September 5, 1918

Downton Abbey

As they walked back from the hospital Matthew asked "Do you think I should ask Edith to come on the picnic with Patricia and me tomorrow?"

"Why? I am coming with you."

"You are? I thought you were going to be admiring Sir Richard's bric a brac."

"He invited, I declined."

"He seems quite enamoured of you."

"But not of Patricia"

"You could always send her to Canada with me"

Mary stopped. "I am not amused"

"What if there was no Patricia? Would you welcome Sir Richard's advances? He was a lot going for him. Money, Power, Money."

Say no, please say no Matthew pleaded in his mind.

"That is none of your business sir!"

Oh I see thought Matthew.

Mary surged ahead of him on the path. Matthew did not try to keep up.

It was Matthew's day with Violet. Branson was driving them to Ripon, Violet was going to visit her dressmaker, they would meet for lunch and then they would drive back.

The drive to Ripon was uneventful. Violet gave a running commentary on the countryside. Who owned this land or that with a precis of each landowning family's history and prospects. Whom Matthew should make a point of meeting and whom he should avoid. All seasoned with her sharp judgements. It made Matthews wonder what was her assessment of him.

Branson dropped them off at the dressmaker's shop.

"I do not imagine you would like to sit and watch me be fitted"

"I don't know, I might find it very informative." Matthew smiled at her.

"You might have... forty years ago. Now try to amuse yourself for the next two hours. I will see you then."

Matthew wandered around Ripon. He was happy to find out that it was market day. He enjoyed seeing the produce the countryside produced. He toured the small cathedral. He glanced in the shops. He found himself in front of the bookstore. He entered intending to find something to read on the way back to the front, but he ended up buying an illustrated copy of Peter Pan for Patricia. She was a little young now but maybe some day she would read the note he wrote on the inside cover and she would wonder who, Matthew, her third cousin, twice removed, was and why had he wished her all the best. He felt a tightness in his chest of regret that he would not get a chance to see her grow up. In his short time with her he had grown to love her. He went back to the dress shop.

Violet lunched at the same tea room each time she was in Ripon. The staff knew her and brought them a pot of tea.

"I always have an egg salad but I recommend you have the pikelets with strawberries. I am sure you will like them"

Matthew tried them and he liked them so much he had a second order.

Violet smiled at him. "I forget sometimes how young men eat." She looked at Matthew. "You seem pensive"

"I was wondering if you would help me with some shopping"

"I would be honoured to" Shopping for what? Violet thought. A present for Mary? For Patricia?

Surely not a ring? He would not have that kind of money on him.

After Matthew paid for lunch Violet took Matthew's arm and he escorted her to a childrens clothing shop. Once they were inside he pulled out a note out of his inside packet.

"I would like to buy a little girl a warm winter coat. These are her measurements" he gave Violet the note. "She is almost five"

Violet read the measurements. She had a lot of questions for Matthew. But first things first. "How much do you want to spend?" Mathew told her. "That is enough for a coat, accessories and an outfit beside."

"Whatever you can buy with it"

"What colours do you prefer?"

"I don't know. She has dark brown hair and a pale complexion, like Mary's, but dark blue eyes."

"Well we cannot go wrong with blue"

Violet huddled with the clerk and then they started picking things out. They ended up with a coat, knit hat, scarf, mittens, a jumper, a corduroy dress, tights and an undershirt.

They were on the way back to Downton when Violet's curiosity got the better of her. "Is she your daughter?"

"No" Matthew looked at Violet. She had a sceptical look. He sighed. "She was born on November 19,1913. I landed in France on January 12, 1915. You do the math."

"Then why?"

"She is my ward. Her name is Marie Claire. Her mother died when she was born. Her father was killed at Verdun in February 1916. She ended up with her paternal grandfather, her only living relative. He was a one legged veteran of the last time the French and Germans went at it, back in the 1870s. He owned a little wine bar in a small village close to where we were camped. The wine bar wasn't big enough or loud enough to attract any real soldier clientele but it was nice enough for a soldier who would rather sip a cup of coffee and read a book than carouse and get drunk. The bar was her creche. Long storey short, I kept going back, we got to know each other, to be friends and in a moment of weakness, I agreed to take care of her if something happened to her grandfather. His friend, an old notaire, drew up the necessary papers. Well her grandfather died in June and she has been staying with the notaire and his wife since then but that is only a short term solution. I am trying to work out a way to get her to Canada. My mother has already agreed to take care of her until I settle down.".

There was a long silence between them.

Violet broke it. "Patricia and now this Marie Claire" she paused, assessing him."You have your sisters back..."

He shrugged his shoulders. "One anyway"

"Have you told Mary?"

"No"

"When are you going to tell her?"

"I'm not going to" Matthew looked out the window.

"You must! You cannot keep something like that from her forever."

"It's not forever, it's just for a few days."

