't invited you to a dinner party, has she?"

"I know the baroness as a client," Matthew said. "I don't think we're exactly on dinner party terms. Why do you ask?"

Sybil pulled the invitation she had received from her pocket and slid it across the table to Matthew. "I want to go, but Papa says I need an escort. I said that you would come with me."

Matthew looked the invitation over. "Look, Sybil-"

"Please?" she asked.

Matthew slid the card back towards her. "I think I need to be clear," he said, then coughed awkwardly. "You're a wonderful girl, but I'm not-"

He stopped when Sybil began to laugh. "Gods, Cousin Matthew! Just because Mama sat us next to each other at dinner doesn't mean I'm interested in marrying you."

Matthew smiled rather awkwardly. "I'll admit, that's a relief."

"But I do want to go to Baroness Westpfale's party. Would you please come with me? As a favor?"

"Do you know who else will be there?"

"No," Sybil said. She rested her chin on her hands. "That's what makes Maggie so exciting, you know."

"That's one word to describe Baroness Westpfale, certainly."

Sybil laughed. "Will you come?"

"If she doesn't mind my intrusion. And if it's just as your escort."

"Of course . And she won't mind: she owes me."

"What does she owe you for?"

Sybil just smiled. "Well, that's settled then."

"Do I need to wear anything in particular?" Matthew asked. "I'm afraid I really am out of my depth these days."

"Anything like what you wore last night should be fine."

"The last thing I want is the baroness making jokes at my expense."

"She isn't mean," Sybil protested.

"No, but she is witty. That's worse."

Sybil laughed. "Maybe you could marry her. She's not married."

"I don't think we'd be well suited," Matthew said, quite deadpan. "I'm just a city lawyer, after all."

"You're the future Count of Grantham," Sybil said. "That means quite a lot."

"I'm joking," Matthew said.

"Do you like being a lawyer?" Sybil asked.

"You are trying to get me to talk about work," Matthew said. "Gods only know why."

"I'm curious, I swear."

"I like being busy," Matthew said. "And this is interesting work. You learn a lot about the way the world works."

"I'm rather jealous," Sybil said. She paused, then said, "I feel like I've just been coming to understand how little I really know about the world. And every time I find something out, it just shows me how much more I need to learn."

"Like what?" Matthew asked.

Sybil thought about the place Tom had showed her- Triangle Street- but she decided not to mention that. "Well, last night talking to someone like Count Lohengramm- he lives a whole life in the fleet that I know nothing about. I've been in space, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about how ships work, or even what they carry. And you have a whole career…" She trailed off. "I'm not quite sure what I have."

"You're very intelligent," Matthew said. "That counts for something."

The waitress came back over with their sandwiches and a beer for Matthew.

"Maybe," Sybil said. She nibbled at her meal. "But I'm not doing anything with it. Not like you are. And Papa- he had a career in the fleet, too."

Matthew chuckled. "Even though your grandmother thinks that having any sort of career is horribly middle class?"

"I don't know how he managed it," Sybil said. "Maybe I should ask him. But that wouldn't make any difference to me."

They ate in silence for a moment. "You could go to school," Matthew said. "University. There are women's schools, and even a place like Odin National University will take a few women every year."

"Oh, Mama would never want me to stay here on Odin by myself," Sybil said. "It would be nice, though."

"Not even with a chaperone?"

Sybil laughed. "I don't know if Aunt Rosamund could put up with me in her house for that long." But then she sighed. The concept, now that Matthew had mentioned it, had caught her attention, and though she was throwing up every excuse now, she found the idea sticking in her teeth.

"I was younger than you are when I went to school," Matthew pointed out. "But I suppose it is different for you."

"Yes." She poked at her food.

"I'd think about it, if I were you."

"What would I study?"

"I don't know," Matthew said. "Whatever you like."

"Maybe I shouldn't think about it," Sybil said. "Granny would disapprove of fantasies taking up space in my brain."

"Your family doesn't have to approve of everything you think about, let alone everything that you do."

"I know," Sybil said. She laughed. "They don't approve of me going to see Maggie, anyway."

"Well, maybe that's a step in the right direction."

