Mary grabbed her umbrella as the carriage door opened and putting it out before her, stepped down onto the drive. Standing in the doorway to the manor, just barely visible in the dim light, were Uncle Archie and Colin, there to greet her. Mary smiled and stepped forward. She shook out her umbrella as she stepped into the house and handed it to an unknown maid. It surprised her that she didn't know the servant. Before she had left, she had been on first-name basis with most of the servants and at least recognized the rest, but here was one she didn't know at all. 'How many new servants are there?' she thought. 'How many of the ones I knew are still here?' But Mary let the thought slide from her mind and greeted her uncle and cousin happily, hugging them both tightly.

"Mary, glad to have you home again," her Uncle said as he kissed her cheek. "How was your trip?"

Mary smiled at her uncle. "It was fine, Uncle Archie. I'm very glad to be home. I missed being at the manor. How is my garden?"

"Just fine, as far as I know," chimed in Colin, "but I haven't been there in a couple of days. Perhaps everything has burned up in the sun in the last three days," he teased sarcastically. "You know that Dickon never pays any attention to growing things. He's such an irresponsible boy."

Mary glared at him, but the glare soon broke into a grin. "I'm going to tell Dickon you said that."

"Don't," replied Colin seriously, not realizing Mary was joking. "It might hurt his feelings, since he didn't hear it in context."

"I suppose you're right," Mary sighed theatrically. "We mustn't hurt Dickon's feelings." She smiled again. She doubted Dickon would believe her if she told him that Colin had said such a thing, so she wasn't really worried about hurting his feelings, but nevertheless she would refrain from telling this story to Dickon just in case. Mary coughed lightly as a thought occurred to her. "Do you think Dickon will be in the garden tomorrow?" she asked, her cheeks turning slightly pinker. 'My it's warm in here', she thought, telling herself that was the cause of her blush and not the subject of her question.

Colin nodded. "Oh, I suppose so," he replied. "He knew that you were coming home today, so I suppose he'll be wanting to be in the garden in case you go out there, so he can answer all your questions."

"Questions?" Mary inquired.

"Yeah, you know, about the flowers and the trees and such. It looks a bit different than the last time you were here, I'm sure, and you'll have a question about every little change: why did you do this, how did you do that. You know how you are."

Mary scowled, but before she could reply, Uncle Archie broke into the conversation. "I'm sure you two could continue to trade words all night, but Mary is probably tired from her journey. Go on up to your rooms. If you're hungry, ask Martha to get you something from the kitchens. I assumed you still want Martha as your maid?" Mary nodded. "Very good. That works out well then. Please meet Colin and I for lunch tomorrow in the dining room. And I'd like to speak with both of you afterwards, so please don't make any plans for about an hour after lunch." Mary nodded again. "Sleep well, Mary. I'll see you tomorrow at lunch." Uncle Archie turned to Colin. "Leave her be for now and go to bed yourself. We've got to get up early tomorrow and go over the expenses. Goodnight."

Colin nodded. "Yes, Father. Good night. And goodnight to you as well Mary. We'll talk more tomorrow."

"Yes. Goodnight Uncle Archie, Colin." Mary smiled at her family as they walked away and then turned towards her own rooms.

-----

Mary stopped in front of her door and took a breath. She hoped nothing had changed since she had last been in these rooms three years ago. The new unrecognized maid had been enough of a change for her that night. She put a hand on the doorknob and turned it, pushing open it her door. There, kneeling in front of the fire, raking the ashes, was Martha, just like the first time Mary had seen her. Mary smiled.

Martha turned at the noise from the door and broke into a wide grin. "Eh! take look at thee!" Martha cried. "I never saw the like! All grown up and beautiful, you are. Eh, I missed thee." And with that, Martha stood up and Mary walked forward and hugged her maid, like she had just reunited with a long-lost sister. Mary had missed Martha's strange way of speaking. She simply loved Yorkshire and at school, no one had spoken anything like it, all the young ladies and the instructors, being or pretending to be too well bred for such talk. "Are you hungry?" she inquired. "Do you need anything right now."

Mary smiled. "I wouldn't mind some tea. And then we can sit down and chat for a little bit. You can tell Mrs. Medlock that you're helping me unpack," Mary said, indicating the two trunks stacked off to the side.

Martha grinned and nodded. "I'll be right back." And with that she walked out. When she returned, she had tea and a plate of small cakes. As she began pouring the teak, Martha explained, "The cook made these special for your return. She thought, despite your protests that you might be a bit hungry. She also said to tell you, if your hungrier than that, she has some ham you might like, but I told her you probably wouldn't ask me to go back for it." Martha paused. "Meaning no disrespect, Miss Mary. I'll go back for it if you wish."

"Don't be ridiculous, Martha," Mary said, taking the hot cup of tea and stirring in a lump of sugar. "And stop with the Miss Mary. Before I left, you just called me Mary and I won't have you starting with Miss again. Why are you being so formal? I thought we were past that."

Martha smiled. "Eh, I knew you weren't like that. Mrs. Medlock had said that you would be different know that you'd been all polished up for three years. That you'd be expecting a more-proper maid. One that's not so common. But I didn't think so. And I'm glad that I was right. I'm glad you're back Mary."

"I'm glad to. So let's chat about the changes that have occurred while I've been gone. How many new servants are there and who's left the manor? Tell me everything."

Mary and Martha spoke for about twenty minutes, before Martha began unpacking Mary's clothes for real. Mary helped, taking the clothes out of the trunk, while Martha put them away. They continued to share stories and news and when Martha was done, she left Mary for the night and Mary headed to bed. Her last thought before she fell asleep was, 'I hope Dickon's in the garden tomorrow.'