"Something troubling you, sir?" Ethel asks as she tidied up the dining room after the conclusion of the party, it's been an hour since the guests gone home, but there seemed to be an odd dissonance in Arthur.
Since she's started working under him, Ethel never saw that side of Arthur, before.
It was like she was talking to someone else.
Shaking his head, Arthur stated that he's fine, and for her to do him a favour.
"Sir?" Ethel looked towards him with curiosity in her eyes.
Walking towards her, Arthur ordered her, "I want another party. With the Doctor, only. Have everything ready by the end of the week. Ring him, in advance, please."
There's something with his tone of voice that perturbed her, and it caused her to say to him, "Sir, I know it's not my business, but you just had one."
Though, the more she thought about it, during the course of the party, she noticed Arthur wasn't pleased with the Doctor, like something was wrong, but he never said a word.
He should've said something, she would've personally escorted the man out, but Arthur never did, choosing to continue as normal.
Bothered her terribly, she wished she pushed on the issue, but she didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone.
"I've my reasons, Ethel," Arthur only said.
Ushering her to do as he ordered, he heard her leaving his side, before he gone up to the first floor.
He passed by the portrait of the woman in blue, returning to his study, where he locked himself in the study for much of the night.
Ethel did as she was ordered, having the dinner plans sketched out for the next party, though it was troubling since Arthur usually gave her instructions what to write, that she had to guess.
Around midnight, Ethel finished the plans and gave them to the cooks, with the instructions that they're to wait until the Doctor agreed to come to the party, or Arthur changed his mind.
Seeing the time on the grandfather clock, Ethel frowns as she hadn't heard Arthur stirring from his study, that she didn't want to impose herself on her employer, but it's unusual not hearing from him, much less when he doesn't call on her for drinks.
Chewing on her inner lip, she went back and forth going to the door of the study, knocking on it, and seeing if her employer needed anything.
Going back and forth, Ethel summoned enough courage to force herself to go up the stairs to the first floor.
Her heels softly clanked against the floor as she crept past the portrait of the woman in blue.
Arthur never spoke much about it, only instructions on how to dust it, but other than that, she didn't know anything about it.
It looked worn, damaged, but the beauty in the portrait remained beautiful, the woman in blue looked stunning.
The way it was painted, it was like she was real.
Continuing her walk, Ethel gone up to the closed door to the study, softly knocking on it as she called out to her employer.
"Sir, you've been in there for some time, do you need anything?" Ethel calls out to him but heard no response.
Chewing on her inner lip, Ethel struggled, as she knew that if she overstepped, Arthur would surely fire her, send her back to her family, and the consequences of being out of work weighed heavily on her.
The fear strong enough, Ethel's forced to retreat down the stairs, her dress fluttering as she swiftly reached the bottom of the steps, before she promptly returned to her nocturnal duties until it was time for her to retire for the night.
Come morning, she's back to work with little word, Arthur busied in his study as usual.
Ethel cleaned silently, her mind hadn't forgotten the events of yesterday, and she couldn't help herself if she tried.
Desperate, she attempted to work away the thoughts, not wanting to so much as accidentally stumble over them, again, as she did her duties throughout the estate.
Remembering she needed to call the Doctor, Ethel braved going to the phone in the corridor, picking up the receiver as she dialed the number that Arthur given her.
She heard the other end ringing, before it's picked up, and she quickly clears her throat before asking, "Is the Doctor in?"
Ethel heard back, "He is, how may I help you?"
Calmly, Ethel explains the reasons for her calling, "Mr. Williams would like to know if the Doctor would like to come back for another party."
She heard back, "Another party?"
Arthur didn't tell her much other than she needed to ring the Doctor and tell him about the second party, Ethel struggled to come up with a reason why Arthur would want the Doctor back here, again.
Thankfully, it would seem as though the Doctor understood what she was trying to say, he ended up accepting the improvised invitation, in the end.
Exhaling sharply, Ethel thanked him before hanging up, when she did, she nearly leapt in the air when she turned her body.
Arthur been standing behind her, she never knew, and he had his arms behind his back as he tilted his head, his maroon shades reflecting her.
"Oh! Sir, I'm sorry!" Ethel held her hand over her chest as she exhaled sharply, she heard Arthur say, "My fault."
Lowering her hand, Ethel then said, "The Doctor's coming, Mr. Williams."
She heard Arthur, "I know. I was listening. Thank you, Ethel."
Not understanding, Ethel asked him, "Sir, how are you able to hear me from all the way upstairs?"
"Magic," Arthur replied simply.
Ethel felt her cheeks flushed at the comment, he was so blunt.
Clearing her throat, she tried to change the subject, "The dinner plan's been set, sir. Is there anything else you need?"
Arthur shook his head, "No, thank you."
He walked towards Ethel before adding, "Make sure the house is clean and well organised, please."
