A/N: Starts the day before chapter 1. Glenn is written in first person, everything else is third person.
My first duty after donning the Dowager's livery is to take a message to the gamekeeper. Since I don't know the estate yet I was going to ask Carol the cook or Maggie the lady's maid. I must remember to call them Mrs. Peletier and Greene. American staff often use first names but the English are more formal. But I don't need directions after all because the Dowager tells me the way. She was Countess before her husband's death and she's the managing type so it makes sense that she knows where even the gamekeeper lives.
The cottage looks small but tidy; everything at Downton is well-maintained. A big rough-looking man comes out as I approach.
"Are you Mr. Dixon?"
"Yup."
"I have a note from the Dowager Countess of Grantham."
Dixon takes it with his left hand at which point I see that his right is a hook instead of a hand. Unfortunately that's not so unusual since the war. So many limbs had to be amputated due to injury or infection. He glances at the envelope inscribed 'Dixon, Gamekeeper to the Earl of Grantham' and says, "It's for my brother Daryl. I'm Merle."
I'm a little relieved because this man isn't my idea of a gamekeeper, but who knows? Maybe his brother is no better.
"It's important that he receive it. May I leave it with you or shall I come back?"
"I'll give it to him." Merle looks me over. "You're not from these parts."
"What gave me away?" It pops out. My mouth will get me in trouble one day.
Merle gives a bark of laughter. "Don't know as I've ever seen a Chinaman before."
"You still haven't. I'm Korean."
"Whatever." He turns and goes back in the cottage.
I leave, hoping Daryl Dixon gets the message. Maybe I shouldn't have been snappy with Merle.
When Daryl returned, Merle handed him the letter with no apology for reading it. "You're summoned to the Dowager tomorrow. It was brought by a bum boy wearing the old lady's livery."
"You got acquainted fast if you're sure of that already."
Merle shrugged. "I can tell. Must be from knowing you and that rat Thom-arse. Or maybe when I lost my hand I got an extra sense - I know a nancy when I see him."
Daryl was used to his brother and paid him no heed. But now he was as curious to meet the Dowager's footman as the Dowager herself.
The next day Daryl presented himself at the back door of the Dower House at the appointed hour. Having been let in by a young man who introduced himself as Glenn, Daryl thought it would have been better if Merle had mentioned the obvious fact that he was foreign instead of an opinion about his sexual preference. Although that possibility was interesting as well. Daryl had never seen such an exotic specimen in his life.
Daryl Dixon is much better-looking than his brother. He arrives correctly attired in a suit and vest, shirt and cravat, brogues and bowler hat. He probably doesn't look like this all the time; no doubt he dressed up to meet the Dowager. He removes his hat inside the house revealing brown hair lightened by the sun. His face is a little weathered and it makes his eyes very blue. If his brother lives with him, he's probably not married. I should not be having thoughts like this.
I'm not present at the interview but afterward as I show him out Dixon doesn't seem disturbed so it must have gone well enough.
"How long have you been gamekeeper?" I just had an idea how to see him again.
"Couple of months."
"Oh." I try not to sound disappointed.
"Why?"
"I hoped you had been here longer and might tell me about the people. I need to learn quickly."
"I been here since the war ended but I was a groundskeeper at first."
"So you do know everyone. Will you teach me?"
"Suppose I could. When?"
"I get two half-days a week."
"If you got clothes for rough walking, you can come with me on my rounds."
"Tomorrow?"
"I'll be here about two o'clock."
The next afternoon I'm in shabby breeches, jacket and cap. Daryl looks comfortable in tweed knee breeches, jacket and boots, and carrying a gun. He definitely looks like a gamekeeper today; the long pants and shoes of yesterday would have been no good in undergrowth. We set off through the woods behind the Dower House. Daryl's eyes are always moving around and he stops occasionally to inspect a tree or some scat on the ground.
"What do you want to know?" he asks.
"Anything about the family and staff on the estate or the people in the village. I know some names but nothing else. I'm certain the Dowager expects me to pick these things up quickly."
"I don't have much to do with the family except the Earl and the Captain."
"I'd wager you know more than you think. Servants always do, whether they're inside or out."
Daryl doesn't talk easily at first but after a while he loosens up and it starts to flow. This is what I learn:
He respects the Earl and likes him but thinks the future is in better hands with Captain Crawley. His lordship is a decent man but he's used to playing lord of the manor and has trouble accepting that those days are passing fast.
