Chapter 2: Convincing

The entire room goes into silence as the gravity of Emily's words slowly sink in. It's not one of the adults that breaks this trance, but Sybbie who turns to her father and asks:

"Papa? Where is Canada?"

Tom looks down at his young, inquisitive daughter, her bright blue eyes full of curiosity.

George seems to jump on his cousin's idea and turns to his mother.

"Where is Canada Mama? How far away is it?"

Emily decides to help the stunned parents a bit. She goes over to one of the bookshelves and removes the globe of the world from it. She brings it over to the centre table and lets the little ones get a closer look. Caroline, although only two years old, toddles over to join her half-brother and cousin as if she too was curious about this country.

"So, this place here…" Emily explains, pointing to England on the globe. "is England. This is where we live and Canada…" she spins the globe and points to the large country labelled with the name. "is Canada. This is where I used to live."

"Look, Papa!" Sybil says in excitement. "It's close to where we were in America."

"So it is," Tom says.

"How would we get there?" George asks, his eyes eager with anticipation of this possible vacation.

"Boat," Sybbie says, almost with a know-it-all tone in her voice as she was the only one of the Crawley children who had travelled overseas. "That's how Papa and I got to America."

"Is it a big boat?" George asks.

"Very big!" the little girl emphasizes, using her hands to try and show her cousin the measurement. "Taller than Grandpapa and Papa put together."

"That's big!" the young heir of Downton says in amazement.

"Okay children," Cora says. "Let's call Nanny, it's past your bedtime."

"Awww, Granny can we please stay up a little longer? Emmy is going to tell us more!" George says excitedly.

Emily, sensing that the adults want to talk to her privately and not get the children all excited over something that might not happen, jumps in to help.

"I'll tell you more about Canada tomorrow."

"You promise?"

"I promise, now go get ready for bed."

"What about storytime Emmy?" Sybbie asks.

"Oh, that's right, we do have to have storytime don't we. How about whoever gets ready for bed the fastest gets to pick the book?"

"I'm first!" Sybbie shouts, bolting up and going for the door.

"I'm first!" George calls, tailing his cousin. Caroline holds her stuffed sheep and follows the older kids, not understanding what's happening but more than happy to follow along.

The kids eagerly wait until Nanny appears, giving their prospective parents quick kisses before racing for the nursery. Emily hands the letter she received to her adopted father before following the youngsters.

Once the adults are left alone, Robert begins reading the letter to clarify the predicament his adopted daughter seemed to be in.

"What does it say, Robert?" Cora asks.

"Exactly what she told us, with the exception that our entire household, staff included are invited to come oversees this summer and spend a month in Canada."

"But why everyone?" Isobel asks. "Nothing against the staff, but wouldn't it be terribly expensive to have everyone go over to Canada?"

"Well, her cousin Eli has promised to pay all expenses," Robert adds, placing his hand over his mouth as his mind tried to piece together this peculiar puzzle.

"This seems all very strange," Tom says.

"I agree," Mary nods. "Here is this cousin who seemed more than eager to send one of his own kin overseas so he could have all the inheritance and then never gets in contact with her, suddenly requests that she come back home to settle the matter."

"Either he's got something to prove or it's another ulterior motive that requires little Emily and Marius to take the fall for it."

"Could he be in debt?" Tom suggests, going off of Lady Violet's suggestions. "And wants to sign the responsibility over to them?"

"It all seems too good to be true," Cora agrees.

"Well regardless of what we think, this is something to discuss when Emily comes back," Isobel insists.

It is not too long before Emily re-enters the library, having finished reading a story to the children. She walks over and sits on the couch.

"I can tell that you are second-guessing the offer?"

"Emily, it all seems a bit strange doesn't it?" Cora asks.

"It does," the girl nods, glad that everyone had a similar mindset to her own. "Even when I was still living in Canada, Eli took no pity on my helpless state of losing my parents. At the funeral, all he asked the lawyer about was when the will was going to be read, and I like to think that he had a hand in having the estate being split in half being thrown out of court."

"That is true, very few things involved in a last will and testament are ever not honoured," Isobel agrees, remembering what Matthew had gone through when he worked as a lawyer.

"We suspect that he might be trying to unload some debt onto you and Marius," Robert continues. "Regardless, we need to telephone Murray tomorrow. Also, do you know how to get into contact with your cousin?"

"Only by letter so far," Emily admits, biting her lower lip. "But despite the suddenness of it all and even if we turn down the inheritance problem, how does the offer of going to Canada in the summer sound?"

The adults in the room look at one another in embarrassed confusion and slight disdain. While only Robert and Cora having ever gone to Canada before, the rest of the family did not seem very eager to travel anywhere.

"Really?" Emily says, a little hurt by their reactions.

"It just seems a little too good to be true Emily," Mary says.

Emily knew that Grandma Violet would not be able to come due to her ailing health, but if money was not a concern, what is stopping them from taking advantage of this chance. "I know it does but what harm could leave England for the summer do? It's not going to cost us anything and you've all travelled to America before."

"America is different than Canada Emily," Cora says, acting as though she knew this as a fact when she did not.

"Not that much, and if it turned out people like Marius and me, it can't be that bad."

"Isn't it cold there?" Lord Grey asks.

"Only in the winters; the summers are actually quite temperate and beautiful, perfect for swimming, sailing and everything in between." The young girl's eyes glaze over with happiness as a flood of memories come back of her days by the seashore.

"But Emily, is such a trip very practical?" Robert asks.

"Why? Do you have any big plans this summer?" she says with some attitude. "I don't understand why you're dragging your feet so much. Even if the money and estate do not pan out, what's stopping us from travelling and enjoying ourselves or from letting Sybil, George, and Caroline from seeing the world a little bit? You cannot get much safer than Canada."

"By the way, we don't appreciate you getting their hopes up about that," Mary says rather crudely.

"They would have found out eventually; Sybbie and George are very smart children and they do listen at the door sometimes," Emily smirks, ignoring the harshness of Mary's previous comment. "Children still listen, even when you pretend that they aren't there."

"Yes, we learned that when you came along," Robert mutters to himself.

"I would still like you to meet my family, what's left of it. And Cora you always love going back to your childhood home once and a while, don't you?"

"Of course," Cora admits.

"Well I would like to do the same; Ask Edith, and I'm sure she'll say the same thing of wanting to come back to Downton now and again. I haven't made one trip back home since I came here, and I'm sure none of you can imagine how homesick I was in the beginning. I still do miss it sometimes."

The girl sighs heavily and decides that time was needed to help the decision process. She smooths the folds of her skirt and stands up.

"Perhaps you need to sleep on it… and if Marius and I do go back, it would be disappointing to not have my adopted family there, if not for support, than to just enjoy the opportunity being presented. Marius and Collette are coming next week to discuss this further and I'll find a way to get in touch with my cousin to see if it's legitimate, but all I ask is that you give it more thought. I'll see you in the morning, good night."

With that, the recently turned seventeen-year-old girl stands up and exits the room, having many mixed emotions of what might be said in the morning.