‘If it isn’t the little lady herself,’ one of the field hands announced, a sly grin pasted across his face as he adopted a casual position in the doorway, one arm propping him up against the frame. ‘Come to join us poor folk, and help us out a bit with all our hard work, is it?’

‘I don’t think she’ll be much help, Jed, with those skinny little arms,’ another, smaller man spoke behind him. His hair was curly and brown, and a smattering of freckles crossed his nose. ‘She can’t exactly lift like what Griffin used to, can she?’

‘I don’t think she’s meant to quite replace Griffin, Cornmouse,’ Jed replied. ‘After all, if we’re to do a lion’s share of the work each to fill Griffin’s quota, well, we’re like to want a bit of refreshment when we get back, aren’t we? And there’s nothing more refreshing than…’

He looked Ilona up and down suggestively, and elbowed the other men until they got his meaning. Sly chuckles filtered among them, even more so as Ilona trembled under their words, looking away and flushing in fear.

‘What do you say, little lady?’ Jed asked, stepping forward into the room towards her, laughing again as she flinched away from his approach. ‘I promise we’ll be gentle with you! If it’s field boys you like you’ll find us a fine replacement for poor Griffin, mark my words.’

Ilona whimpered out loud as he reached towards her, barely noticing that the other men had also entered the room and now stood behind him. Another set of footsteps hurried through the door, however, and Jed hesitated with his hand in mid-air as he saw who it was that had followed them in.

Swallow had been Ilona’s personal maid for several years, helping her to dress in the mornings and undress in the evenings, bringing her food when she ate alone, tidying up after her and bringing her whatever she needed throughout the day for different activities. Now, Ilona realised with a shudder, she would be out of a job. Another person disadvantaged by her own stupidity.

‘What’s going on in here?’ Swallow demanded, the characteristic deference Ilona had always noticed in her gone and replaced by a fierce assertiveness.

‘The little lady has come to entertain us,’ Jed replied cockily, though there was something of a more hesitant nature in his movements now. Ilona watched with bated breath, feeling as though the events of the next few moments could change her fate between bad or worse.

‘Let her alone, boys, she’s one of us now,’ Swallow chided, stepping between them and Ilona protectively, facing up to Jed. She met her former employer’s eyes for one brief moment, and the look of resolve and reassurance there gave Ilona reason to hope that she would be safe in her presence.

‘Now now, little birdy, don’t get too worked up,’ Jed smiled, using the ends of his fingers to tilt Swallow’s chin upwards, in order to better sneer into her face. ‘I’ll give you something to live up to your name with if you’d like.’

Swallow moved her head angrily out of his grip, turning away to take Ilona by the arm. ‘Don’t make me report, you, Jed, because I swear I’ll do it if you threaten me like that again.’

‘It’s just a bit of fun, Swallow, she’s only to expect it,’ Cornmouse piped up sanctimoniously, clearly troubled at the idea of a report being made.

‘Can’t you keep these two under control, Marten?’ Swallow demanded of the last man, the only one who had not spoken at all yet. Taller than the other two and darker, he looked at his friends for a moment before meeting Swallow’s gaze.

‘Perhaps it’s best we drop it,’ he suggested in a deep, quiet voice, and with a loud sigh Jed threw up his hands in resignation.

The three men moved away, Jed muttering something under his breath as Cornmouse emphatically nodded; the danger was gone for now, though, and Ilona heaved a sigh of relief, shaking even more as the tension left her body. Swallow sat down on a low, simple bed with a thin mattress wide enough for one person to lie on, and patted the space beside her until Ilona took the hint and joined her.

‘Thank you, Swallow,’ she murmured quietly, hugging herself tightly as she sat. ‘I was afraid…’

‘You just have to let them know who’s boss,’ Swallow said kindly, putting a hand to Ilona’s shoulder. ‘It shouldn’t be so hard since you used to be boss anyway — it’s just they’ll take liberties now if they can.’

‘Would they really… I mean…?’ Ilona asked, meeting her old maid’s eyes with an anxious expression, unable to say her fears out loud.

Swallow bit her lip, and looked away for a moment before answering. ‘Look, miss, it’s not how it was for you any more. There’s no one to protect you, but yourself and your friends. So, make some. Maybe Jed’s all talk, but when they get worked up those field boys can be all full of pressure. Before you know it, they’ve talked you into a corner and you have to do what they say. So, don’t let that happen, okay?’

