Jarvis sighed deeply, rubbing his throbbing head which had just received a severe scolding from his lordship about goodness knows what this time. There was always something he was not happy with, usually it came down to his fault, although it occasionally had something to do with Flora or Felix (but generally it was him up in front of the Earl receiving an ear-bashing for the most ridiculous incidents)

Last week was a perfect example of this. Who in there right mind would want to thieve a pair of the Earl's rather fetching long johns? Yet nevertheless a pair disappeared and Jarvis as usual got a bollocking for the whole affair, ridiculous! It baffled him, the chances were they had got lost, unless as Flora had mentioned one of the Laundry maids had decided to keep them as a souvenir…a rather scary thought though, one Jarvis would prefer not to think about.

Today however took the prize for the most bizarre happening for all the time he had been at Taplows. The Earl seemed to have got it into his head that someone had stolen his brand new mint bubble bath? Jarvis was this time determined to find out personally whether the Earl really was losing his marbles. He'd searched the whole upstairs but so far there was no sign of the Earl's bubble bath lurking in any corner. He was utterly bewildered, but suddenly realised…that perhaps someone below stairs was thieving from the Earl, there was plenty of opportunity.

But who?

Well it had to be a woman…there was no doubt about it. You wouldn't find a man stewing in his own filth, the water up to the brim full of minty bubble bath (apart from the Earl of course). He also doubted that any man was about to steal a pair of the Earl's dirty underwear unless there was something Felix wasn't telling him?…which he very much doubted.

Still Walter interrogated Felix over the next few days, even invited himself into his room for a brandy, but there was no sign of the Earl's underwear or bubble bath under the tat covering Felix's floor and all his furniture. Therefore Jarvis concluded it had to be one of the ladies…but he had no bloody idea who.

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Flora was relieved to settle herself down into a chair that evening after a most stressful day. She'd had pretty much enough of Andrew Adams loitering around every corner, making sure she never left his sight in case the chance to trip her and Walter Corey up arose. She'd also been puzzled by the most bizarre behaviour from her certain love that day.

She'd found him in the most compromising position this morning with Miss Grace May in the stillroom and then later again with Lizzie McDuff. Both times he had quickly claimed to be doing his routinely check on the girls, make sure they were all working properly (which had irritated Flora the moment the words had left his lips, like she wouldn't be capable of checking on her own ladies).

Still at the time his excuse had seemed a bit far-fetched…why the need to be balancing on one leg while trying to bury his face in to Grace's hair. She really had no idea, just couldn't help feeling that perhaps he was beginning to worry…He may yet still have to pop the question but that doesn't mean their relationship wasn't reaching the next level. She couldn't help getting the idea that perhaps he was worried about the whole prospect of being committed to one woman only…perhaps she'd have a little chat with him later.

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Flora was slightly put out when Walter retired straight to his room after dinner that evening. She lost no time in joining him though, she was going to get to the bottom of this before he began avoiding her completely. She decided to overlook her usual knock and just walked straight in, causing Walter to almost jump out of his skin.

"Jesus Christ!" He yelled, before quickly moving his hand to cover the piece of paper he was scribbling on, obviously concluding this was something he didn't want Flora to read.

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to startle you," Flora looked on amused, as he slowly edged the paper away from her as she moved nearer. "Writing anything interesting?"

"N-no not really," he stuttered.

"Well there is no reason for you to be holding your hand over it then is there?" She positively beamed as she began to see the sweat trickling down his forehead.

"There is no need to bore you to death Flora my dear," he replies, running a gentle hand down the side of her face, distracting her enough to place the paper in his drawer with one swift movement. She raised her eyebrow at him, annoyed at the fact he'd outsmarted her again. She knew there was something on that paper and she intended to find out what it was.

"So?" He smiled at her, hoping to change the subject quickly. "What can I do for you my darling?" He added, her face falling more at this obvious sign he wanted rid of her…what he really meant was 'Can I do something for you, if not bugger off."

"Well actually there is something I need to talk to you about," she began, now it was his face that fell and she noticed his eyes roll in boredom ever so slightly, which basically said to her 'Oh my god you're turning into my mother!"

"Really? What my dear?" He quickly asked softly in an attempt to make her believe he was in the slightest bit interested.

