A/N: Thank you so much for all your reviews! I am glad you like this story so much

More at the bottom.


"Miss Levinson, your situation is not as uncommon as you might think. Many people fall on hard times these days. You seem to have some financial means, if not many, but you are very well educated and know how to conduct yourself amongst the English aristocracy. You speak French very well and German reasonably well. We will offer you a place at our school. You can begin your training tomorrow."

She feels a boulder rolling of her heart. Ever since she told her parents that she would not return to America but remain in Europe, that she would try to train as a nanny at a school in Switzerland she has doubted her decision.

But after she made her promise to Lord Downton and left to go back to her parents she saw a nanny walking by, a young woman not much older than her, taking care of two little girls. And she saw how those girls looked at their nanny. And those looks of admiration made a decision for her. She would enter service. Not as a maid, she does not know how to clean after all, but as a nanny. She is sure that she will find a family somewhere in Germany, France or England that is willing to take on an American nanny who was educated in Switzerland.

The first thing she learns on her training course, much to her surprise, is how to clean. But that is one more skill she will probably be able to put to good use.

Her education and her manners help her however and she passes the course with flying colors.

She puts advertisements into any newspaper she can think of and three weeks later she is on her way back to England to meet a Baronet and his American wife.

The Baronet and his wife are very kind to her. Their house is rather small, although a new wing is being built. She knows only too well who is paying for that wing.

"Well, Miss Levinson, I think we would like to hire you as the nanny for our son," the American lady says to her and she nods.

"When do I start?" she asks.

"Right now," the house keeper answers and hands her a mountain of cloth.

"See that you make uniform within a week. The pattern is right here."

She thanks the heavens for having learned how make clothes before her father became rich because otherwise she would be at a loss now. She never thought that she would have to use this skill for anything else but to make dolls' and maybe baby clothes. But you never know what is coming. And she is American. Have gun. Will travel.

And so she watches little Christian Harris and tries to teach him not to kick the dog and eat with utensils. She thought she might feel a little lonely but it seems that Lady Harris had not only been looking for a nanny for her son but also for an American companion for herself. She joins them often in the nursery and wants to talk about America.

When her mother writes to her to ask how she was she truthfully writes back that she is happy. She may have fallen but she has not fallen too hard. Even though she still sometimes dreams of hiring a nanny instead of being one.


A/N: I hope this isn't too rushed but I did not want to dwell on Cora attending a school in Switzerland too much because her training is not esssential for the story. Although this of course a candidate for an outtake :)
Again thank you so much for all your reviews and please let me know, what you think about this chapter.

Have a great day everyone,
Kat