Rose (Frances O'Connor) is anxious to find out where Harry (Jeremy Piven) has vanished to, as are the rest of the staff and rummaging through Harry's locked drawer at home she finds a list of contacts in Germany. Choosing to confide in Delphine (Polly Walker) she asks who Bill is and she replies he works in Intelligence. Delphine feigns surprise over Harry not telling her everything and confiding in her but Rose is perturbed Delphine has the audacity to talk of their relationship when there's nothing wrong with their relationship. Though she has a well deserved, long overdue outburst of emotion, no doubt Rose will still be back being friends with Delphine in no time.
The staff at the store meet to discuss Henri's (Gregory Fitoussi) arrest and Kitty (Amy Beth Hayes) talks to Ms Mardle (Amanda Abbington) about traitors being hanged. Agnes (Aisling Loftus) is convinced that Henri isn't a spy and must do something about finding out who betrayed Henri, of course we know it's Thackeray (Cal MacAninch) and she relays her suspicions to Grove (Tom Goodman-Hill) but they don't have any proof. Victor (Trystan Gravelle) lets Agnes see Henri at the station and he confesses he was in love with Valerie Maurel and she left him for another man and headed for Germany. He tried to find her cos he loves her and Henri hired a PI, so why didn't the police contact said PI then? He notices the ring on Agnes's finger and tells her Victor is a good man and she should stick with him, as she points out he wasn't very approving before.
Crabb (Ron Cook) gets a letter from David Fletcher's family telling them he was killed at the front and he gives it to Gordon (Greg Austin). Harry would have written a letter to the family but Gordon can't get to grips with writing it. Grace (Amy Morgan) tries to help him and is sad when she finds out the news. Gordon recalls how he was a friend though the union business and was proud of Gordon for sticking up for his father.
Rose comes to the office and takes Harry's place at his desk. Grove tells Ms Mardle of Florian's (Oliver Farnworth) affections towards her and how it won't seem right. He's thinking of her reputation. But she seems to deny it even to herself, although she knows it's apparent and there is a mutual attraction there. Agnes has a go at Kitty when she talks about Henri and how she's always hated him but they should be grateful cos they all have jobs due to him. Agnes tells Victor they need to prove who turned Henri in and that it was Thackeray. She also thanks him for letting her see Henri and it's cos he trusts her and that she loves him.
Victor comes up with a plan to fool Thackeray into confessing by having a blew with Franco (Sean Teale) which Thackeray overhears. Well he would, wouldn't he taking it upon himself to be the ears of the store and turn anyone in. Victor tells him irrespective of his Italian name, he is English through and through and he'd like to shake the hand of the man who got rid of "the frog." Of course Thackeray falls for it and obliges! Grove gets him to talk to the police and he'll put a good word in for him with Harry when he gets back, since they don't have the power to fire him, that's up to Harry when he gets back. As Rose reminds them of what Harry always says, "respect for the customer, respect for the employees." That's why it was so difficult for Rose especially see why everyone outside of the store could have believed such lies about Harry, then again it's the power of the press at work here.
Lord Edgerton (Raymond Coulthard) pays an angry call on Loxley (Aidan McArdle) and shows him the shoddy workmanship of the boots, they're falling apart and heads will roll. Loxley having covered his back by telling him it was Harry who provided the names of the manufacturers. Lady Mae (Katherine Kelly) knows he's lying since that's where he got his money from so suddenly, "profiting from war." But he reminds her she spent his money at the store and she vouched for him, so she's in it too. Lady Mae decides to leave Loxley and Pimble Amanda Lawrence) wants to go with her, she wouldn't stay behind with him. She recalls the good old days of the music hall and her good singing voice and how they spoke of the girls marrying a rich man. Pimble thinks she did good for herself too. Lady Mae tells Rose she's sorry but Rose accuses her of knowing all this already and never wants to see her again.
Frank (Samuel West) has to write the story about Harry after meeting with Loxley and cause a scandal even if he doesn't have any corroboration or any "right of reply" from Harry as he's missing. He isn't in any of his hotels in Paris. But his editor tells him Harry's on his way to Germany as they have a source in the form of a porter at the station. Kitty is angry at him for writing that since loyalty, character and friendship mean nothing to him. She got over the story he wrote about her pretty quickly. So much for preening around the store, she can at least stick up for her boss.
Grace gets Gordon to pay a visit to David's family in person instead of writing a letter cos he's not his father. Ms Mardle confronts her feelings for Florian and they kiss but she can't continue with this even there is so much passion there. Grove breaks the news that Henri won't be released since he's a fugitive and is a wanted man. He's accused of theft in America and didn't answer the charges. It appears that's one reason why he had a beard and looked so dishevelled when he arrived back in London and wanted nothing to do with Harry or anyone else. Agnes returns home to find a telegram waiting for her...
Well things should return to normal next ep, as normal as they can as Harry returns to face the charges against him in the papers. Though here everyone keeps asking where he is and he mysteriously vanishes. Rose doesn't tell anyone where he's gone obviously and she doesn't want to reply to the story in the papers until he gets back, they should just maintain silence as a dignified response. Of course we all knew this was going to come back to bite Harry as soon as he provided evil double crosser Loxley with the list and he takes full weight of it to his advantage, as the hard done by Lord who was vouched for by his wife.
Strange or funny Frank being a newspaper man and the only stories he can write are about his walk with a 'Miss K in the park' and about Harry and the store, what happened to other news, aside from bemoaning that the government won't let him write anything about the real war. Henri still causing problems for everyone, this time round he's cleared of spying but has stolen in the past. Wonder what that was? Still Agnes stands by him and manages to believe in him still, which just shows the extent of her loyalty and friendship. Will it be bad news for Agnes or will George just be injured? It appears that pesky Loxley has gotten away with it once again.
Also the way Grove got to lecture Ms Mardle on impropriety and how men have "urges" especially young men. He can talk after he kept her on tenterhooks whilst looking after his wife and getting the best of both worlds, only to leave Ms Mrrdle for Doris. He doesn't have any right to interfere in her private life now since she wasted the better part of her years on him for nothing. Oh the obligatory lift scene, this time with Ms Mardle and Grove in Harry's absence. Ha.
Lots for the cast do concentrate on this ep without Harry as the point of connection and they do rather well. Agnes proves to have come a long way as said before and she gets to show how much of a mature woman she's grown into. There's also more for Rose to do as she mans the helms in Harry's absence and showing how loyal she is to him also. Loved the way she threw the paper down the floor for Lady Mae to pick up for herself to read and defended Harry. Okay it was mostly an episode about loyalty and standing by people, those they care about and love, but also coming together at such difficult times.
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