Not Rated As 1917 approaches everyone, both upstairs and downstairs, are hopeful that the new year will be better than the one coming to an end. Richard is shocked when he receives a note from 10 Downing St. offering him a peerage in the King's New Year's Honours List. He accepts and on the advice of Sir Geoffrey Dillon, takes the title Viscount Bellamy of Haversham. He also receives a visit Virginia Graham, a war widow who is hoping to enlist his aid in a fund-raising effort to pay the education fees of children whose fathers have died in the war. Richard is not at his best and dismisses her somewhat curtly, something he later learns to regret. Edward returns on leave but he is not a well man. When Richard finds him sitting on the stairway in tears, he realizes he is suffering from shell-shock and ensures he is well taken care of. After a munitions factory blows up, a familiar face returns to 165 Eaton Place.