"Is there anything else I need to know now?"

"Is there anything else you think I need know now?" Lucy asked Hawkins before they reboarded the train.

"No, ma'am," said Old Netherwood's first footman -- Lucy's footman now.

"Please find us on the platform at our destination, then," Lucy said.

"Thank you, ma'am," Hawkins said. He bowed and walked, tall and steady, up the train corridor.

She rejoined Carlotta and Mr. Fitch in their compartment. She and Chop-Chop conferred quietly on the best way to make her entry into Old Netherwood as Fitch appeared to doze in his seat.

Lucy spent some time with Carlotta reviewing the staff and collecting Chop-Chop's opinion, comparing it with her own and with Hawkins' account.

"Second footman?" Lucy asked.

"Scoundrel. Out," Chop-Chop said.

Lucy nodded. She had a personal offence to hold against him. "Cad," she said. Lucy marked his name with 'D' for discharge.

In some cases Lucy and Carlotta agreed. In others, they disagreed along upstairs-downstairs lines, Chop-Chop tending to favor the traditionally downstairs virtues, and Lucy the upstairs ones.

"Housekeeper?" Lucy asked. Lucy suspected that she was a petty pilferer.

"Steady," Chop-Chop said. "Keeps the girls in line. Knows the tradesmen. Tight enough with house money but not stingy when it counts."

Lucy nodded, bowing to Carlotta's judgment for the moment. It would be difficult to replace the housekeeper, unless she put Chop-Chop in place. Lucy might have to be her own housekeeper. They proceeded through the staff as best they could. It was harder to make any estimation of the lesser servants, but less necessary to have any opinion at the present hour.

"I think me and Hawkins should go ahead and arrange a full-dress greeting," Carlotta said. "Turn everyone out on the lawn so's you can review them, and know the reason if anyone's missing."

"Perhaps," Lucy said. "I wonder if we should first gather the steward, the butler, and the housekeeper and make sure they acknowledge me first. Spend some time going over the accounts. After that we could turn everyone out."

Chop-Chop looked at her doubtfully. "Are you good with accounts, Miss Lucy?"

"I have my sums and figures, but more experienced eyes would be welcome," Lucy said. She recalled the pink globes of Cordelia Quill's broad rump as the railway clerk had bent over her tiny shelf-desk to receive Hawkins' personal devotions. "Do you suppose Hawkins' special friend, Miss Quill, might be able to advise us?"

Carlotta clapped her hand to her mouth at Lucy's suggestion, but soon moved it aside. "Miss Lucy, do you suppose that would be proper?"

"There is time for Hawkins to more properly introduce us," Lucy said. "And if there is any irregularity, we must discover it quickly once we arrive, or we never shall." Lucy laughed. "And if she does well, perhaps Miss Quill would welcome a situation at Old Netherwood."

Carlotta's eyes sparkled. "I wonder if they'd get on if they had to see one another every blessed day," she said. "Begging your pardon, ma'am."

Lucy laughed, but more gently and politely.

Lucy made her way toward Miss Quill's little closet of an office in the next railway car, wondering if Hawkins had returned to make the most of the minutes before their final station.