Anna shook her head at herself in the mirror, adjusting the ties at her waist. "It's been far too long since Mummy wore a dress like this hasn't it?" James pulled at the skirt and Anna giggled with him before removing his hands, crouching down to look him in the eye. "Do you remember what Mummy always says?"

"Yes."

"What is it then?"

"We have…" James blinked, "All this by…"

"The grace of God." Anna guided and James nodded.

"All by the grace of God."

"That's right." Anna put a hand on the back of his neck, kissing his forehead, "Do you promise to be good for Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Patmore?"

"Yes."

"Remember, they're very kind to make supper for us and we need to be on our best behavior. Can you do that?" He nodded enthusiastically and Anna kissed his cheeks. "Good boy. Now give us a kiss."

James snuck one onto her cheek before running away, giggling, toward the door as someone knocked on it. Anna stood, pushing her hands down the dress to stroke the fabric. She took a deep breath and headed toward the door.

Mrs. Hughes stood by the door while a man crouched before James. They talked animatedly, the man's eyes bright, and James ran to the corner of the room to pull out a toy to show the man. Anna opened her mouth slightly, turning to Mrs. Hughes with the unspoken question.

"This is Lord Wuthering, Miss Smith." Mrs. Hughes pointed to the man as he stood, handing the toy back to James before extending his hand to Anna. "He wanted to meet you before bringing you to a dinner with more strangers."

"That's very kind of you." Anna took his hand, meeting his eyes and feeling the breath catch in her throat. "In fact, James and I've been overwhelmed by the level of kindness that we've received from your Lordship."

"It's not everyday that a qualified teacher is willing to come across the world to instruct children from any number of backgrounds and that deserves all the care and consideration I can manage." He pulled her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles before releasing her hand. "I do hope the house is to your satisfaction."

"It's more than I was expecting and far more extravagant than James or I are used to." Anna took a deep breath, "For all the words I have I don't have enough to express the depth of gratitude I have given what you've already provided for us here."

"It's no less than you deserve." Lord Wuthering bent down, making a face at James, "And our estate is all the better for having James here with us."

"He's excited to see the elephants I think." Anna took James's hand and led him to Mrs. Hughes. "And now, you're going to dinner with Mrs. Hughes and I'll kiss you goodnight before you're in bed."

"Yes Mummy."

Anna kissed his head and stood, "I guess anymore goodbyes and I'll exhaust him with kisses."

"Not the worst thing a mother can do for her son." Mrs. Hughes took James's hand, "Now, we've got some choices for you at supper so there's no limit except to your imagination."

"You've no worries there." Anna waved James off as he followed Mrs. Hughes toward the back of the main house.

"He looks like you." Anna turned to Lord Wuthering. "He's got your eyes and your smile, which are wonderful things to have if you don't mind the impertinence."

"I don't mind and I'm glad you can see those in him." Anna tried to smile but it only stretched her mouth slightly. "So often I look at him and I only see his father."

Lord Wuthering sucked the inside of his cheek. "I hope you don't mind that I informed Mrs. Hughes as to the details of your necessity in coming here."

"I find it's easier to manage when I'm not hiding the reality of my situation." Anna took a deep breath, "But she only knows broad strokes and I'm curious as to how much Lord Grantham told you about my situation."

"He told me that you worked at a school, that you were attacked by a violent man, and that justice was served when the bastard was killed by a train." Lord Wuthering coughed, "I apologize for my language. That was rather rude of me."

"I don't mind. It's good to hear that someone else thinks as lowly of him as I do." Anna gazed into the dark, in the direction Mrs. Hughes took James. "What I wonder, more than anything else, is what happens when he asks about his father one day?"

They stood in silence a moment before Anna forced a laugh. "I'm sorry, that was rather personal."

"It's not a problem for me." Lord Wuthering offered her his arm, "If we're to work together as closely as I hope we will, knowing more about you will help me know you. As I hope you'll know me."

"How closely did you work with the last teacher?"

"Very." Lord Wuthering guided them down a path lit with small lights along the stone-slabbed edges. "Given that half the children are entrusted to my care while their parents serve in the necessary obligations of their rank they want the best for their children."

"And the others? The orphans and foundlings you took in?"

"They'll one day be leaders and world shakers in their own right I believe." Lord Wuthering smiled, "Sometimes I think we forget that it's the people our society expects so little of that tend to do the most for it."

"How'd you mean?"

"First, one needs parents to have vanity. Those without anyone to tell them how to think or what to believe discover all that on their own. Second, instead of worrying over what their parents'll think of their activities they're driven to think of what the world'll think of them." Lord Wuthering waited as a footman with a Sikh turban opened the door. "It leaves the doors to the world far more open for them than those living under the weight of obligations from a young age."

"That's true enough. But the chip on one's shoulder can be as crushing as the weight our names put there." Anna thought a moment, "I'm reminded of the American founding father, Alexander Hamilton, in that regard."

"Of whom?" They both looked up as a couple came toward them, a tall, slender woman, and a blonde man.

