IN AUGUST, LOUISE SENT A LETTER. An important letter. She invited Lizzie, her best friend, to visit Downton. She wanted her friend to have a relaxing month after suffering from a horrible experience. Lizzie arrived in the beginning of September, and was set to leave in October.
They were walking Pharaoh, Robert's dog, in the gardens and enjoying the morning. "Mama thinks that Papa is getting ahead of himself. I personally think he is being reasonable, after all, you want to meet the person who is going to inherit everything you have." Louise explained to Lizzie after they sat in a bench.
"Your mother is just concerned, she had the idea that he was going to try to make Mary his heir, but with him inviting your cousin, she thinks he is not going to fight it anymore." She hummed at her friend's response and stayed in silence for a moment.
"You know, I really wish this problem didn't exist in the first place." After seeing Lizzie's confused face, she continued. "If women weren't seen less of than men, we wouldn't of have this problem."
Lizzie laughed at that, not because she didn't share the point of view of her friend, but because she realized something. "If that was the case, you wouldn't of been born because your parents wouldn't of have tried for a son after Sybil." She said, chuckling.
"You're right," Louise said while laughing.
Looking in the distance, she could see the approaching figure of her sister ridding her horse. "Look, Mary has arrived, let's see what she thinks of our new cousins." The two girls quickly left the gardens, with Pharaoh trailing behind.
"Mary!" Louise shouted to catch her sister's attention. "So, what do we think of them? More specially, cousin Matthew." Mary was dismounting her horse and leaving it to their horse keeper. From her body language, she could see she was bothered from her visit, so she looked at Lizzie with a worried glance.
"Well, she looks kind enough." She said with a sigh.
"But? I'm sensing a but." Lizzie said, wanting to know what could possibly could be wrong with the new cousin.
"He is absolutely full of himself." Mary continued while entering the house. Louise and Lizzie trailed after her, wanting to hear all about Mary's gossip. "He actually thought that we all were going to try to seduce because we heard he is a bachelor. The nerve of him."
An exasperated Mary concluded. "Well, let's hope he presents some redeeming qualities." Louise said in a hopeful tone, trying to lessen her sister's anger.
-----
Her mother extended an invitation for dinner to her new cousin and mother. She knew that with her grandmother present, it was going to be a night to remember.
She was touching up her hair when an exited Lizzie started talking. "Oh, how I want to see the look on your granny's face when they arrive." Lizzie said, bouncing like a child.
"You do like the misery of other's." Louise turned from her vanity to look at her friend.
"Can you blame me?. At home, it has been gloomy and boring since the sink." Louise threw one of her hairpieces to Lizzie.
"Well, I'm so very glad that my family's drama works as your entertainment." At that, Lizzie just laughed. "Alright, come on, let's go downstairs."
Louise descended the stairs with Lizzie, and she saw her family standing in a line like they always do to great their guests. She placed herself after Sybil, with Lizzie next to her. While they were waiting for Matthew and Isobel Crawley to arrive, she could sense the anticipation and dread from the room.
After an awkward introduction, and getting scold by her mother for laughing at poor cousin Isobel and her grandmother's greeting, Louise was sitting in the dinning room in the most awkward dinner she has experienced. So she decided to fill the silence that passed after a rude exchange between Matthew and Burrow. "What will you do with your time here in Downton, cousin Matthew?" She asked Matthew, in an effort to get to know him, for she prided herself for being in good terms with all her family members, even her American grandmother.
"I've got a job in Ripon. I said I'll start tomorrow." She was exited at the answer, for she went to Ripon every Monday and Friday to visit the library and the editor of the short stories she wrote in secret for the local newspaper.
"Oh well, we should have lunch someday there, I go two times a week." She offered with a gentle smile, and she could sense Mary's burning stare from the other side of the table.
-----
A letter arrived at Downton from the Lady Hastings, Lizzie's mother. She requested Lizzie to return home, seeing that she secured a visit from a rich, handsome, age appropriate suitor for Lizzie. Poor Lizzie, thought Louise when she heard the news, she had only turn eighteen in January and her mother was already making plans to marry her. Two years left of freedom for herself, she thought, two years that she promised herself not to waste.
The next Friday, Louise was at the train station with Lizzie, waiting for her train to London to arrive. They were supposed to go to Ripon for new dresses and for Louise's weekly library run, but Lizzie's mother letter had changed their plans. So she decided to accompany her friend to the station, and then for Taylor to drive her to the library, for she could not miss going.
"I'm sorry that you have to go back early, I know that your life with be boring without me." She said to her best friend since childhood.
"Well, you know, mother was getting lonely without me, and I was counting the days to get rid of you." Lizzie said with a cheeky smile.
"I'm going to miss you, really." Tears were starting to form in Louise's eyes.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll be here for your birthday, and you are going to come in the summer."
They heard the train arrive at the platform, without thinking it for another minute, they hugged as if it was the last time they would see each other.
"Alright, I'm leaving." Lizzie said while making her way to the first class entrance, " and please don't forget to write about the all the drama you Crawley's are into. You know how boring my life is."
Louise laughed. "I will, only if you tell me about all the god awful setup your mother planned for you."
Already inside the wagon, Lizzie shouting and waving answered. "It's a deal. Goodbye!" Louise left the train station with a bitter-sweet smile.
-----
Louise has a secret, one so important to her that neither Sybil nor Lizzie knew about, she wrote stories for the Ripon newspaper. Well, H. L Crews did.
It all started in last spring, there was an advertisement in the paper, about a short story contest, the winner would be giving a small space in the paper to write for a whole month. But when the sales of the paper started to increase, and the cause was the new stories in it, they offered her a permanent space. Hence, why every Monday and Friday Taylor would drive her to the library in Ripon, she would deliver her stories to her editor, and he would deliver her check.
At first, she wanted to tell her family, she even started to compose a letter to tell her grandmother Martha. But when she realized that they wouldn't understand that writing and reading was what she wanted to do with her life, she thought that it was better to keep it to herself.
She arrived at the library and went to the aisle farthest from the entrance, there waiting painterly for her was Mr. Banks. A man in his late fifties, with white hair, an envious moustache, and with a great sense of humour, was Louise's editor.
"Mr. Banks, there you are. Sorry for keeping you waiting." she seared in the chair in front of the old man.
"Nothing to worry about, my lady. It gave me time to think about my wife's birthday gift." said Mr. Banks, chuckling.
She pulled her manuscript from her purse and handed it to him. "Here is Monday's story. One of my favourites, I dare say." a timid smile was present in her face.
"Well then, I'll prepare myself for a good reading." he said with a gentle smile. Mr. Banks was what Louise imagined her grandfather would have been. He died when she was four, she didn't really meet him, so sometimes she took to her imagination to create a picture of her grandfather's personality.
After an hour of editing her story with Mr. Banks, she left the library. She was still trying to process that she could be considered a published author and how exited she was of reading her new story in the paper and saving it in her secret box. But she hoped for someone to share her excitement with, she wished she had the courage to tell her family about it.