So sorry for the wait. Hopefully this longer chapter will make up for it. As always, your comments have been much appreciated!


Mrs. Chetwood did return the next day. But this time, she was not allowed to speak with Anthony immediately but asked to wait in the little library until Dr. Clarkson could come speak with her. Sybil informed Edith of the situation and Edith went straight to Anthony. "Shall we take a stroll, perhaps visit the folly again?"

Anthony was in the drawing room with a book. His face broke into one of his crooked smiles as he looked up from his reading to look at Edith. "The folly?"

"Yes, it is a beautiful morning and I refuse to spend the entirety of it indoors."

"And you've chosen the folly as your destination because..?"

Edith looked at him with one of her shy, demure smiles. "You know very well why I have chosen the folly as our destination, Anthony Strallan. And don't think for one minute that I believe you aren't equally interested in returning to that building."

"Very well, Lady Edith Crawley. I am at your service," Anthony replied with an equally shy grin.

It seemed to Anthony, as they made their way to the little castle, that the folly was quickly becoming a favorite spot for them on the estate. Briefly, he wondered where on the Locksley estate he might have one built. Perhaps as a wedding gift to his wife?

For all of Edith's protestations about not being indoors, they spent the entirety of their time in the folly seated on the stone bench, kissing and snuggling. Of course, Anthony had known that it was her intention and being a gentleman, he endeavored to please her, to a point. When she took his left hand and held it against her breast, he pulled away. "Edith! We must stop."

Gazing up at him with her doe colored eyes that seemed to sparkle at him, she shot him her most innocent look. "But why?" Her tone was as innocent as her expression but Anthony knew that her intentions were not.

"You know very well why, my dearest."

She sighed and then smiled at him. "Can't blame a girl for trying?"

"You are a little temptress, aren't you? But please, no more… trying. I care for you far too much to put you in a position where you are well and truly compromised. And I fear that I am not strong enough to resist your more…. flirtatious efforts. Please, my darling?"

Edith let out an exaggerated huff. "If you insist. But I think we could have so much fun."

Fun? She thinks that ….. that I would be fun….that it would be fun with me? She deserves someone younger, not a dried up old prune like me. But… well, it was a bit of fun while I held her and… and my hand on her… well, she did seem to enjoy that. But surely it was just the excitement…. Any man would have been fine…. But she chose you. She continues to choose only you. She must see something that I just can't. Still…" He looked into her face, took in her adoring eyes, and felt his resistance melting.

"My dearest one," Anthony began still unsure of the advisability but certain it was what they both wanted, "when I am released from here, when I am strong enough, I do hope… no," he paused as he slid from his seat to his knee on the stone floor. "Darling Edith, would you give me the very high honor of agreeing to become my wife… in time?"

To his utter delight, she leaned down and kissed him most soundly. "Yes, my darling man. A thousand times yes. When you are released from here, we will begin planning the wedding. We'll give it time while you adapt to life at Locksley again, but not too long of a time. Because I really do want to be a part of that life with you."

She will have me, he thought ecstatically. Her exuberant response overwhelmed Anthony and the tears that he had refused to let fall the day before, forced themselves out and ran down his cheeks. She would have him! Relief and with joy gripped him and he began to shake with the enormity of it.

"Oh no," she exclaimed as she saw the shaking.

"No, I'm alright," he replied quickly. "I…. I'm just so…" he paused to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. "Oh my dearest darling, you have made me so happy!"

Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him and whispered, "so am I, so very, very happy."

"But it must be as you said last night, our little secret," he said after a moment. "We won't make it official until I am back at Locksley."

"Agreed," Edith replied. "And I really love the notion that we will have our little secret, the knowledge of our love, just between us for awhile longer. I'm not ready to share any of our happiness with anyone else just yet. I want to keep it and you all to myself."

Anthony couldn't help himself, he began to chuckle, almost giggle with the pleasure of it all.

After a few minutes basking in their new little secret, Edith told Anthony about his sister returning. "Dr. Clarkson ordered that she not be allowed to see you until he speaks with her, so she was taken to the small library until he could get here. But I think by now, he has had ample time to talk to her. Perhaps we should go back to the house? Do you think you are ready to try again with her?"

"As long as she understands that I am not leaving here, not yet. And I am certainly not going to Cambridge!"

"Of course, you won't. Do you really believe I would let you out of my sight for long, especially after today?"

"I certainly hope not, my darling. I certainly hope not," he said as he stood and took her hand. And this time, it was Anthony who led the way back to the house and to the small library. He stopped at the door and turned to Edith. "I think I should try this on my own, my sweet. If I am to get stronger, I need to do things like this and not depend on you for help."

"Oh, well…. aright then, if you are sure." But she didn't seem happy with his decision.

"I am. I…. I need to prove to myself…"

Edith smiled at him weakly and squeezed his hand. "If you need to do this, then you should. But please understand darling man, you do not need to prove anything to me."

An anxious smile quirked at his lips. "Perhaps not. But I really think I need to do this."

"I'll be in the salon, if you should need me. And if you don't, well… I'll be waiting for you there anyway." She gave his hand another squeeze and then turned to make her way through to the saloon. Anthony turned his attention to the library door and pushed it open.