"Alexander Hamilton." Anna repeated, "He was orphaned at a young age in the Caribbean after his Scottish father abandoned him there and his mother took ill and died."

"I remember something about him being rather an upstanding revolutionary." The blonde man frowned, "Helped start the American Federal Reserve I believe."

"That's right." Anna affirmed, smiling at the servant who offered her a glass. "But his pride and the necessity of proving he was more than an illegitimate, forgotten child led him to make reckless decisions that injured his relationships with some people and irrevocably damaged his family."

"Didn't he duel to death with someone?" The woman took a sip from her glass, "I always thought that was foolhardy. What a stupid way to die."

"He did and it just goes to show what people trying to prove a point will do to prove it."

"That's true." Lord Wuthering conceded, bowing his dark haired head at Anna. "Forgive me, Miss Smith these are members of our Embassy staff here in Bombay. Mr. Matthew Crawley, one of the legal representatives here, and his wife the Lady Mary Crawley of Yorkshire. Lady Mary, Mr. Matthew, may I present our new school teacher, Miss Anna Smith."

"Anna Smith?" Lady Mary made a face, shaking her hand slightly to swirl the liquid in her glass. "Did you work at the school at Downton?"

Anna coughed, "I did."

"George might've gone there had we stayed at Downton but Matthew's work called us here." Lady Mary smiled, "My father spoke highly of the teachers at the local school because they're fantastically brilliant."

"Then I'll think of myself as one deserving a bit of that compliment."

"Probably more than a little if Papa offered you the introduction that lured you here to serve Lord Wuthering here in Bombay." Lady Mary handed her empty glass to a servant. "I'm grateful that George'll get an education from someone who brings a taste of home with them."

"I'll do what I can." Anna smiled and jumped slightly as Lord Wuthering accidently bumped her while turning to the gathering.

He held up a hand, "I apologize, I didn't mean to bump you."

"It's no problem." Anna stepped to the side as he addressed the small gathering.

"It seems that dinner is served." The group followed the guidance of a man with a white cap over his head into the dining room. Lord Wuthering gave Anna his arm, "In apology for my earlier stumble."

"It's nothing to be excused." Anna took his arm anyway, "But I won't refuse an opportunity to take a wonderful man's arm."

"You've already decided on something I'm not sure you could say with surety if you knew more about me."

"You've already given me the chance to receive your high opinion so I very much doubt I would be remiss to give you my high opinion just as quickly."

"Then I'll endeavor to do all I can to keep it."

Anna shrugged, "Who says my opinion is worth keeping?"

"If Lady Mary Crawley can say good things about you without even really meeting you then I believe your good opinion is worth keeping for as long as I have it." Lord Wuthering passed Anna off to a footman to have her seated.

Anna took the seat next to Mr. Matthew and quickly put the napkin on her lap. Lady Mary, on the other side of the table, was already in deep conversation with a man in a straining tuxedo. She snuck a grimace toward her husband before sending her own mask in the direction of her discussion companion.

"She tends to find dinners like this absolutely ghastly but never says no." Mr. Matthew whispered to Anna, leaning in her direction while arranging his own napkin. "Mary's the kind who needs a scene to make herself interested."

"She seems the high spirited type." Anna acknowledged, sitting back in her chair to allow the servant to offer them the first course. "I'm sure it helps you in your work here."

"I spend most of my days in a tiny office at the Embassy sweating through my shirts." Mr. Matthew laughed and Anna joined him. "But no, she's actually been of great help to the Ambassador and the other Lords as they stay in Bombay. She doesn't quite love the area like I do but she loves to be involved in the way everything works."

"She sounds like an invaluable piece in the workings of the government here." Anna took her spoon to the soup, "The same invaluable people Lord Wuthering seems to have hired here to keep the ways of English life all the way on the other side of the world."

"He's insistent on keeping any of the Embassy visitors and dignitaries wrapped in the comfort and cotton of home life since so many of them can't stand to be away from home or they always talk about how much they hate foreign lands." Mr. Matthew rolled his eyes, "They're not exactly satisfied by the realities of life away from their castles and finery."

"And you?"

"I believe that if we're going somewhere else we must respect the customs and cultures of the places we travel to as foreigners ourselves." Mr. Matthew shrugged, "I think we forget that the world is not as much our oyster as we'd like to believe."

"I quite agree." Anna put down her spoon, "It's part of being bold and British that makes us think the world is ours for the taking instead of realizing it's a gift for us."

"A significant gift to be sure." Mr. Matthew leaned back so the servers could take the dishes away. "Since you'll be here more often than I will, I'll warn you that Lord Wuthering puts out local fare more than our native fare."

"Should I be warned?"

"It tends toward the spicy and can be a bit like… fire in the mouth." Mr. Matthew sniggered, "The first time I tried it I drank the yogurt in front of me without a breath and then the one in front of the poor man next to me."

"I'll keep that in mind." Anna took a drink, "How long've you been here?"

"About three years now."

