Anna lifted the hem on the trousers, pining it carefully before stepping back. "How's that now Mr. Moseley?"
"Fits like a glove Anna." He sniggered, "Well, like trousers if they were a glove… I mean, if my gloves fit like my trousers…."
Anna bit back her laugh, "I understand and I'll take the compliment." She pointed to the screen, "Just change back there and I'll have the hemming done by the time my shop opens tomorrow."
"Thank you Anna."
He ducked back behind the screen as Anna gathered the scraps of cloth and the pins from around the base of the stool Mr. Moseley just vacated. The bell over the door jangled and Anna turned over her shoulder to see who entered. A smile took over her face, growing larger when she stood completely and arranged the scraps of cloth over her arm.
"Mr. Bates, I'm grateful to see you." She walked over to her table, laying the scraps on their respective piles and dropping the pins in the jar before facing him again. "Though I didn't think you'd need a seamstress so soon."
"Unless I'm very, very clumsy." He smiled, pointing to the bolts of fabric around his shop. "This all yours?"
"Yes," Anna took stock of it all, smiling to herself as she saw it through his eyes, "I bought it all with a loan and paid it all back within a year."
"That's impressive."
"It is, isn't it?" She went to say something else but the sound of Mr. Moseley clearing his throat as he came out from behind the screen stopped her. "Ah, Mr. Moseley. May I introduce you to Mr. Bates?"
"Oh," Mr. Moseley hurried to extend a hand to John, shaking enthusiastically. "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Bates. Any friend of Anna's is a friend of mine."
"We're just acquaintances for the moment but the feeling's mutual, I'm sure." He released Mr. Moseley's hand, pointing to the trousers. "Hemming or mending?"
"Hemming. I'm starting a new job and I need to look respectable."
"Congratulations on your good fortune, Mr. Moseley." John stepped back, "I'll get out of your way then since I think you've got something to finish with Ms. Smith."
"Yes," Mr. Moseley jumped toward the table, knocking into it with his hip and only Anna's hand stopped it from tipping. "Sorry about that. I can be clumsy sometimes."
"It's alright and there's no harm done." Anna calculated something on a pad before spinning it on the table to show him. "That's for the hemming and, as I said, come back when I open and you'll have your new trousers ready and waiting for you."
"Thank you." Mr. Moseley dug into his pocket, pulling out the money and handed it over with the trousers. "I'll be here on the dot."
"I should hope so. We wouldn't want Mr. Matthew without his valet before the big rehearsal now would we?" Anna smiled at Mr. Moseley, the other man ducking his head in modesty, and waved him out the door.
"He's a nice fellow."
"You like him?" Anna folded her arms over her chest, "For a moment I was worried."
"Worried?"
"That you might exercise your hot Irish blood in defense of my honor at seeing me with a man in my shop." Anna walked to the door, flipping the sign there.
"I'm not possessive of what isn't mine." John opened his hands toward her. "I tend to believe that people should never be so foolish as to claim ownership of what isn't theirs."
"That's open minded of you, to a degree I don't think I've ever heard from a man." Anna cleared up her shop. "I assume you're here because you want to take me up on the offer of a drink at the Old Arcade."
"I actually just wanted to take the time to wave since I was on the way back to the Rummer's Inn."
Anna grinned, "They put you up there then?"
He ducked his head, "They did. As you predicted.'
"I'm just experienced." Anna counted the change, pulling down a small lock box. "It's their habits. In a place as small as this you know the habits of the people you dress and undress on a regular basis."
"Is that why you invited me here?" John grinned at her, "To undress me?"
"If I wanted to undress you, Mr. Bates, I'd just pull the stitching from your clothes." She dropped the money in the box, locking it before replacing it on the shelf. "For right now however, I'll be satisfied if we share a pint at the Old Arcade."
"I'll be satisfied with that too." John offered her his arm, "Shall we Ms. Smith?"
"I believe I'd be more than pleased." Anna took his arm, allowing John to lead her out the door. She stopped, only to lock the door of the shop, and then pointed him toward the pub. "How was your first day?"