"Well…it's about us," she began noticing with amusement his whole body tightening. Pulling up a chair she settled herself down next to him, before taking his hands gently in her own and looking him straight in the eye, so to give her an idea of whether he was talking to her truthfully. Â"I know what's going on, Walter."

"You do?" He asks, the disbelief clear in his voice.

"Yes," she smiled "and I must say I understand your behaviour entirely."

"Really?" He replies, recalling the tense moments earlier that day first with Grace and Lizzie and then him crawling under the dinner table. Her face had been a picture when she'd glanced under the table suspiciously to find out what was taking him so long to pick up a stray carrot. She had not expected to see him with his nose up against another woman's leg, as he ever so carefully lifted at her dress so she couldn't feel a tug.

It was obvious when Flora began again that she clearly had no clue whatsoever on the real reason behind his behaviour. She seemed to have concocted some idea that he was worried that their relationship was moving to fast for him. Somehow she had got the idea that he had a commitment issue. She spent the next half an hour or so trying to convince him not to be scared about this whole business that he should be excited by the fact they were taking things to the next level. He of course knew that he certainly wasn't scared of commitment in the slightest. He would never admit it but he did feel that wonderful surge of a thrill at the mention of them ever having children.

After a while though, he began to get bored of Flora nervously repeating herself over and over again so simply silenced her in the only way he knew how…It was only as his lips trailed down the now stunned Flora's neck that he caught a whiff of something he had not been expecting.

It wasn't until she had disappeared early that evening, when he was finally able to consider his new theory. Pulling open his desk drawer, he scanned the list of female names that he still had yet to sniff and circled the last one he had expected…Flora Ryan.

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Walter Corey seemed to have believed he had found the true identity of the Taplows thief, however little did he know that the true criminal was at that very moment drawing themselves a bath and filling it with the Earl's favoured bubble bath.

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Meanwhile downstairs Flora wiped her hands on her apron, pulling it off and beginning to make her way upstairs. She was desperate for a bath, she'd spent the last half an hour chopping up her darlings favourite mint that she had sneakily bought specially for him on her last trip to Tappleton.

The problem was she personally hated the smell and no matter how hard she had scrubbed last night she hadn't been able to get rid of it. It seemed to spread everywhere. Wherever she touched, her face, her neck etc, they all began to smell of mint. So the only option was to have a quick bath before the smell could spread any further.

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Walter Corey had been watching and waiting for a certain person to enter the ladies bathroom. He somehow just knew she would take a quick half an hour off for a relaxing bath. So when he saw a figure appear his suspicions were confirmed. He waited for 5 minutes or so, before noiselessly unlocking the door and pushing it open.

"Well well, what have we here? You been thieving the Earl's bubble bath you naughty little minx!" He chuckled, making his way towards the figure, intent on reprimanding Flora is in own little way. However as he lay his hands on a rather large waist he suddenly realised that perhaps something wasn't right. Before he knew what was happening the figure shrieked slightly and jumping backwards, fell straight into the steamy bath.

Peering through the steam he suddenly realised who that large waist belonged too. He may have been able to explain the situation if at that very second a very stern voice said, "What on earth is going on in here?"

Cringing, Walter held out his hand to help the partially naked Mrs Diggins out of the bath. The owner of that stern voice stared baffled, as she watched her lover help Mrs Diggins out of the bath. "I'm very sorry, Mrs Dig-" he began, but his apology was cut off when an irritated and embarrassed Mrs Diggins screamed at him, "Mr Jarvis! You really are the last person I would have expected sneaking around the ladies bathroom."

"This was a complete accident!" Walter tried to explain, looking pleadingly at Flora for help.

"Surely you don't need Mrs Ryan and myself to escort you to your bathroom, do you?" She asked, as she pulled her dress over her wet self. "Well?" She asks sternly.

Jarvis was about to reply, but she grabbed his arm first, escorting him out of the bathroom and down the corridor to the men's bathroom.

"There you are!" she tutted, nodding to the door. Thanking her politely through gritted teeth, Jarvis pushed the door open to be greeted by the strong smell of peppermint.

"I not sure if my day could get any worse," he muttered to himself, as he converted his eyes away from the idiot who had forgotten to lock the bathroom door. The same idiot who was sat in the minty bath, with a pink shower cap on his head and a little rubber ducky in his hand…the now very embarrassed Andrew Adams.