Chapter 1: Merrily on High

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

Excolo Abbey; the morning of 23rd December, 1912

It is a fine bright day, clear blue skies and a frost over the lawn, which I can see from my desk in my study. I finish writing a couple of letters of business, which I pass on to my estate manager, and then I warmly wish him a very merry Christmas and say I will see him in the New Year. Business, at least of an official kind, is over for now. This morning the great Christmas tree was erected in the hall, causing much excitement as usual. Today several of our guests for the Christmas season will arrive; tomorrow is the Christmas Eve ball for all the reasonable quality people of local society, and our house guests, of course; Boxing Day is the hunt... And then in a short space it will be 1913.

1913. I stand up and look out over the garden, which has remained mostly unchanged in the last decade. I am thinking much of the past today, because Islip will be arriving soon. How very long it has been since I have seen him! We have exchanged Christmas cards in the intervening years, but I have had no other word from him until very recently, when he enquired about whether I knew of any work that might be available for a man of his skills. For him to swallow his pride and ask me led me to think his situation was not perhaps very good; and so quite spontaneously I offered him the role of valet. Brown had been intending to retire, and indeed he really was getting too old for the role. I know I have put Percival's nose out of joint, since he expected a promotion from first footman to valet, but there we have it: I must help an old friend. We saw a great many things together, and suffered more than I have ever let my family know. I look forward to that quiet... kinship we seemed to share, the peace we felt in each other's company despite our difference in status. I hope neither of us have changed so much that we have lost that.

My wife is, I believe, busy with Mrs Parras making the last decisions for the party tomorrow, and so I decide to stroll to the library and read the paper before the house is beset with guests.