an insane asylum for some years with no hope of recovery. Under English law, her status as a lunatic cannot be used as grounds for divorce because she is neither the guilty nor innocent party. Edith stays on (she had intended to resign because she was repulsed that a married man was flirting with her) after Michael expresses his hope that she will, citing how much it cheers him to meet her when they do and to read her column. Michael follows Edith and her family to Scotland in 1921, where he meets her family. Cora instantly takes a liking to him, whereas Mary and Robert do not. Matthew defends Michael against his wife and goes stalking and fishing with him. But when learning of his status, Matthew (as the heir to Downton Abbey) instructs him to put an end to his relationship with Edith. Though he tries, Edith tells him she doesn't care that he is married, and agrees to be his secret mistress in the future. Matthew dies suddenly in a car crash only days later, and he never informed his wife Mary or her parents of his discussion with Gregson while fishing. Determined to find any way to legally marry Edith, he learns if he becomes a German citizen he can divorce Lizzy. He cares not for what others will think of him for changing his citizenship (particularly when Britain only beat Germany in the Great War a few years previously), only of Edith's love. She visits him in London, and he has a cocktail party that important artists and literary figures like Virginia Woolf attend. Edith then invites him to a party at Downton, where he begins to earn her father's respect. Before going to Munich to begin his path to obtain German citizenship, he and Edith spend their last night together, making love for the first and last time. She loses her virginity to him. Gregson then has Edith sign legal papers; should anything happen to him, she will inherit his modern London apartment and the newspaper. Gregson arrives in Munich, then vanishes with no word. Edith does not hear from him, which worries her, especially when she receives a shocking letter from a London doctor informing her that she is pregnant. Despite not hearing from him, her intense romantic affections for him never falter. Edith is very worried and decides to get an abortion.