Downton Abbey, Series Four (1922-1923)

Note:
The fourth season begins in early Spring, April, 1922 and concludes in late Summer, August, 1923.

Nanny West:
I'm taking Master George out for some air, milady. I wondered if you like to come with us

Lady Mary Crawley:
I don't think so. Poor little orphan.

[Nanny West walks away holding little George, now six months old]

Anna:
He's not an orphan. He's got his mother, orphans haven't.

Lady Mary Crawley:
He isn't poor either, come to that.

Mr. Bates:
How was Lady Mary this morning?

Anna:
The same, though I suppose she must come out of it eventually.

Mr. Bates:
For Master George's sake if for no other reason.

Lady Edith Crawley:
You ought to see more of George.

Isobel Crawley:
Poor George. What a burden he is born into. A baby rich as Croesus and a mother almost passed over.

Lady Edith Crawley:
That's the law.

Isobel Crawley:
It seems so strange. Matthew has always so meticulous.

Lady Edith Crawley:
He thought that death was many years away and so it should have been. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me do it.

Isobel Crawley:
I'm grateful. But, you see, when your only child dies, then you're not a mother anymore. You're not anything really.

Lady Edith Crawley:
You're a grandmother. And I know you're going to be a wonderful one.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Mary, you've gone through you a hideous time, but now you must remember your son. He needs you very much.

Lady Mary Crawley:
I know. The thing is I don't think I'm going to be a very good mother.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Why not?

Lady Mary Crawley:
Because, somehow, with Matthew's death all the softness he found in me seems to have dried up and drained away. Maybe it was ever there in his imagination.

Nanny West:
Your ladyship! I didn't see you there.

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
Obviously not.

Nanny West:
I was just--I was just having a game with Miss Sybbie.

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
I want you to pack tonight and leave first thing in the morning.

Nanny West:
But your ladyship--

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
Please put Master George back into his crib. You are not to touch the children again.

Mrs. Hughes:
Oh, I thought it was Nanny West ringing.

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
No. Mrs. Hughes, Nanny West is leaving. Can you find her a bed for the night and ask one of the maids to sleep with the children?

Nanny West:
But, your ladyship, I was only joking!

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
Please, Miss West, I prefer not to discuss it. Except to say that your values have no place in a civilized home. Now Mrs. Hughes, I will wait here while Nanny West packs. You will fetch a maid and prepare a room. You understand me? Miss West is not to be left alone with the children, not for one minute.

Mr. Carson:
Does this mean you've decided to return to the land of the living? Because if so, I'm glad.

Lady Mary Crawley:
It means that I know that I've spent too long in the land of the dead.

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
It turns out Miss West is quite unsuitable as a nanny. She's leaving today.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
What?! Not another one!

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Well, Mary must read it (Matthew's letter) before you send it anywhere. Or are you trying to hide from the truth?

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
What truth?

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
That you would prefer to be in sole charge of the estate and not share the crown with Mary

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
Don't be silly. This won't make any difference to all that. She won't want to get involved.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
When you talk like that, I'm tempted to ring for Nanny and have you put to bed with no supper.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
[reading] "My darling Mary. We are off to Duneagle in the morning, and I have suddenly realized 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--"

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Mmm, I'm afraid I have to agree with that.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
"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."

Lady Edith Crawley:
What?

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
"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."

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Now, I asked Branson to come here because I have an idea.

Lady Mary Crawley:
Granny, you must call him "Tom".

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
I thought I could call him "Branson" again, now that he's the agent?

Lady Mary Crawley:
Well you can't!

Tom Branson:
I don't mind.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
There I see I'm beaten, but oh, how I sympathize with King Canute.

Lady Mary Crawley:
Now what was this idea?

...

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
I want, uh--

Tom Branson:
Tom.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Tom, to be your instructor

Tom Branson:
What?!

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Well, take Mary on your rounds. Let her learn the farmer's difficulties. Explain...the crops. And the--the livestock.

Mr. Bates:
You have put up with so much that I couldn't change. So if there is ever the slightest thing that I could make better for you, I will.

Anna:
But how did you mange it?

Mr. Bates:
Don't I keep telling you? Prison was an education.

Mrs. Patmore:
Nothing is as changeable as a young man's heart. Take hope--and warning--from that.

Terrence Sampson:
You think you're so holy, don't you? You're just a cheat. Like me.

Michael Gregson:
I have won against a card sharp. There is pleasure in that.

Mrs. Hughes:
No man should be able to do what he did and get away with it.

Anna:
And when Mr. Bates has killed him, will you come with me to the prison when my husband is hanged?

Mrs. Hughes:
But the poor man's heart is breaking for not knowing.

Anna:
Better a broken heart than a broken neck.

Daisy:
One moment of nastiness and I'll be paying for the rest of my days?

Lady Mary Crawley:
What's the matter? You've been in a glump all day.

Tom Branson:
If I told you, you'd despise me.

Lady Mary Crawley:
It may surprise you to hear that I said that to someone once. But I did confess in the end, and it made things a lot better.

Tom Branson:
Well I couldn't say it. Not to you.

Lady Mary Crawley:
Then find someone you can tell. It'll help more than you know.

Mr. Barrow:
What's the matter with you?

Miss Braithwaite:
Never mind.

Mr. Barrow:
I thought we were all about to be dancing to your tune.

