<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/19/Cordialinvitation.jpg)</div><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Downstairs in the kitchens was a hive of activity, cook was trying to organise the last pieces of the extensive meal that had been prepared. Maids were scurrying up and downstairs carrying many delicacies for the guests even before they actually sat down to a meal. As it was she had already lost three maids since the return of the master which in itself was troubling. That along with the gossip an    d ghost stories about that thing in the casket. Even the thought of it made her shiver, the maids too of late had been more nervous.<br/><br/>However that was not her concern it was really more the jurisdiction of Margaret and Albert, still it was troubling. The gossip flew about the kitchen, and it was ripe, certainly the fact there was another darky at the gathering and he was a man….was he the first husband of Malsika…also one of the maids returned downstairs to say that Lady Charlotte Howard had arrived with rather an attractive man…without a maid. Who knew what one could get up to in a cab… This obviously caused a great amount of giggling between the girls. So much so cook had to raise her voice again.<br/><br/>There was also more than a little whispering about the fact that Lady Elizabeth was still confined to her room, it appeared many of the staff did not trust this woman at all, and rather than getting better under her care the lady appeared to be growing weaker.<br/><br/>A few mentioned the casket but that appeared to bring with it a brief shudder and then silence. It seemed to make the staff very uncomfortable, and no one now goes into the room with the ‘mummy’ in it.<br/><br/>The cook also had made a strew and put aside some of the food for not only the household staff but also the cab drivers and servants that had to ride in the cab too. This was going to be a long night.<br/>