Warning: Spoilers and trigger alert!
"Hello?" She knocked gently at first, then harder with her fist against the door of the boot room, "Is everything alright?" The screams abruptly ceased. Emma stood frowning in front of the door. Should she go in and check? She hesitated for a moment. However, Emma had inherited her father's curious genes. She didn't wait for an invitation but pressed down the door handle and slowly opened the door.
"Anna," she breathed the name almost inaudibly. The blonde woman sat trembling and crying on the floor, her hair wild, a split lip, and a black eye. Her clothes partially torn. "What happened?" asked Emma, shocked. She couldn't make sense of what was actually going on, but she saw the butler of Lord Gillingham suddenly appear behind the door. "Nothing happened," the man claimed, "Anna was clumsy and fell – I only came to check on her when I heard her fall – and if you ever tell anyone anything different, I will find you and kill you," he said before leaving the boot room.
Emma's mouth hung half open. She didn't understand what was happening or why Mr. Green was demanding her silence.
"Anna, you're bleeding," the girl noticed and knelt beside the maid, "Shall I get Mr. Bates?" she asked, but Anna shook her head. "Mrs. Hughes?" Again, Anna shook her head but gratefully accepted Emma's help to stand up.
"No one must ever know about this. No one, Emma. Not Mr. Bates, Thomas, or your friends. You must never tell anyone," Anna said with difficulty.
"But…"
"Never, Emma! Promise me!"
"Really no one?" she asked. Emma felt a bit uneasy. Her dad was practically the best lie detector in the world. No matter how hard she tried, Thomas would eventually get the truth out of her.
"Promise me!" Anna urged. The maid was agitated by all that had happened, on the verge of tears, and certainly didn't have the patience to deal with a ten-year-old girl right now.
"I promise," said Emma.
Anna nodded, more or less satisfied, "I will wait for Mrs. Hughes in her office," she announced. Anna's legs were trembling so much that she could barely stand, let alone walk. So, Emma helped her to the office.
"Emma, thank you for coming. He would have continued otherwise," Anna said with a swallow, "You shouldn't be alone while Mr. Green is visiting. Just stay near Thomas, okay?"
Anna's words barely left Emma's mind. What would he have continued doing? Hitting Anna? Would Mr. Green hit her too or even kill her as he had threatened? Why did he grin so oddly when Emma met him in the hallway?
When the door creaked, Emma snapped out of her thoughts. She jumped off the bed and pressed herself against the wall, hoping to disappear into it. It was rather silly to just press against a wall. She should have immediately crawled under the bed or into the closet. Anything to be invisible in case Mr. Green would come to visit and carry out his threat.
"Whoa, young lady. It's just me," said Thomas, surprised as he threw himself on his bed and kicked off his shoes. "What are you doing here? Missing me already?" he asked with a smile, looking over at his daughter. Emma looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Everything alright?" Thomas asked, concerned, staring at her for a while, but Emma stayed in her strange position against the wall, insisting with a nod that she was fine. Yet her face was pale as a sheet, and her eyes were wide open.
"Come here," he said, patting the mattress beside him. Emma listened, lying down next to him. She rested her head on his chest. "Did you have a bad dream?" Thomas asked softly.
Emma shook her head, only pressing herself closer to her father. She loved his rhythmic hand movements over her back. And the familiar cigarette smell gave her a certain comfort and security she needed right now.
"What's going on, my little dwarf? Why aren't you in your room?"
Emma opened her mouth, but the words were missing. She wanted so badly to tell her dad what happened, but what if the valet carried out his threat?
"You don't seem in a chatty mood," Thomas observed, "Did you have a fight with your friends?"
Emma shook her head again. She felt Thomas put his hand over her clenched fist and slowly moved it away from his shoulder. Emma hadn't even noticed that she had been gripping his skin tightly, as if pinching him.
"What happened?" Thomas asked more insistently, studying his child closely, "Emma Grace Barrow, I asked you a question and I expect an answer."
"Dad…" she began haltingly, "I… uh… spider," the lie came hard, but she knew it was the only way to protect Anna.
"Spider?" he repeated, confused by his daughter's answer.
"A very big spider," Emma confirmed.
Thomas frowned but decided to accept Emma's story for now, "Alright, a big spider," he said.
"Can I stay with you tonight?" she asked quietly. Thomas nodded without hesitation, "Of course, little dwarf. I'll check in the morning and get rid of the big spider, okay?" Thomas pulled her closer and kissed her on the forehead.
Emma nodded eagerly and snuggled even closer to her father. The soothing sound of his voice and his steady presence helped her to gradually relax. Thomas gently stroked her hair. Emma felt safer when her father was near. Inside, it tore her apart not to be able to share the truth with her father. She knew Thomas would protect her, but she feared what Mr. Green would do.
That night, Emma couldn't find any sleep. She lay awake, her heart pounding so loudly she was sure Thomas must hear it. Every creak of the old house made her jump, every shadow seemed threatening. Emma's thoughts kept returning to the eerie incident with Mr. Green and Anna.
Emma's twitching movements during the night woke Thomas several times. At first, he tried to simply reposition himself and go back to sleep, but eventually, he could no longer ignore that something was wrong with his daughter. "Emma," he whispered softly, wrapping an arm around her, "What's wrong? You can tell me anything."
