The day's journey seemed endless and it was late afternoon when they finally reached the countryside in the county of Sussex. It wasn't long that they were riding across Balinor's property and Leopold looked out of the window, and took a deep breath. He was home. The rolling hills and forests he had rode through millions of times on his black stallion, Mordrid, once again beckoning to him. Kate leaned over him to peak out the window, "This is all yours?" It seemed to stretch for miles.

"All mine." Leopold felt proud.

"Not for long if you aren't careful." Millard added.

Margaret piped in, "We have a wedding to plan and I will not have this pessimistic attitude about the future of Balinor at this time. It will only put a black cloud over the celebration."

Kate was in awe of the surroundings; she saw the house approach, which was hardly a house at all. She would have called it a castle, but there were no turrets or drawbridge, like in fairy tales. She could see people gathering outside, in the distance and she asked Leopold, "What are those people doing?"

"It is a tradition to greet the master of the house, when he arrives home. That will be our servants. There aren't as many as in the past, Millard let a number of them go before we left for America."

"A waste of money. Too many of them, were not even capable of keeping a shack in order let alone a house such as this."

"My uncle is overexagerating." Leopold glared at him.

As they got closer and Kate could see their faces, Leopold pointed them out to her, "The two elderly ladies on the left are Mrs. Collins, the head housekeeper and Cook. They have been with the family for a long time, before I was born. On Cook's left is Jack, my groomsman, then there is Molly and Maggie, Mrs. Collins' nieces who are the upstairs maids. And Lily and Sarah, the downstairs maids. And I mustn't forget Parker, our butler. There are a few others, basically kitchen help and Thomas the groundskeeper. I don't think I am forgetting anyone."

"This is going to be interesting. I am supposed to remember their positions and names."

"Katherine, only Leopold remembers all their names, it isn't required. Most of the time you will have little to do with any of them, except Mrs. Collins and Cook. Leopold has always made it a point to be personal with the staff, which I find a waste of time and highly inappropriate. As a young boy, he was often found in the kitchen baking or having breakfast with them. It was a habit I tried to break him of."

"And he failed miserably." Leopold smiled triumphantly. "I always found their lives more exciting than mine. They were always so happy working and being in each other's company. I consider them as much part of the family as my aunt and uncle."

Millard shook his head, "He does this to spite me, it is obvious. If I embraced the staff the way he does, he would turn his back on them."

Leopold laughed. "That will be the day, you embracing the staff."

The carriage rolled up to the front of the house, and Millard stepped out of the carriage and helped Margaret out, they were greeted by Mrs. Collins and Parker, "It is wonderful to have you home, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Mountbatten."

Millard started to address the condition of the house, when he realized all eyes were on the carriage, and they were only interested in Leopold and his fiancé. There were whispers among them.

Leopold stepped out and helped Kate out, she felt awkward with all eyes on her, and she heard whispers and gasps. "Your grace, you've been truly missed." Mrs. Collins smiled as Leopold turned to her and picked her up and twirled her around, she giggled, and Millard looked disgusted.

"Mrs. Collins, it is wonderful being home." He kissed her cheek as he put her down, and she blushed. "Let me introduce you to my fiancé, Kate." Mrs. Collins and the others bowed.

"It's a pleasure."

Leopold turned to Jack and slapped him on the back, "Jack, I hope all is well with Mordrid. I am anxious to have a ride around the estate in the morning."

"I have been exercising him daily, your grace, he is in fine form."

"Just what I wanted to hear. You will be accompanying in the morning, I insist. I would like Guinevere to get use to longer rides, I am hoping Kate will be riding her in the future."

Kate looked shocked, "Riding a horse?! Leopold, I don't think so."

"In time, in time. Jack is a fine horseman and I am sure he will be of great assistance to you. Guinevere is a very gentle mare and I believe perfectly matched for you. There is no rush. Come, I am anxious to show you your new home."

As they entered the house, Mrs. Collins followed closely behind them, "Your grace, I hate to trouble you with this matter, the minute you arrive home…"

"What is it, Mrs. Collins? You aren't troubling me."

"I would normally confer with Lady Mountbatten about this matter, but seeing as Miss Katherine is to be the new lady of the house.."

