Sitting at his desk with a look on his face, Arthur's displeased with the turn of events, Ethel came screaming into his study, fright in her usual jovial face as she informed him that she witnessed a demon in the library.
Tears running down her cheek, she quit on the spot, before leaving his employment, don't know where she went afterwards, though now it's left him in a peculiar situation of his own.
He could call the Doctor back and inform him the party's been delayed due to Ethel's sudden quittance, but he felt that would be rude of him to put the Doctor through that.
Hm, a difficult situation he's in, this.
Sitting back in his chair, Arthur exhales as he rubbed his throbbing head, of course, this would happen!
Oh well, can't cry over everything that goes wrong, have to make do with what he can, as the saying went.
It'll just be him making sure everything's accounted for until after the party with the Doctor.
By then, maybe there'll be another maid as his charge.
Everything went well, until Arthur was nearly knocked into by a fleeing cook, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Arthur struggled to restrain her as she screamed into his chest.
She claimed to have been attacked in the cellar by something while retrieving a bottle of white wine for the dinner tonight.
As he struggled, Arthur questioned, "Something?"
Nodding, the cook insisted that while she didn't see it completely, she saw it trying to lurch after her, scared the bottle of white wine out of her hands, she begged for forgiveness for the breakage, tears running down her reddened eyes.
Exhaling sharply, Arthur forgave her for the breakage, asking instead if she's all-right, and she affirmed that she was, scared out of her mind, but she wasn't hurt.
Lord only knows what that thing would've done to her if it managed to get her.
"You are welcome to leave for the rest of the day," Arthur tells her as she patted down her cheeks with a tissue.
Sniffling, she thanked him for his generosity, before Arthur ushered her to take her leave, while there's still daylight.
Frowning, he heard the front door open and close in quick succession.
Taking a deep breathe, Arthur shook his head agitatedly before moving on.
He gone into the kitchen and asked if the other cooks had noticed anything out of the ordinary, and they replied with different answers with the same message: they didn't, though worried about the cook that had left for the night.
Chewing on his inner lip as he's in deep thought, Arthur then gave the cooks an order, a revision really, and at the end of it, he topped it off with a command that after everything's done, for them to take their leave for the duration of the party.
"Are you sure?" One of the cooks asked him.
Nodding, Arthur assured him that he was, indeed, sure, of what he wanted, and that he didn't want anyone going down into the cellar under any circumstances.
No explanation why, not that the cooks would dare broach the subject.
He had one of them lock it for him and bring him the key.
Remaining calm, he didn't tell them anything else, only what he expected from them.
They dared not question him, they knew he was the reason for their stocked pantries, and an easy job that they could do in their sleep compared to other employers in the same area.
With them quelled, Arthur continued with his preparations, by the time night had fallen and he was the only person in the home, all the cooks gone home.
Some worried about him being alone in the home, no one to tend to him, but he shooed them away, insistent on being left alone in the home.
He wasn't incapable of surviving on his own until morning when the cooks returned for their shifts, he reasoned, he isn't a helpless child people made him out to be being blind and all that.
Only his footsteps echoed throughout as he walked, the grandfather clock quietly ticks in the background as he gone up to his study, passing the lady in blue portrait.
Upon returning to his study, Arthur locked the door behind him, out of habit, before coming around his desk.
Sitting down in the plump chair, he briefly took off his shades, rubbing his weary eyes, exhaling sharply as he assessed the day.
Ethel quit on the spot, too terrified to return.
One of his cooks terrified by something in the cellar.
He should be happy that this didn't happen during the first party, but Arthur wasn't.
Instead, he's irritated, unusual for someone like him being this way, but it's the truth, he quietly fumed.
The night's spent working until he finally gone into his lavish bedroom, filled with exotic and expensive things he procured over the years, where he slept until morning.
Come morning, more things gone wrong, the cooks complained that their utensils and whatnot gone missing from the kitchen.
Trying to reassure them that things would be fine proved difficult, he could tell they wanted him to say it was him that done it, but as he pointed out before, how would a blind man maneuver around a kitchen that continuously shifted by the cooks as they went about their duties.
He'd risk hurting himself for a late-night snack.
Eventually, the cooks retrieved the spares, everything gone back to the way things were, though different with them keeping their heads on swivel for anything else that occurred.
