Downton Abbey - The Story of Emma Barrow

Lt. Edward Courtney (April 1917)

"I promise, Daddy," Emma nodded. Thomas stood up again, and they continued on their way to the hospital.

After a few minutes of silence, Emma brought up the next topic. "And he can't see anything at all?" she asked unbelievable. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to live in complete darkness and blindness. She wouldn't be able to paint, read, or even see her dad.

"Not a thing," he confirmed, "That's why he's learning how to navigate his daily life in new ways."

"And you and Lady Sybil..." Emma paused and Thomas corrected her, "Nurse Crawley." Emma nodded and finshed her sentence "You help him with that?" Thomas nodded and looked down at his child. Emma had slipped out of his grip and was now covering her little hands over her eyes. "Then he only sees black!"

Emma, who had been walking without thinking about it, suddenly felt a strong grip on her upper arm. "Emma, you need to be careful!" She peeked out between the gaps between her fingers. Indeed, Thomas was holding her tightly. But it was only because they had reached an intersection, and his grip was to prevent Emma from colliding with a passing bus.

"But Lieutenant Courtenay can't see the cars either!"

"Just because you can't see the cars doesn't mean there aren't any," Thomas replied, taking his daughter's hand again before she had another chance to shock him.

"That's why you look out for me!", she explained.

"That's why Lieutenant Courtenay has to learn to feel obstacles with aids and use his ears to detect those obstacles in time," he explained. The last hundred meters to the hospital were uneventful.

Lady Sybil was waiting for them in the garden next to the hospital. Lieutenant Courtenay stood beside her, gripping his cane. Emma freed herself from Thomas' grip and happily ran towards Lady Sybil. "Lady Sybil!" she exclaimed with excitement, "You know what? Yesterday, I helped Mrs. Patmore bake an apple pie, and she taught me how to do math! I can count up to 15 now."

"And how much dough did you secretly sneak and eat? Was there any pie left afterwards?" Lady Sybil teased before becoming serious again. "As you heard, Corporal Barrow and his daughter have arrived."

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Courtenay," Thomas greeted, "Nurse Crawley."
With a gesture, he indicated to Emma to come to him. Emma stood before her father, who placed his uninjured hand on her shoulder. "I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Emma."

"Hello Emma," he smiled and awkwardly extended his hand in the wrong direction. Emma looked up at her dad, who nodded, indicating that she should accept the handshake.

"Hello, Lieutenant Courtenay," she said as they shook hands.

"Please call me Edward." Emma observed the man whose eyes looked strange - but that was due to a gas explosion - in any case, the man appeared quite sad to her.

"Daddy told me that you can't see anything anymore. I just tried walking with my eyes closed, and it's really hard," the girl chatted away, losing any inhibitions she had with the unfamiliar man. Edward had something about him that made the child instantly come alive in his presence.

"You're absolutely right," he replied briefly.

With Emma's help, Lady Sybil set up a small obstacle course consisting of some chairs.

"May I test the obstacle course?" Emma asked eagerly. The adults nodded in agreement. Sybil took Emma's hairband and blindfolded her with it. Edward handed her his cane. Emma attempted to navigate blindly through the course. "It's like hit the pot!" Emma amusingly exclaimed.