Elsie walked quickly along the gallery carrying her Ladyship's dress for the evening. She had just been preparing it and repairing a couple of buttons that had come loose. Like everyone else, she was very busy making preparations for the arriving guests, who kept arriving in droves. The house was going to be full to breaking point at this rate. The only saving grace was the fact that Mr Richard Crawley and Mr James Crawley, the Earl's brother and cousin respectively, had arrived the previous day and were already settled in, which took a little of the load off.
As she walked towards her Ladyship's bedroom, she saw Richard flirting with Josephine, the house maid, who was giggling like a school girl in the playground. Neither had seen Elsie, but she certainly saw them and she gave a disapproving look as she watched him take Josephine by the hand and lead her into the bedroom.
She may have been in service a long time, but she wasn't altogether naïve and she knew exactly what was going on and it certainly disgusted her. In her previous house any such behaviour wasn't tolerated, by staff, guests or the family and would have been dealt with accordingly by the Lady of the house. But in this instance it was none of Elsie's business, but he certainly had another thing coming if he thought that she'd be joining in.
'Is everything alright Miss Hughes?' Mr Carson said in his usual deep rumble.
'Yes, thank you Mr Carson; just preparing her Ladyship's dress.' She replied as she showed him the dress in her hands. He gave her a curt nod and then strolled off in the opposite direction to the one she was headed and didn't realise that she was watching him as he walked away; and what she didn't realise was that he was watching her once he had turned the corner.
Elsie continued to go about her work and put what she saw to the back of her mind; she didn't think about it at all until late that evening. Everyone else had gone to bed and she had just finished dressing Cora for the night. She took her Ladyship's clothes downstairs to be pressed when she saw Richard Crawley wandering round the servants' hall.
'Can I help you Mr Crawley?' She asked with a stern tone, knowing full well what it was he was after but he didn't seem particularly flustered at being caught out.
'No thank you; I was just looking for one of your maids, but it seems that she has already gone to bed.' He replied casually as he left the servant's hall and walked towards the stairs where Elsie was standing; he stood right in front of her, a little too closely for her liking. 'You're new here, aren't you? I don't recall seeing you here on my last visit.' He said.
'Yes Sir, I started in March as Lady Grantham's Lady's Maid.' She explained politely, but with a certain weary tone to her voice.
'Well then, I look forward to seeing you around.' Richard replied suggestively as he sidled past Elsie, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She certainly didn't like him and made a mental note to keep an eye on him.