A/N: I am soo sorry for how long it's taken me to update this! Everything's pretty manic at the moment, I've got a ridiculous amount of work to do for uni AND a stinking cold. Please be patient with me! This chapter's not my favourite; not much really happens – I'm just filling in the days from Mrs Hughes' POV before they hear Mr Bates' fate. It'll pick up in another couple of chapters though, promise! Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favourited, subscribed etc so far and please please please keep reviewing! I've also realised that I've not said it yet – I do not own Downton Abbey, unfortunately. I also feel I should point out that some of this chapter (part of the second Anna/Hughes dialogue) is taken from the Christmas special. Happy reading!
Mrs Hughes awoke two hours later to a bit of a headache and a stiff face, from where her tears had dried. It took her a moment to remember why she had been crying, and when she did, she let out a sigh, worry once more creeping over her features. She felt much less distressed than she had yesterday, thanks to Mr Carson, but she wouldn't stop worrying until she knew whether Mr Bates had been reprieved. If he hadn't, it didn't bear thinking about, and she would endeavour not to until she had to. And so, it was still with a heavy heart that she left the warmth of her bed, washed, dressed and arranged both her hair and her facial expression ready for another day.
Three quarters of an hour later, Mrs Hughes entered the library. She had almost finished her morning rounds and so far had had very little to do – despite being subdued, the staff were as efficient as ever and she'd found little to criticise, so far. She saw to her satisfaction that Daisy had already lit the fire, although it would need kindling later on in the morning. As she left the room, her thoughts strayed to Daisy. She was sure that something other than Mr Bates was bothering her, and was wondering mildly whether she should intervene when she ran into Mr Carson, who was coming out of the dining room.
"Good morning, Mrs Hughes," he said, "everything in order?"
"Morning, Mr Carson," she replied, feeling a bit embarrassed and averting her eyes. "Yes, I'm on my way downstairs now. What are you up to?"
"I'm going downstairs as well."
She nodded, and they walked in amicable, but slightly awkward, silence. However, as soon as they got downstairs, he said, "may I have a word with you, Mrs Hughes? In here?"
"Of course," she replied, much more calmly than she felt. She knew he was going to talk about the previous night and, although she appreciated the way he'd been there for her, she was embarrassed about the fuss she'd made. However, she arranged her face into what she hoped was a calm expression and followed him into his pantry.
As soon as Mr Carson had shut the door, he turned to face her and got straight to the point.
"Are you feeling better?"
She almost smiled at the urgency in his tone; it was clear he'd been waiting to ask this all morning.
"I am, thank you. I still feel a bit guilty, but I've come to terms with the fact that I had to answer the questions put to me. Other than that, I feel the same as the rest of you."
He looked relieved. "I'm glad to hear it. I know it's not likely, but personally I'm focusing on the chance of his being reprieved."
"I'll try to do the same," Mrs Hughes replied. "I suppose we'd all just better keep our fingers crossed."
"Indeed," Mr Carson said with an optimistic smile, clearly relieved that she wasn't blaming herself anymore.
She returned it slightly shyly, simply saying, "Let's go for breakfast."
When they entered the kitchen, they found it was much quieter than usual. Thomas was looking worried and kept checking his watch. O'Brien was watching Thomas. Anna was staring blankly at the table in front of her, Daisy was serving breakfast, looking sullen, and Mrs Patmore was at the stove with her back to everyone.
Mr Carson took his place at the head of the table, and Mrs Hughes her seat on his right. She glanced at Anna, who still looked shell-shocked, and resisted the urge to go and give her a hug. She would talk to her later. It wouldn't do for people to start thinking she was going soft – she was, after all, their formidable housekeeper and as such commanded a degree of respect that would not be there if she were to become thought of as a push-over.
Breakfast was uneventful. Thomas ate quickly and left early – Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson exchanged a look, a mutual agreement that they needed to keep an eye on him. Nobody ate very much; they were all tense, waiting for news of Mr Bates. As soon as breakfast was over and everybody had gone off to do their respective jobs, Mrs Hughes went straight to her sitting room. Having had a day off working yesterday due to the trial and then not feeling up to it, she had paperwork to catch up on. Trying to concentrate solely on what needed ordering for the store cupboard and whether or not they needed to take on a new maid, she engrossed herself in her work and didn't look up until mid morning, when she was interrupted by a soft knock at the door.
"Come in," she called, standing up and turning round.
"Mrs Hughes?" It was Anna, looking as miserable as ever. Mrs Hughes' heart went out to her.
"Ah, Anna," she said with a kind smile, "Sit down."
"Thank you." Anna perched on a chair by the door, and Mrs Hughes sat in the armchair that faced it.
"What can I do for you?"