In the car, on the long drive back home, Sybil rested her head on the cool glass window, even though it knocked her when Tom drove over bumps as delicately as he could.

"Is something the matter, m'lady?" Tom asked after a while. "If you don't mind me asking."

"No, I don't mind," Sybil said. "Just thinking."

"A mark for your thoughts?"

"Did you ever think about going to school?"

Tom laughed. "Dreamed about it, more like," he said. "I would love to go to school, but it's not the kind of thing I ever had money for. I might have been able to get a scholarship, but I send money home to my family, and I wouldn't be able to do that if I was studying instead of working." He shrugged.

"What would you study, if you could?"

"Journalism," Tom said immediately. "I'd love to write for a newspaper, for real, not just pamphlets."

"Pamphlets?"

"Oh," Tom said, and backtracked a little, realizing he had revealed perhaps too much. "Just for some friends of mine. About local issues, mostly."

"Can I read one?" Sybil asked.

"Why?" Tom asked. "Not saying no, I just don't know why you'd be interested."

"I would like to know more about local issues," Sybil said. "I feel like I don't know anything about the world. Not at all. And I want to. You opened my eyes the other day."

"I'm honored that I could, m'lady." His voice was carefully neutral.

"That's why I was asking about school," Sybil said. "Cousin Matthew says I should try to go to university, get an education, so that I can do something in the world. Be useful. Not just a decoration for someone to put on their shelf someday."

"Is that so?"

"I know it must sound like a stupid thing to you," Sybil said with a sigh, leaning back in her seat. "I'm sorry, Tom. I don't want to sound- I know what I sound like."

"I understand what life is like for women. Even if you are a lady," Tom said. "I do have a pamphlet about women's rights, if you'd like to look."

"I would like that very much," Sybil said. "Thank you."

"Not a problem, m'lady.

She sat in silence for a moment, but couldn't help but ask, "Who are these friends that you write pamphlets with?"

"Just people I know. Students, mostly."

"At ONU?"

"Yes," Tom said. "For the most part. There's other people like me who just work, though."

"Do they like ONU? The ones who are students there, I mean."

"Herr Crawley really has planted a thought in your mind, hasn't he?"

"I can't help it," Sybil said. "I'm afraid that once I have a thought, I have to keep chasing it. This always happens to me."

"I think that's an admirable quality, m'lady."

"Is it?" she asked. "It has only ever annoyed Mama."

"It's good to chase the things you think are right," Tom said.

"Do you do that?"

"I'd like to."

Sybil nodded, and they lapsed into silence for a minute. "Could I meet your friends?" Sybil asked. "If I do try to go to ONU, I suppose I'd like to know that I could have friends when I get there."

Tom took a long second to think. "I'll give you some things to read first," Tom said. "And if you're still interested after that, then I can take you to meet them."

"Thank you," Sybil said, voice very bright.

"But you can't tell Lord Grantham." The tone in Tom's voice, the utter seriousness of it, surprised Sybil, but he was probably right that her father would not approve in the least. She nodded in agreement.

"It's easy to pretend to go out shopping," Sybil said. "I think I can manage that, at least."

"I see you do just want me to kidnap you, m'lady," Tom joked, smiling for perhaps the first time since they had gotten in the car. "Take you away to some place your family doesn't know you're going."

"I trust you not to lead me astray, Tom," she said.

"I'm grateful to hear you say it, but I can't promise that you're right."

Author's Note

a short chapter that i don't have much to say about lol. it mainly serves the function of moving various chess pieces around the board. next chapter is a thomas chapter that should be fairly entertaining.

i think this chapter has a few good lines in it. but i'm always so ? on if i'm getting the DA characters right in terms of characterization. i've watched the first season of the show multiple times to try to get it down but i do not know if i will ever feel confident haha. anyway i hope i'm doing a good job regardless of my lack of confidence

sorry this took so long to get out. i don't have any good excuses, only many bad ones that i shall not enumerate here :p

anyway: i'm javert on tumblr, natsinator on twitter. most of the rest of my writing is here on ao3, you should go read it. and you can also join my discord if you like discord. gg/2fu49B28nu