Violet gave him a sharp look. "What do you mean 'just a few days'?"

"In a few days I will be gone and ..."

"But you will be back ..."

"No. I will not be returning."

"But, but I thought you and Mary were doing so well together."

"So did I, so did I. But I have been disappointed."

"Did she turn you down?"

"No, I did not ask her. I do not doubt that if I asked her today she would accept.. No, my disappointment is that she does not love me."

"But, but she gives every indication that she..."

"That is the rub. She gives quite a performance but I fear that she is not sincere." He gave Violet a sad look. "I confess that I am a romantic. I want to love and I want to be loved"

"My son married Cora for her money and it worked out for the best"

"The exception that proves the rule. And if it is the precedent you should be telling Mary to marry Sir Richard"

:I cannot stand the man" Violet gave Matthew a sharp glance. "That's the rub is it not. You think Mary is attracted to Sir Richard."

"He has a lot I don't have"

"Just money"

"A lot of money. ...I asked her about him and she would not answer, I think the only thing holding her back from him is his attitude towards Patricia"

"Goodness, did he abuse my great granddaughter last night?"

"No, he was just rather cold and hardhearted when answering a question about how he would raise her." Matthew sighed. "In any event there is something you haven't said and I don't think that you can say it."

"And what is that?"

"That Mary loves me"

It was true Violet could not say that. "Well cannot you fight for her love? Convince her to love you?"

"I won't fight Sir Richard or anyone else for that matter for her. I don't want a prize, I want a partner. And I won't try to talk her into loving me. Sir Richard or someone else could as easily talk her out of loving me. I want her to love me and I want her to know she loves me. As things stand I wouldn't believe it even if she said she loved me."

There was another long pause.

"How are you going to break it off with her?"

"There is nothing to break off. I will apply my rustic charm until I leave and then I will never see her again. There is no need for any confrontation."

"Rustic charm?" Violet squinted at Matthew. "You overheard her talking to me and Cora."

"I did. I heard her say she likes me as a friend, you know what that means when a woman says that to a man"

"So there is nothing further to be said in Mary's favour."

"Look,I also heard her say she did not love me"

"'Yet', unspoken maybe but she was really saying she did not love you yet. It has only been a few days, give her time to get to know you"

"Nice try but I also heard her say she felt no passion for me"

"Whose fault is that? Have you shown her any passion?"

"I have been entirely honourable in my attentions to her"

"Well maybe that's the problem."

"Be it as it may there will be no more problem in a few days"

"You will have to see her again sooner or later, when you inherit."

"No. I will be in Canada. By that time, and I hope it's a long way away, with any luck Mary will have broken the entail. And as for the title, well when the letter arrives, as arrive it must, I will read it, shake my head ruefully, put the letter away and never think of it again. Cowboys don't have much truck with lords."

Matthew turned away from Violet and leaned his head against the side window.

They rode along in silence until the car stopped at the Dower House. Violet noticed Matthew was asleep. She touched his arm.

"Matthew wake up."

He startled. He looked at her. "Cousin Violet, I am sorry for falling asleep like that. I'm poor company for you."

"Nonsense. Come inside. I want to discuss something with you."

Once they were in Violet's drawing room Violet asked Matthew to pour her a whisky and water. He raised his eyebrows at her.

She waved her hand at him. "What they at the Great House do not know will not hurt them"

He handed her drink to her and sat down. She tasted it, made a face and handed it back to him.

"When you are my age you can hold your whisky but not your water. Now pour me another drink, only reverse the proportions this time."

After Violet was satisfied with her drink she looked at him.

"You love Mary"

"Yes"

"You would propose to Mary if you thought she loved you"

"Yes"

"You think Mary does not love you"

"By her own admission"

"Mary has always play acted. She would pick a role and act it out, sometimes stubbornly so. Look at how long she was in mourning. Before you came, that is we knew you would be coming, but before we knew when you would come, I had a talk with Mary and I advised her, that because of her situation, what with having Patricia but no money, to marry you no matter what. I may have advised her to do so even if you were an orangutan. I believe that when you overheard her tell me that she would marry you but she did not love you she was playing a role. A role that I had cast her in. She was telling me what she expected me to want to hear from her. I do not believe that was what she really thought. I believe she does love you"

"That is all very well but I require something more concrete."

"Will you let me produce it?"

"And how will you do that?"

"I do not know yet but will you let me try?"

"Yes"

"Will you cooperate with me?"

"Yes"

"Good, there is one thing I want you to do no matter what"

"And that is?"

"Show her some passion. Kiss her. Damn propriety. Remember audacity, always audacity"

Matthew started at that. Audacity. That was the plan he and Bert had agreed on.

"OK, if the opportunity arises I will seize it."

"Excellent. And you had better let her know about Marie Claire"

"Tonight ask me a questions about my obligations."