"Must you fight me on every change, Robert?" Matthew asked tiredly. He tapped the paperwork plan he had drawn up. "You told me once that you wanted to see Downton become strong, that the idea of failing to keep it within the family haunted you. Tom and I proposed the new tenancies, and they are profitable. I proposed the pig farming, and for the first time in a generation, that tenancy is actually making a profit. We have orchards we do nothing with. Yes, we have preserves and jams, cider and applesauce to suit our taste all year long, and the rest of the fruit rots. It's wasteful at the very least. If we tended the orchards more carefully and made a real effort to harvest, at the very least we could be selling the fruit we're not using at market. What we should do is start manufacturing our own products. People would pay for decent jam or apple butter." He gave Sybil a nod.
She took the mental baton from him, just as he had hoped. "Papa, Matthew is right. When Tom and I lived in Dublin, I'd scour the market for the best preserves, and note who made the best products. And people like knowing where their fruit or their preserves come from. There was a lovely farm just outside the city that always had the best raspberry jam. Tom liked it so I'd make sure I'd get to the market on the days they came. Everyone wanted O'Reilly jams, and they'd pay more for it too. If we bottled up our own jams and preserves, you can bet a lot of people would want to try Downton Abbey's Signature Apricot Jam."
"Exactly," Matthew said, gratefully taking the baton back. "Robert, you're a man used to the rarefied atmosphere of privilege. You may not realize this but the more common folk like to enjoy the same things as the rich. They like the pretension that they may not be wealthy but they can put the same jam on their toast as the King and Queen, or have the same cheese with their dinner." He could easily remember how certain sorts of cheese or beer or jam had a sort of social standing at classmate gatherings at university.
Sybil nodded brightly. "We have plenty of tenants with dairy cows. If we made our own cheeses, we could call it Downton Cheddar."
"And all of this, Robert," Matthew said, his tone equally bright, "would take very little to start up since we already have the basics available. The estate has orchards, and berry bushes. The tenants already do dairy farming. We would need a building for making the jams and bottling them, and frankly we have suitable properties already owned. We would need cooks and the village has plenty of women who would appreciate seasonal work. We would need to find a good maker of cheese. The important thing is that the estate would be supporting itself on the goods it produces and we'd be providing the villagers jobs and giving them a reason to stay on the land." Less forcefully, he added, "We've been lucky here, Robert. With the pigs and new tenancies, we're profitable. For now. What I am proposing would take very little investment capital since we have so much on hand that's being wasted, and it's a natural progression. We have the land to provide for the tenants. We're just making a more refined end product."
Robert snorted. "You are proposing we turn Downton into a jam factory, that we become tradesmen." He held up his hand to stave off Matthew's protest. "That said, I don't like waste, and you're absolutely right that even if we let the villagers pick what they like, we end up with fruit rotting on the ground every year. And I do pay attention to the news. The sad truth is, we can't compete with the Americans filling the markets with cheap grain and beef. We've been lucky here." He gestured to the paperwork Matthew had drawn up. "Sybil, you're obviously for it. Why?"
"Because," she said easily, "I'm not the destroyer of tradition that you think I am, Papa. At the same time, I read the newspapers you and Matthew read, and people who aren't adapting are losing their homes. This is Kate's home and George's home and we need to make sure they have can keep this as their home even when times change. Matthew isn't proposing we sell land or set up some sort of industrial factory. He wants to use build on what we already have. I think it's lovely." She smiled at Matthew. "I'm looking forward to having Downton Cheddar being on the table of all the finest restaurants."
Robert sighed. "Overall, I don't like it because it is trade, but you're right about this, Matthew. I fear we're going to see more and more of our kind lose their homes over an unwillingness to change." He gave Matthew a nod. "You were right about the pigs and the new tenancies. I think we should approach this cautiously, but we should do it." He stood up. "I'm glad, actually. I like the idea of using something that we already have to build a new facet of the estate. Now, I must check on your mother and see if she has settled down from reading Edith's letter." With that he strode out of the room.
Matthew let out the breath he'd been holding. "It worked," he said finally. "You were right." He smiled at her. "I've never had your father agree to one of my ideas so easily." He had asked Sybil for help out of desperation. He knew he could inevitably grind Robert down on the point but to get the plan moving this year instead of next, the orchards needed to be tended in the spring. He had three of the dairy farming tenants interested but they wanted assurances that if they expanded their stock to produce the milk needed for cheese production, that the Earl would give some assistance.
