Visitors
It was a nice spring day in London when Mrs. Branson stepped off the train and scanned the platform for her son. Throngs of people moved to and fro and a sea of English accents surrounded her. She wasn't a tall woman and she could barely see over the shoulders of the people around her. As she moved towards the sign marked exit, she finally caught sight of her fair-haired son working his way towards her through the crowd. She tightened her grip on her suitcase that had seen better days and headed off in his direction.
"How was the trip, Mam?"
"Fine enough. How is Sybil?" she said in her Irish brogue.
"Anxious for the delivery. She is on a burst of cleaning at the moment. Had me beating the rugs yesterday."
"It won't be long now," Mrs. Branson said. Her eyes opened wide as her son stored her case into a car that looked no bigger than an oversized coffin to her. "You expect me to travel in that?"
"Its perfectly safe Mam. I know what I'm doing."
As they moved off from the station, Mrs. Branson was holding on as if her life depended on it. She had come to London to see her grandchildren and find out for herself why her son and his wife had extended their visit to England into a permanent stay.
"There is something I wanted to tell you about the house before we get there," said Tom. "Its a little larger than what you might expect. It belongs to Sybil's family."
The only answer was a look of abject fear at being in a convertible car moving through the London traffic.
"We pay the expenses of running the house, otherwise we have it rent free. We only use the rooms we need. It is less expensive than a flat. Just don't be shocked. Its a little…well…grand."
They were moving up the rows of expensive town homes. Uniformed maids moved about with their daily shopping and chauffer driven limousines were stopped in front of houses or moving through the streets. Tom swung the car between two rows of houses and pulled into the garage behind a large Georgian house.
His mother got out of the car and looked at the rear of the house.
"Good lord almighty, you can't mean that," she said pointing at the house. "You said grand, but that."
"I know Sybil's family and all that goes with it can be a little overwhelming, but they are a family none the less. Wait until you meet your grandson. He seems to be able to find trouble no matter what.
"I wonder where he would get that from?" Tom's mother said as they headed into the house.
All the worrying Tom had done about his mother's visit and her reaction to their living conditions turned out to be for nothing. Mrs. Branson had taken one look at her grandson and immediately taken a shine to him. Sybil and his mother seemed to be lost in a world of babies and woman talk that only women who are mother's seemed to share. So far he hadn't heard one word about "that English girl" and his mother actually seemed to approve of how they were running their home, if not Sybil's plans to attend college that fall.
Lady Cora had planned to come to London before the birth of her second grandchild but Sybil and Tom's second son had other ideas and arrived on a spring evening ten days early. A week later Ladies Cora, Mary and Edith arrived to see the new arrival. Sybil was up and about and after a great deal of cooing at the new baby, the group of women including Mrs. Branson gathered in the library for tea.
"I wish you would open the other main floor rooms, even if just for the summer," Lady Cora said.
"It's a lot of work to keep it all up Mama. Who would I entertain there? The library serves us quite well."
"I could speak to your father about supplying more staff."
"Absolutely not," Sybil said. She could feel her mother-in-law watching her intently. "We live within our means and that does not include paying for more staff."
"Yes of course dear, I didn't mean to interfere with your running of the house."
Mary tactfully changed the subject and the conversation continued until the topic of Sybil's last pregnancy came up.
"We weren't planning on having our children so close together but I wasn't feeding our first son for a few weeks when he had a summer cold and I forgot to count, so here we are."
"Count what?" asked Mary with a perplexed look on her face.
Edith began sipping her tea. She had no idea either what Sybil was talking about but she wasn't about to let her sisters know.
"You know, the days when you are most likely to get pregnant. Honestly Mary what did you think I was talking about?"
"Girls, I don't think this is an appropriate topic of conversation even if we are all women," said Lady Cora.
Mary and Edith exchanged a puzzled look. They would have a private word with their sister later. Mrs. Branson could only shake her head. "Didn't these rich folk tell their daughters anything?" she thought. She wondered how Sybil had ever found the courage to become a nurse and marry her son. Mrs. Branson was gaining a new respect for the stuff her daughter-in-law was made of. Sybil certainly didn't buy into this nonsense.