"Yes,"

"Miss Katherine might be needing a personal companion, and I have someone in mind."

"How many more nieces do you have Mrs. Collins?"

"Not a niece, your grace, a daughter."

Leopold looked surprised, "Not Janet. I thought she was in Scotland, and married."

"It is a long story, sir, but she is back in Sussex and in need of a position, she has no references."

"Is she here at Balinor, as we speak?"

"Why yes, sir, she is. But, I knew his lordship would not be pleased and I thought it best she help out in the kitchen until I could speak to you."

"I haven't seen Janet since we were children. You know what my answer will be, Janet is like my sister. Of course she may have a position at Balinor and you are perfectly right about Kate needing a personal companion. Janet would be perfect. I will be showing Kate her rooms, Mrs. Collins, send Janet up so they can meet."

Leopold managed to stride up the stairs skipping every other one, Kate trying desperately to keep up with him. When she got up to the top she was out of breath. "What am I going to do with a personal companion?"

"She will perform tasks for you, much like Otis does for me. Help you with your wardrobe, draw your bath, turn down your bed."

"I can do those things myself."

"Of course you can, Kate. But you are to be a duchess and it is only suitable you have your own servant. You will like Janet."

"You assume I will like everyone you like."

He looked at her and sensed something was wrong.

"You are jealous."

"Jealous. Ha! Why would I be jealous, I don't know anything about this girl."

"I played with her as a child, for god's sake. She and I rode horses together, along with Jack. Jack's father was my father's groomsman."

"Fine. She is a tomboy, who you consider like a sister."

"You are being ridiculous."

"Is she pretty?"

"I haven't seen her since she was 15. She was sent to Scotland to work for some Earl. It was a horrible time for her mother. Janet was her only surviving child. Her two sons died of Scarlet Fever. I had heard she married a few years ago. Obviously, something has happened."

"You didn't answer my question. Is she pretty?"

"She was one of the lads. We never thought of her as anything else. Can we talk about something else? I really wanted to show you the house."

He took her by the arm and escorted down the hall, and opened the door. It was a set of rooms, a sitting room, a bedroom and a bathroom. "These were my mothers rooms." She looked around at the beautiful carved wood dresser and the patterned wallpaper and portraits adorning the walls, "Your mother had separate rooms from your father?"

"It is common, for a husband and wife to have their own quarters. My mother came here to paint and get away from talk of business. But she rarely slept here. My parents were very close; she and my father were rarely apart. My parent's situation was very peculiar compared to most married couples. It is much more commonplace for a woman to wait in her own rooms until her husband is in need of her."

"In need of her? You mean he comes to her when he is ready to have sex."

"I wouldn't have worded it in such a crude way, but yes, that is what I mean."

"That is insane."

She looked at him and he could tell she was wondering if he would partake in this tradition as well, "You can rest assured, Kate, that I have no intention of partaking in this practice. I find it absolutely ludicrous, but if you prefer to sleep in your own room once we are wed, I will respect your wishes."

Before she could say anything else, she realized there was someone standing in the doorway, "Your grace, I am sorry to bother you, but my mother told me you wished to see me." She curtseyed to Leopold, as he turned towards her.

Leopold was taken aback by the young woman standing there. At 15, Janet had been very tomboyish, and now she was quite the young lady. Her silky chestnut hair hung past her shoulders and she had dazzling blue eyes. Kate had her answer, she was very pretty indeed. "This can't be the Janet Collins I remember. What happened to the braids and as I recall, your mother had a hell of time getting you to put on a dress. My god, it is good to see you."

Janet was surprised when he took her in his arms and hugged her, Kate stood watching them. "You don't know how good it feels to be home, Leopold. I mean, your grace." Leopold stood back, and Janet was blushing. She noticed Kate was staring.

"I really despise being addressed in such a matter. It seems absurd when we are such old friends."

There was a silence and Leopold realized, the two women were observing each other while he stood in the middle. It was a bit awkward, and he tried to break the silence.

"Kate, darling, this is Janet."

"It's nice to meet you, Janet."

