Chapter 22

Sybil made her way to the back of the house towards the servant's entrance wincing in pain. Tears in her eyes. Face scrunched and red. She hurried past the hall boy who was minding some crates. Fortunately her back was towards him and she ran past him, entering the house. No one was to be seen in the corridor save for some angry muttering coming from the kitchen that sounded like Mrs Patmore and Sybil guessed that the kitchen was off limits. She stood in the cold corridor, lost and in pain.

X x x x

Mrs Hughes was coming out from the laundry having instilled the fear of God in the poor souls in there. Scrubbing sheets was a skill that none of the new laundry maids possessed and all what they had done had to be re-done. Certainly not having learnt it properly. Having to have her hands deep in soapy water up to her elbows to demonstrate had only turned Mrs Hughes' temper from bad to worse. Her heels were striking angrily against the stone floors and nothing could have prepared her for the shock that awaited her when she reached the main corridor downstairs.

X x x x

Standing several feet in front of her was the youngest Crawley daughter, more dishevelled than Mrs Hughes could imagine the curious and enthusiastic young girl could be. The white collar of her dress torn and muddied. An extremely large wound on the left corner of her forehead. Several small wounds and bruises littering her arms and legs. Her knees bright red with blood, the topmost layer of skin most definitely gone. Mrs Hughes opened her mouth in surprise and gasped. The only thing to distinguish the girl to be a child of aristocratic birth from a farmer's daughter was her pretty dress and fair skin.

"Good Heavens! What on earth have ye got yerself into?" Mrs Hughes couldn't help but exclaim. Her voice coming out angrily than she intended owing to her last encounter with the blundering laundry maids. Its result only being the little girl's face scrunching up even more, fresh tears forming in her eyes.

Mrs Hughes rushed to Sybil and inspected the little girl's wounds. No deep cuts. Just some large bruises and small wounds that were only surface cuts.

"What happened Milady?" she asked tenderness slowly creeping up her voice but still managing to frighten the child.

"I fell down. On the gravel," she whispered and started crying.

"There, there now Milady. We'll get you sorted out a bit and then we'll have to deal with Her Ladyship and Nanny. I have no doubt what they would have to say about this," Mrs Hughes replied stroking Sybil's head and a sly smile creeping up her lips. Lady Sybil did have a taste for adventure and getting into trouble. Quite like a certain brown haired Scottish lass who went rolling down fields for the fun of it and encountering a stubborn rock or two.

Mrs Hughes took Sybil in her arms and carried her to her sitting room. Having placed Sybil on the settee, she leaned down and touched the angry looking bruise on the girl's forehead, causing Sybil to hiss in pain.

"That looks quite bad. Apart from your knees Milady. I'll get some water to clean the wounds if you promise me that you won't go ailing anywhere with the wind while I'm gone. This is quite enough for some time to come," the Housekeeper furrowed her brow a little and left. It was bad enough her morning starting with worries over Becky now Lady Sybil's got herself some fine scrapes.

"Lord help the poor Nanny," Mrs Hughes thought as she hurried to find a bowl. She walked straight into the kitchen and fetched a bowl, filling it with water from the tap. Mrs Patmore looked at the Housekeeper in bewilderment.

"Why in wonderland would you need water at this time?" the Cook asked, curiosity getting the better of her despite their earlier argument.

"Lady Sybil," Mrs Hughes replied. Her tone not betraying much emotion but the observant Cook noticed a lifting of the storm that was hovering about the Housekeeper all morning.

"Lady Sybil?" Mrs Patmore questioned, not being able to make head or tail out of the awkward answer.

"She's had a fall. Nothing bad. Just some nasty scrapes," Mrs Hughes replied, a smile on her face now, as she left the kitchen with it. Mrs Patmore's surprised gaze following the Housekeeper's disappearing form.

"That's a mighty big change of the wind in her sails!" she mock whispered to the kitchen maid. Having received no encouraging response as to the comment from her audience, the Cook let out an annoyed grunt and carried on.

X x x x

Mrs Hughes took clean white cloths out of one of her small cabinets. She bent to place the bowl on the floor and knelt in front of Sybil whose crying had subsided a little by then.

