Chapter 23
This is the second chapter I posted today so please check out the previous chapter if you already have not. Thanks!
"Mrs Patmore could you please fix a glass of milk and some biscuits on to a tray? And maybe add a cup of tea on it too," Mrs Hughes requested trying her best not to look too relaxed but failing quite epically based on her usual standards.
"Milk?" Mrs Patmore questioned surprised. The Housekeeper was full of weird requests today. Made even weirder due to the fact that it was one of her "days" as Mrs Patmore would usually refer to it and "one of her moods" as Miss O'Brien would term it.
"For Lady Sybil. She's had quite a fright. Poor girl," came Mrs Hughes reply in a heavily concerned tone.
"Daisy fetch a glass of milk!" Mrs Patmore ordered the kitchen maid who went scurrying to get.
"It's not bad is it?" the Cook asked surprised at the change in the Housekeeper's mood given the state she's bee in all morning.
"No. She's a bit upset but nothing out of the sort you or would have gotten into at that age," Mrs Hughes replied smiling.
Oh Heavens above! She's smiling! Mrs Patmore couldn't help but wonder. The attentive Cook didn't know that the Housekeeper had taken a shine to Lady Sybil. She had seen Lady Mary knock on Mr Carson's door when she came hunting for peppermints during times when she was not allowed any sweets. But taking a shine to a child is the last thing Mrs Patmore had expected from Mrs Hughes. Daisy returned with the milk and Mrs Patmore fixed tray.
"Chocolate or ginger? The cookies I mean"
"Chocolate I think. She likes chocolate," Mrs Hughes' reply quite amused the Cook. Elsie Hughes was the caring kind of person but Mrs Patmore never expected her to be excited about it. Life was full of surprises after all, the Cook concluded.
"There you are," Mrs Patmore said as she handed the tray to Mrs Hughes.
"Thank you Mrs Patmore," Mrs Hughes took the tray and walked towards her sitting room. Mrs Patmore watched her leave the kitchen.
"What a pleasant surprise it is to know that Mary Queen of Scots has got a heart after all," She muttered to herself.
Mrs Hughes pulled a chair close to the settee and placed the tray down on it. She placed the glass of milk in Sybil's hand and without any further delay Sybil took a long sip of her glass. Mrs Hughes sat next to the girl taking the cup of tea with her. While Sybil was occupied with her glass of milk, Mrs Hughes' mind ran back again to Becky. A shadow coming upon her face and silence invading her. Sybil looked up from the glass of milk and watched the Housekeeper lost in deep thought. To Sybil this was odd. Mrs Hughes never looked sad. At least not during the times she's seen her.
"Anything the matter Mrs Hughes?" she asked gently with concern written all over her sweet voice.
"No dear nothing that would concern you," she smiled back at Sybil but the little girl noticed the worry in the Housekeeper's eyes despite her lips pulling a smile. One prominent thing Sybil noticed was how Mrs Hughes' smile reached her eyes. When she was genuinely smiling small, pretty sparks came upon her blue eyes and even when the sparks were missing one could genuinely see the smile on her eyes too. But now the eyes were separate from the smile.
"Are you?" Sybil inquired cautiously understanding that she might be threading on thin ice.
"Yes Milady. Nothing for you to worry about. Just me," she replied but with her hand tightening the hold around the handle of the tea cup.
"You look as if you've got a lot on your mind."
"Haven't I every single day?" Mrs Hughes asked with a painful laugh.
"No. Not like on other days," Sybil stated softly and immediately diving behind her glass of milk afraid that she had gone overboard.
Mrs Hughes smiled. There was no answer she could give the little girl. A lot was definitely going on in her mind and not much of it was household problems. It's not that she could explain to the little girl about her little sister who was "not right in the head." The young girl has not seen enough of the world to understand it where even most grown adults had not. Most people presumed Becky to be "mad" or "mental" when she explained the condition but it certainly was not the case. How could she distinguish the subtle nature of her sister's mind?
"It's that we all have duties Milady. Things we are meant to do. And also things we are not supposed to do but we do because we care about people. Sometimes in life when it feels as if you can't fulfil them, when you feel you are losing your grip, then it's as if everything is falling apart," the Housekeeper finished with a sigh. Her eyes looking ahead yet not fixed at a particular spot.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Sybil replied watching the Housekeeper's faraway look.
"No. You wouldn't my Lady," Mrs Hughes almost whispered and finally smiled looking tenderly at the little girl. A real smile. For the first time that day.
"I like it when you smile like that," Sybil said quickly and dived behind her glass back again.
"Do you now?" the amiable Housekeeper asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. Would you mind giving Anna that smile today? She looked as if her life had been scared out of her," Sybil suggested quickly stuffing half of a biscuit into her mouth.
"Well. That girl ought to get half a million of my worst glares the way she started out work today. She's lucky she got only about half a dozen of those," Mrs Hughes replied keeping on a straight face and a stern look while Sybil laughed.
"She said if she didn't appear tomorrow she'd probably be dead and buried."
"Well I'd do it personally if she doesn't manage to get that stain she managed to place on one of Her Ladyship's dresses sorted out!" Mrs Hughes said in mock anger and Sybil laughed till her sides hurt.
To be continued…
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