"What is it?" Daisy's sweet Yorkshire accent asked fearfully.
"Its lipstick, you ninny, what did ya think?" Miss O'Brien replied rudely. Anna gave her a look, and the lady's maid shrugged.
"And you're sure it's his?" Anna asked, looking behind her to make sure no one was listening in the kitchen doorway.
"Yes," Lucy, one of the laundry maids, nodded so vigorously the sleeves of the white shirt she was holding bounced. "It's Mr Carson's."
Anna, O'Brien, Lucy, Daisy and Mrs Patmore stared at the shirt; on the collar, faintly standing out on the starched white, was a smudge of pink lipstick.
"Is anybody gonna to ask the obvious question?" Mrs Patmore asked irritably. "Whose is it?"
"The answer to that is what's obvious," Miss O'Brien scoffed. "The old lady."
"The Dowager Countess?" Daisy asked quietly.
"No!" everyone else cried, several of them shuddering at the image.
"Mrs Hughes!" Miss O'Brien chastised.
"You don't really think…" Anna asked, not looking convinced.
"'Course I do!" O'Brien replied. "Who else would be leavin' lipstick on old Carson's shirt collar?"
"Maybe it was an accident," Lucy piped up. "After all, it looks like someone tried to rub it off."
"Wouldn't you?" O'Brien sassed back.
"Well, I want to know for sure." Mrs Patmore said. "Someone will have to ask."
"I'm not asking." Anna shook her head.
"Daisy, it has to be you." O'Brien said.
"Why me?" the girl asked.
"She won't suspect anything from you." Mrs Patmore replied.
Daisy cowered for a few minutes before they heard the tell-tale jingling of keys and Mrs Hughes appeared in the doorway.
"I don't remember declaring a holiday," the housekeeper said. Anna and Miss O'Brien scurried off to the servant's dining room to eavesdrop, and Lucy ran back to the laundry rooms.
After receiving a belligerent glare from Mrs Patmore, Daisy stuttered out, "M-Mrs Hughes, d'you… do you wear lipstick?"
Mrs Hughes looked at her strangely for a moment before replying, "On occasion, Daisy. Why do you ask?"
"Um… no reason?" the kitchen maid asked.
"Daisy, quit your yammering and take those scones out of the oven!" the cook called across the kitchen.
"Yes Mrs Patmore!" the girl jumped into action, removing the baking from the oven with a dish towel.
Mrs Hughes shook her head and left the kitchen, going into Mr Carson's pantry.
Miss O'Brien and Anna came around the corner to the kitchen. Miss O'Brien smirked.
"Told you."