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it’s terrible beneath yer ter be a servant, an’ by the curl o’ yer lips yer do ….”
    “I don’t believe in one man being servant to another,” he said stiffly. “I don’t wish to insult you, because it isn’t your fault you were born poor, any more than it’s mine I was. But you don’t have to accept it as if you deserved it, or treat other people as if they were better just ’cos they have money. All this bowing and doffing turns my stomach. I’m surprised to see you do it like it comes natural.”
    “Think too much o’ yerself, you do,” she said philosophically. “Got more prickles than one o’ them little beasts wot five in ’edges. Seems ter me yer got two choices. You can be a good servant and make a fair job of it, or yer can be a bad one an’ make a mess of it. I think enough o’ meself ter make the best of it I can.” She grunted, then went back to the second trunk and began to take the dresses out of it and lay them carefully on the bed before looking for more hangers.
    Teliman thought about it for a few more moments, then apparently appreciated that, at least for now, he had little choice in the matter. Dutifully, he hung up the rest of Pitt’s clothes, then set out his brush, shirt studs, collar studs and cuff links, then his shaving soap, brush, razor and strop.
    “I’m going to look around the house,” he told her stiffly when he had finished. “I’d better do my proper job as well. That’s what Mr. Cornwallis sent me here for.” He looked very slightly down at her, which, since he was the best part of a foot taller, was not difficult. He was also fourteen years older, and was not going to let some twenty-year-old slip of a girl take liberties just because she knew how to unpack a trunk.
    “Good idea,” she said crisply. “Now yer done that”—she nodded towards Pitt’s empty case—“you in’t no use ’ere. These things in’t your place ter see. But you can come back an’ put these cases in the boxroom later on. An’ yer better not go around givin’ yerself no airs,” she added as he reached the door. “Yer don’ want them thinking as yer more’n a valet, although a valet is very superior as servants go. An’ don’t forget that neither, an’ go mixin’ familiar wi’ the like o’ footmen an’ bootboys.”
    “And how do you know all that?” he asked, his eyebrows raised high. “Seeing as you only just arrived, same as I did.”
    “I bin in service for years,” she said expansively. It was none of his business that all of it had been with Charlotte, and she had her ideas of a house like this from bits and pieces she had overheard and the very occasional visit, and to be honest, more than a little guesswork. She gave him a level stare. “ ’Ow long are yer goin’ ter stand there then, like one o’ them things gentlemen puts their umbrellas on?”
    “Service,” he said grimly, then turned and marched out.
    “In’t nothin’ wrong in service,” she said to his retreating back. “I’m warm and comfortable every night an’ I eat every day, an’ that’s mor’n a lot can say! An’ I keep company wi’ decent folks, not like wot you do!”
    He did not reply.
    Gracie finished the rest of Charlotte’s unpacking, enjoying the touch and the luxurious colors of the borrowed gowns, hanging them carefully, smoothing the skirts to stay without creasing, touching her fingers to the beading and the lace and the silk chiffon so fine one could read a book through it.
    She was very nearly at the end of the undergarments when there was a knock at the door. She was all ready to face Tellman again and give him another piece of her mind if he was still so contrary, but when she answered, it was not Tellman who came in but a dark-haired rather handsome woman of about thirty, in a maid’s dress, but with the bearing of one who is very sure of herself. Gracie guessed immediately it must be another lady’s maid. Only a lady’s maid or a governess would behave