After getting accustomed to the smooth walk, she began to relax and enjoy the surroundings and being so high off the ground. As a servant and a female, it wasn't stylish to be tall, and she wasn't supposed to look up into her superior's faces. She doubted something similar would happen again anytime soon. When she realized that he was becoming impatient and urging the horse to go faster, she clamped on like a clam. As she bounced around while the horse trotted, creating a lot of extra unnecessary weight, she was reminded of an ungainly bag of lumpy potatoes jiggling around.

"Can't. Reach. In. Your. Pocket. While. Trotting," she managed to hiss through clenched teeth, when he asked her to check the time. It was very against protocol to be so close, and even more so for a woman of her class to dig out the watch. However, she was becoming more used to him being okay with throwing out the rules. After he slowed to a walk she flexed her hand and took a deep breath before she reached inside to check the time. "Oh look at that," her laugh was unnaturally high, "Definitely time to start heading back."

It wasn't time. He had another hour or so, but she was hoping he would take her word for it. By the time they were back to the barn it would be too late to go back out. A loud gasp escaped, as she saw the rocky paths looming up ahead. "Are these rocky paths safe? Your horse seems to be unsteady and lurching a lot." The ground around the lake was really mushy, and the horse left a trail of hoofprints behind him as they went along. The horse lurched and she fell off into a big pile of mud, dragging at James slightly as she slid off. While most of her face remained clean, she had little splatters of wet dirt everywhere. Her hands and the front of her dress was covered.

"Great!" She threw her hands up in the air. "I need to get back. I'm supposed to look decent for this ball, party thing, because I'm serving, and this is far from decent. They're going to think I am crazy for even coming in the house." She doubted he was willing to let her ride behind him now, so she started squelching back the way they had come, hoping that she wouldn't get in additional trouble, and he would fall in line behind her. She didn't look behind her to make sure that he was coming with her, as she didn't really care anymore. She tried to brush her hair out of her face and got another dirt smear on her cheek.

Matilda closed her eyes frustrated expecting to hear mocking unkind laughter or for him to yell at her for her clumsiness. Hearing nothing of the sort, she opened her eyes and stared up at him. Getting up, she went to town being annoyed, so that he would completely miss the opportunity for an unkind reaction. She kept silent, when he mentioned marriage not seeing how it was any of her business. "I'm sure your proper wife wouldn't want to be dragged out like this, so there is a good chance this same situation would've happened. I'm too low to be considered a temptation."

She rolled her eyes. She knew that while in the eyes of the public they might think it's true, there was a good chance a wife wouldn't be pleased about her presence, even if she was decently plain. Her eyes widened, when he threatened her with going faster than they had. "I fell off going super slow. What makes you think I'll make it at a faster pace?" her voice was a mixture between blustering fear, you are stupid, and annoyance. She didn't think anything improper would've happened in the mud, but she supposed what he said made sense about propriety and all.

She didn't know why the seating arrangements made any difference to her. He was the one who would be coated in her filth. He moved quickly before she had time to protest more. By the time they were moving at a good fast pace, she was concentrating on not falling off. She shrugged. "Do we need one? High society won't care about me, unless you are worried about yourself. Dare I say that if you are worried about your own reputation I won't have any decision in the lies that will be told, and you are correct; I won't be able to hide anything from my peers. Your mother sent me to watch over you, and I'm a useless servant who can't do a simple job. Simple as that."

She hoped. Who knew what kind of backlash she could recieve. "If you don't show up at the ball tonight proper and all, I'll hunt you down with my considerable resources." She turned to look at him, now that they were going at a slower pace. "What does that grin mean?" It was hard for her to care about manners being covered in mud. When they arrived, she hurried off to get cleaned up. It took her an hour to become presentable once more, and another hour to become presentable for that night.

She darted back in to help prepare for the festivities, but she decided to go looking for James. The party was about to start, and he needed to be in the area. "Where are you?" she hissed. "The party is starting, and your mother is calling everyone to the foyer. People are arriving, and it's considered more polite if you are standing around waiting for them. Why are you being so stubborn hiding away from the party?" She gave up looking for him figuring that he would turn up eventually. She went to stand with some other servant girls who were counting the guests as they arrived.

