Late April 1913
"Thank you so much, Lady Grantham. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your advice."
Cora smiled at Lady Bolton over their tea. "I'm happy to help," she answered graciously. "I would very much like to have tea at Bolton Hall sometime, but your letter said you wanted to discuss managing a staff, so I thought it might be a good idea to be able to consult with Mrs. Hughes and Carson here, if necessary."
A week earlier, after the Blakes came for dinner at Downton Abbey, Sybil had dragged Matthew to Bolton Hall. Jean had sent a letter to Cora with Sybil, thanking her for dinner and asking her to come to tea sometime to discuss household matters.
"And I am sorry again that Sybil brought Matthew unannounced like that. I'm afraid my youngest is rather spirited," Cora told her.
"Oh there's no need to apologize at all. We haven't gotten many visitors. We don't really know anyone here. Back in Ballarat, there were visitors coming over all the time, between our friends and Lucien's patients. Lucien likes a house full of people, and I always liked hosting them," Jean explained.
There was a look of sadness in Jean's eyes that Cora thought she understood rather well. "Your life here is very different," she said knowingly.
"It is," Jean confirmed. "We're still adjusting. We want to do well here. Lucien has always wanted to be successful with whatever he puts his mind to. But it's not just about doing a job well, it's living a whole life the proper way. He's still finding his footing with the estate, and I'm afraid my background hasn't helped with the lifestyle at all."
"You're both Australian and outsiders to this world. Being an American, I can understand that perfectly well. Is your background so different from Lucien's?" Cora asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. I grew up on a farm while Lucien was the son of a doctor. He went to boarding schools and got a first-rate education. There was so much work to be done that I barely finished school at all."
Cora imagined that to be the case. Jean had explained at dinner last week that she had been a farmer's daughter and then a farmer's wife until her first husband died. "But doesn't your understanding of farm life help with managing the tenant farmers on the Bolton estate?" Cora asked. It didn't seem to her that Jean's past would be a hindrance in that instance.
Jean hesitated, brow furrowed as she looked down at the teacup in her hand. "I suppose I should be glad that rumors haven't spread to your ears," she muttered, mostly to herself.
"What do you mean?" Cora asked. She was terribly curious, but she also hoped her curiosity did not come off as impertinent.
It took another moment before Jean looked up and explained, "After I lost the farm and my boys grew up and left home, I got a job as a housekeeper for Doctor Blake. Lucien's father. That's how we met. Doctor Blake passed away, and Lucien came to settle his estate. And we…we fell in love and were married only a few months before Lucien got the telegram about Bolton Hall."
"Oh, I see," Cora responded. Yes, that would certainly make things difficult here. Perhaps it was different in Australia, a man marrying his housekeeper. Perhaps a doctor in a small town did not have as much to maintain by way of social classes and reputation. But of course, now they were thrust into the world of English peerage, which made everything much more difficult for them.
"I had to dismiss our housekeeper when we first arrived. Lucien told the whole staff that I'd been a housekeeper, so we would surely have a lot in common and be able to work well together. And sure enough, I went down to our servant's hall and found her proclaiming how I wasn't fit to be lady of a grand house and she refused to answer to me." Jean gave a tight smile. "She said a number of other uncharitable things that I'd rather not repeat."
"Oh dear," Cora sympathized. "I think you did the exact right thing, and I admire your courage in doing so. When I came to this house, Robert's parents were still alive and managing everything. By the time I was lady of the house, I had a relationship with the staff already, and they all knew me. It did take time for me to overcome my own insecurity at being American and unsure of what I was supposed to do, but I obviously did not have to come in and immediately run the house. I cannot imagine the difficulty of coming to a new house with a staff of strangers and expect to manage them efficiently."
Jean nodded, appreciative of Cora's understanding. "We do have a very good butler, but I don't want to rely on him to the detriment of the household. He has enough to be getting on with, and not having a housekeeper is putting a burden on him. And my lady's maid and our cook are wonderful. But I was a housekeeper and cook and maid all in one for Doctor Blake; there wasn't anyone else in the house for me to work for or with. I've never been anywhere with a whole staff like this. I'm seeing that there are holes, though, and we will need a housekeeper. I'm afraid I don't know how to go about finding one or knowing if a candidate is a good fit. And even if she is, I have no idea what my role is supposed to be in the house."
"I am glad I asked you over here, hearing all this. I think we definitely need to consult with Mrs. Hughes." Cora finished her cup of tea and stood up. Jean did the same. "This way," Cora led.
They walked through the parlor to the stairs down to the servant's hall. Cora knew that this was the servants' domain and she wasn't really welcome there. But she also knew that calling any member of staff upstairs, even Carson or Mrs. Hughes, to discuss something like this would make them uncomfortable. No member of Downton staff would want to sit in Her Ladyship's presence. And Cora hoped that Mrs. Hughes might sit with Jean and herself to talk about this. And she imagined that Jean would feel more comfortable this way as well.
