The Dowager Countess was in a quandary, everything around her seemed to be falling to pieces. Spratt and Denker were bickering, Edith still needed to be sorted if that was even an option, and then Isobel. Good intentions, the proverbial road to hell. Mary was over having tea, it amazed Violet that Mary could actual notice that something was on her mind. Her first grandchild had been such a precocious child she had then morphed into a woman arrogant, confidence and angry.
She didn't lie to Mary she told her truth that yes, if Isobel were to marry Lord Merton she would lose her friend.
Richard had been unable to see Isobel yet he was comforted that she was his. This thought was getting him through the time when they were apart. With the surprise announcement of their nuptials Richard had given Isobel a wide berth. Absently he checked his pocketwatch and smiled. By now she would probably be on the second course at the Abbey. He was still smiling when he made his way to his cottage.
The fire he had made was crackling away the soft sound nearly muffled the softer knock at his door. When he opened it he saw Isobel yet she was obviously distraught. Without a thought he pulled her inside. From the feel of her hand she was cold. He sat her in his chair and threw on another log.
"What is it? What's happened?" He asked softly.
"It's done, yet…" She murmured.
Richard's tumbler still held a healthy measure of whisky which he pressed into her hands, "Tell me."
Slowly, hauntingly she tells me of dinner. Of how Lord Merton's two sons used their words in hateful ways. Isobel Crawley a middle class woman who should remember her place and how dare she think that she should have any inkling of even imagining that she could marry a Lord. Tom had spoken up for her, of course he would. How Lord Grantham could let the man who poisoned his son-in-law back at his table was a mystery to him!
Isobel's voice was steady as she continued, "Larry left the table and dinner continued. I wanted to run but I couldn't I was numb. After dinner Dickie told me not let this incident affect my decision. I turned to him and told him I couldn't marry him, I couldn't become a wedge between him and his sons and that is what I would do." She stopped just long enough to take a sip of whisky, "It's funny, I got what I wanted but it still hurts."
With that she began to sob, Richard first removed the tumbler from her hands and gathered her up into his arms. As her tears soaked through his shirt he wanted nothing more than to pummel Larry. This insult to Isobel could not go unpunished! Yet on the chessboard that was Downton he was a pawn and out of his depth. Perhaps it was time he invited the countess to luncheon?