I'm afraid this is only a very short chapter compared to the long wait. I'm taking my finals at the moment, so this story is taking ages to continue. Hope you enjoy!

Charles was angry. Like a bear on the hunt he paced through the corridors, his impressive eyebrows almost meeting above his nose. His eyes had darkened and terrified everyone in his passing out of their wits. He stomped into the kitchen. "Where is he?", he demanded to know.

Beryl looked up from the dough she was just kneading. "Who?", she asked.

"Henry, of course. Don't pretend you don't hide him in a cupboard."

"What has he done?", Beryl asked.

"He was supposed to polish his lordship's shoes to help Mr. Bates and left them outside."

"I can think of worse crimes."

"It rained last night! The shoes are ruined", Charles shouted. "And I want the one responsible for it to face the consequences!"

"Well, he can only apologise, right, Mr. Carson?", Beryl said meaningfully, letting Charles know that she knew about Henry's whereabouts and expected Charles to be kind.

Charles was ready to explode when he suddenly calmed. A feeling had gotten hold of Charles. The kind of feeling that let him know something good was about to happen. It did irritate him for a moment, but since he had no objection to feeling good, he just carried on. "He will apologise and run into the village to see if Mr. Gordon can fix it or get a new pair for his lordship", Charles said kindly. And then, from underneath Beryl's desk in the corner on the left side of the kitchen, hidden behind the chair, Henry crawled out and got up, avoiding Charles' gaze. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Carson. It will never happen again", he mumbled, staring down at his shoes.

"Good. And now run into the village and see if that error can be undone", Charles told him, not able to scold the eleven year old boy. Suddenly he was very aware that the boy was just a child and showing kindness would help him a lot more than any further scolding.

"Yes, Mr. Carson", the boy said and hurried out of the kitchen.

"My, my, Mr. Carson, I'm surprised. Usually you shout so loud that the walls start shaking", Beryl remarked.

"Well, people change", Charles replied, feeling a little light headed now. He probably had spent too much time in the wine cellar and the fresh air made him fell dizzy.

Beryl raised her eyebrows. "Are you feeling quite well?"

"Yes, yes", he replied absentminded, already thinking about drinking a glass of water and sitting down in his pantry for a minute or two. He could sense that Beryl was getting a little suspicious. "I'm fine, really. Besides, you're the one who wants me to be kinder and more forgiven towards the staff, so why don't you simply approve?"

Beryl opened her mouth to say something, but shut it again, unsure what she should say.

"I'll be in my pantry", Charles informed her and turned on his heels, leaving the kitchen. Moments later the pantry door was shut.

"It's nice to see Mr. Carson still is human like the rest of us", Daisy said, fighting with an enormous pot that needed cleaning.

Beryl didn't answer. Her mind was racing. There were three possibilities why Charles had gone from ogre to teddy bear within minutes. Either he was in love which was unlikely, because things with Alice seemed to be going at a glacial pace and were still awkward. Or he was drunk which also couldn't be, because she knew he could drink anyone underneath the table. Or, which was the most unsettling possibility, the potion had started to take a late effect on him.

Charles had stayed in his pantry for the remainder of the afternoon and was waiting to ring the dressing gong. He was observing the weather through the window. It had gotten dark, huge clouds were rolling towards the Abbey. It started getting windy. And then Charles was disturbed by a sharp knock on the door. Beryl poked her head inside. "Henry hasn't come back yet", she informed him.

"Mr. Gordon will probably have kept him."

"I'm not sure about that. Won't you send someone to go look for him? The weather is getting nasty and he shouldn't be all alone when it starts raining", Beryl argued.

"You're probably right", Charles said and got up. "I'll still have half an hour before I've to ring the gong. That should be enough time to get into the village and back."

"Are you sure? You could send William."

"No, I'll go. I wouldn't want anything to happen to any member of staff on my watch", Charles explained. Beryl would have protested, but she was too confused at his behaviour to think of anything that could stop him.

Charles took his coat and hat from the wardrobe next to the servant's entrance and left. It had gotten cold and uncomfortable. He quickly walked over the yard and followed the road towards the village. Charles could hear the thunder in the distance. By the time the next lightning struck, the thunder was much closer, deeper and louder. It made Charles jump three feet in the air. The wind blew stronger and he had to grab his hat to stop it from being blown of his head. Now he started worrying. The trees were forced to bow by the increasing storm. And then the first drops of rain fell and soon Charles was soaked through to the bone and only heard the howling of the wind, the drumming of raindrops on the ground alongside with the growling of thunder. He muttered a curse under his breath. It had been a horrible decision to go outside. Then he thought of Henry. Hopefully he was still at Mr. Gordon's. Then he spotted a small figure in the distance that seemed to have lost orientation and was stumbling towards the woods. Charles burst into a half run. The road had turned into a muddy mess. The person had stopped, leaning against a tree. Charles was now certain that it was Henry and so he called out for him. The hallboy was now aware of the butler coming towards him. "Mr. Carson?"

"Come here, Henry. We have to get out of this weather!", Charles shouted, now standing beneath a lonely oak tree that had somehow failed to grow closer to the woods. Henry moved away from the edge of the forest and walked back onto the road and towards Charles who was waiting as patiently as he could with the raging storm and all the rain around him. He looked up just as a flash of lightning appeared in the sky. It looked impressive. Almost like a tree upside down with all the branches that emerged from the main part. For a moment everything was bathed in a bright light. Then something hit Charles' head hard and precise. His eyes widened at the sudden pain running from his head down his body.

"Mr. Carson!", Henry shouted and started running. Then Charles fell backwards, unable to stay in control of his body. He braced himself for hitting the ground, but instead of landing in the mud he kept falling. All kinds of colours started dancing in front of his eyes and within the next moment everything went pitch black.

Now, we won't visit the Abbey in 1912 for a rather long time. I'll try to make next chapter as long as I can to give Elsie and Charles the first meeting they deserve. Thanks for sticking with me! The story didn't exactly take off the way I had imagined it. Hope to get it right soon. Comments are highly appreciated!