"Oh, Miss Kate, the pleasure is all mine. It is wonderful to see, Leopold, I mean…oh damn, I will never be able to pull this off…I beg your pardon, your grace. What I meant to say was, I can see how happy you have made, his grace, and it will be a pleasure to work for you."

She seemed flustered and Leopold could tell she was on the verge of tears, "I am sorry, I am really not myself at this moment and if you would excuse me."

"Janet, what is it?"

"I will be fine. Just give me a few minutes, and I will return to unpack Miss Kate's bags." She slowly turned and walked to the door, but as soon as she reached the hall she ran down the stairs.

Leopold and Kate looked at each other, "Leopold, are you sure she is capable of taking on this position? She seems a bit unstable."

Leopold looked puzzled, "She is not the same girl, I knew. That is for sure. I will talk to her mother and find out what is going on."

"Didn't Mrs. Collins say she didn't have references? What does that actually mean?"

"She has left her previous post without a referral. There is a possibility she was let go, but Janet has always been a hard worker, it doesn't make sense."

Leopold seemed to be in a daze, but quickly snapped out of it, "I am sure all will be well, now, I did promise you a tour of the house. Care to join me?" He held out his arm for her to take and they left Kate's rooms.

Kate had a thorough tour of the house, and for the time being the incident with Janet in her rooms had been forgotten. Kate walked through the dining room that could seat 50, a library that carried nearly every book every published, a ballroom complete with two matching chandeliers, and Leopold's lab. It had originally been a second drawing room, but now it was covered with black boards, that had been left as Leopold had left them over 2 months ago. Formulas, drawings and chicken scratches, covered them. Tables were crowded with models, sketchbooks, and what looked like to Kate, junk. Leopold was very proud of this room, and was hoping Kate would share the enthusiasm, "So what do you think?"

"Well, it's a bit of a mess, don't you think? I thought Stuart's apartment was bad, but this takes the cake. Don't you have any of the maids tidy it up?"

"Absolutely not. No one is allowed in this room; I won't have my inventions tampered with. Of course I will make an exception in your case. You might find it enjoyable watching me at work."

She thought she would start to laugh, but held it back. She had put up with a lot from Stuart and his experiments, and had never understood any of it. Now Leopold was assuming she would get a kick out of watching him work. Leopold could tell she was holding back laughter; by the way she was smiling.

"Do you find something amusing, Kate?"

"Of course not, this is all very interesting." She waved her arm around the room, "But I don't understand any of it."

"This is the future, Kate. I know it doesn't look like much, especially for you coming from a time, when you have every convenience, but it means a hell of a lot to me. And I have no intention of giving it up, especially now that I have seen my invention in use in the 21st century. What my uncle considered wasted time on my part, actually has some significance. I am incredibly proud of the work I do here."

"I can see that." She imagined him working in here, hiding himself off from the outside world, he was a bit odd, but that only added to his charm, as far as Kate was concerned. "And I feel privileged that you will allow me to watch you work, I am sure it will be educational."

"You are mocking me."

She started to giggle, "I'm sorry, Leopold. I don't mean to laugh. I have a hard time imagining me having anything to do with science at all. I failed Chemistry in High School, and Physics as far as I was concerned was a foreign language. I doubt I could make heads or tales of anything you were working on."

"I think you should give yourself some credit. You are an intelligent young woman, who can do anything she puts her mind to. If you find my work, dull and boring, so be it, but I do believe you might be able to grasp more than you might imagine. I want you to be a part of my world, Kate. And this is a major part of it."

"I know. And I will try."

"That is all I ask."



As they headed out towards the stables it was beginning to get dark, but Leopold wanted to show her the horses. The stables were massive, and as they walked in there was neighing heard from one of the back stalls, "That is my trusty stallion, Mordrid. He knows my voice."

Kate looked amazed, "Really?"

"They are incredibly intelligent animals, Kate. I have raised Mordrid from a foal, and he will only allow Jack or myself to ride him." As they passed the other stalls, there were horses of all sizes and colors. Kate couldn't imagine the need for so many.

"Why so many? You can't possibly ride them all."

