"I've been thinking about it all day and I've decided I don't want to go."
It was late in the night and all of Downton was sleeping aside from Mr Molesley and Miss Baxter. Earlier that day, Sergeant Willis visited Miss Baxter and delivered a request that troubled her. She had not had time to discuss the situation with her trusted friend and confidant until later that night. They were sitting and chatting, as they often do late at night, on the two armchairs beside the fire in the servant's hall.
"But you have to go."
"They have other women to testify."
"But they need you. Without you, that wretched man will walk free and hurt other innocent women."
"Not necessarily."
"But you can't take that chance. You have the power to right a horrible wrong. Bring that monster who has caused you so much pain to justice."
"I can't."
"Of course you can."
"I can't. I can't face him. I will never be able to face him. I've tried so hard to put all of that in the past. Going to see him will break me."
"You are stronger than you think."
"You don't understand, what you see. Who you think is me is just a façade. But he knows me, the real me. The person capable of abhorrent acts."
"No I don't believe that. And neither do you. You're using that as an excuse to not stand up to him."
"Are you calling me a coward?"
"No not as such..."
"Because I am. I have always been. Too cowardly to stand up to him when he asked me to steal. Too foolish to realise that I was blinded by love from a man using me."
"If you're afraid, I'll come with you. You don't have to do this alone."
"I don't have to do it at all."
"You must! Think of the other people he's hurt."
"That's not my burden to bear. It's his."
"It will be your burden too if you don't act when you have the chance. Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."
"It's none of your business."
"Of course it's my business. You're my friend."
"If you were truly my friend you would support my decision."
"You know as well as I that you want me to persuade you to do the right thing. It will eat you up forever if you don't act. You're a good person."
"No, I'm not. I'm not going and you can't make me."
"You're being selfish!"
"Selfish!" Said Miss Baxter, standing now, her body and voice trembling. "That man is the reason I lost my virtue and self-respect. That man is the reason I spent three years in prison. That man ruined my chance at a happy life, and I will do alone. If that makes me selfish so be it, so please leave it alone."
"I can't leave it alone!" Mr Molesley said, standing to face her.
"Why not?"
"Because I love you! I love you and I don't want you to make a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life."
"A man used so-called love to manipulate me before. I'll not make that mistake twice."
Miss Baxter always thought that Mr Molesley was the best of men, she could not believe he would sink so low as to use love to manipulate her into changing her mind.
He doesn't love me, thought Baxter, how could he possibly?