"I'm running away, Mr. Carson," Miss Mary announce as she marched into his pantry. Carson looked up from the silver candlestick he was polishing in surprise. The little girl looked up at him with hands on her hips and a determined look on her face. Carson put the candlestick and his polishing rag aside to give his her his full attention.
"Why on Earth would you want to run away, my Lady?"
"No one cares about me," she pouted, crossing her arms. "It wouldn't even matter if I ran away."
Carson knelt in front of her to say softly, "That's not true, my Lady. There are lots of people in this house who care about you."
"No there isn't," Miss Mary insisted with a small sniff. "Papa only cares about Sybil and all Mama talks about is Edith and her stupid piano. No one will miss me."
Carson watched Miss Mary in dismay. The young girl's face was scrunched up in determination, but he could see the hints of tears in her brown eyes. He had not thought his afternoon would involve trying to prevent a daughter of the house from running away. He had no idea what he could say to Miss Mary to change Miss Mary's mind.
"I'll miss you, my Lady," he said. "Who else would I share tea and cake with?"
Miss Mary's lip began to tremble as she seemed to waver in her decision, but then she set her shoulders back and narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mr. Carson, but I've made up my mind." She looked over Carson's shoulder into the silver cabinet. "I'm going to need some money if I'm to run away. May I have some of the silver to sell in the village?"
"Well, now, my Lady," he said raising his eyebrows at her forwardness, "That might prove awkward for His Lordship's dinner party tonight. What will his guests think if he's missing half of his silver?"
Miss Mary seemed to deflate in front of his eyes, and Carson felt his heart break for the girl. He searched for something to say to comfort her. On impulse, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin- a sixpence.
"How about I give you a sixpence to spend in the village instead, on two conditions. "Miss Mary nodded at him wide-eyed. "Number one: you must wait one day before you decide to run away. And number two: you must come tell me goodbye before you do."
Miss Mary studied him shrewdly for a moment before holding her hand out to him. "Deal, but I must pay you back with interest."
Carson took her much smaller hand in his. "You have a deal, my Lady."
Miss Mary beamed at him. She reached up to place a kiss to his cheek and then wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "Thank you, Carson! I would miss you, too."
She skipped from the pantry then, leaving Carson to go back to his polishing with a small smile.
A/N Of course, I had to try to write about the story Carson tells Mrs. Hughes about Mary in season 2. Mary was supposed to be younger than she is in this story, but let's just pretend Carson misremembered how old she was. I hope I did it justice.