"I wondered if I might take the afternoon off to visit Mr Bates?" she stuttered slightly over the name, clearly fighting back tears.
"Of course," Mrs Hughes replied, feeling thoroughly sorry for her, "take as much time as you need. We'll manage."
"Thank you," Anna said again, with a forced smile. "By the way, Mrs Hughes, on my way down here I noticed the fire in the library was almost out, shall I go and mend it?"
"Wasn't Thomas around? That's his job, not yours."
"I know, but I haven't seen him all morning."
Mrs Hughes frowned. She'd been feeling suspicious of Thomas ever since his behaviour at breakfast and now he seemed to be missing she felt even more so.
"Thank you, Anna. Are the family around? If not, Daisy can go and fix the fire."
"Her Ladyship's still in bed, His Lordship's out looking for his dog, she's gone missing, Lady Mary's gone to bury Lavinia's father's ashes with Mr Crawley and Lady Edith said something about going for a drive…"
Feeling relieved, Mrs Hughes nodded and dismissed her, then proceeded to the kitchen to find Daisy. She didn't want Anna to be late because of having to do Thomas' work on top of her own, and if no-one was around to see, there would be no problem with Daisy quickly going to sort it out. It might, Mrs Hughes thought drily, do her good to have a few minutes away from Mrs Patmore.
Upon leaving her sitting room, she spotted Daisy immediately, chopping carrots.
"Daisy?" she called as she approached.
"Yes Mrs Hughes?"
"Could you run upstairs and mend the fire in the library please? And make sure nobody sees you; they're all busy so you should be alright."
"Yes Mrs Hughes." She scurried away, wiping her hands on her apron. Mrs Hughes looked after her, a slight crease forming between her eyebrows. Daisy needed to stop being so timid; she was good at her job and deserved to be thought more highly of than she was. She sighed. Daisy would be fine for the moment; her primary concern was Thomas and where he was, and as such she left the kitchen and made for Mr Carson's pantry.
The door was open when she arrived; she could see him counting bottles of wine at his desk. She knocked at the doorframe as she entered, speaking as he looked up.
"We need to talk about Thomas."
"Ah. What's he done now?"
"He's not on duty. I've had to send Daisy up to mend the fire in the library."
"What? But she might be seen! Why didn't you come to me?"
"Because it's not your job and she'll be fine, Anna told me that everyone was busy elsewhere. My concern is not that Daisy is in the library at this time, but where Thomas is." Mrs Hughes said exasperatedly.
His eyes met hers, then he looked away, defeated. He could tell she wasn't in the mood to let him rant on about the proper way things should be done.
"Well, he hasn't asked me for time off, so he must be somewhere in the house."
"I don't think so; Anna said she hasn't seen him since breakfast. Why can't we get rid of him and employ someone more reliable?"
"Because we don't have anything on him that we can prove, and every time he gets close to being fired he does us some sort of favour. He's too cunning. And when he's doing his job, he's good at it."
"But surely taking everything he's done into consideration? The stealing, the bullying, the leading Daisy astray, the stirring?"
"Well, I'll speak to His Lordship about it tomorrow. At the moment he's too worried about his dog to spare thought for Thomas."
"Thank you," Mrs Hughes said in relief, "I think he'll listen to you, he values your opinion."
"You flatter me." Mr Carson was clearly trying not to look too pleased; it was rather endearing.
"I say it because it's true. What's happened with Isis, anyway? Anna mentioned that she'd gone missing as well."
"Nobody's seen her for hours. It's very odd; you know she usually follows him around everywhere…"
The fact that Thomas and Isis had both gone missing at the same time was staring her in the face, but Mrs Hughes' usually quick mind was elsewhere, and she didn't make the connection.
"Oh, the poor man. Anyway, I suppose I should be getting on…" she didn't particularly want to leave Mr Carson's company, if she was honest, but Mrs Patmore's reaction if she hadn't got everything for dinner tonight out of the store cupboard soon was nagging at her from the back of her mind.
Mr Carson seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Yes, I wouldn't envy you having yet another battle with Mrs Patmore over the store cupboard key."
She smiled briefly at him, before bidding him good day and leaving his pantry. Unfortunately, she was too late – Mrs Patmore was standing outside her sitting room, looking impatient. Sighing, she approached her, bracing herself for the tirade. It was going to be a long afternoon.
Nine o'clock that evening found Mrs Hughes sinking into her armchair, a glass of wine in one hand. She'd been right – it had been a long afternoon. She and O'Brien had shared Anna's duties between them, which she had gladly done, but the extra work on top of what was already a difficult day had made her very tired, not helped by her disturbed night's sleep the night before. She could hear the servants playing their ridiculous game again in the kitchen, but couldn't be bothered to go and reprimand them. In the shadow of her tiredness, her worry seemed harder to bear, as is always the case when one is tired. She found herself, once again, dwelling on Mr Bates.
