With war inevitable and her marriage in ruins, Lady Agnes takes her children to the countryside, leaving her husband to carry on with her sister, in an affair which soon becomes noticed downstairs. Harry and Beryl get engaged and plan to emigrate to America, though Beryl almost backs out when she learns of her boyfriend's fling with Persie. Harry blackmails Sir Hallam into giving him the money for the passage in return for keeping quiet about his affair with Persie. Pritchard forms a romance with lady's-maid Violet Whisset when they are chosen to organize the annual servants' ball, but she rejects him on learning that he was a conscientious objector in the Great War. Later, a returning Lady Agnes finds Pritchard ill with drink and emotional on the area steps.
—don @ minifie-1