“Mary? Have you seen Mama today?” Sybil asked.
Mary looked up from her desk and looked at the clock. “Now you mention it, I haven’t seen her. That is weird. I have to ask her something about the event we will have next month, so I will go up after lunch. I think she is just tired from the day before yesterday.”
“Probably. As long as she isn’t having a relapse.” Sybil frowned.
“Papa would have mentioned it this morning.”
“He was awfully quiet this morning.” Sybil’s eyebrows lowered.
“Anna told me that he had yelled at Daisy yesterday. Something is bothering him.”
Sybil now lowered her eyes. “I am afraid it is me.”
“Oh Sybil, one day he will accept Tom. I truly believe he will.”
“It doesn’t matter, I love Tom and want to be with him, whatever Papa thinks of it.”
“Well, as long as you are happy. Let us go. Lunch is probably ready.”
+++
“Thank you, O’Brien.” Cora gave her, her lunch tray. She had not wanted to face Robert. Not yet, she did not know what to do. Robert had feelings for another woman, but she gave him space to grow those feelings. She made him feel lonely. That was not a license, of course, but what if she had paid more attention. What if she had seen his pain and taken care of him. But she had been so preoccupied with the new company that she completely forgot to pay attention to him. She had not realized how much pain he was in, from Sybil’s choice. She also did not understand why Sybil could not love Tom. That class system was outdated.
She sighed. She needed to know what exactly had happened between him and Jane. Was it lust, or was it more? She and Robert had not touched each other for months now. She missed him immensely, and he clearly missed the physical touch also. But why did he not come to her? Was she so closed off for him? He deserved better and she needed to talk to him. She had to know how he felt about Jane and where they were standing.
In the last couple of days, he had mentioned so many times, that he could not lose her. She had thought it was because she was so ill, but there was more behind. It made her angry again, thinking about this. He had not told her himself what had happened, would he ever had told her? If she had never gotten that letter, Robert would not have told her she thought. That thought made her even more angry. He was a coward, she should not feel this guilty, yes, she did not give him what he needed, but running into the arms of another woman. A maid working in their house!
Cora scolded herself for that last thought, she did not judge Tom for being a chauffeur, why did she judge Jane for being a maid? There was nothing wrong with being a maid, and she was more than grateful, there were people willing to work for them. She sighed again; she rested her head in her hands. How were they going on from here. She was torn, she loved Robert, she truly did. But did he still love her? And could she ever forgive him for what he did.
A deep sigh left her body, she needed to talk to Robert. She needed to know more details. Was it an incident or reoccurring? Suddenly she felt tears streaming over her cheeks. She and Robert had the perfect marriage, Cora had always thought there was nothing that could come in between them. They survived his mother’s dislike of their marriage. The miscarriages before Sybil finally was born. The loss of his father and the weight of Downton on Robert’s shoulders. They always withstood everything together. Nothing could break them, was this going to break them?
Without a knock Cora’s bedroom door opened and Mary appeared. Quickly Cora whipped away her tears.
“Mama?” Mary rushed towards her mother, what is wrong?”
Cora padded Mary’s hand. “Nothing, darling, I just had a coughing fit, the tears are from that.” She lied, hoping Mary would buy it.
“Alright.” Mary accepted her mother’s answer very easily, something that always happened with her, when something was not really of interest for her, it did not matter. “Can you help me with next month’s event.
Glad about the distraction, Cora blew her nose, and cleared her throat, what resulted in a real coughing fit.
Mary waited for her mother to catch her breath again. “That mucus does not want to go away, does it?”
Cora shook her head; the coughing fits did hurt er quite a bit and cost her a lot of energy. She was glad when this would also slip away, but Dr. Clarkson had told her this could take days, up to weeks. And the way it was now going, it would be closer to weeks. “It needs time. How can I help you?”
+++
Robert took Isis out for a long walk, Cora had sent him away last night, and did not ask for him today. She also had her lunch in her room, something Cora only did when she was ill. Even on the days they fought in the past, she had always come for lunch. But he really blew it this time. Bates had been right; she would find out. Robert was sure, O’Brien had a hand in it, why did she give that letter to Cora? O’Brien must have read the letter and made sure Cora would read it. Oh, he had never liked that woman, they should have fired her long ago. There was something off with that woman. How many people did she tell about the contents of that letter? Oh, and why did Anna give the letter to O’Brien, she should had known better.
“Milord?” Bates voices sounded.
Robert turned around. “What is it Bates.” He said harsher then he intended.
“I heard, O’Brien told her ladyship that Anna gave her a letter, is it not?”
This got Robert by surprise, Bates knew already, that Cora had seen the letter? “How do you know?” But looking at Bates face he continued. “Never mind, O’Brien told her ladyship indeed that Anna gave her the letter.”
“Unfortunately, that is a lie. Anna had put the letter in between the other letters that should go up to you. Of course, O’Brien knew about a special letter, because I am sorry to say this, but after yelling at Daisy everybody downstairs knew about a special letter. And O’Brien nosy as she is, read you letters.”
Robert’s face darkened, “All my letters?”
“I do not think so, because the letters I brought to you in your study were all closed. weren’t they?”
“They indeed were closed. O’Brien managed to get the right letter in her first try. But why did Anna leave that letter on the pile? She should had known better and handed it to me in private.”
“Milord, Anna thought it was best, to treat it as a normal letter to make sure no one could suspect anything, but she forgot that O’Brien has a nasty master mind. She is truly sorry Milord.”
Robert calmed down a little bit. “It is not Anna’s fault. You can tell her that. I now realised why O’Brien picked out the right letter, it was the only one with just my name on it. All the other ones were addressed to Downton. Oh, it is all a big mess.”
Robert looked at Isis who laid down on the grass, patiently waiting for him to walk on. “Come on girl, let us walk some more.” and he took off.
Verhalen van Traan 