The six children and their dog stood under the safe shade of a grouping of trees, examining the manor before them from a distance. They had all seen breathtaking things in their time, but this took the cake.

Surrounded by acres of fresh, manicured lawn, the colossal castle looked as though it was made of solid gold in the sunlight.

"There must be a million people living in there!" stammered Daisy, in awe.

"Just Lord and Lady Grantham and their daughters. And the staff, of course," William informed her.

"Seems like a bit of a waste, doesn't it?" murmured Gwen, her eyes floating over the hundreds of windows. "And the amount of cleaning a place like that would need…"

"The staff in these places are all the same – spineless boot kissers who will never amount to anything in their sorry lives," Thomas muttered, stamping out a cigarette.

"I don't think it's too bad a job," frowned William.

"Then become a bloody footman, see where that gets you."

Before William could summon up the courage to come back with a witty retort, a sound from behind startled them all half to death.

Spinning around, Anna looked down to find a ball that had bounced off a tree startlingly close to her head. Chasing after it, and coming their way, was a young Labrador, followed by three girls.

Before Ethel could even try to let out one of her dramatic squeals, they were spotted

"Look, Mary, there's someone in the trees up ahead!" yelled a young fair haired girl in a frilly, summer frock.

There was no time to run now –the gang was many things but cowards weren't one of them.

The Labrador approached them not half as cautiously as the girls did.

"Excuse me!" declared Mary, the tallest girl. "What on Earth do you think you're doing on our property?"

The gang was speechless. They'd never heard a young girl speak in such a highly bred accent.

Anna took it on herself to do the talking. She didn't even want to imagine someone like Thomas, or even Daisy trying to reason with the upper class girls.

"I'm awfully sorry. We were out on a walk and we got a bit…."

"Distracted? Yes, that's one word for it." She turned around to the fair-haired girl. "Edith, take Sybil and go find Mr Carson."

"Please, we don't want to cause any trouble," pleaded Anna, her nerves rising.

Mary ignored her. "Edith – I said go and find Carson!"

Sybil, the smallest out of the three of them stepped forward. Like the oldest, she had long dark hair and deep brown eyes. "Stop being such a tell-tale, Mary," she groaned, half embarrassed.

Daisy caught sight of something in the girl's hands and her eyes suddenly grew wide. "Is that…is that real?"

Sybil looked down at her favourite porcelain doll. The doll was sporting a large hat and a gleaming mass of luscious brown locks. Her dress was intricately designed and the frills folded down past her feet. Never mind the house – that doll was the most beautiful thing Daisy had seen in her life.

Sybil let out a warm-hearted giggle. "No, of course not! It's my doll, Amelia. You can hold her if you like."

Daisy didn't dare budge. She couldn't even bring herself to open her mouth.

It seemed Mary had forgotten for a moment that they were trespassers, and stared at the undernourished little girl in wonder. "Have you not seen a porcelain doll before?"

There was an awkward moment of silence, and no one quite knew what to say.

"I've a skipping rope."

Mary furrowed her brow, confused. "I beg your pardon?"

Daisy grew redder and redder as she went on. "I mean, I've a rope. For skipping and the like. Me and my younger sister share it, but it's mine mostly."

"I have to share one of my doll's with Edith, too!" exclaimed Sybil, happy to have found someone sharing a similar dilemma. "She always takes her for the whole week, even though she should only have her for half that time!"

"You mean, you have even more dolls?" Gwen was getting drawn in too.

"Oh, yes! I'll show you all! Come inside!"

"Sybil, you can't invite strangers into our home! They could be spies, or anything!" Mary anxiously warned her.

Thomas, for the first time in his life, had nothing witty or down casting to say. In fact, he was speechless in the presence of such an aristocratic family.

"I don't care! It's better than spending the day stuck out here with you!"

Edith gasped, as though she had never heard such profanity. "Sybil! Mama will wash out your tongue with vinegar if she hears you speaking in that manner!"

Anna was lost in the midst of all this talk of dolls and spies. She was unusually down-to-earth, in control. Now, however, she wasn't sure if she had fallen down a rabbit hole into a strange new world where they wash out tongues in vinegar if you're not careful.

"How about we go around the back then? To the servant quarters," suggested Sybil. "There shouldn't be anyone about there at this time."

Mary groaned, but turned and led the way nonetheless. "Come on then. But if we so much as –"

She didn't get a chance to finish before the gang was sprinting past her, through the trees and on towards the great Downton Abbey, followed closely by both dogs.

OoOoO

The group of them sat hidden behind the wall of the Servant's Courtyard, playing, chatting and being dangerously loud.

While William, Daisy and Mary messed about with the dogs, Thomas, Gwen, Ethel and Edith were halfway through an extreme game of chasing. That left just Branson and Sybil, sitting in silence, backed against the wall.

"I heard what you said to Daisy," he said softly, without catching her eye.

She tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"About the doll. I heard you say she was going to be a doctor when she was older. After she became a princess, of course."

Sybil laughed, mostly to cover up her blushing cheeks. "Oh, that…"

"I know what you're saying. About women getting the jobs men do. Equality, and all that."

Sybil nodded soundly, pretending she knew what he meant by 'equality.'

But he sounded intelligent, and for some reason that attracted her to him.

"I like politics. Ever since my dad brought me to a big rally a few months ago," Branson continued.

"Oh, is he a politician?"

Branson eyebrows shot up. "Da? No, he works on the farms."

The others had finished their games and gathered around too.

"So are all your fathers farmers?" asked Edith.

Anna shook her head. "Not everyone's. Thomas' father is a clockmaker and Daisy's –"

"– He works for Charity," Daisy finished. Everyone exchanged bemused looks.

William just looked intrigued. "Really, Daisy?"

"Yep. That's where his wages come from, anyway. It's good of him, don't you think?"

No one had the chance to show Daisy the obvious flaw in her reasoning, not even Thomas, because suddenly a roar straight out of some evil fairytale sounded behind them. They spun around to find a young housemaid with dark ringlets, glaring down at them as though she had discovered the edge of the Earth.

"O'Brien," moaned all three girls.

.