Tom pressed his foot down on the pedal a little more as they flashed past the final stretch of road of Downton Village. It felt like he had leaped a huge hurdle as he left behind the small town with Sybil on his left in the passenger seat. It thrilled him to the very core that she was seated in the front of the car, and for the very first time. Tonight was full of firsts, he supposed.

He looked across briefly at her, it was hard not to stare instead of keeping his eyes on the road. She looked tired, but contended. Her features were free of any obvious regret, and that was the main thing. There was still time for her to change her mind though, and as much as it would hurt him to, he would turn around the car and take her back at any moment if she so wished, anything to make her happy. He loved her enough to want her to be happy, he was sure, he just hoped that she could be with him.

"There'll be no trains until the mornin', we'll have to stay the night at Ripon."

The car would have to be shed, of course. He thought perhaps that he would quite like the feeling of literally leaving his job behind him, but then, he had grown to quite enjoy tending to and driving the Crawleys' cars. He was quite sure though, that he would much prefer his new work to being hunched over a car all day.