Miss Braithwaite:
Do you ever wonder why people dislike you so much? It's because you are sly and oily and smug. And I'm really pleased I got the chance to tell you before I go.

Mr. Barrow:
Well, if we're playing the truth game, then you're a manipulative little witch, and if your schemes have come to nothing, I'm delighted.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
Is something wrong between you?

Mr. Bates:
Yes. But I don't know what it is. She says it's nothing I've done, but how can I believe that? It must be my fault because she is incapable of fault. I don't know what to do.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
There is no such thing as a marriage between two intelligent people that does not sometimes have to negotiate thin ice. I know. You must wait until things become clear....The damage cannot be irreparable when a man and a woman love each other as much as you do. [pause] My goodness, that was strong talk for an Englishman.

Lady Mary Crawley:
If Papa believes enough in Drewe to lend him the money and to hide it from us, then that tells me something.

Tom Branson:
What exactly?

Lady Mary Crawley:
That you and I are in partnership with a very decent man.

Mr. Bates:
Nothing is over. And nothing is done with.

[Alfred has been accepted into chef training.]

Alfred:
I'm nervous, now it's happened.

Jimmy:
[dismissive] What's there to be nervous about?

Mr. Carson:
You're nervous because you're intelligent, Alfred. Only stupid people are foolhardy. [Other servants look at him meaningfully, but Jimmy holds his tongue.]

Isobel Crawley:
How you hate to be wrong.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
I wouldn’t know, I’m not familiar with the sensation.

Mrs. Patmore:
I like that Rudolph Valentino. He makes me shiver all over.

Mr. Carson:
What a very disturbing thought.

Evelyn Napier:
Is this your first experience of jazz, Lady Grantham?

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Oh, is that what it is? Do you think any of them know what the others are playing?

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
Good-bye Tom. Look after all my womenfolk. Including Isis. [whispers] Especially Isis.

Edith:
I'm not even sure which frightens me most: What may have happened to Michael or the baby.

Rosamond:
What do you propose to do?

Edith:
It's...hard to say the words. But...I've decided to get rid of it.

Rosamond:
How terrible that is to hear.

Edith:
Please don't pretend you won't be relieved when I do.

Rosamund:
I will support you whatever you decide. Just as Cora will and Robert.

Edith:
That sounds like a speech from The Second Mrs. Tanquerary but you don't mean a word of it.

Rosamund:
I do.

Edith:
So I'd be welcome in your drawing room, would I? "Have you met my niece and her charming bastard?"

Rosamund:
I refuse to be shocked.

Mrs. Hughes:
They said you were in here.

Mr. Green:
What can I do for you Mrs. Hughes?

Mrs. Hughes:
Nothing!! You can do nothing for me! Because I know who you are and I know what you've done!! And while you're here, if you value your life, I should stop playing the joker and keep to the shadows!

Edith:
It's not that I don't love him, you know. I do love him and I would have loved his baby. Bt I just can't see over the top of this.

Rosamund:
No.

Edith:
I don't want to be an outcast. Not some person people never talk about. Sybil might have brought it off but not me.

Rosamund:
I can see that.

Edith:
I can't go back to the nursery. Not with Mary's son and Sybil's daughter playing there. I can't do that. I won't be able to do that.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
No life appears rewarding if you think too much about it.

Lady Rose McClare:
What's a group noun for suitors?

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
What do you think, a desire?

Lady Rosamund Painswick:
A desire of suitors. Very good.

Lady Mary Crawley:
If you're going to talk nonsense, I have better things to do.

Isobel Crawley:
I'm a feeble substitute for the entire Crawley family.

Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess:
Mmm. Yes, but you're better than nothing.

Sara Bunting:
I thought when the agent was a cousin or son-in-law, he had free shooting for life, but others did the work.

Tom Branson:
To quote my wife's grandmother, "You've been reading those socialist newspapers again."

...

Sara Bunting:
Were you still the chauffeur when you married?

Tom Branson:
That's a long story.

Sara Bunting:
Everything with you is a long story.

Tom Branson:
Well, that one had a happy ending. For a time anyway.

Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess:
Switzerland has everything to offer. Except perhaps conversation. And one can learn to live without that.

Jack Ross:
Don't you believe in us?

Lady Mary Crawley:
I believe in you; I'm not so sure about her. She may love you a bit, but mostly I think she wants to shock her mother, whom incidentally, she hates.

Jack Ross:
That's what my mother said....You and my mother have a lot in common.

Lady Mary Crawley:
Tell me honestly: Do you think you can survive what they'll do to you? Because I don't believe Rose could.

...

Jack Ross:
I wouldn't give in if we lived in even a slightly better world.

Lady Mary Crawley:
It may surprise you, Mr. Ross, but if we lived in a better world, I wouldn't want you to.

Lady Rosamund Painswick:
Edith, should you be doing this?

Lady Edith Crawley:
Why? What are you afraid of? That I'll lose the baby?

Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham:
You're back. I can't believe it.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
If you knew how many times I'd imagined this scene.

Anna:
You mean he fell into the road and he was hit?

Lady Mary Crawley:
By a bus or lorry, apparently.

Anna:
And someone saw this?

Lady Mary Crawley:
The pavement was crowded. Lots of people saw it.

Anna:
That's a relief.

Lady Mary Crawley:
What do you mean?

Anna:
Nothing. I don't mean anything.

Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham:
What a relief to be able to drink in public without a policeman pouncing. Down with Prohibition!