4141.222 · August 10, 1821 AD
When Mistresses Invade Below Stairs
The service stairs present themselves with sudden inevitability—a path with no choice but to follow. A mistress of standing does not venture into servants' territory beyond occasional formal inspection. But propriety holds no meaning this morning. The boundaries governing movement through the house have dissolved along with everything else. So Madelyn descends into the working heart of the manor, barefoot in her wrapper, like some disordered ghost haunting spaces where she has no business.
Madelyn fled the study without destination, driven only to escape Thomas's observing presence and that hollowed book with its damning evidence. Now she finds herself at the service stairs—narrow, steep, unpolished. Temperature dropping with each step. No elegant plasterwork here. Just whitewashed walls marked by countless servants over three years.
Nearly collides with Sarah Parsons ascending with linens. The young maid's shock visible—mistress appearing here, in wrapper and bare feet, clearly disordered. But Sarah has information. She heard voices last evening. From the library. Around nine o'clock. William and another man—unfamiliar voice, tone suggesting confrontation. She glimpsed a dark-coated figure leaving by the side door quarter hour later.
A late visitor William concealed from Madelyn. A conversation conducted in threatening tones. Then hours later, vanished.
In the servants' morning room, Madelyn interrogates Mabel Hawthorne. The scullery maid trembles, forced to sit opposite her mistress—violation of protocol so extreme it's almost comedic. What she overheard chills Madelyn to bone: "Time running out." "Promises not kept." "Consequences unavoidable." William responding: "I've done everything you demanded. The arrangement was supposed to protect my family."
When desperate, even mistresses descend below stairs seeking answers servants shouldn't possess.
