the princess and the pauper ♕ tommy shelby

chapter twenty seven

1920, 3rd week of January

Ophelia, with her immense distrust of the Marquess, went to look into him. She couldn't find anything on the Marquess of Daventry, any of them really. As if they didn't exist until Thane Van Doren became the Marquess. She let out a sigh. "Everything alright?" Mary asked when she saw Ophelia's defeated face. "Not really. There is something about the Marquess, something not right" she said. "And you can't find it" Mary said and sat with her sister. "No, nothing." Ophelia said. "I would want to say, maybe that is a good thing, but when in our life is that ever a good thing" Mary said and started to think herself.

"Maybe Papa knows something" Mary suggested. "Ah yes, I should tell Papa about my suspicion on a Marquess" she said smiling at her sister. "You're right, that won't do" Mary said and sighed. "Is Tommy joining us soon?" Mary asked. "Yes, tomorrow. He sent a telegram he had something he wanted to tell everyone with Matthew, apparently" Ophelia said. "Oh dear, those two teaming up now" Mary said and smiled.

Ophelia looked at her sister. She had always looked up to Mary, after all, Mary was her big sister, besides her mother, her biggest female influence. Despite Ophelia being much more of a socialist, like Sybil, she still admired her eldest sister. "I do hope you get rid of Carlisle" she said, speaking honestly. "I can't" Mary said. "What are you afraid of? That someone won't love you because of the whole Pamuk ordeal? Mary, I love you, and I want what is best for you and trust me, sister, it's not Carlisle who will bring you even a slimmer of happiness" She said. "Oh, my darling, I wish I could choose happiness over everything else" Mary said, "You can, but you wouldn't be Mary if you did. But maybe for once, don't be" Ophelia said before she went upstairs for the dressing gong.

After dinner she saw her father in the hall. "Everything alright?" she asked. "No, I haven't seen Isis all afternoon, she even missed dinner and she never does" Lord Grantham said. "Oh, no" she said. There was a knock and Matthew walked in. "Matthew, you should have come earlier, you could have gotten dinner" Lord Grantham said. "Something the matter?" Matthew asked. "My dog's been missing; I was planning to go look for her" Lord Grantham said. "We should organise a search party, all the men servants together, then we can apply some real method" Matthew said. "I am coming with; Isis must be so scared" she said.

Everyone went outside looking for Isis, but despite them walking deep into the woods, there was no sign of her. "Isis!" Ophelia yelled looking around, but the dark night sky was not friendly to her eyesight, she barely saw the other people searching. "Where could she have gotten to?" Edith asked. "Maybe she sneaked off and is hiding in someone shed" Mary said. "That would make sense, hopefully they notice a dog in their shed then" Ophelia said, and they walked on.

"I think I'm calling it, we can't see much and searching while exhausted won't help us either" Lord Grantham said. "Thank you everyone, please come to Downton for some hot soup to warm you up" Lord Grantham said, and Carson send Barrow ahead to give a heads up to Mrs. Patmore. Edith and Ophelia saw Mary walk over to Matthew. "Those two are so in love with each other, it's painful to see" Edith said. "They are, I hope they finally get their heads out of their ass' and accept each other's love" she said before walking back to Downton.

In the early morning, Ophelia went outside again to look for Isis when she saw her, with Tommy. "Isis!" Ophelia said, happy to see her father's dog again. "How did you know find her" she asked Tommy. "Your driver, who picked me up, he told me how Lord Grantham has been looking for his dog all night. Figured looking around couldn't do much harm." Tommy said. "Romani witchcraft, I charm dogs" he said as Ophelia noticed how calm Isis was despite being with a stranger. "Let's get you home and feed you, you poor girl" Ophelia said, and they walked inside.

At breakfast Carson told Lord Grantham how Isis had been found by Tommy. "Oh, how grateful I am to you, Shelby" Lord Grantham said. "It's my pleasure, my lord." Tommy said and Lord Grantham went for a walk with Isis. "So, what did you want to talk to us about with Matthew?" Ophelia asked. "Not now, I promised Matthew could be there to tell the good news too" Tommy said. "Alright, glad you and Matthew get on" she said. "He is a good man, and a working man, so I have much more to talk to him about" Tommy said before everyone else joined.