It was late, but Elsie could still hear the sounds of general revelry coming from upstairs. She and Charlie were the only ones left downstairs, the rest having gone to bed in preparation for the annual New Year's cleanup. She let out a sigh and put down the ledger she had been reviewing. That could wait till tomorrow.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. It was Charlie, of course.
"Some New Year's, eh?" he said as he settled into the chair opposite her.
"Indeed it was." She smiled, thinking back on the evening. "I suppose you think it was rather forward, breaking into song like that?"
"No such thing. It could have been, but you did it very tastefully. I enjoyed it."
She laughed. "That's a relief."
They sat in companionable silence for a while. The racket upstairs gradually died away, as did the fire in her sitting room. At last Charlie remarked that they ought to be going, and they went out into the hall.
As they were putting on their coats, Elsie couldn't help her eyes straying to his hands. They didn't seem to be shaking as he began to do up his buttons, but she could have sworn that he'd realized she was looking at him, perhaps in pity, because the next moment his right hand was trembling violently.
"I'm sorry," she said, a bit awkwardly.
"Whatever for?" he said, finishing his buttons and donning his hat. He held the door for her. "We'd best be off– it's quite late."
Elsie sensed that he wanted to avoid the subject, and she let several moments of silence pass as they walked through the courtyard, which was now covered in a fine dusting of snow. But somehow she felt that it was worth pressing.
"Charlie, you're not feeling pushed out, are you? By his lordship's suggestion that you… take on a different role?"
He looked at her. "And have my old one taken by Thomas? Yes, I do feel pushed out, I suppose– but that's of no consequence."
"But it is," she said, taking his arm. "You've got to make peace with it, find a way to move on from it of your own accord."
"Very well, but how?"
"By training Thomas, of course."
"Training Thomas? I've already done that. I told his lordship so, in fact."
"Well, yes… but there must be some things he doesn't know about? Things that only a long-term butler in this house would know?" She was smiling as she said it, and he smiled back.
"All right, I'll consider it. Consider, mind you." He took her hand and they continued to walk home in the lightly falling snow.