Chapter 1

"Is that everything, m'Lady?" Sarah asked with a soft tone, after finishing Cora's hairdo for the night.

She hadn't uttered a single word since entering the room and she noticed how Cora flinched slightly at her words.

"Yes, that will be all." she replied, sounding tired. "Thank you." she added, just as Sarah nodded her head to leave.

She closed the door slowly, not wanting to disturb Cora more than necessary and made her way back to the servant's quarters. Ever since announcing her pregnancy Cora had been more and more withdrawn and even though she masked it up in public Sarah was the one to notice it of course. Normally Sarah would've tried to cheer her up, but during the circumstances she'd rather not waste her time.

She could hardly remember what life had been like before a certain Cora Crawley entered it. Well, to be more precise it had been the other way around; she had entered Cora's life. Or Lady Grantham, as she had called her for the past ten years. Cora was the name she used for her Ladyship only in her own thoughts. Spoken out loud it would surely sound perverse, and no doubt would Mrs Hughes scold her for her impropriety.

She remembered every single minute of her first weeks at Downton Abbey. She had been so frightened and her nerves had almost driven her insane. Never, ever in her life had she thought that she would serve in such a large and wealthy household. And never in her wildest imaginations had she thought she would be the lady's maid of such a woman as Cora. After her interview when she applied for the job she was sure she would never get it. The interview had been held in the Downton Abbey library with only Cora present. That alone was odd, and the situation had made Sarah extremely nervous. In all honesty she could barely remember what she had said in that interview, only the painful realisation that she had been rather bold and said things you may not want to speak up about upon first meeting with your potential employer. When she got the telegram that confirmed her being accepted she was chocked. Why in the devil's name had she been chosen, out of what she assumed was a large amount of women with far greater experience than her own? Looking back on it now she was almost certain that had Robert been present, she would never have gotten the job. Ever since her arrival at Downton she had always felt a coldness from him. Not that she gave it any thought, her job was to serve his wife, but it still worried her that he may some day convince Cora that she wasn't suited for her job.

And then one day it seemed he had. It was a mere coincidence, but Sarah happened to enter Cora's bedroom just as she heard her and her husband discuss sacking her. Naturally the bastard was more than positive and Sarah first found herself boiling with anger. But later that anger turned into defeat and sadness. Not because of Robert, but because of the woman she had spent the last ten years with. The relative coldness in her voice whenever Sarah heard her discussing the matter felt like someone cutting their way through her chest with a knife. Cora wasn't even trying to be discrete and Sarah couldn't understand what she had done to make the woman loathe her enough to be so indifferent to her existence. She had overheard her fair share of the affair, and what she hadn't heard herself Thomas had told her. Ever since, her attitude towards Cora had changed dramatically. She found herself less talkative in her presence and tried not to show her hurt, but was unsure if she succeeded or not. Nevertheless Cora herself hadn't been quite the same since announcing her pregnancy, so maybe she hadn't even noticed her maid's change of behaviour. In any case, Sarah felt she had wasted so much time on a woman who would gladly throw her over the minute that twat husband of hers had manipulated her mind. She didn't know what she was supposed to do about her situation, or even how to react when she overheard Cora talking about her new lady's maid. After all this was only a job, maybe she was taking this way too seriously?