Thomas Barrow was not heartless, but he did hate people. Not all people, but a great many, and all for different reasons. In some cases, it would look like he hated someone, but in reality, he envied them for some reason or another. Bates, for example. He envied Bates for getting the job he had wanted, he envied that he was happily married to Anna. Thomas wanted to be happy, but every time happiness was close, it was snatched away.
In all simplicity, Thomas envied every man who fell in love with a woman and every woman who fell in love with a man. The ones that could be happy, the ones who had the right to be with the ones they loved. He couldn't do that. He couldn't express himself without the risk of prison.
He envied his employers and their love, but he didn't hate them. In fact, to Thomas, their love was an important part of Downton and it wouldn't be the same place if the couple weren't as in love as they were. He had seen Downton when things were rough between the Earl and Countess and he hoped that he would never see that happen again.
It was rare that he would hate a servant though. Since his time at Downton began, there were only two servants he had wanted gone because he just hated them. Jane Moorsum was one. She had come along when it wasn't the best of times between the Lord and Lady; and Thomas had an inkling that she had been after Lord Grantham from the moment she arrived. Thankfully, she had left, but Thomas wondered exactly why. Was it because after Lady Grantham recovered from the Spanish Flu her husband rarely left her side, making up for time during the war when they had drifted? Or had it truly been about her son?
Edna Braithwaite was the one Thomas hated the most though. She had come along after Lady Sybil had died and she had eyes for Tom Branson from the moment that she arrived. She was after him so soon after Lady Sybil. Thomas had gotten along well with Lady Sybil, she was nice to him (and everyone else around her) but it still meant a lot to Thomas that anyone would treat someone like him with kindness. Edna had left while the family was at Duneagle, then returned later as Ladies' Maid for Lady Grantham. Thomas had recruited her to keep him informed, but most of her reports were intimate secrets of Lord and Lady Grantham. Thomas didn't like that she was telling anyone these things. He had witnessed intimacy between Lord and Lady Grantham, but he kept those instances deep inside. It was a symbol of their love, it was a private part of them, and he didn't much like Braithwaite discussing it. She needed to gain some respect and understand what Thomas needed to know, and what he didn't.
Thomas knew, of course, that other servants had witnessed things as well; he wasn't the only one, but he was grateful that he had seen what love looked like. Philip had never been a good partner, for the short time that they had been together. Lord and Lady Grantham had taught him intimacy and true love, not a 'youthful dalliance'. Edna obviously didn't know how lucky she was, and how private things like intimacy should be. He had no doubt Lord and Lady Grantham knew that every so often a servant caught them in an intimate moment, how could they not know? He didn't think it likely that they minded, or they'd have ceased their acts, but he knew they wouldn't want their intimate acts being the gossip of their Servant's Hall.
Thomas didn't have much love for his employers, but he still felt the need to protect them from harm, because if they fell, he would fall with them. Loyalty and love; envy and hatred are familiar to Thomas Barrow, but one might not mean the other.
