The parade of maids

Yesterday ITV started its new Edwardian series, “Downton Abbey”. Set in a country house, it’s maids and footmen galore, and the first episode dangled some tantalising promises of juicy drama between the upstairs and the downstairs. Although I was quite bored by the actual plot, there was enough inspiration there to get some very nice fantasies out of it.

For instance, at one point an important guest was arriving at Downton, and the entire staff were required to line up at the door to greet him.

My imagination took me to a similar scene, where a maid is waiting in a line to greet her master’s guest; she doesn’t know who is arriving, only that it’s a duke and duchess of somewhere or other.

They get out of the carriage, and to her shock she realises that she knows the duchess very well – from the times before she was a duchess, but simply the oldest daughter at the house where the maid had worked before.

At this point the possibilities are rich. Did they get on, back in those old days? Perhaps, the maid had once comforted her mistress after a caned by her governess, and they bonded over the pain they both knew too well. Or perhaps it was the opposite: the maid had got the blame for something the young mistress had done, and got birched, or worse, dismissed?

Be that as it may, both young women recognise each other at once. They barely retain their composure, and although they proceed as though nothing happened, they won’t be able to avoid each other in this house, where the new duchess will be staying for a while. Soon they will need to confront each other – and their entangled past.

Hmm. I wouldn’t mind watching or reading that drama.

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