Sybil shrugged. "You need to remember, Matthew, that Papa is a very proud man who will embrace change when he thinks it's his idea. That and he really does care about the people who live here. Just the other day he was bemoaning the fact that a lot of the local young men are heading to the cities for work because there's no work here. He knows you're right but it touches his pride because he's been told his entire life that businessmen aren't gentleman." She hesitated. "And all the difficulty over the investments…." She gave him a knowing look. "I think you're wise to not want that for George."
He waited a moment to ask the question he'd been wondering about. "Have you given any more thought to returning to Ireland? I know you received a letter today as well. And before you answer, this was your home long before it was my home and one promise I made to myself after meeting all of you was that I wasn't turning anyone out of a home I only inherited due to bad luck, Downton is your home and Edith's home, and little Kate's as well." He knew from previous talks that Tom's mother had invited her to come back to Dublin to live.
She smiled slightly. "Mother Branson says Kate and I are welcome to live with her but... I've decided to stay here. She asked for Tom's sake, but..."
"Dublin wasn't as lovely as you made it sound?" Matthew had wondered about that.
"Dublin was a dream, Matthew." Sybil said it easily, a smile coming to her face. "I loved living in Dublin with Tom... But I wasn't blind to the fact that we weren't as welcome at some places due to me. Tom eased the way but if I went back, I'd be the English widow of an Irish man driven out of his country. His mother and I got along well, truly, but my living with her would be a burden, and I don't know that Kate would thank me for raising her there. And Papa dotes on her, and Mama, and in Dublin she'd be the daughter of an Englishwoman and I don't know that it's fair to make her deal with that when we're welcome here. I'm afraid you're stuck with us."
"It's hardly a burden," he said quickly. "But I worry... Forgive me, Sybil, but in many ways you have always reminded me of my mother, in that you need something to do. Does Kate keep you busy enough or would you like something else to do?" He hoped he was right about her. He thought he was. Sybil was a devoted mother but Robert and Cora insisted on a nanny. The hospital was well staffed and without a war to overload the patient load, Clarkson was unlikely to have a lord's daughter working the wards. That didn't leave Sybil much else.
"I think it would depend on what you want to suggest," she said carefully.
"I refuse to give up practicing law. I enjoy practicing law and frankly I like having the knowledge in the back of my mind that I have something not attached solely to the estate." Sometimes he wondered if that was a selfish conceit and then he would remind himself that Robert still controlled all the financial decisions in the end and that meant he had to maintain his law career. The money he made would wasn't insubstantial and it meant if something went terribly wrong with the estate, there would still be something to live on. He wasn't currently worried but one reason he wanted to increase the estate's income was to bring some security to the place. "I can do quite a lot on the weekend to manage the estate and Jarvis can handle the more traditional tasks but I thought you might want to manage the day to day aspect of the new cheese and jam idea."
He could see her interest plain on her face. "Oh that would be grand, Matthew. Mama has invited me to join a few of her charities but frankly while they're all good causes, it's me being Mama's widowed daughter who married badly. I spent quite a bit of time researching cheese production… However I do see a flaw in your plan."
"What's that?" he asked.
"Do the tenants involved know you plan to have a woman acting for you during your absences?" Sybil gave him a knowing look. "I've always applauded your open mindedness about women, Matthew, but your tenants might not share that view."
"No need to worry," he said, glad he had anticipated the problem. "I have six tenant farms in mind, four for the dairy production, and two that are adjacent to the orchards, and I already broached the topic with them." He chuckled. "The wives involved were quite for it. They are probably already discussing the idea in the village."
"Then it's settled," Sybil said with a laugh. "And we'll see whether it's Granny or Papa who yells at first." She seemed to consider her next words carefully. "Are you ready for the season?"
