A few weeks earlier...
Richard sat in one of the more comfy chairs by the fireplace in the servants hall at the palace. Most of the staff had done their work today and were either sitting in the same room as him or were up in there rooms. Richard preferred to spend his spare time down near the fire in his favourite chair as the bedrooms were freezing, only in the summer were they warm enough and even then, he'd rather be outside. He, of course, wrote his letters to Thomas in the privacy of his own room. He was grateful that he didn't have to share his room with anyone else for that reason. He had plans of writing another, but was distracted when a letter had arrived for him earlier in the day, which he had only just got the time to read. Since he wasn't exactly going to read the letter out loud for all to hear, he didn't see the harm in reading it downstairs in the relative company of others. No one seemed to question why he got letters with the same postmark so regularly, some assumed he had an admirer though they didn't know who. There were a few people he worked alongside that knew about him and who didn't seem to mind, and others who didn't have a clue as far as he knew, but he never mentioned Thomas to anyone. There were so many more people who could find out here, than at Downton, and unlike Thomas, he couldn't trust everyone he worked with. It was too much of a risk. Richard had friends, some who were like him, outside of the palace who knew about him and his relationship with Thomas. Those people he knew he could trust, and he was grateful to know them and to have their loyalty, as he would go mad if he couldn't talk about the context of some of the letters he got from Thomas, with someone. He wondered if Thomas could do the same.
It was hard to hide his reactions to reading some of the things that Thomas wrote. He couldn't hide the smile that crept onto his face, or the laugh when Thomas wrote something funny, either about them both or something that had happened in his world. Thomas was always telling him stories of events at Downton, which he enjoyed hearing. Then there were the sentences that made Richard's heart skip several beats, such as the opening line of this letter; "I had another dream about you last night, about us. Sometimes I wish I could stay in those dreams where everything is perfect, where you and me are one..." They had both agreed ages ago, after their first night together that they should remove their names and even their initials, from the letters they send, just in case they are ever discovered. It was a precaution, but also they knew automatically who was sending the letter and it was written for, so there was no need anymore. The letters between them were more of a conversation than a formal correspondence anyway. Richard smiled as he read the last line, "Forever yours." Thomas would always end he letters like that. Richard looked at the clock on the wall, which confirmed that he should be heading to bed now if he was to get enough sleep to prevent him from completing the next day whilst sleep-walking. He got up reluctantly, and put his letter down on the table whilst he went to get a glass of water from the kitchens.
...
Arthur Bennett, sat at the opposite side of the table to the fireplace. He had been reading the paper, as he did most evenings before bed, but was distracted from his reading from the small laughs coming from Richard who was busy reading the latest of the letters he had received, and who seemed to be in a world of his own. Richard seemed to be getting letters more and more, and they weren't all coming from his parents either. He knew that much. Several staff members, mostly the younger ones who liked to gossip, thought he had a sweetheart, some girl he would go and see. He agreed that Richard had an admirer yes, but it was strange that he would want to keep that person so secret. Maybe he had to keep him secret. That was his guess. So when Richard left the room and left the open letter on the table, Arthur went to have a look at the letter for himself...
...
Richard yawned as he took off his shirt in his room, he had stayed downstairs too long once again. But he was distracted. He smiled at the thought of the cause of this distraction- then remembered he had left the letter downstairs. He was just about to pull his shirt back on again, in order to go down and fetch it, when he noticed it had been slipped underneath his door. Richard picked up the letter, wondering who had returned it to him, and how they knew it even belonged to him, since it wasn't addressed to him. His wondering turned to worry as he saw the letter had a note attached to the top of it: "I know your secret."