Her reverie was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Come in," she said tiredly.
It was Mr Carson, of course. He was wearing his hat and coat; she shot him a puzzled look.
"Oh, Mr Carson, what can I do for you?"
"I'm just letting you know that His Lordship has asked all the menservants to join him on a search for Isis, so we're off now. By the way, Thomas turned up; apparently he had to go and send a telegram and couldn't find either of us to ask permission before he left."
"And you believe him?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.
"I'm not sure. We'll see."
She nodded. "Good luck with the search, I hope you find her."
He smiled at her, looking almost as tired as she felt. "I hope we do too."
After he'd gone, Mrs Hughes finished her wine then stood up, thinking she ought to go and check round the house – in the absence of Mr Carson, she wanted to make sure everything was in order. It wasn't wholly necessary, but she needed a walk to wake her up.
By the time she got back after her uneventful rounds, she did feel more awake – but she also felt more restless. She'd kept an eye out for Anna as she checked round the house, but there was no sign of her. Mrs Hughes assumed she was in her room, and wondered whether she ought to go up and check on her, or whether she would want to be left alone.
As she sat at the table in the kitchen, making half-hearted conversation with the other female servants over tea and trying to decide what to do about Anna, Thomas burst in, looking flushed.
"Mrs Patmore, Mr Carson sent me ahead to ask you to warm up some soup for the searchers."
Mrs Patmore nodded, depositing her cup in the sink and heading over to the stove, calling imperiously to Daisy as she went. Mrs Hughes stood up. She imagined that the others were not far behind, and she wanted to know about the search, so she went back to her sitting room to await Mr Carson's arrival. Distracted as she was, she didn't fail to notice O'Brien and Thomas sneaking off, clearly to have one of their plotting sessions.
Five minutes later, Mr Carson returned.
"Well?" she asked him, without a greeting.
"No sign of her," he replied, removing his hat.
Mrs Hughes wrung her hands together and started pacing, feeling a bit distressed.
"You'd think the Good Lord would've spared him the loss of his dog at a time like this."
"Ours not to reason why."
She decided to ignore this, and continued pacing.
"When will we hear about Mr Bates... I don't know how they've kept it out of the papers. I suppose that'll change wh- If it goes ahead." She glanced at Mr Carson in time to see him shoot a concerned glance at her. She realised he probably thought she was going to start crying again, but the difference between last night and this was that she didn't feel quite as guilty now, and she'd had time for the shock to wear off. She still wanted to talk about it though; it was still bothering her greatly.
"I can't bear to think of it; how will Anna bear it?"
He looked at her. "As the widow of a murderer. She'll have to get used to a degree of notoriety I'm afraid... And so will we as the house that shelters her."
As he turned round, Mrs Hughes could see round him to the doorway – Anna was standing there, looking slightly stricken. Mrs Hughes, feeling a horrible pang of guilt, closed her eyes briefly, and made a silent vow to always close her door when talking about other people.
Anna merely said, "Then let me put you out of your misery right away, Mr Carson, by handing in my notice."
Slightly aghast, Mrs Hughes looked to Mr Carson. He understood, and gestured Anna into the room, stepping aside slightly. Mrs Hughes, feigning calmness, turned to her.
"You don't mean that."
"Yes, I do. If I stay here, I'll keep the story alive. If I go away to Scotland, say, or London, it'll die soon enough. I'll just be one more housemaid lost in the crowd."
Mr Carson chipped in, "She has a point."
Mrs Hughes shot a look at him, resisting the urge to hit him. She loved Charles Carson dearly, but sometimes he really could be insensitive… In her opinion, Anna could never be "just one more housemaid lost in the crowd".
"Not one that I accept," she said firmly, looking back at Anna.
"I mean it, Mrs Hughes. I do," she said, her resolve obviously cracking.
Mrs Hughes sighed and took a step closer to Anna, meeting her eyes.
"I can't refuse to accept your notice. However, I want you to know that if, at any point, you want to retract it, I will wholeheartedly support that. I shan't be looking for your replacement until I am absolutely sure there is no chance whatsoever of your staying."
Anna's eyes filled with tears, but she nodded determinedly, and with a quiet "thank you", she bade them both goodnight and left.
Mrs Hughes turned back to Mr Carson, who said gently, "I need to go and serve the soup."
"Yes," she replied, suddenly feeling overcome by tiredness again. "I think I'll say goodnight."
"Goodnight, Mrs Hughes," he said, squeezing her shoulder as he left the room.