"There is Lord Cumberton," hissed Rowan. "He has two eligible daughters. I bet the Lady is keeping an eye on those two rich beautiful girls for Lord James." Macy giggled, "What are those ladies wearing? Is that supposed to be a peacock? They don't fit on hats." Mrs. Lewis came sweeping in, looking disapprovingly down her nose at them. "Are three of my girls giggling together? That is not proper behavior for your class. You should be out there serving and making yourselves useful. I hope I don't have to separate you three again during work, especially if you are going to indulge yourself in this behavior. Now off to work with you."

After she was gone, they headed toward the kitchen where they could grab some trays and serve food. They would be walking along for a long time with the uncomfortably sized tray balanced over their shoulder until it was gone. She told the two girls all about her day, as they hurried to look busy. Once they had their trays, they split ways.

Matilda was trying to guess who were all behind the masks, as she went up to different higher class people, demurely not making eye contact, and offering what she had on her tray. Around her many of the servants were dressed as different type sof blackbirds, so that they would fit the theme and their uniform. She was wearing a face mask, and so she hoped that James wouldn't be able to find her.

Behind her Rogers came up, and bent down besides her. "Hey it's me."

She turned with a small smile, as more wouldn't be appropriate in this situation. "Roger. Hello. I haven't seen you all day."

He replied, "And I you. Are you okay? Did..did James do anything?"

"It was okay. His focus wasn't on me, except I did complain a lot. He was wanting to ride his horse."

"I can't believe she made you do that. They should have sent a manservant with him." he shook his head angrily.

"We can talk about this later. I've already attracted Mrs. Lewis' attention once, so I better get back to work. Love you," she darted off as she could see Mrs. Lewis looking around.

When she turned to serve someone, she made sure that she could see Roger. Her brother came up and whispered a few questions. After nodding, he walked away. She had feeling that he had been concerned about her safety as well. They shouldn't have asked. It was too late now, and there would be no way to get their revenge on their master's family. She supposed they could also blame Mrs. Lewis, which would be more in their reach. However, it wasn't worth losing their jobs and any chance at a new one. They could just send her away in disgrace.

Rowan had been keeping an eye on James. She was curious if she would learn any details, so she kept serving people in his vicinity. Her brother Theodore had told her what his costume looked like, so she was able to follow him much easier. Not only had her brother had delivered it and put it in this young man's closet, but James' costume wasn't the same species as everyone else. She had to conceal her smile, as someone complimented it. It was often rare to hear any type of praise. The wealthy upper class too often were in competition with each other, so they refused to acknowledge that anyone but themself had something nice unless they wanted it.

She lost him to the dancing, so she kept walking around the outskirts of the dance floor. She did manage to hear parts of the conversation between him and Violet, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. What question for who? She had a feeling she knew what question, but that still left the who. Macy came by to get another tray, when Rowan stopped her. "Something is going down tonight. I heard them talking," she gestured to where James was. "It doesn't concern us," Macy huffed. "Come on, you need new trays as well." Together they headed back. They were surprised to see Matilda.

The men servants were stronger, so they should be able to carry the fragile glasses of drinks around. The noise was getting louder in the next room, so she could see that the men were doing a good job of serving everyone drinks. "How many trays have you done?" Macy asked the other two. "This was my first one." Matilda was stretching before she took another one. "I'm going to be so sore and stiff tomorrow. We're supposed to carry them on one certain shoulder, but I don't know if I can keep this up."

"I agree." Rowan nodded her head decisively. "It'll be no wonder if one of us spills a tray or drops it entirely. Good luck girls. Hopefully, they'll want to stop eating and drinking." They all headed out again. Macy tripped on another servant's shoe, and everything went flying. She began scrambling to pick it up. Her friends looked helplessly at her, because they were heavily laden and not allowed to put it down. She could see Mrs. Lewis coming to either help or scold. Mrs. Lewis began to help, and the girls remembered that she knew to scold in private, so she didn't disturb the party. Her friends gave her sympathetic looks, as she was taken away. She would probably be back later....they hoped.