"These here are for the carriage, and the pair of chestnut mares over there are my uncle and aunts. These 4 back here are mine." They reached the back stalls and the beautiful black stallion had his head out, and Leopold gave him a pat, "Hey, boy, I have missed you." Kate remembered the day in central park and the way Leopold had handled the horse and then the way he talked to the horse, like he really could communicate with him.

"He's beautiful."

"I think so, but a handful. Feisty as anything. It was no easy task to get him to accept Jack. He was a one-man horse, but Jack is incredible. He has the patience of a saint, and he kept at it. It was a relief when I left for New York, knowing that Mordrid was in capable hands." Kate had moved on to the next stable, she was leary of patting the beautiful white mare. "You can pet her, she is a true lady. This is Guinivere, she will be your horse, Kate, if and when you choose to give it a go."

"Guinevere, Mordrid…where is Arthur and Lancelot."

"You know the legend of Arthur?"

"Of course I do, Camelot and Merlin. My parents were obsessed with musicals, and Charlie and I watched the video over and over. Charlie would pretend he was Lancelot, I think that was one of his first attempts at a French accent, and he would pretend to joust, sitting on one of the kitchen chairs. It was quite a sight."

"I am not sure what you mean by a musical."

"A musical is kind of like an opera, but lighter and not all singing. Musicals are huge in New York. Camelot was a musical. King Arthur sang about what the king was doing tonight, and Guinevere danced in the countryside barefoot singing the Lusty Month of May."

"It sounds delightful."

"Yes, I think the musical is right up your alley."

She carefully patted Guinevere with Leopold's assistance. "This all seems so unreal to me. Like I am part of a play or something."

"It's very real, Kate."

"I know. And I will be riding a horse in the English countryside, and I'll be waited on by my personal companion and my husband will be tinkering in his lab on his latest invention."

He put his arms around her from behind while she continued to pat Guinevere, "I am glad you brought me here."

"And I am ever so glad, you agreed to come. I don't know what I would do without you."

She turned towards him, "You will never have to think about that again. I am not going anywhere." She took the initiative and kissed him, only to be interrupted by a sound coming from one of the stalls, it sounded like someone crying.

"Leopold, did you hear that?"

"It's nothing, just one of the horses." He was enjoying the kissing and continued, ignoring the sound.

Kate heard it again and gently pushed him away, "Leopold, someone is crying." She started moving towards the sound, Leopold reluctantly followed. A few stalls toward the front, were empty and Kate looked in and saw Janet curled in a ball crying, she opened the door and got down on her knees so she was at Janet's level, "What is it, Janet? What's happened?"

Leopold joined them on the stable floor in the hay, and Janet immediately fell into his arms and he comforted her, Leopold looked over her shoulder at Kate puzzled, "I shouldn't have come back, Leopold, it was a mistake. I will only make matters worse for everyone."

"That is utter nonsense. You belong here as much as I do. Janet, what is going on? We cannot help unless you tell us."

The stable door opened again and Jack stood behind them, "Your grace, this is not your concern." He pried Janet out of Leopold's arms; "I will see Janet to the house, where her mother can see to her. I am sorry to inconvenience you."

"Jack, what is going on?"

Jack turned and gave him a despairing look, this was not how Leopold's homecoming was supposed to turn out and he was embarrassed. He didn't answer Leopold, instead put his arm around Janet and walked her up towards the house. Leopold and Kate watched from the stable doors, "What is happening around here? I can't believe the change in a few months. Jack is probably my closest friend, next to Otis. This is not like him, and Janet in tears. Something is not right."

Kate didn't know what to say. Leopold's concern was obvious and even she felt something strange was going on. She put her arm around him, "This is not the homecoming you expected, obviously."

"I was hoping we could get through the wedding, before any major dramatic occurrences developed but I was mistaken. I know I shouldn't be so personally involved. Millard is right, they are only servants."

"They are your friends. Of course you care about them. I am sure Jack will have an explanation for you in the morning. We should go back to the house, it must be getting close to dinner time."

"You are right. This will sort itself out in the morning, I am sure of it." He took her arm and they walked up towards the house. But Leopold wasn't sure of it and it was weighing on his mind. This was supposed to be a happy time, preparing for the wedding, but he couldn't just forget what he had just witnessed in the stables. These were people he truly cared about and he couldn't bear to see them this way.