They wandered arm-in-arm back into the Hall where fires blazed in every room. “Selena and the Dowager will be here tonight,” Philomena observed. “I must go down to the kitchens to check all is well.”

Hugh laughed. “And to see that the servants are comfortable?”

“I cannot forget how kind they were to me when I arrived here. They shook Joseph off my trail and kept me safe. To me, they will always be far more than servants.”

As Philomena entered the kitchen, the hustle of Christmas preparations stilled for a moment. “Master John is not here, my lady,” Ivy volunteered.

Philomena laughed. “For once, I am not searching for him. I am come to thank you all for your kindness and to give Ivy and Tom my best wishes for their wedding.”

Ivy blushed and giggled. “Thank you Miss Phil—I mean, Your Ladyship,” she murmured.

“And now, I want to invite you all to come into the Great Hall to see the Christmas tree arrive. Truly, we will be as gay as Windsor Castle, this holiday.”

Mrs. Bramble stepped forward, her hands pulling at her apron. “I know it’s not my place to say so…”

Philomena laughed. “You may say whatever you wish to me, dear Mrs. Bramble.”

“Then I would like to say that it was a good day for all of us at Thatcham Hall when you fell off that train, my lady, and we’re all the better for it.”

Tears burned Philomena’s eyes. “You must not make me cry.” She smiled. “Now, here is John come to collect us all.”

John approached, solemn, with a package in his hands. “I want to give this to you today.” He hesitated and fidgeted.

Hugh appeared behind him and rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “John has a special gift for you. He has made it himself.”

Philomena took the parcel. John had wrapped it in gold paper. Carefully, she untied the ribbon. The paper peeled away to reveal an oval, papier-mâché workbox decorated in pink and gold. Inside she found a pair of ivory handled scissors, a book of needles, a bodkin and a silver thimble. However, the tears that streamed down Philomena’s face were not due to the box or its contents. On a little card that rested on top, in childish, rounded letters, John had written two words that meant everything to Philomena. “For Mama.”

Philomena’s England

Philomena, Hugh, and the other characters in their story exist in our imaginations, but Victorian England in the 1840s was a very real and sometimes surprising place. Life upstairs in a Great House was very different from the world downstairs and both lifestyles were more comfortable than that of the average Londoner.