As they passed a few of the maids and footmen and kitchen maids, Cora greeted each of them by name with a gentle smile. She really did try to know everyone who worked in her house, even if she otherwise never interacted with them. It was important, Cora felt, that no one upstairs ever felt as thought they were entitled to ignore the dignity and humanity of those downstairs. Mama had taught her that respecting the duty of the members of staff was of the utmost importance in managing a house, but Robert had shown her the way kindness and respect mattered in the relationship between master and servant. Perhaps that was something that Cora could help Jean with as well. Though Cora imagined that Jean Blake was already very familiar with the best way to interact with members of her staff, even if she wasn't quite ready to command them like lady of the house just yet.
They reached the servant's hall, and Cora tried not to be too apologetic or embarrassed when everyone sitting at the table quickly stood to attention upon seeing her. "I'm so sorry to interrupt your day," she said. She turned her attention to the housekeeper sitting near the head of the table. "Mrs. Hughes, I was wondering if Lady Bolton and I might have a moment of your time. There's something we were hoping you could assist with."
"Of course, Your Ladyship. We can go into my sitting room." Mrs. Hughes led them down another corridor into her private office. "May I offer you some tea?"
"No thank you, Mrs. Hughes, we had our tea upstairs," Cora answered.
Mrs. Hughes closed the door and stood before them, tall and commanding despite her slight stature. Yes, Mrs. Hughes was certainly the perfect person to consult. Never had Cora ever seen a person more comfortable and confident in their position. And while Carson was very proud of his position, he was sometimes a bit too rigid in his views and perhaps slightly too deferential to the family. Mrs. Hughes would be honest and open. Cora respected her all the more for it.
"I thought we could all sit and talk, though we don't want to take too much of your time," Cora said.
"That's alright, My Lady," Mrs. Hughes said, offering chairs for them all. "What is it I can do for you?"
"Lady Bolton, would you like to explain your circumstance to Mrs. Hughes?" It would have been simpler for Cora to explain herself, but it wasn't her life or her story to tell, and she hoped that it was the kinder thing to allow Jean to speak for herself in her own way.
And so Jean told Mrs. Hughes that she had been a housekeeper less than a year ago, that she and Lucien Blake had met because she had been housekeeper for his father, that they had fallen in love and gotten married and were only starting to adjust to that before they came to England. She explained what had happened with the housekeeper at Bolton Hall and the situation in which she now found herself.
"On behalf of any self-respecting housekeeper and any person with manners, I apologize for what that dreadful woman said about you. I assure you that not every person in service in Britain feels that way," Mrs. Hughes said.
"I didn't imagine they would. But I think it does make employment at Bolton Hall a bit more complicated. I can certainly understand how any member of staff might feel uncomfortable having to answer to me. I have no right to be served by anyone, not when I was serving others six months ago," Jean pointed out.
Mrs. Hughes shook her head. "Frankly, Lady Bolton, your past may raise some brows, I'll not deny it, but a properly trained servant focuses on the positions of people they work for here and now. You are the lady of your house, and that is all that matters. Anyone who cannot accept that has no business working in a fine house like yours."
Cora found herself smiling. Yes, Mrs. Hughes was precisely the person to speak to about this. In the end, the three ladies agreed that Lady Grantham would put an advertisement in The Lady on behalf of Lady Bolton, and the three of them would go over the applications together, and Mrs. Hughes and Lady Grantham would assist in the interviews thereafter if Lady Bolton felt she needed them. Lady Bolton thanked them both for all their assistance and hoped she could repay the favor to them one day.
Shortly thereafter, the ladies returned upstairs. Mrs. Hughes was left in her sitting room feeling somewhat dazed.
"Is everything alright with Her Ladyship and the Lady Bolton?" Carson asked from the open doorway.
"I think so, but you might disagree," she told him knowingly.
"Oh?"
"Lady Grantham asked for my help in finding a housekeeper for Bolton Hall. Lady Bolton was a housekeeper before she married Lord Bolton."
"She was what!?" he exclaimed.
Mrs. Hughes almost laughed at his shock. "And that was about six months ago, apparently," she added, twisting the knife for Mr. Carson. It was amusing to tease him this way sometimes.
"The Crawley family hosted a doctor and farmer-turned-housekeeper in the dining room!?" Carson asked in outrage.
"Stranger things have happened," Mrs. Hughes told him.
"I daresay not, Mrs. Hughes. Not in this house," he protested.
"Whether or not that's true, I'll say that Lady Bolton behaves every bit the lady she is in title. She's gracious and kind, not unlike Her Ladyship. And you don't begrudge her being Countess of Grantham, do you, even though she's American?"
"Lady Grantham has more than proved herself as lady of this house," Carson answered delicately.
"And I give the same assessment of Lady Bolton," Mrs. Hughes said. "I shall be happy to help her however I can. Good, kind people running the estates in this country is only going to make things better for everyone, and I'll not hinder that." She stood up and made her way to the door. "Now then, we've a lot to be getting on with before the dressing gong."
Carson sighed wearily but followed her out of the room. Yes, there was work to be done. But the changing state of the world with all of these middleclass people infiltrating the peerage was getting to be far too frequent for his taste. The world might be changing, as Mrs. Hughes said, but Carson had no intention of welcoming it with open arms. Not by a mile.