Chapter 8

You could have heard a pin drop in the library at Downton.

Everyone sat, their bodies tensed rigid with concentration. Tom put his arms around Sybil and Anthony held Edith's hand in his good one.

"It is, as yet, too early to tell if the damage to Matthew's arm and shoulder is permanent." Clarkson said, "He is currently sleeping under sedation, and his mother is with him."

"How is the prognosis?" Violet finally managed to ask.

"To be honest, Lady Grantham, it does not look good, but I have been wrong before, since Matthew recovered his ability to walk and stand."

Anthony looked quizzical so Mary said. "Sir Anthony, Matthew returned from the war with a shadow on his spine and for a time it looked very much like he might never walk again. He tried to push his then fiancée, Lavinia, away, not wanting her to be tied to him."

Anthony swallowed, was this not what he had wrestled with in regard to Edith before he had decided that only she had the right to make that choice for herself, once in possession of all the facts?

"Did she leave him after all?" Anthony asked.

"In the worst possible way," Mary replied, "The Spanish flu took her."

"I'm very sorry."

Mary turned to her father and grandmother.

"I know that you must both be so disappointed in me, after the Kamal Pamuk thing? But no one regrets it more than I, because it allowed me to be placed in the impossible situation I was in. Richard Carlisle held it over me and I really did not want you to find out that way, Papa. I decided that marrying a man I did not, and could not, love was just punishment, but I was already becoming tired of him and the self made man sized chip on his shoulder. Today has set me free, and I have a lot of humble pie to eat and apologies to make. I cannot undo it, but cousin Isobel says that I am not the first woman in my position to have made such a mistake and I know I won't be the last. All I know is that I have probably lost Matthew for good so I now have nothing. Whether his injury is permanent or not, I am prepared to take care of him. I realise that an injured crippled heir may not be what you want, Papa, but I won't let Matthew push me away in the way he did Lavinia, although the final decision must rest with him and hard though it may be I will accept it."

"I have accepted Anthony's proposal," Edith said, "I have seen that it is possible for a man to manage, and he has agreed to help Matthew come to terms with his injury because he can do so from a perspective none of us ever have a hope of understanding. The only difference between them is that it is Matthew's left arm that is injured."

"Good for you," Mary said, She swallowed and looked Anthony full in the eyes for the first time that day. "Sir Anthony, i want to apologise for what I made out edith had said the day of the garden party. I saw that you and Edith were happy and I envied that, things with Matthew were not going well at the time and I suppose I was jealous and acted out of pure spite. I can only ask for your forgiveness."

"You have it, Lady Mary." Anthony said, "We were all different people back then, anyone who claims the war did not change them is either dead or lying."

"I'm sorry I send that letter to the Turkish Ambassador," Edith said, "I regretted it the moment it was posted, but I could not take it back. I was a spoilt bitch then."

"Have we stepped into some parallel universe or something?" Violet asked.

"I don't think it's anything we necessarily need to know about, Mama." Robert said.

Edith was relieved that her father had intervened, but she knew she would probably have to explain to Anthony about the letter at some point, although he would probably dismiss it since it had happened before they had known each other.

"Congratulations Edith, and Anthony." Mary said, "Although I can't help thinking that, but for me, you would have been together long before now."

But Edith shook her head.

"I wasn't ready then, I was still a child. I certainly could not have appreciated Anthony then as I do now, probably because I went through the war with the constant dread of never seeing him again, but I mean to learn to help him. Although his actions today have shown me that actually there is very little he cannot do with only one working arm. But I love him because of his injury, not in spite of it. Anthony gave me the choice to love him, and you must let Matthew do the same."

"Will any of you need to talk to the police?" Cora asked.

"I will have to give evidence against Richard, which will bring me a perverse sort of pleasure, and Matthew if he remembers enough."

"Constable MacBride has said that he will need to talk to Edith and I." Anthony said, "He says he will send a man around to Locksley tomorrow."

"Will he be able to do Richard for attempted murder?" Violet asked hopefully.

"At the moment it looks like deliberate, unlawful wounding." Clarkson said, "There is no evidence he meant to kill Matthew and failed, he would have shot elsewhere on his torso had murder been his intention."

"The Jerry who shot at me aimed to kill," Anthony said, "But that was war, I have no doubt things are perceived differently in peace time. If I hadn't turned my back on him at the crucial moment then I might not be here now."

"Oh don't talk about such things," Edith shivered and Anthony drew her close to him.

"I'm here my darling, I'm alive and he was shot for cowardice because he failed to kill me. I have a duff arm but I have my life and my honour, while he has neither."

"I'll go and see Matthew tomorrow," Mary said. She was shaking. Both Edith and Sybil made a silent vow that, now they both had the men they loved, they would do their utmost to ensure that Mary and Matthew were reunited in love.