There were murmurs. Thomas and Miss O'Brien leaned close to each other and whispered with more of a conspiring air than usual. Gwen had overheard Mr. Carson speaking with Mrs. Hughes in her study.
"You weren't listening at that grate were you?" Anna pursed her lips and looked pointedly at the younger maid.
"Not that time. You know how his voice carries." Gwen shrugged. "Anyhow, it's about Mr. Bates. You won't like to hear it, but His Lordship will be giving him his notice just now."
She felt a tightness in her throat. For a few moments she couldn't speak. "He isn't, ever," she said in disbelief.
She felt it like a cold stone in her stomach when Mr. Carson announced shortly thereafter that Mr. Bates would be leaving. When he showed no sign of coming down for the evening meal her brow knit. She felt his absence, felt the bare edges of the empty space he usually occupied acutely. It worried her that he might go hungry. She pushed out of her chair and went to the kitchen for a tray then back to load it and ask permission. She should have asked permission first, but she couldn't see either one of them, neither Mr. Carson, nor Mrs. Hughes, denying a condemned man a last meal that he would have eaten anyway were he well enough to join them.
It surprised her how quickly she had grown accustomed to him. How like a needle of ice the news felt, piercing and sharp, sluicing cold through her. She didn't know what she had expected, but she was ashamed when she found herself listening to him as he wept, and when he finally closed the door, she sank into a profound but strange sense of sorrow, as though she had lost something she didn't realize she had. Something that wasn't hers to begin with.
She was quiet that night. Gwen noticed. Tried to coax her into talking. It was a mistake, for once Anna began she couldn't stop.
"It's sinful what they are doing to him. He hasn't done anything wrong. He may not be able to wait table, but William said himself he didn't mind the extra work. And what will he do? Who else would give him a chance with his leg the way it is? You saw how that was all anyone paid mind to when he first started. They haven't even given him a proper chance. We have all dropped a thing or two. And he limps, but he isn't so lame that he'll fall over at just anything. I've seen him; he puts his weight on his cane and his good leg. It isn't likely that a man who does that will just buckle. Did you see how he looked at Miss O'Brien just after? Wouldn't surprise me if she tripped him!"
"Anna hush!" Gwen hissed, raising her eyebrows. "The walls have ears! Besides you can't go around leveling unfounded accusations without proof, and there is no proof."
To her shock, angry tears began to roll down her cheeks. Sleep did not come easily to her that night.