Only a day away from the party, much of it hadn't even began, a blind man wasn't capable of doing everything that Ethel did, but he couldn't simply go out, get a new maid, now can he?
Takes too long to train a new one, that it'd be impossible for him to manage on top of everything else.
Couldn't call back the Doctor to tell him the sort of maladies happening, now, can he?
Wouldn't want to scare him away, but as Arthur thought about it, he saw these odd occurrences as opportunities.
Some may call it a gambit, but Arthur felt as though the Doctor wouldn't give up a chance, such as this.
Springing it on him during the party would be quite rude, well Arthur couldn't be rude to his guests, that'd be the death of his reputation.
He informed the cooks that he wouldn't take lunch right now, he needed to make a call.
The cooks understood this as they quietly went back to preparing his lunch.
Going back to his study, Arthur sat down in his plump chair, bringing his telephone close to him, his hands glided over the raised bumps as he dialed out the number.
Holding the receiver to his ear, Arthur waited.
When he heard the line pickup, on the other end, he heard that woman from before.
"Hello?" The woman called out.
Clearing his throat, Arthur asks, "Is the Doctor in?"
He heard indistinct talking before the woman replied, "He is, may I ask what the phone calls about?"
Reclining back, Arthur asks, "Would the Doctor like to, perhaps, stay at my humble adobe?"
On the other end, he heard more indistinct talking, before the woman replied, "He wouldn't be opposed, sir, but he is curious as to why the sudden changes?"
Sighing, Arthur answered, "I've got a bit of a problem, I suppose. Who else but the Doctor help me right it, correct?"
There's more indistinct talking before he heard the woman hand the receiver over to the Doctor before the Doctor asks, "What seems to be the trouble, Mr. Williams?"
Their conversation's interrupted when Arthur heard banging at his door, causing him to set down the receiver as he gone over to see what's the commotion.
Upon opening the door, all the cooks were crowding the doorway, all bearing ghostly white faces, as they announced their quittance.
They refused to go back into the kitchen and pleaded with Arthur to take leave with them.
Something's in the kitchen spice closet, almost locked one of the cooks in, and they all saw it when they helped free the trapped cook.
Some shadowy figure that slinked into the wall like liquid as soon as they managed to open the door.
Now, none of them want to go anywhere near the kitchen.
Arthur's harsh voice finally calmed them, before they affirmed their quittance, before begging him to come with them.
No blind man should be left alone in a home with some figure materialising out of nowhere, capable of locking them in closets.
Arthur's answer perplexed them, as he stated that he's staying.
The cooks begged him to come with him, but he informed them that he has a duty, that duty is him staying as head of the household.
If he runs now, what good is a duty, then?
They began pleading with him to call the police, at least, but he reminded them that the police rightly wouldn't know what to do with the claims the cooks have, call them all lunatics, instead.
It was nearly impossible, but became manageable, as Arthur quelled the cooks, and they all left.
Returning to his plump chair, Arthur picked up the receiver, where he heard the Doctor ask if everything's all right, but the frown on Arthur's face was anything but, as he answered, "Unfortunately, it would seem that our party has been unceremoniously cancelled. I have no cooks left, my only maid quit, you see."
The Doctor then asked, "You have no one else?"
Sighing, Arthur replied with a dry, "No, I'm a confirmed bachelor, don't you know?"
Ironically, Arthur's blindness helped him see just who people really are when no one's looking, nobody around here wanted anything to do with a blind man with a curios disposition.
They'll play nice with him because of the family money and Uncle Irvine's influence, but even then, without Uncle Irvine and Hammond to thwart them, Arthur's at the mercy of their whims, if they wanted.
He didn't mind the challenges and the fact he'll likely die alone.
Let's say Arthur developed a sense of gallows humour because of his life, cold as it may be coming from him.
"We'll be over in a moment, Mr. Williams," the Doctor tells Arthur that he and Taylor would return.
Arthur tried telling them they could wait until tomorrow, but the Doctor didn't want to waste any time, especially since Arthur's alone and blind.
Stubbornly, the Doctor refused Arthur's claims that he can handle himself, and that he wasn't afraid of going into the kitchen by himself despite the fears of him getting hurt.
He still has a sense of smell, at least.
"No, stay where you are, we're coming," the Doctor commanded him to remain in his study until he and Taylor arrived.