Mrs. Hughes knew better than to expect time spent at Downton during the Season would be any kind of holiday, but she was fairly run off her feet Friday and Saturday, in spite of having only Mr. Branson to take care of. Little emergencies kept popping up, in part due to her having been away for several weeks and in part due simply to coincidence. By Saturday afternoon, however, she was beginning to feel that the house was back under her control. She was in her sitting room after luncheon working through some invoices when one of the maids knocked on her door.

"Afternoon post, Mrs. Hughes," she announced, handing several letters to the housekeeper.

"Thank you, Catherine." Mrs. Hughes went through the letters to see if there was anything she needed to look at immediately. They were all invoices, save one - a letter from Mr. Carson. She frowned. It was Saturday; she shouldn't receive a letter from him until next week. She wondered briefly if there were some emergency, but immediately realized that he would have telephoned if that were the case. Still, it seemed that there would have to be a particular reason for his deviation from routine, and she couldn't help feeling apprehensive. She sat looking at the letter for a full minute, trying to decide if she should open it now or wait until she could really be alone. All she could think of was that it was some news of a personal nature that was not urgent enough to warrant a telephone call, but that he would want her to know as soon as he could post a letter. She suspected that if this were the case, waiting until she was safely in her room tonight would be better, as there wasn't likely to be anything she could do between now and then in response to any unwelcome news, and she would rather not appear distressed when she was presiding over the staff dinner in Mr. Carson's place. The letter very slowly burned a hole in her pocket for the rest of the day, but she resisted every impulse to pull it out and open it. Even when she went to her attic room, she set it on her bedside table and got completely dressed for bed and lay down before she opened and read it.

Dear Mrs. Hughes,

I hope your trip back to Yorkshire was pleasant, or at least not unpleasant, and that you found Downton in a satisfactory state in spite of your unexpected absence. I hope Grantham House will be a calmer place now that Lady Rose's presentation and ball have taken place, but I doubt it. If we can all survive without going mad before it's time to return to Downton, I will consider the Season a success, upstairs and downstairs.

I've just now been looking at that picture of Brighton that you put up on my notice board and though I teased you before, I really am grateful to you for making that little suggestion, and so would the staff be, if they knew. I've accepted the credit, but I'll tell them if you like that it was really your idea. I still maintain that my previous suggestions were good ones as well, but perhaps not as suited to our staff as to those with more cultured tastes - the Crawley family and you, of course, although I don't pretend to know whether you would fancy a trip to the Crystal Palace or Westminster Abbey as much as I would. I know that even had you been less than enthusiastic, I could still rely on you to behave with decorum, which might have been a more difficult goal to attain with our young ones, so I think it's best that we spent a day by the sea instead.

We were fortunate that the weather was so fine on Thursday. It was perfect in every way. Everyone had fun, playing ball, eating ices, relaxing in the sunshine, and wading in the water. That last bit was the amusement I enjoyed the most, and I am grateful to you for encouraging me to join you. As I feared, I got my trousers a little wet, but as you promised, we dried them without mishap. Thank you again for making the outing such a pleasure for me.

Thank you also for being so kind to Mrs. Bute. I know she was a little apprehensive about meeting the celebrated Mrs. Hughes, but you set her at ease, which will make the transition smooth. She is young, but has shown considerable talent already, and I have high hopes that she will learn and grow into an excellent housekeeper with time. Perhaps never as excellent as you, but I am not sure it is possible for anyone to reach such a goal. Still, she will move easily back into her position and will be a substantial help to me in my attempts to make the Crawleys' stay in London as pleasant and comfortable as possible.

Do tell me how Mr. Molesley is faring at Downton. I would think he is happy to be playing the butler, since his misfortunes have induced him to take on a lower position. I imagine his white gloves are hidden away somewhere in his wardrobe, never to be seen until the rest of us return from London. I am never happy in Mr. Barrow's company, as you well know, but I am glad to give you a rest from him. I need to keep an eye on him, after all. I suspect he is up to something and I am determined to find him out.

Sincerely,

C. Carson

Mrs. Hughes read the letter twice, trying to make sense of it. Mr. Carson had to have written it within hours of her departure in order to post it in time for her to receive it today. And yet there was nothing in it that indicated at all that something was wrong. Perhaps he wrote the letter Friday afternoon planning to post it on Monday as usual, but sent it out immediately without thinking. She wasn't sure this could be the case, though. There weren't often any letters to go out from Grantham House on a Friday afternoon, so he would have had to go to the post office himself, or send James. Why would he do that? And more importantly, what would she do now? Mrs. Hughes could pretend that it had arrived on Tuesday and post her own letter on Thursday as usual. However, she was tempted to respond right away. She had often wished that their correspondence was more frequent, and here was an excuse to write early. He might respond by writing again at his usual time, but perhaps a break in their routine might lead to their exchanging more numerous letters. Mrs. Hughes made up her mind to post a letter to him on Monday and see what happened. She climbed into bed and read the letter again. Mr. Carson had been more openly complimentary of her than ever before and she liked it. She wondered what his reason was, but she would try to encourage it in her own correspondence. Mrs. Hughes folded up the letter and placed it on her little table and lay down to sleep, where she dreamt again of letters.

To be continued...

Please leave a review if you can spare a few moments. They mean a lot to me.