In mid summer Katie told Tom and Sybil she would be leaving to get married in early December. They were happy for her, but now they had the new problem of finding live in help who they could trust with their children while Tom was working and Sybil was attending nursing college to upgrade her qualifications. Tom's mother had announced before she left in September that she would be happy to help them find a replacement girl from Ireland. Lady Edith had been for a visit and couldn't understand Sybil's agreement with the idea.
"But Sybil aren't you going to hire a nurse or a nanny for the boys? Why do you want a girl from Ireland?"
"Matthew was raised quite well without either a nurse or nanny as was Tom. A girl from Ireland can teach the boys to speak Irish. Besides there are many girls there who will be happy to have a job. It is getting harder and harder to find staff here, or at least so Papa says."
"I'll be sure to find someone who is respectable and hard working," Mrs. Branson had contributed.
Lord Grantham heard from James Lewis around the same time. The mysterious Jane O'Connor had been located. He was still waiting for the results of the independent autopsy and John Bates new trial date was set for mid November. Matthew and Lord Grantham accompanied Anna Bates for a final meeting with Mr. Lewis shortly before the trial.
"Lord Grantham, Mr. Crawley and Mrs. Bates as you know Mr. Bates has been transferred to custody here in London and the trial date has been set for November 15. This is not going to be an easy trial and may run well into the New Year. I want you to be prepared."
"We are all willing to do what it takes," said Lord Grantham. "Do you feel you can win the case?"
"Yes I do. With the work your sons-in-law have done and the additional information collected there is a substantial body of proof to discount the prosecution's case. I warn you though, that no defense is ever fool proof."
"We understand. We can only hope for the best," said Lord Grantham.
Anna remained quiet, but the tension in her body was evident to everyone in attendance.
"I realize the wait while the defense has been prepared has been long Mrs. Bates, but it was necessary."
"I understand," Anna said just above a whisper.
"Will you be calling Lord Grantham for the defense?" asked Matthew.
"No, I hadn't planned on it," said Mr. Lewis. "Nor will I call Mr. Branson if it can be avoided."
"Why ever not?" asked Lord Grantham.
"In the last trial, Lord Grantham your testimony was turned against the defendant. Mr. Branson while very bright and well spoken is Irish. There is a great deal of anti-Irish sentiment within the general population. His accent alone could possibly sway the jury. I will only call him to testify if absolutely necessary."
"I must ask you Lord Grantham, are you still associated with Mr. Murray?"
"No, I have moved my business else where," Lord Grantham looked distinctly uncomfortable with discussing his private affairs in front of one of his staff.
"I believe Mr. Murray's handling of the case was inept, but I do not believe it was done with malice. Please forgive me Lord Grantham, but that is my opinion."
"I will take your opinion under advisement," said Lord Grantham. "We have opened Crawley House here in London for the duration of the trial. If you need to contact Mrs. Bates or myself please do so there."
"Very well," said Mr. Lewis. "I believe that concludes our business for this afternoon."
When the three of them returned to Crawley House, Lord Grantham asked Anna to join himself and Matthew the library for a few minutes to discuss the meeting with Mr. Lewis.
"He knows what he is doing," said Matthew. "Try to be confident."
"I'm just so frightened," said Anna. "It all seems so hopeless."
"I'm sure it isn't Anna. There has been a great deal of evidence collected since the last trial."
"Yes, quite so," said Lord Grantham. "Will you be here for the trial Matthew?"
"I will be here as much as possible, but I must attend to my own practice back in Ripon. Hopefully Tom will be able to attend with you."
"I doubt it, the man is always running off somewhere," said Lord Grantham. He didn't like to admit it but Sybil and Tom had done a decent job of running the house in London. He didn't see why there was a box of toys in the corner of the dining room, or why his son-in-law shut himself up in the library for hours at a time. The younger generation had a strange way of doing things. Hopefully, Mary and Matthew would be making an announcement of their own before long and this Bates affair would finally come to a close. The next few months would be interesting to say the least.