Mrs. Hughes made her way swiftly down the stairs to her sitting room. She vaguely noticed that the noise level of the downstairs was louder than usual, but she assumed Mr. Carson would take care of it soon enough. He hated noise before breakfast. Right now she needed to find the cleaning rota she had left on her desk last night. Her maids needed to know which rooms to attend to today before the family awoke.

She closed her door on the kerfuffle with a sigh. It was blessedly quiet in her room and she allowed herself a small smile as she walked to her desk scanning for the book. To her surprise, she found a great many books on her desk with a letter on top of them. A closer look told her they were Mr. Carson's account books and his closely guarded wine ledger. She frowned in confusion. What on earth were these doing in her sitting room?

She picked up the letter with her name on it in Mr. Carson's hand and opened it. She had only read a few sentences before she was grasping blindly for her chair. She sat with a heavy thud as she read through the note twice more, barely believing a word she read.

Dear Mrs. Hughes,

I am sorry to leave you so suddenly short-handed, but circumstances have dictated that I must leave the Abbey tonight. I am uncertain when I will return. His Lordship and Her Ladyship know of my departure.

I must leave you in charge of my accounts and the wine cellar. Thomas and William should be able to handle things in my absence as long as only the family are in attendance at meal times. I have left instructions for them on the back of this note.

I apologize again for leaving the running of the household to you, but I am certain that it cannot be in better hands. I will write as soon as my situation becomes clear.

Yours,

C. Carson

Mrs. Hughes sat open mouthed for a moment more. She could not imagine what circumstances would take Mr. Carson away from the Abbey in the middle of the night. Every situation she imagined was more far-fetched than the last. She shook herself out of such thoughts and left her sitting room for the butler's pantry hoping to find the man there. This had to be some elaborate prank.

To her dismay, Mr. Carson's pantry was cold and empty. All his personal things were gone; his books, his prized fountain pen, even his mounted fish. She closed the door and began to make her way up to the attic rooms. She didn't want to believe that he was really gone. Why on earth would the man just up and leave?

She stopped one of the footmen on the stairs to ask if he had seen Mr. Carson.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hughes, but I haven't." William looked at her oddly as she bit her lip. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course," she clipped. "Go on about your work now, William."

She moved swiftly up to the attics and then through the door to the men's quarters. She knocked briskly on Mr. Carson's bedroom door. When no answer was forthcoming, she knocked again calling, "Mr. Carson?"

Still no reply. Mrs. Hughes hesitated a moment more before she pushed open the door and looked around. What little hope she had that Mr. Carson had not left vanished. Where his pantry downstairs had changed little with the removal of his things, his bedroom looked like it had been ransacked. His bed was still made but that was the only thing left in place. His wardrobe doors were standing open and the drawers of his writing table were left out. Mr. Carson had obviously packed in a great hurry.

Mrs. Hughes felt her legs giving out and moved farther into the room to sink onto the edge of the bed. She reread Mr. Carson's note she still clutched in her hand trying to think of a reason why he had left. None of this made sense, but he was truly gone. She looked around the room hopelessly.

A flash of light at the base of the wardrobe caught her eye. Curious, she moved over to investigate. She bent down and picked up a single cuff link. It was one of a pair Mr. Carson wore during special events. He must have left it in his haste. Mrs. Hughes clinched her hand around it hard feeling the metal bite into her flesh. Mr. Carson would be looking for this. She could mail it to him when he wrote. She looked around the room once more. Her face hardened and in a fit of anger, she hurled the cuff link across the room.

Damn him! She thought as she stormed out of the room. He could come find it himself!

A/N I'm hoping to update this regularly. I kind of broke my own rule in posting this story before I had the majority of it written. So I doubt the updates will be up as fast as this one. Thank you for the reviews. I like to hear what people think.