To wit, the kitchen was abuzz when former under house maid Gwen (Rose Leslie, now numbering amongst Game of Thrones' wildlings) sent them all a mail from Beyond the Wall. Not to be outdone, Cousin Matthew borrowed an idea from his dead fiancée last series by sending one from beyond the grave, and handily resolving a plot point into the bargain. When the Earl began reading Cousin Matthew's missive aloud, you'd have done well to remember we were watching Downton Abbey proper and not a Mitchell & Webb parody of the same. Here, unadulterated, is its content:
"My darling Mary, we are off to Duneagle in the morning and I have suddenly realised that I have never made a will or anything like one, which seems pretty feeble for a lawyer, and you being pregnant makes it even more irresponsible. I'll do it properly when I get back and tear this up before you ever see it, but I'll feel easier that I've recorded on paper that I wish you to be my sole heiress. I cannot know if our baby is a boy or a girl but I do know it will be a baby if anything happens to me before I have drawn up a will, and so you must take charge. And now I shall sign this and get off home for dinner with you, what a lovely, lovely thought. Matthew." "I have suddenly realised...?" For that, creator Julian Fellowes deserves to have his tuck privileges taken away at the House of Lords for a full week. Now it's been established - as astutely observed in said mail - that baby George is in fact a baby, the question of who should manage Matthew's half of the estate has been resolved, but not before the Earl threw his silver rattle out of the pram. (On that - did anyone else find it a bit excitingly kinky when Lady Violet threatened to ring for Nanny and have Lord Grantham put to bed with no supper? Part of the fun of Downton Abbey has always been its role as a safari park for observing the habits of old-fashioned rich-os, with all the 'she doesn't know what a weekend is!', 'he can't boil a kettle!' hilarity that entails (what is Lady Violet if not a class-inverted Jade Goody?). Showcased this week at the aristocracy zoo was the cold and business-like nature of Lord Grantham's dealings with daughter Mary. When she drew him a picture as a child, he probably sent it off to Murray for appraisal before committing himself to a cheery pat on the head.