Cora the Countess is American, she knows her place but isn't haughty about it. The oldest daughter Lady Mary is married to Matthew Crawley, she also knows her place and she is fairly haughty about it. The youngest girl Lady Sybil Branson doesn't care about her place which is good since she pretty much lost it by marrying the chauffeur who is also a radical Irishman. They live in Ireland. Daryl feels sorry for the middle daughter, Lady Edith. She tends to be overlooked and then she got left at the altar. Literally. But maybe she'll be all right because the rumor is she's going to write for a London magazine.
Matthew Crawley is a distant cousin of the Earl and his heir because there are no sons and no longer likely to be since Daryl heard that Cora miscarried a boy before the war. Everybody was happy when Matthew and Mary married so they can keep the title, estate and money in the family. Matthew came home from France paralyzed from the waist down and it didn't seem likely he would walk again or produce an heir but it turned out to be a bruised spine that healed. He recovered the use of his legs but producing an heir remains to be seen. His mother Isobel lives at Crawley House in the village. She meddles as much as the Dowager but she means well and generally does some good.
Daryl sees most of the indoor staff when he goes in the servants' entrance each week and then upstairs to see the Earl and the Captain.
Carson the butler is a stiff-necked old retainer with as much dignity as the family. He's very loyal and manages the male staff without being too strict about it. Mrs. Hughes is stern but she's nicer to the maids under her supervision than a lot of housekeepers are.
Thomas, acting valet to the Earl, is a sneaky bastard. Daryl tells me to watch out for him and not trust him although he'll probably leave me alone since I'm with the Dowager and he only cares about moving up in the Abbey. The Captain's valet Molesley is a milquetoast who tends to drink under pressure.
O'Brien is lady's maid to the Countess and the most spiteful woman Daryl has ever met. In a conniving contest, it would be a draw between her and Thomas.
The cook talks tough but she's good-hearted. Outside servants don't eat inside with the others so they get an allotment of supplies instead. Mrs. Patmore gives Daryl his box of goods after the weekly meetings.
The footmen Alfred and Jimmy are a pair of jackanapes trying to get ahead of each other. Same with the housemaids but there have been a lot of them and Daryl doesn't keep track. At one time or another there was Ethel and Jane and Edna and Gwen. Daisy is cook's assistant, she used to be scullery maid but that's Ivy now. Daisy married William Mason, a previous footman, on his deathbed after he was gassed in the war. So she's a widow and likely to inherit his father's farm.
That leave the Earl's valet John Bates and his wife Anna who is maid to Mary. Merle knows Bates. Daryl hesitates for a moment then tells me matter-of-factly that they were in prison together years ago. Merle had some trouble with his commanding officer and Bates stole the regimental silver. Except it was really his shrew of a first wife who took the silver and Bates took the rap for her. Then he ended up with a bad leg after the Boer War, left Vera and came to Downton. After the Great War, he got divorced, married Anna and went to prison for killing Vera. Anna and his solicitor are trying to get him out because it appears that Vera killed herself in a way that Bates would be blamed.
"You haven't said anything about the Dowager."
"I met her the first and only time yesterday. You know her better than I do."
"But you must have seen her sometimes and heard things."
"You're persistent," Daryl says, but he goes on. "She's awful class conscious and she says and does what she pleases. Age entitlement I suppose. Reckoned I wouldn't care for the old dame but I kind of admired her. I'm fair certain she's a trial to the rest of the family but they need shaking up so that's another reason to like her."
As we come out of the woods we see Merle scything weeds at the edge of the trees so we stop to talk for a minute.
"You met Glenn the other day," Daryl tells his brother. "I'm instructing him on the family and staff."
"I'm sorry to hear about your friend Bates," I say to Merle. "That's a lot of bad luck."
Merle shakes his head at the thought of his old cellmate. "Man's a shite magnet," was all he said.
There's no disagreement with that verdict.
As Daryl and I walk on I ask him about the village.
"Besides the Captain's mother there's Clarkson the doctor and Reverend Travis the clergyman. They take tea with the Dowager most every week. I don't know who else you want to know about. We could have a pint at the Grantham Arms some night. A lot of folks come by in the evening."
"Thank you, I appreciate it. But I don't want to impose on your free time."
Daryl shrugs. "I'd be going anyway."
I have another reason to see Daryl and this time it was his idea.