"Yes, sir," Ethel bowed at him before walking away.
Ethel took note of her employer's behaviour, he was acting very strange since last night, but she didn't have any choice but to obey what he commanded.
Throughout the day, it's the same as before, Ethel gone around, making sure everything's tidy, bringing Arthur drinks and food upon request, though she had been bringing him trays, Ethel never gathered the courage to broach a question to him.
Oh, Arthur wasn't a terrible employer by any stretch, never raised his voice at her or the cooks, hardly a person dispositioned for violence, he was one of the more welcoming employers Ethel ever had, if not the only welcoming employer that made her felt safe.
That's part of why she's afraid of intruding, if Arthur fires her, she's at risk of having to go into employment of an unscrupulous employer.
Her duties took her to the library where she proceeded to put the books back where they belonged, as Arthur had a tendency to forget putting them back where they belonged.
They're much bulkier than normal books, the late Uncle Irvine paid extensively for braille books for Arthur's sake, he used his connections to get new releases onto braille pages for his nephew to read.
Salt of the earth, him, Ethel never had the chance meeting him, but hearing everything about him through word of mouth, he sounded like a kindly man who wanted to make sure his nephew wasn't closed off from the world because of his blindness.
It took two hands to put up a copy of Edgar Allan Poe's work, a huff as Ethel put it on the shelf.
Don't know how he can read the bumps, Ethel never understood how they formed words.
Despite her inability to read braille, Ethel assumed that some good came out of it, Arthur's read enough books to put libraries to shame, never locked out of conversations, as it were.
Though, it's tricky getting the daily news since most printing shops lack the equipment to produce braille versions, if not balk at the thought outright, even if Arthur was willing to pay them their asking price.
"What's this?" Ethel noticed there's a lone book that looked different than the others.
Heavily damaged, she thought it would crumble in her hand as she reached for it.
Smelled heavily of smoke, looked too damaged to keep, and Ethel's curiosity caused her to open it, finding the pages marred by water damage, yellowed by age, black from the heat of the fire, much of the words have worn away, but the few that she managed to read seemed unusual.
She heard the late Uncle Irvine was eccentric, she thought it might've been his, but since he died, Arthur hadn't messed with any of his things, Ethel assumed it was the grief.
"I better put it back," Ethel muttered to herself as she gone over to the bookcases, scanning for an open slot for the unusual book.
It took time since there were many books on the bookcases, thick enough there's no way for her to make room on the shelves for the book in her hand, but eventually Ethel found an opened slot where the book fit snug.
"Right then," Ethel muttered as she went about putting up the rest of the books.
As she does, she nearly leapt up when she something fall behind her.
Swiftly turning her whole body, Ethel sees a heavy braille book fell out from one of the bookcases.
That's unusual, Ethel made sure the books were pushed back far enough and neatly aligned.
Resting the remaining books on the armrest of one of the plump chairs, Ethel went over and retrieved the book from the ground.
Locating the spot, it came from, Ethel returned it back to its spot, pushing it far back as she could until she felt the back of the bookcase.
Turning around, she gone back to the stack of remaining books she meant to put back, when she heard another book fell behind her.
Sharply, Ethel turned around again, this time, it was a different book that fell, still heavy.
Baffled, Ethel sat the books back on the armrest, walking up to the fallen book, she retrieved it from the ground as she stood in silence.
It didn't make sense.
These books were heavy enough because of the braille that they shouldn't be easily pushed out of the shelves, Arthur even said that they could easily use them to make a house with how sturdy and heavy they were, that it confused Ethel.
Shoving it back in its original spot, Ethel moved away, intending on finishing her duties in the library, when she gotten back to the armrest, the same thing happened, once more.
Sharply turning around, annoyance washed over her face, Ethel stomped to the fallen book, hoisting it from the ground, and rather than putting it back, she took it with her back to the armrest.
Growing frustrated, Ethel stacked the books together, as she does, yet again, she heard another book fallen behind her.
Once more, she sharply turned around, no one there, none of the cooks goes into the library and she was the only maid, so of course she's expected to come through the library as commanded, and Arthur wasn't the type playing tricks on her, either.
Before her very eyes, Ethel caught sight of another book falling from the bookshelf, she saw it moving on its own, but the way it moved, it didn't look as though a poltergeist was tormenting her.
It's like someone was pushing the book from the pages side.
That shouldn't be possible, the bookcases were screwed into the walls, Uncle Irvine worried that Arthur would get hurt if the bookcases would accidentally unset themselves freestanding.
Ethel yelps as a book closest to her suddenly dislodged itself from the bookcase, barely missing her as it landed with a loud thud.
Caught off-guard, she looked at the book, before glancing up, freezing in place as she sees two yellow dots peering at her from the darkness.
The sight caused her to tremble, as Ethel began shouting in fright as the yellow orbs disappeared, as quickly as they appeared.