Aloysius finished his tea. “I am sorry, James. This whole entanglement between you and Miss Farlington is all my fault. I have been too lenient with you. I should have trained you from the start to see the differences between us and them. That was my failing.”

“Sir! It is not your fault.”

“Be as it may, I will make things right.  I will train you so that one day you may be able to take my place as the Farlingtons’ butler.”

James bowed his head. “It would be an honor, sir.”

***

“Nellie? Do you ever wish you were someone else?”

“Only on my bad days, miss.” She fussed with flattening May Rose’s collar.

“Who would you want to be?”

“It all depends on why I’m having a bad day, miss. Some days I wish I weren’t a maid. Other days I wish I were Mr. Arden.”

“Mr. Arden? Why him?”

She finished fussing with May Rose’s collar and set her attention on braiding May Rose’s hair. “Because he is in a good position. Unless he disgraces himself and the family, he is untouchable. But. I’m sure you already knew that?”

May Rose didn’t respond to that.

“He and the Lord Farlington are terribly close. So close that some of the servants have said that there is something more between them. They say that the Lord Farlington and Mr. Arden have formed an attachment.”

“That’s absurd. My father is old and Mr. Arden is even older than him.”

Nellie looked puzzled. “Is that your only objection to such salacious rumors? I expected you to become irate and declare his innocence.”

“Why should I become irate over such silly rumors? Everyone knows that my father isn’t like that.”

“What of Mr. Arden?”

May Rose scoffed. “Mr. Arden is in love with propriety. He’s practically married to it. When he dies, he’ll be buried with it. He would never behave in such an unbecoming manner, certainly NOT with my father.”

“Of course, miss. I simply wanted you to be aware of what the rumors were.” Nellie tied up the braid with a plain yellow ribbon. “There!”

May Rose frowned as an uncomfortable thought occurred to her. “Are there any rumors about me and James Arden?”

“No. Not yet. You are fortunate that you are both children. It keeps you below everyone’s notice unless you’re caught doing something outlandishly unfortunate.”

“Outlandishly unfortunate? What does that even mean?”

Nellie blushed. “It is not my place to say, miss. Come. Let us present you to your mother.”

“I don’t want to. She’s going to teach me how to be a proper lady and it’s a bother I don’t want to deal with.”

Nellie thought it over. “Well, miss. If I may say, when there is something I need to do and I don’t want to do it, I just go and get it done.”

“That’s easy enough for you. You’re a maid. This will be something I’ll have to do every day and I hate it already. Because it will not be a simple lesson that I can learn and forget about. I will have to apply it to my life and live it. And THAT is what I hate the most.”

“That may be so, miss, but Lady Farlington is waiting for you. We mustn’t keep her waiting.”

“I know. But I wish I could.”