Downton Abbey, 1883
"Welcome back at Downton, Mr. Carson", the old butler said and shook his hand. Despite the grim look on his face, he spoke with a gentle voice: "Since you have worked here before, I expect you will not need to be shown around the house. If, however, you need anything, you can ask Lewis, the first footman."
"Thank you," Charles answered and turned to leave the butler's pantry. "Oh, and Charles," he said, now calling him by his Christian name as he was now a footman, "Servant's luncheon will be in ten minutes. I shall introduce you to the staff then." Charles gave him a nod and left the pantry.
It felt strange to be back. It had been so long, almost seven years ago, that he had left service as a hall boy. Nothing had changed as far as he could tell. He moved slowly towards the servant's hall, where some of the maids sat and talked.
"I think Harry made the right decision to leave service. Wouldn't you do the same?"
"I don't know about you, Maggie, but you had to be stupid not to leave to be with your true love."
"You have to be stupid to leave a position as footman to run away with a girl, who won't stay with him anyway."
He stood in the doorframe and watched the three young maids as they kept on talking. A fourth maid entered from the kitchen door and glanced at the three. "Flora, Lydia, Margaret, don't you have any work to do?" she said louder than had been necessary. The three looked up and one of them started to mumble: "We have just finished our work before luncheon."
"Alright then. You can use the time and set the table! We'll need an extra plate. The new footman arrived today", the fourth maid said. None of them had seem him yet standing there in the doorframe. "Really?" one of the maids at the table asked, "Have you seen 'im then? 's he good-lookin'?"
"You will be the judge of that", he said now and watched their eyes widen as they realised he had been standing there all the time. He took off the hat he was wearing and said: "Charles Carson, the new footman."
The maids giggled, the fourth maid, however did not. She looked at the others and said: "The table won't set itself and it's time soon." Lydia, Flora and Margaret raised from the table and started fetching the plates. Meanwhile the fourth maid came towards him and started to talk while watching the others. "I'm Ruth Owens, the head housemaid."
She didn't look much older than the others, but there was something about the way she walked and talked that made her look mature; something he could not say about the others. Some other maids entered the room and he moved slightly to the side to let them in. Slowly more and more people gathered around the table. Ruth pointed at a chair and said: "That' where Harry used to sit. It's your place now." Charles walked over to the chair and stood behind it like the others did, waiting for the butler to come. And elderly lady came in and made her way to the chair next to the butler's. She looked around and her gaze came to rest on him. "You must be the new footman."
He nodded. "My name is Charles Carson." She had a bitter look on her face. "We'll see whether you will stay long enough for me to try and remember your name. Mine is Mrs. Winding and you'd do better remembering that." Mrs. Winding was as charming as ever, he thought. She had said the exact same sentence when he had first arrived at Downton as a hall boy. He remembered her too well. She, however, had apparently forgotten him.
The door of the butler's pantry opened with a squeal and with heavy footsteps the butler came into the servant's hall. "Sit down, please", he said and took a seat himself. "Oh, before I forget", he said and jumped out of his chair, the others, who had just taken a seat, did the same, "We have a new footman. This is Charles."
During luncheon he got to know most of the staff. That's when he realised how much had changed in those years. He knew nearly none of the people eating with him. He remembered the butler Mr. Young, whose name had only gotten more ironic over the years, as the face he looked at now was even older and more wrinkled than seven years ago. He definitely remembered Mrs. Winding and the cook Mrs. Hill was still ruling the kitchen.
Lewis, a footman sitting next to him had turned to start a conversation. "After luncheon we'll find you a livery. Are you prepared for your first dinner?", he asked. There was something in his voice Charles didn't like, but it would be unfair to make any assumptions based on two sentences. As soon as Lewis had put the attention of the others to him, everyone looked at him in curiosity and asked questions.
"Tell me, Charles", Lawrence, one of the footmen said to him, "What have you done before coming here?" Lawrence was a tall man of about 30 years with dark hair that was so long it was amazing he hadn't been told to cut it off yet.
"Well, I used to work here before… as a hall boy", he said. Lawrence stared for a moment. "Is that you, Charlie? Charlie, the hall boy?" Charles smiled. He knew it would have been only a matter of time until Lawrence recognized him. His memory of course was a lot better than Mrs. Winding's. "What happened to that pimple faced boy with the bad haircut? Where have you been?" Lawrence asked smiling.
"It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you another time", he said, not daring to even mention what he'd been doing the past couple of years.