Thank you so much for all the reviews, and favourite story reminders. I think this might be my most popular story yet! Here's the second part of episode 4 x

As she finished preparing the fire for the morning, Sybil Crawley was about to head to the servant's quarters downstairs when something caught her eye. Off down another endless hallway, through a crack in the door, she viewed a room full of possibilities.

Sybil had grown up permanently attached to a book, summer picnics, winter celebrations always contained a memory of a novel or an exploration of the world within its pages.

As she tiptoed into the room her eyes gazed in wonderment at the cascades of leather bound journeys that surrounded her. Her fingertips grazed their spines whilst soft grains of dusk fell to the ground. Her moment of heaven was halted by a booming strong bellow of a voice that interrupted her adventure.

"Can I help you?" it asked as a scared Sybil straightened her back towards the books and bowed slightly at her intruder.

With trembling hands she admitted defeat and spoke aloud to her employer "I'm so sorry M'lord, I was just cleaning and...and you've got a wonderful library" she exclaimed with a smile, wondering if flattery would help to save her job.

"Sybil, isn't it?" Lord Branson asked, his features softening.

"That's right you're Lordship" she returned with another bow.

"Well I hope they've shown you where everything is and that we've delivered whatever we promised at the interview" he confirmed, the sentence rang true with extra meaning, Sybil knew she was going to get away with this but with a firm understanding between the two of them.

"Certainly M'Lord" a smile returning to her lips, a return for the understanding the Lord had set out.

"Won't you miss England?" Lord Branson enquired. Sybil had found it strange that he possessed a British accent but as Anna explained later: The Bransons were an English family who moved to Ireland around 10 years ago. Tom as the youngest son had adopted the accent easily whilst the rest of the family remained stoically British.

"England ...yes" Sybil replied, with fond memories of her home country but she wouldn't miss her old job. The mistress of the house had never been clear with instructions so when Sybil had used her initiative to keep herself busy, the mistress had shot her down for being too forward and curious. It seemed the last part would get the best of her in this household too. Her eyes averted from the floor to the endless shelves of books again, taken in by their spell.

Lord Branson noticed." You're very welcome to borrow books if you wish"

Sybil's surprise at the Lord's offer almost drew a chuckle from her lips "Really, Milord?" she asked in surprise.

"Well there's a ledger over there that I make everyone use, even my children. Carson and Mrs Hughes often take a novel or two, what are your interests?"

Now, does she tell him the truth; that she spends hours absorbed in mostly History and Politics essays or does she give him the standard answer...

"...Austen and Gaskell mainly..." giving the expected answer.

Just then Carson walked in, surprised to see the new maid in the library but with Lord Branson's reassuring smile and a call of "good luck" Sybil left the library and retreated to her room satisfied with the impression her employers were leaving.

Straight away Sybil had clicked with Gwen her roommate. They had spent the night catching up on their lives and discussing the other staff members so much that Sybil already felt at home, like she had lived there all her life. Sybil imagined a life where she would walk the grounds, braid her hair in the exquisite rooms and sit with the family at luncheon sharing her thoughts on women's rights.

When she returned to her room that night to get ready for the fair, which most of the staff had been allowed to attend, she noticed Gwen seemed downhearted. Previously she'd mentioned she was looking for a job as a secretary but was always shot down. Sybil had promised that she would help to make her dreams come true and spent some time reassuring her raven haired friend to keep pursuing her dream.

"You'll see, we're not giving up, no-one hits the bulls eye with the first arrow"

Afterwards she gave her friend a comforting hug and ordered her to cheer up as they were off to the fair to have fun. As they left Sybil picked up a small package and placed it under her arm, a mischievous smile on her face.

It had been a chaotic night at Downton for the Bransons and Tom was determined to escape. Their cousin Mary had been visiting and her and Matthew were sparring so much it gave Tom a headache. His sister Edith had immediately formed a dislike to her and was begging her brother to do the same. Tom had decided to escape indefinitely and retreated to the fair. He'd always enjoyed the outdoors and the night-time and was happy to be away from endless dinner parties for one night.

As he walked past a lit marquee he heard loud chatter and laughter inside, the clinking of glasses and merriment. As he peaked inside he saw some of the servants and also some of the locals chatting together, he envied their freedom away from the rules of society.

Just as he was about to leave he saw a glimmer of something heavenly that caught his eye. The cascades of blue material came together to form her outfit, the diamonds on the front glistened in the candlelight. As he looked up from the pants to the bodice he reached the face to find it was the girl he'd been thinking about.

Ever since he'd met her at the station he'd willed himself to forget her but the housemaid in his mind was resistant and wasn't going away. His heart beat faster as he imagined putting his arms around her waist, pulling her body against his.

She smiled showing her new colleges her favourite outfit. It had been a leaving present from the daughter of her ex employer and summed up everything she was: Bold, beautiful and bijou. She felt her skin electrify as she noticed someone watching her from outside, as she looked out she wondered who it had been but he was gone.

Her heart answered the question for her.