Edith had been confined to her bed for the next two days, much to her dismay. The ladies of the house and her Papa paid their calls, although it would have been quite unseemly for Lord Hexham to enter her bedroom. Even so, Edith inquired after him during every visit, under the guise of asking after all the guests of course. Much to her delight, she found that Lord Hexham too regularly asked after her, and seemed eager for news of her health. It was quite maddening to be so close to the man though, and yet be utterly unable to see him.

With very little to occupy herself with, Edith found herself sleeping quite a lot. She had just been slowly awaking from her afternoon nap, when she heard her door creak open. Her eyes still heavy from sleep, she shut them again in the hopes that her visitor would leave her be.

Through lidded eyes Edith saw her Mama and Papa enter. In Papa's hands was a velvet jewellery case. Cora peeped at Edith and noted that she was seemingly still asleep. In a whisper, Cora lay a hand on her husband's arm and told him to leave Edith for now and give her a chance to rest.

"Shall I leave this here for her or give it to her later?" Robert asked his wife.

"Give it to her after dinner," Cora instructed softly, "I must say, it was rather good of Lord Hexham to give Edith such a gift,"

Edith felt her body stiffen from under her sheets. Although she longed to sit up and demand her gift, she chose to stay still in the hopes of hearing more about the gift Lord Hexham had apparently sent her. Now fully awake and eyes wide open in her pillow, Edith's heart thudded in her chest.

"I must admit," Robert mused, "That I would never have thought Lord Hexham the type to play such games. He has such an appearance of honesty and goodness, and yet his behaviour towards Edith is quite surprising,"

Edith frowned into her pillow. Whatever did her Papa mean?

Cora nodded in agreement, "I suppose he is more suited towards Mary than we initially thought. He certainly knows her game,"

"Do you really think there is an attraction?" Robert asked.

"Mary seems to think so, but personally I won't be sure until there is a ring on her finger," Cora sighed sadly, "I only hope Edith isn't too disappointed when the time comes,"

Robert chuckled lightly, "Oh, I'm sure Edith knows it's just a game. Let her enjoy herself and make Mary jealous for once. Goodness knows, this will be her only opportunity to do so,"

Cora smiled and headed towards the door, "On seconds thoughts darling, leave the present on Edith's bedside. It will be a nice surprise for her when she wakes up,"

And with that, Lord and Lady Grantham quietly departed from the room, leaving Edith to silently mull over what she had just heard. Once the door had shut she spring forward and grabbed the jewellery case. Inside was a glorious rope of pearls. They were long enough to be wrapped around her waist repeatedly and the sheen on them was magnificent. Edith could not quite hold back a gasp as she absorbed their beauty.

And yet she found herself quite unable to enjoy them. Her Mama and Papa's words insisted on rooting themselves in her head. She tried not to dwell on them. She knew that neither parents would believe any man would express an interest in her when Mary and Sybil were as of yet unwed, and even after they had married. And Edith herself had thought so. She could no longer count on both hands how many gentlemen were expressing an interest in her, only for it to be revealed they were hoping to use her to make acquaintance to one or both her sisters. In the eyes of many, when she was not a weed to be plucked from the glorious garden of her family, she was a bridge to be crossed in order to gain access to her sister's lush pastures.

But she refused to let herself think that about Lord Hexham. For one, he had always been most cordial towards Mary. He never pointedly ignored her or avoid her in favour of Edith. He simply sought Edith out. And secondly, Edith didn't want to believe it. For some reason, the thought of Lord Hexham using her hurt more than she could bear. And so she simply chose not to believe it. Her parents had simply misunderstood, being so caught up in Mary's prospects, and Lord Hexham's interest in her was entirely genuine. She was certain.

Mostly. As bored as she was, her mind had begun to fill with gruesome images of Lord Hexham fawning over Mary and laughing at he behind her back. She quickly dislodged such thoughts from her mind. They were ludicrous. Simply ludicrous. Still, Edith was struck with a renewed urge to quit her bed and join the company and to reassure herself that such thoughts were in fact ludicrous.

And so it was with great pleasure that Edith received the news that she would be permitted to leave her bed and even sit up for the ball that was being held the next night. This was on the condition that she did not strain herself and she sat out of the dances so as to not further injure her foot. And so Edith sat herself before her vanity and anxiously examined her appearance. This would be the first time in a while Lord Hexham would see her and she was eager to impress.

The days in her room had left her complexion rather pale, dangerously close to shallow. She pinched her cheeks in the hope of bringing some colour into them and even considered applying rouge to her lips. Edith asked Anna to do her hair in braids, expertly weaving in Lord Hexham's pearls which went very becomingly with her gold silk gown. The gold gown had been her favourite, embroidered with intricate beads and edged with dainty gold lace. It was cut well to emphasise her figure, which had surprisingly grown to be the most developed of all her sisters. And as she thought of seeing Lord Hexham again, Edith noticed that her eyes had regained their sparkle and her skin seemed to glow once more.

It was with some surprise that her mother regarded her on entering Edith's bedroom. For that night, Edith was close to looking very pretty indeed. In fact, she was edging towards being considered beautiful. She certainly looked rather striking and elegant.

"You look lovely Edith dear," Cora noted, herself a vision in blue-grey silk and lace. The handsome dark good looks which she had passed down to her eldest and youngest daughters still prevalent despite her years. "Those pearls become you, you must make sure to thank Lord Hexham for them when you see him,"

'And make sure to do so in front of Mary, no doubt,' Edith thought wryly.