Disclaimer: I don't own this (only the story)


Archibald Craven was the master of Misselthwaite Manor. He was a good man and very much loved by everyone in the Archibald Craven was the master of Manor including his servants. The woman he loved had moved into Misselthwaite and they were soon to be married In his bedroom, Archibald kept a necklace. It was his sister Anna-Gail's necklace and she died when he was 15 and she was 17.

He was quite upset one day to discover it was missing. He had assumed one of the servants took it. Back in those days it was not unheard of for servants to be punished by the master of the manner. It was common place. The master of Misselthwaite however didn't want to do that.

His servants were also his friends. He decided to give them one chance. He called them all together for a meeting and explained the situation.

"If the necklace is returned by tomorrow morning this issue will be dropped. Should that not happen, the person who is responsible for taking it will get 20 strokes with the jump whip."

Archibald had made two cardinal mistakes. First he jumped to conclusions. Second and worst he said, 'the person responsible for taking it.' It was discovered 3 days later that Lily had accidentally taken the necklace in the belief that it was hers. She had misplaced a similar one.

Archibald had a HUGE problem. He loved her and the thought of punishing her made him sick to his stomach. Still if it was discovered what happened the servants would never respect him again. Lily knew nothing about the incident and he knew there was only one thing to do. He explained to her that the necklace belonged to his sister.

Aferwhich he gave her the necklace to keep and gathered the servants together again.

"It was discovered," he said, "who took the necklace. As the master of Misselthwaite I need to see through what I had started. However I cannot let this person take the fall for my foolishness. Therefore I will assume responsibility for the incident and receive the strokes of the jump whip myself."

He paused before sternly warning them not to say a word of this to Lily. He knew she would blame herself. He ordered the head servant to administer the strokes since he obviously couldn't do it himself. She did so with a new level of respect for her master and friend. After it was over, he said "thank you" and walked away without so much as another word.

Lily was none the wiser to what had happened. The servants respected him. He was absolutely fine, hardly feeling the strokes at all. After all he had taken them willingly. After all he had taken them for love.