"Now this Milady will sting a little," she said as she dipped the cloth in the water and first placed it gently on the girl's knee, and she hissed in pain, much louder than before.

"My, my. There's some stubborn little stones left in there. There's one quite bad. Hold my hand and squeeze tight when it hurts," Mrs Hughes said taking Sybil's hand in hers. With the cloth in her other hand she took out a slightly big piece of stone that had got stuck on the girl's knee as gently as she was able to. Despite her efforts to keep it subtle, it must have hurt quite a lot for Mrs Hughes felt Sybil squeezing her hand so tight with her little one till her tiny knuckles turned white.

"There, it's gone now. The rest won't hurt much. How did you fall on the gravel anyway Milady?" she asked now dabbing at the other knee.

"I stumbled," came the nervous reply.

"What I was getting into was, Milady, how did you happen to be outside at this time for you to fall on the gravel?" the Housekeeper asked raising en eyebrow. Sybil couldn't help the mischievous smile that was forming on her face.

"I assume that you weren't supposed to be there," Mrs Hughes tried to prompt, carefully containing the rigid look she forced on her face. She wanted to smile at the wild and curious girl in front of her. But she was too worried about the child's safety. What if she had gotten into some serious accident? Mrs Hughes wasn't the over careful type of person but she's had a taste of the kind of accidents children got into, during her time. Both gotten into and seen. So she couldn't be more careful about the lovely girl she cared for so much.

"I went to see the butterflies. And when I came back I fell," Sybil whispered. Not exactly sure whether the Housekeeper was angry with her or not.

"Butterflies?"

"They were so beautiful Mrs Hughes! They were dancing. Among the flowers. So beautiful!" the little girl's sad face brightened up at the mention of the best part of her adventure.

"But it was wrong going out without permission Milady," Mrs replied pulling on an even more stern look.

"It was only for a moment," Sybil whined, quite adorably, Mrs Hughes thought.

"Even so! You should have mentioned it to Her Ladyship, Milady or Nanny and got permission."

"I thought you went on adventures too Mrs Hughes!" Sybil protested.

"Aye and that's why I'm telling you Milady. There's lots of things that can happen to you. While getting a few scrapes may sound exciting there's much worse possibility of damage. Trust me, I know Milady," Mrs Hughes warned while dipping the cloth back in the water and wiping Sybil's arms.

"Now this!" the Housekeeper muttered as she hovered the cloth above the large wound on the forehead, her brow furrowed in concentration. She gently placed the damp cloth on the bruise. Sybil bit on the inside of her cheek to stop crying out. After the first few touches the pain eased a bit and most of the tension left the girl's body. Mrs Hughes wordlessly rose and took the bottle of iodine from her small storage box along with some cotton wool. She settled herself back to her previous position and carefully applied on the wounds and bruises.

"There done now," Mrs Hughes leaned back and looked approvingly at her work. Sybil smiled.

"Thank you Mrs Hughes," she whispered.

"Now promise me Milady that you will never wonder off on your own without permission and fall into trouble," Mrs Hughes said, a slight hint of a smile now on her face.

"But…" Sybil began to protest but Mrs Hughes cut her short.

"No Milady. Promise me. Please?"

Sybil looked into the Housekeeper's eyes and hesitated. She didn't want to hurt Mrs Hughes but she didn't want to make a promise on that subject either.

"You can go on your adventures with permission and maybe… someone looking over you? Milady I'm asking you to promise me is because I'd hate to see you hurt," Mrs Hughes said as she ran her fingers softly along Sybil's cheek.

"I promise you Mrs Hughes," the little girl whispered.

"There's a good little Lady," the Housekeeper said as she continued to stroke the girl's cheek softly, wiping away the stains of tears from earlier.

She rose from the floor, her knees giving a soft creak. And smiled with Sybil.

"Now what would you say about a glass of milk and a couple of biscuits my Lady?" Mrs Hughes asked and Sybil's eyes sparkled instantly.

To be continued…

Thank you so much for your reviews. I'm so grateful for all your encouraging and lovely words. I'll most probably be having some time in my hands in the weeks to come so I'll try my best to update as soon as I am able to update. Hope you liked this chapter. See you soon with the next one! (And it would be so lovely if you could write a small review on what you think about the story so far, if you have the time. Thank you so much!)