And here is update #2 for the day! Posted this the same time I posted chapter 3, so if you haven't read that one, please go back and do so! Thanks!
Resentment
January 1900
Another New Year's celebration; another New Year's Day at Downton Abbey.
This one is special, according to his parents, because now it's a new century, and there are bound to be some great changes.
But whatever those changes are, they're not enough to convince his father to let him ride out with the hunters and shoot.
"You're not ten yet, Larry," his mother tries to explain when he demands to know why he must, once again, stay behind with the other children.
"But I will be turning ten this year!"
"Yes, so that means next year you can join the men," she tries to reason, but he doesn't want to hear her explanations. He doesn't want to wait.
"But Patrick is going!" he grumbles.
"Patrick is ten," his mother answers, her voice becoming strained.
It's not fair. He's surrounded by girls, and there are no other boys besides Patrick. He hates this place and always has.
Suddenly there is a tug on his hand. He looks down and frowns, despite the wide blue eyes that gaze up at him.
"Play," her little voice insists, offering a toothy looking grin. "Play with me, Larry!"
"Yes, what a splendid idea!" his mother declares, but he knows she's saying this because she thinks he's been distracted by the present argument. "Yes, why don't you go and play with Sybil? Keep her and your sister entertained?"
Oh yes, that's exactly what he wants to do. He's nearly ten years old, he knows how to handle a gun, knows how to ride a horse, and yet because of some stupid rule Lord Grantham has, he's not allowed to participate in the New Year's hunt with the other men…but instead is encouraged to go and play—no, to "entertain" his stupid sister and the youngest Crawley daughter.
Who does his mother think he is? A clown?
Before he can argue, his mother is already walking away to join the other ladies who have gathered in the drawing room. Sybil is still tugging on his hand. "Play!" she insists, as if that's the only word she knows.
But he doesn't want to play with her. He doesn't want to have anything to do with her. He wants to be treated like a man, not a boy. And he resents Lord Grantham for his stupid rules, and he resents Patrick for being the "proper" age and allowed to go, and he resents his mother for insisting that he stay behind…
And now he resents her, for interrupting his argument with her stupid, toothy smile.
"Leave me alone!" he barks, before shoving her away.
Sybil stumbles back, and lands hard on her backside.
She stares up at him with wide, hurt eyes. Her lower lip is trembling, like she's going to cry.
But she doesn't.
Instead she rises to her feet, and runs away from him.
He still resents her. Only now he resents her for making him feel guilty.