Matthew sighed. "Not at all. I know I am being silly, that Mary wouldn't expect me to mourn forever, but I feel like I betrayed her this morning by not wearing black." It had been more than difficult, made worse that Mosesly was almost desperately kind in not saying anything. "For Rose's sake, I felt it was necessary. I feel terrible that she's spent so much time trying to cheer me up…" A thought dawned on him, a terrible thought. "Oh goodness, Sybil…. Rose isn't… "
"Having a crush on you? Flirting with you?" She laughed. "I don't think so. I think you're her protective big brother who gives her advice and covers for her when Papa might get angry. I was worried though, but when I broached the topic, you'll be pleased to know she was both horrified and amused that I suggested such a thing. You'll be pleased to know you're far too old to be an acceptable husband to Rose"
He smiled ruefully. "I suppose I should be relieved but now I think I am a little offended at being spurned so bluntly. I've never felt so old before."
"Well, I'm sure you won't be disappointed in London," Sybil said easily.
"That is what I really dread," he admitted. "I'm not… officially mourning, but I've no interest in finding a bride. I can't not go, that is disrespectful to Rose and the family, but I also feel it's unfair to present myself to young women who are very much husband hunting when I am not looking for a wife." He chuckled suddenly. "I don't know why I worry. This may shock you, Sybil, but the truth is that I was always quite useless at attracting the opposite sex. Quite frankly, I think most of these young ladies will find me a bitter disappointment. I'm apparently a decrepit old man, and I am terrible at making conversation, especially with women."
"Well, you managed to attract Mary," Sybil said brightly. "And she was a woman of discerning taste as I recall. And you managed to attract Lavinia without the assistance of any special parties."
"Lavinia and I met because I bowled her over at King Crossing and invited her to lunch to apologize for being a clumsy oaf of a soldier. And Mary liked to argue." And for the first time in a long time it didn't hurt to say her name.
"Well, you could just behave awfully," Sybil offered. "Here's a trick. Just keep repeating to yourself 'what would Larry Grey do?' whenever you feel like driving a woman away. Do you know he had the audacity to send me a request to let him escort me to certain functions this season?"
"I suppose the bright side is that he's still interested?" Matthew offered.
"He's a toad, a disgusting piece of trash, and he's only sniffing around me because he's been turned down by everyone and he thinks I must be desperate enough to remarry anyone." She frowned. "He's planning to attend most of the functions we're going to."
And Matthew was suddenly glad he could repay all the favors she had been granting him since Mary's death, and avoid the worst of the onslaught as well. "Don't worry," he offered, "I have to go to all of these events as well. I'll be your escort. That way you can beg off someone as warty as Larry, and I don't have to dance with every 18 year old girl that realizes I'm one of the youngest men available that has a title and money."
"We shouldn't…" Sybil said after a moment. "I'm certain my mother and yours want us both to at least consider the idea of meeting someone new."
"I know," Matthew nodded, warming to the idea. "And I am certain that my mother has been having tea with Lord Merton of all people so that I can't point to her example when she insists I dance with some girl. But it seems to me that you and I both did a fine job in choosing our own partners and I think we can both manage again. If we want to. Frankly, if history is any indicator, I'll meet my next wife after saying something incredibly rude in her presence or accidently forcing her to drop her luggage and you'll marry the gardener. Or Barrow."
She laughed, like he knew she would. "Oh I think that would send both Papa and Barrow to their graves, Matthew. But I agree we should rescue each other this season if we need it." She held out her hand to shake, which surprised him. Her eyes twinkled. "If we're partners in several deals, we should shake on it, shouldn't we?"
He took her hand and shook it carefully, finding it suddenly amusing and pleasing to have her as his ally. "I know tomorrow is Sunday, but after church we should go to the tenants involved and give them the good news."
"Yes, and we should take Rose and the children," Sybil said easily. At his surprised look, she added, "I almost forgot. She wanted to take the children on a picnic after church and she asked me to invite you and George since she is but a girl and it would be inappropriate for her as an unpresented girl to invite a single man to a picnic." She laughed. "I think Granny and Mama couldn't quite believe their ears when she asked me to do this."
"I admit, I find myself wondering what happened to the young girl I had to drag away from a married man in a jazz bar, but her sudden concern about appearances is a nice change that I will support by endorsing this picnic idea." George and Katie certainly deserved a bit of fun and now that he was certain Rose didn't consider him husband material, he was more comfortable with the idea. Even better that she picked Sybil to chaperone the picnic. It was nice to see the girl turn into the responsible young lady he'd known was there under all the anger and rebellion.