A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews! :-))) I will answer them tomorrow. Et volia, chapter 2. Enjoy reading!
It wasn't wrong to admit that he enjoyed Lady Edith's company; especially not, if he made this confession in silence and to himself only. Sir Anthony Strallan took pleasure in walking with the middle Crawley daughter. Her hand lying on his left arm felt right in some way.
They walked slowly to the churchyard and talked about this and that. Lady Edith seemed to be very keen on his opion about a lot of issues. In addition he found her widely read.
"Do you think of the war sometimes?" she suddenly asked.
Sir Anthony silenced for a while. "Yes, I do" he finally answered. "But, forgive me, this is nothing I would like to discuss with a young lady." Actually he wasn't keen to speak to anybody about the things he experienced during the war.
"Although our house was a hospital at this time, I can hardly imagine, what the men faced on the battleground" Lady Edith said. "Some wounds I've seen were gruesome, but what some of the patients remembered in their dreams must have been horrible."
The sadness in her voice let him wish that he would be able to put his free hand on hers, but due to his injury he wasn't useful in giving some comfort.
"We lost a lot of good young men due to this war - many of them are crippled or dead, some lost their minds" he said instead. "I don't know why God decided to let me of all people return."
His companion stopped instantly. He felt her eyes looking at him. He knew the unhappy expression of this gaze without seeing it directly.
"If you hadn't returned from the war, to whom would I speak then today?" she asked quietly.
Now he faced her glance. "To a handsome young fellow, who deserves your affection and who would court you until you marry in spring."
Lady Edith slightly shook her head. He knew what she was going to say. So, he asked her with a gesture not to speak further.
They reached the churchyard's gateway in silence. The snow had covered most of the old gravestones. The path, which leads to the tiny chapel, was hardly to spot.
"How peaceful!" Lady Edith's voice was only whispering now. "Just think of it, Sir Anthony, if you didn't return, you couldn't behold this beautiful scene."
This beauty and others, he answered for himself, while he watched her exploring the snowy burial ground.