In bed, Matthew wonders if the way Sybil talked on her last day is evidence that she had some idea that her number was up. As I implied in the recaplet, I wouldn't have pegged Matthew as a particularly spiritual type, but I suppose anyone who's been as close to death as he has is going to be a bit more generally sensitive to it than the average person. Mary admits that the thought has crossed her mind since the tragedy and Matthew, sounding almost as haunted as Branson, says you'd think they'd be used to young death after the four years of war. Mary replies that they must never take anything for granted, and Matthew -- showing he still knows how to tread all over a moment -- tells her that's what he's been trying to get Lord Grantham to see; that they need to work to preserve Downton. Mary turns to him and adds that they can't take "us" for granted, but Matthew smiles and says he knows one thing -- he'll love her until the last breath leaves his body. For a middle-class clod with serious timing issues, he has his moments. Mary breathes that she feels the same way and I don't know if they're getting down to any funny business, but if so, I'd keep your eyes on nine months from now.

Ah, here's Matthew calling on Mrs. Bartlett. She's quite alive, which is good news considering all the ominous talk. Less favorable is the fact that she's apparently told Murray a tale that's rather different from the one she relayed to Anna. Murray questions her on a few points, but he's hardly surprised that she's lying, although he does wonder why -- if she had nothing to say that would overturn the verdict -- she even let him come there? She replies that she thought he should see how real people live and when you think about it, it's really not a great line, but I suppose she had to say something.

In the kitchen, Ivy's humming and dancing to herself when Alfred and Jimmy James join her. She explains that she loves the foxtrot and Jimmy James says he thinks it's all right before sniffing that Alfred wouldn't do it. "He takes himself too seriously for that." So much for the easy noncompetitive flirting, then. Mrs. Patmore enters, which is the boys' cue to scatter...