Downton Abbey, 1913, Servant's Hall
Thomas was seated at the Servant's Hall table with Anna, Mr Bates, Mrs O'Brien. Daisy came into the room and placed the teapot at the middle of the table, along with some biscuits for the servant's tea.
Mrs O'Brien and Thomas were in the middle of their second favorite activity -the first was scheming against Mr Bates-, complaining about their job. The footman was claiming that he deserved what their employer had. Anna and Mr Bates exchanged a knowing look, Thomas wasn't one they would call deserving of anything. Daisy, who was standing in the door frame between the kitchen and the servant's hall, agreed. She was one for complaining, indeed.
"Kings of the world, they are on top, have the greatest sight but there's something amiss…" she declared
"They don't know what we think about them down here" Mrs O'Brien said.
"They don't know that here, we are the King" Thomas said, standing up as if he was to lead a revolution.
Daisy resumed her revendications "Kings of the world who do whatever they want, they're surrounded by the crowd but they're actually lonely"
"In their castle up here, they're bored while here we dance all night !" Thomas said as he took Daisy's hand to dance joyfully with her, as if they were performers on stage.
Anna and Mr Bates watched the whole scene with amused looks. At first they thought Daisy and Thomas had been absurd but realized in the end that the youngsters weren't that wrong.
"We're loving, we're living, day after day, night after night. Why be on earth if you're gonna spend your life kneeling. We know time is like wind, to live it's the only thing that matters. We don't care much about morality, we know we're not in the wrong" they almost sang those sentences like a song.
William, Tom and Gwen, who just entered the room, asked Mrs O'Brien what was going on and she answered that somehow Daisy and Thomas had started a revolution. They laughed but Gwen quickly joined the discussion "Kings of the world, they're frightened by everything as if they're mistaking wolves and dogs"
William nodded in agreement and added "They're making traps where they're gonna fall one day"
"They're protecting themselves from everything, even love" Anna said as she glanced at Mr Bates. Those lyrics were true for him as much as they were for Mary Lady.
"Kings of the world, they're fighting each other. There's room for one but not for two." O'Brien spat, clearly referencing the whole entail business, who was the poison of their employer's class.
"But we're not gonna fight their war, we don't even know why, it's all kings' games" Tom declared, letting his inner irishman speak.
"We're loving, we're living, day after day, night after night. Why be on earth if you're gonna spend your life kneeling. We know time is like wind, to live it's the only thing that matters. We don't care much about morality, we know we're not in the wrong", All the servants sang together.
The Servant's Hall was a real show now. William sat himself in front of the piano and played a joyful melody as the other servants were singing those lines again and again. There was dancing, laughter and singing until Mrs Hughes came into the room, her furious face on."What on earth is going on here ?"
The piano stopped. Everyone straightened up a little bit. They looked down at their tea trying to avoid the fearful look of the housekeeper. They prayed for a bell to ring so that they could slowly scatter. Finally, Lady Mary's bell rang and Anna escaped, not without smiling at her fellow co-workers, especially Mr Bates who tried to suppress his laughter. Then everyone went on to their tasks, slightly embarrassed but amused.