"And how long will you stay?"

"That's at the whim and whistle of the government and the Ambassador General." Mr. Matthew went to take a drink but quickly put it down as the sound of screaming and crying reached them.

Anna pushed her chair out faster than the footman could and rushed toward the door where Mr. Hughes and someone else held James away from another boy. Both were in tears, trying to fight with one another while Mrs. Hughes engaged in the noble effort of trying to keep them apart.

"What happened?" Anna bent down, pulling James's hair back to see the small cut. "What did he do?"

"He and Master George here tussled a bit." Mrs. Hughes handed George to Lady Mary as she approached as well.

"Perhaps we should take this to another room." Mr. Matthew joined them and Anna caught sight of Lord Wuthering standing with all the other men at the table.

"We should." Anna picked James up, following Mrs. Hughes to another room.

Once the door closed, the other woman leaving them be with George and his parents, Mrs. Hughes, James, and Anna, they all turned to the children. Lady Mary sighed, running a hand over her face while Mr. Matthew chewed on his jaw. Anna set James on a chair, looking him in the eye.

"What happened?"

"He hit me." James's lip trembled but Anna did not drop eye contact.

"Did you hit him?" James nodded and Anna sucked her cheek. "Why?"

"I'm afraid that Master George and Master James argued about their fathers a bit and Master James reacted rather poorly." Mrs. Hughes inserted and Lady Mary groaned.

"George, what were you thinking?"

"He's not got a father!" George pointed at James and Anna paled when Lady Mary and Mr. Matthew turned to her.

"George, everyone's got a father." Mr. Matthew chided, "Why would you say that?"

"But he's father's dead."

"And?" Lady Mary waited but George looked at the floor. "Where his father is or what condition he is in now is not an issue."

"I'd like to apologize," Anna turned from James to the others. "He doesn't usually act with such passion."

"He's a child and children are passionate. There's not a concern here." Lady Mary turned to George, "You need to apologize to Mrs. Hughes and to Master James for your behavior and remember that you're supposed to be better than that."

George pouted toward the floor but Mr. Matthew nudged him forward. The little blonde child stuck out his hand toward James. "I'm sorry."

"James?" Anna waited and James wiped at his eyes before giving his own hand. "Don't you have something to say as well?"

"I'm sorry I hit you."

They shook and George went back to his parents. Anna took a deep breath, "I'd better take care and return him home."

"There's no need to miss the end of dinner." Lady Mary pointed back toward the dining room. "I'm sure they'll be on their best behavior now."

"I think James is a little too put out and should be taken care of at home for the night but thank you." Anna lifted James, nodding to the couple. "You've been very generous and kind but I don't think tonight is a good time to continue tempting fate when we're so new to the environment."

"I hope this doesn't put you off in any way." Mr. Matthew stepped forward, helping Anna with the door.

"No. Just tired, for the night." Anna managed her best curtsey while keeping a hold on her son. "But thank you for your sincerity and the conversation at the table. It was refreshing, to say the least."

Anna made for the back door, under the guidance of Mrs. Hughes, but found their way blocked by Lord Wuthering. "I'll take her the rest of the way, Mrs. Hughes, if you don't mind."

"Not at all milord. I need to take George back for the rest of his dinner." Mrs. Hughes left them and Anna tried to keep control of the blush she knew painted shame on her cheeks.

"I apologize for disturbing dinner with the actions of my son."

"There's no need to worry over that." He touched James's face with a finger, tsking at the small cut. "Children react in ways I think we adults envy sometimes."

"Sometimes. But there's a reason we don't react this way." Anna shook her head, "Thank you for dinner. I'm sorry to've spoiled it."

"No, you actually saved me a rather awkward conversation that I can now pretend never happened and switch topics." Lord Wuthering opened his arm toward the door and they started walking toward it. "I hope you don't think me too forward if I offer to walk you back."

"I don't but I'll decline since I won't hold up the evening any further by distracting you from your guests."

"I could stand to be distracted by you on more occasions than this, if you'll allow it." Lord Wuthering took one of her hands and kissed it. "Goodnight Miss. Smith."

"Goodnight Lord Wuthering."

"Please," He held up a hand, "If we're to work together for the benefit of these children and my estate I'd rather you called me John in private. I can't stand to be on ceremony all the time."

"I'll keep that in mind." Anna smiled. "But I'd rather call you something that still offers you the respect you deserve, given your position as my employer if nothing else."

"Mr. Bates then."

"Bates?"

"I'm John Bates, Lord of Moorland, North Orkney, and West Galway."

"With all those titles it must be a mouthful to recite."

"As a child it was." He nodded his head toward her, "But to you, unless on ceremony, I'm Mr. Bates. As plain as you like."

"You don't strike me as plain in any way, Lord Wuthering."

"I live to impress."

"Goodnight, Mr. Bates."

"Goodnight, Ms. Smith."

She set off, following the same path as earlier, but looked over her shoulder to see him still standing in the doorway to watch her safely back to her house.