43. A fight with snow balls

After our luncheon of hot soup and bread, I walked to the stables to see Naiad, and Cumberland. They were indoors because of the snow, and though Naiad would have been happier out in the paddock, a stall inside was the best place for them when the snow was on the ground.

As I was walking back to the house, I heard shouting and squeals coming from one of the side lawns.

Walking around the corner, I was confronted with a pitched and dreadful battle.

It appeared that some of the stable boys and grooms had launched a surprise attack upon some of the maids, who had been attempting to form the shape of a man out of snow. Snow balls flew thick and fast, people dodged and ducked, but the stable boys were deadly in their intent.

Some of the younger footmen had attempted to intervene but they were too few and their efforts were uncoordinated.

"HOUSE!" I roared, raising my arm (as if I had my sword with me, old habits and all) getting the attention of both footmen and maids, "HOUSE STAFF! FORM ON ME!"

As I stepped forward, I immediately drew shots from some of the grooms, until they realised who they were aiming at.

My first throw in return caught one of them square in the chest, throwing him backwards in surprise. But it set the limits - I was a fair target, and sure enough they started to focus on me. With fewer shots going towards them, the footmen, and some of the maids rallied around beside me.

"We start at this end and roll up their line," I told them. "Thank you." This last was said as two of the maids started to make snow balls and hand them to me. "NO QUARTER - ASKED OR GIVEN!"

It was a simple tactic, instead of trying to fight all of their line at once, we struck the end nearest to us and over-whelmed it.

The grooms and boys aimed mainly at me, fighting back fiercely. I took several direct hits, including one to the jaw which stung like hell. A lull fell on the proceedings - after all, it's all fun and games until someone has the duke's eye out, but my return shot ended that. No hard feelings. Deuce! It was just too much damned fun!

The fight was ferocious, even drawing spectators to the windows of the hall over-looking the lawn. Snow balls flew left, snow balls flew right, and snow balls flew through the centre. At one point I noted that the smallest of the maids threw huge round snow balls that she arced across the battlefield with deadly effect. She never threw but that she hit what she was aiming at. There were cries and laughter - mostly laughter, both sides gave as good as they received.

It could not have been much more than twenty minutes, certainly it was less than a half of an hour that we fought there, the battle ebbing and flowing across the lawn, trampling the snow into hard-packed, slippery ice. Soon however the combat just petered out, I had forgotten how exhausting a bloody good snow ball fight can be.

The grins on the faces of the combatants were a delight to see, everybody had fought as hard as they could for 'House' or 'Yard', honours were pretty much about even. The boys, the maids and the footmen stood around going over their actions, sharing their 'war stories' and there was much gentlemanly shaking of hands, mine included.

Hopley, the coachman appeared. He had arranged for hot cider to be served in the stable block for everybody and "Would Your Grace, care to join us?"

"I would, thank you, Mr Hopley." His Grace replied.

We sat in the warm stables, on chairs and benches that had been dragged from all over. All of the horses in their loose-boxes peered over the doors to watch us chatting and getting to know each other, myself and my people. It is usual for the staff to return to their homes for Boxing Day. But many of those there were from London, so that it wasn't feasible for them to be with their families and I made a mental note to make sure that they had that opportunity when we returned to the Ton. I did very little talking - the hot spiced cider, the comradeship and the general excitement of the afternoon loosened everybody's tongues and all that I had to do was listen. I knew most of the faces, now I was able to attach names to them. The small maid with the fine over-arm lob was Emily, and the lad who looked after Cumberland was Thomas. Matthew, another one of the stable boys, who I knew already, was the boy in charge of Naiad. He and Mr Peyton, the stableman had taken excellent care of the mare and the lad asked me if he would be allowed to start riding her for exercise in the paddock. I suggested that if he could get Mr Peyton to agree, and he was very careful of her, then he could start.

After a half of an hour or so it was time for me to leave them to it.

I had enjoyed the afternoon immensely, the snow balling, the conversation and the cider, all of it. But our two worlds - those of above and below stairs - could only interact for so long. I had been a visitor and they had made me welcome, allowing me to be part of their holiday fun and games. It had been enjoyable, but now it was time for me to leave so that they could continue to enjoy themselves without having to watch what they said; they could drink, and flirt and just enjoy the rest of their day's holiday.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent in a very social manner. The kitchen had laid out a cold buffet of meats, various cheeses and bread, and there were pâtés, and vegetable dishes all served cold to reduce the work for the cook.

We were joined by Emily Dodgson and her daughters, Henry Adams and James Barthomley and a selection of young men, who were all made to perform in games of charades, or by singing current popular songs. The twins played several of the tunes on the cello and violin, but Charlotte bore the greater part of the effort and seemed to enjoy it, because her eyes shone at the end of the evening when we all applauded her. I insisted that she take a bow as well.

Helena departed upstairs for bed and after I had seen Emily and her daughters off with Mr Hopley, some of the more local young men away to their homes, and all of the guests that were staying, upstairs, I repaired to bed as well.

Helena was waiting for me, but again it had been a long day - I really had forgotten how tiring a snowball fight can be - so we embraced each other closely and went to sleep.