Emma swallowed hard. Her heart raced as she felt the words on her tongue, yet she didn't dare to speak them. Instead, she stammered, "The spider."
Thomas sighed quietly, his brow furrowing deeply. He knew Emma was hiding something from him. He could feel her fear but didn't want to push her further. Instead, he gently pulled her closer and soothingly stroked her back, "Don't worry, little dwarf. There are no spiders in this room."
The rest of the night passed with agonizing slowness. Emma lay awake, her thoughts endlessly circling around the danger she feared and the impossibility of sharing it with her father. Thomas drifted in and out of sleep, but his senses remained alert, ready to respond to the slightest sign of trouble.
When Emma spotted Mr. Green in the stairwell, her stomach clenched with fear. His malicious grin and the unsettling gesture made her freeze. She hurried down the steps to catch up with her father. She reached out and gripped his hand tightly. Thomas felt Emma's sudden tension and the trembling of her hand as it clung to his. He slowed his pace and turned around to see what had frightened his daughter. But there was no one in the stairwell anymore.
Thomas squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Come on, let's keep going," he said gently, leading her carefully down the stairs.
"Are you not hungry?" Thomas wondered. The toast on Emma's plate was still untouched. Emma only shook her head. Mr. Green sat directly across from her, his eyes glinting menacingly.
"Mrs. Patmore made sure there was extra jam for you," Thomas said. Again, she shook her head. Thomas then picked up the jar and spread the jam on the toast. "At least eat half of it," he urged. Emma managed only a tiny bite. Her stomach felt uneasy. Even though she was ten years old, she longed to be a small child again, able to sit on her father's lap. She felt exposed, vulnerable as if she were a target as long as she was even a handbreadth away from Thomas. So she slid to the edge of her chair to be closer to him. Her father began cutting her toast into four small squares, just as he used to when she was younger, to make it easier for her to eat. He was trying to show her that he wasn't asking for much, just two small squares, which she could manage in a few bites each.
„Children," Mr. Green smiled, shaking his head, „They have no idea how good they have it... others would be grateful for such a breakfast."
„Blimey, what happened to you?" Thomas wondered when he saw Anna.
„Leave her alone," Mrs. Hughes snapped.
„I fell and hurt my lip," Anna explained and reluctantly sat down across from them, right next to Mr. Green.
„If any of you need help carrying something downstairs, just ask. Alfred and James will be happy to assist." Mister Carson explained.
„Good to know," James muttered irritably.
„What was that, James?" Mr. Carson inquired.
Jimmy immediately put on a cheerful smile, „Never mind, Mr. Carson."
„I'm going upstairs," Anna announced and sprang up from her seat.
Thomas sipped his tea as he looked around the servants' hall. He couldn't recall any specific incident, yet the atmosphere was tense and somewhat gloomy. His child clung to him as if she were two years old again, and Anna had appeared with an injury. Without a doubt, Mrs. Hughes knew more than anyone else.
"What has happened to everyone this cheerful morning?" Thomas asked, his tone light but with an edge of concern.
"I think it would be a bit unseemly to be overly jolly at breakfast," Carson remarked, clearing his throat.
Emma longed for the moment of departure, when that visiting servant would finally disappear from her life. Until then, she remained steadfastly by her father's side as he made the final preparations for the guests' departure. Mr. Carson was assigning the morning's tasks, and Thomas was overseeing the departure, helping the hallboys and footmen load the luggage into the correct vehicles.
"What's wrong with you?" Thomas eventually asked, noticing that Emma hadn't left his side even once.
"Nothing, I just want to help you," she replied with a weak smile.
"You don't need to help me," Thomas countered—after all, Emma was more in the way than helpful—so he probed again, "Did something happen?"
"I just want to spend time with my dad," Emma explained.
Thomas frowned as he saw the serious expression on his child's face. He knew she was hiding something, and he was determined to find out what it was. "Did you do something wrong?" he asked finally, his voice calm but firm.
Emma shook her head. She couldn't tell the truth, not now, not here, not with Mr. Green or Anna nearby.
"Did you have trouble with Anna?" Thomas tried again. After all, the maid had several injuries on her face.
She shook her head again, but the thought of Anna's "accident" made her shiver.
"But you know what happened to Anna. Did she really fall?" Thomas pressed further.
Emma nodded slowly, but the lie weighed heavily on her soul.
"You're lying," Thomas stated. "What happened, Emma? Did you push Anna?"
"No, I did nothing." Emma swallowed hard. She wanted to tell her father the truth, but the fear of the consequences kept her silent. What would Mr. Green do if she revealed what she had seen and heard? The threat he posed was omnipresent, and Emma was terrified of what might happen if she confided in her father.
Emma let out a sigh of relief as the carriage carrying Mr. Green departed from the Crawley estate.
"I'm going to Ruby's," Emma announced. Thomas raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to help me? I'm sure there's plenty of silver to polish."
"You said you didn't need my help," Emma shrugged.
"You're acting really strange today," Thomas observed, trying to understand his child's behavior.
"I'm not strange!" Emma protested.
Thomas chuckled softly. "Alright, off you go then. Just be back before dinner."