Ilona nodded doubtfully, twisting her hands in her lap. ‘I’ll try.’

‘Good,’ Swallow replied, before reaching out to touch a hand to the new collar. ‘What’s your new name, then?’

Ilona told her, and the sound of the strange word made her catch her breath in an unexpected sob. In a flash Swallow’s arms were round her, comforting her as she had done on a small number of occasions in the past.

‘What are they doing with you?’ Ilona asked, forcing out the question — half unwilling to hear what impact her own punishment was having on someone who had shown her such kindness.

‘I’m made a member of the housekeeping staff again,’ Swallow replied, and although she tried to sound cheerful, Ilona could hear the note of disappointment in the words. The housekeeping staff were below the household maids in rank, and their list of duties was longer. It was effectively a demotion. ‘Still, it’s better for me than it is for the girl they’re selling in order to keep me a job.’

Ilona sighed miserably. So someone was going to lose their position over this, for good. The Breckenridge estate was a good one, and they treated their servants well — other estates might not be so lenient, and being sold on the labour market was always a spin of the roulette wheel between a good life and an awful one. Then she thought of Griffin again, and the fact that he might not even get that much of a chance of something good ever again, and she covered her mouth quickly to prevent herself from crying out.

Swallow seemed to read her thoughts, and gripped her by both shoulders to look into her face earnestly. ‘Now you listen to me, miss, I know you’re worried for him. But Griffin’s a brave lad, and a strong one. Someone out there will be able to give him work, and he’ll get through it. He’d have done it all for you any day, so don’t feel as though it’s all your fault. It takes two, and you both made a choice, and that’s all there is to it. There’s no use thinking of him unless you hear for sure what’s happened.’

‘But he could be — he could be in a ditch — taken by thieves — murdered — anything…’ Ilona cried, the dam finally breaking. ‘I’ll never know if he even made it past the fields!’

‘Think of one thing, then, if you have to,’ Swallow told her grimly. ‘He didn’t get caught by your Daddy, and that’s a mercy for him. If Lord Breckenridge had given him a sentencing, you know they’d have called in the finest team in town to get him to pay. I heard tales of what they done to the last one caught with a lady, when it was the Lord’s father in charge. I heard he had no skin left on him when they’d done, and still alive too, until they left him out in the sun to dry.’

The shock of the bloody image stopped Ilona’s tears — not because she found any comfort in the words, but because she could hardly decide what to cry about first. She rubbed at her wet cheeks to get the tears off them, sniffing and gasping for breath alternately as she tried to calm down.

The door slid open again, and this time it was an entrance that made all of the servants quieten down and bow their heads respectfully in greeting. Molly was the head maid of the estate, and as such held the highest position amongst all of the workers.

She barely acknowledged the others in the room and swept towards Ilona, as impassively stern-looking as she always had been. She was at least forty years old, and had dedicated her life to earning a higher position with the Breckenridges, serving them since her mid-teens. It was clear immediately from her gaze that she would not be showing Ilona any leniency for her previous incarnation as a lady of the house — in fact, the frown that pursed her lips suggested that things might instead go in the other direction.

‘New girl, you will take bed number seven,’ she announced in clipped tones, gesturing towards a cot opposite the one she now sat on. ‘You will join the housekeeping staff immediately tomorrow morning, an hour before sunrise. Do not be late.’

With those words only, and not a wasted movement or wave of hand, she turned again and stepped gravely from the room, leaving Ilona to only gape after her open-mouthed.

‘Don’t worry,’ Swallow whispered. ‘I’ll make sure you’re awake in time.’

Over the next few hours the rest of the household arrived in dribs and drabs. The kitchen staff arrived soon after Molly’s departure, having cleaned away the evening meal’s dishes and eaten for themselves, but it was the household staff who trailed in last. The head butler, Lord Breckenridge’s valet and Lady Breckenridge’s maid, and Molly all had their own private chambers, whilst the grooms slept in the stables and any visiting or temporary servants also kept to separate quarters. Finally, everyone had returned to their beds and the candles were doused; for Ilona, though, who had lain pretending to sleep since the return of the head chef, rest did not come until late into the hours of darkness, when her shattered mind could finally hold out from dreams no longer.