Inside he found Dr. Clarkson seated in a chair next to another that held his sister. Across the room, her husband was standing, perusing the shelves of books. Clarkson looked up and nodded at Anthony. "There you are, Major Strallan." Anthony caught that Clarkson had used his military rank instead of his civilian one and surmised that it was part of the doctor's campaign with Agatha. "Yes Dr. Clarkson, I was told that my sister and her husband had returned. I'm feeling stronger today and thought this might be a good time to talk."

Turning to his sister, Anthony greeted her. "Hello Agatha. I'm very sorry for my behavior yesterday. It was just all a bit of a shock, you see." And then looking across at Alistair, he nodded. "I owe you an apology as well, I'm afraid. My behavior was rather boorish.

"Not at all, old chap. I told Agatha we should wait and speak with the doctor before barging in on you like that. It was nice to be proven correct about something, for a change." Anthony smiled at his brother-in-law's words and even more at the smirk that played on the man's face. He decided that once he got to know Alastair better, he might like him quite a bit.

Clarkson stood and turned to bid the Chetwoods a good day. Then turning to Anthony, he looked rather focused. "If you are certain you will be alright?"

"Yes Doctor, as I said, I'm feeling much better today. I'll be fine."

"Then I'll tend to my other patients," he said as he once again bid good bye to the Chetwoods and left the room.

Anthony took the chair that Clarkson had vacated. "I really am sorry about yesterday. But you see, I'm really not ready to leave the care of Dr. Clarkson and the nurses just yet. And even when I am ready to go home, it will be to Locksley, not Cambridge."

Agatha nodded somberly. "Dr. Clarkson explained about your injuries, the physical ones and the ones to your spirit. I understand better now, my dear little brother. I just want you to get better. In my haste to take care of you, I neglected to consider that I might not be the best solution for your care and recovery. But the doctor assures me that you will recover from it all."

"Yes, I hope so. With the exception of my arm, of course. The damage to my shoulder has rendered it useless, not fit for man nor beast, you see. And no one can say that my memory will ever return, or if it does, just how much of it will come back. And as to the damage done to my spirit," he shrugged, "or my soul, if you will…. Right now, I can't see how I will ever recover that completely. But I am trying. It's just that my confidence has gone and I'm so very unsure of everything." Except for a very pretty young lady who is waiting for me in the salon…

"Dr. Clarkson said you were tortured, Anthony…" Agatha's question had Alastair moving closer and sitting in a nearby chair.

Taking a deep breath, Anthony knew he had to answer her query. "Yes, well… I was in the Intelligence Corps and the Germans thought I might have information they could use. But I had no memory, so I couldn't tell them anything. I would like to think I wouldn't have told them anything anyway, but after months of their brutality, I can't honestly say that I wouldn't have." It hurt, physically hurt to have to think on those months but he knew his sister needed to understand what he had been through. And he thought that perhaps, if he were to explain, to talk about it a bit more, perhaps it would be easier to live with. "At first, it wasn't terribly bad but as the weeks passed, they became more brutal. And then for the last month or so, they withheld food and water too. It is hard to believe that humans can be that cruel to one another."

"Oh my poor dear," she exclaimed. Alastair sat absolutely still but wore a thunderous look on his face. "My dear chap, to have that happen to you—you of all men, always so kind and gentle. Unthinkable!"

"Thank you, both of you. But it is done now and I really only want to focus on getting stronger, on healing as much as it is possible. And then I want to go home to Locksley."

"Dr. Clarkson said you visited there yesterday?" Agatha seemed curious. "Did… I mean, were there any memories?"

"Memories? No. But I did feel… I can't explain exactly, but I did feel comfortable there. It didn't feel like a strange place to me after the first few minutes. I think that in time, I will feel it is my home again."

"Well, that is something, I suppose." Agatha's expression had softened. "I do want to help, as much as I can. Alastair and I both do. But we don't know how to help you, Anthony."

"Then, please don't push me. I know you wanted me to go to Cambridge so you could look after me. I understand that. But … but I need to do this in my own way." Anthony paused as an idea came to him. "Perhaps if you went with me to Locksley and spend some time there, a few hours maybe. You could talk about what it was like for us there as children, explain what our lives were like, perhaps that might help jog some memories. At the very least, it might help me to feel more at home there. I know you said Alastair has to return to Cambridge…."

"We can spare a few days," Alastair chimed in. "I think that's a splendid idea, Anthony. Agatha and I are staying in the village but would you mind if we shifted over to Locksley? It would give Agatha some time to dig out the old family books. They might serve as aides in exploring your past."

"No, I don't mind at all. I saw the butler yesterday… Oates? And I had the impression there was other staff about. We could call over there now and alert them to your arrival."

"Yes, that would be lovely," Agatha replied enthusiastically.

Feeling relieved and quite happy, Anthony led them into the salon, where he saw Edith sitting near the great stone fireplace. Approaching her, he called out, "Lady Edith?"

Looking up with a twinkle in her eye, Edith smiled at him. "Yes, Major Strallan?"

"I was wondering… do you think it might be alright if we used your telephone to call over to Locksley. My sister and her husband are going to stay there for the rest of their visit and I thought we should alert the staff."

"Oh how marvelous," she said. "Of course you may use the telephone. Please, go ahead now. No one is using it."

And so Anthony, suddenly full of confidence, phoned Locksley and informed his staff, his staff he marveled, that Mr. and Mrs. Chetwood would spend the next few days there.