"Enlightening," John took a breath, "I don't think I expected what's going to be required of me."
"Is working for Lord Grantham such an impossibility?"
"It's more what they need me to do." John stopped himself, shaking his head. "I don't think I can tell you anymore about any of this."
"About working in the mines?" Anna steered them toward the pub, nodding her head in thanks to him as he opened the door for her. "I thought you were experienced there."
"I'm experienced in running a mine, in running men, and in managing the day-to-day operations of many things but not what's been asked of me."
Anna took a seat, "What's been asked of you, if I can ask that?"
John took the seat opposite her, massaging his hands. "How much do you know about what's going on at the mine?"
"I told you, I know everyone's habits." Anna leaned over the table, lowering her voice conspiratorially, "Don't you think I know a few more things about this?"
"What do you know?"
"I know that the Crawleys are forever opposed by people who think they don't deserve what they've got and given the political climate of the Welsh to the English, especially the feelings of miners and the others of the working class toward the ruling class, they're under threat daily."
"You picked that up from fitting people for clothes?"
Anna smiled at him, "People don't like someone silent when they fit them for clothing. It makes the situation awkward."
"So then, when Mr. Crawley mentioned this morning that he had a fitting with you-"
"He's not the one who told me." Anna shook her head, "He's got too much professionalism to just spill any secrets to me."
"You think I will?"
"Not necessarily," Anna shifted in her seat, "The way this game works is that I say something and you either confirm it or you just let it slide."
"And you think I'll answer you?" John leaned over, grinning at her. "For a pretty smile and your company?"
"More like for my help." Anna cupped her hands together, "With all the things I know you could benefit from my help in whatever you've been recruited to do."
"You're willing to trade information?"
"I'm wiling to help out a fellow stranger in a strange land." Anna sat back slightly. "What I know comes from the mouth of Lady Mary Crawley herself."
"And you'd share with me what she shared with you in confidence?"
"No. I'd share with you what you need to do your job."
John frowned, "But why? Why do you care about this?"
"Because I care about the Crawleys." Anna looked down at her hands, "Remember how I gained my shop through a loan?"
"Yes."
"It was Mary who gave me the loan. She's the one who gave me the money as repayment for service I rendered her."
"What kind of service?"
Anna wagged her finger at him, "I thought we were speaking in confidence. I have hers for the service I gave her and she has mine. I'm not a fool so I wont be telling you why Lady Mary would tell me everything troubling her family."
"So you're going to help me save the Crawley family."
"That's my job." Anna tapped the table, "Now, we need food and drink for this conversation because you're far behind in all this."
"That I am."
Anna ordered the food for them and waited until the server left. "To begin, do you trust Mr. Matthew and Mr. Branson?"
"They seem brave enough. One of them is married to a Crawley daughter and the other will be. That means that Colonel Crawley obviously trusts them enough to let them have his daughters and his word is enough for me."
"That's good because they're both good men." Anna cut into her food, "They you can trust with your life… or, at least with your job."
"Anyone else?"
"Most of the miners think well enough of the Crawleys because they're good people. Lord Grantham has done a lot for this town and for the people here so they respect him."
"And the others?"
"I assume they hired you because you're supposed to ferret out their connections to less than desirable elements who want nothing more than for the castle to burn to the ground so they can dance around the flames."
"It seems like that's what they want but I've no idea why."
"Some people just want to watch the world burn." Anna sighed, "You're a miner yes?"
"By trade."
"Then you know what the cry of the canary means."
"It means you can still breathe in the mine." John narrowed his eyes, "Why?"
"Because I'm making sure you can still cry like a canary. That the Crawleys can still cry like canaries." Anna took a breath, "If you're willing to take this risk with me then we can work together to save them."
"You owe the Crawleys that much?"
"We all do." Anna motioned to the pub around them. "This all stands on their grace and I won't betray that."
"Neither will I."
"That I know or you wouldn't be here now." Anna raised her glass, "To the small efforts little people like us to save those much higher than ourselves."
"No," John shook his head and raised his glass, "Not higher, just richer."
"Fair enough." Their glasses clinked and they both drank with smiles on their faces.