Edna Braithwaite is a new general maid who arrives at Downton in September 1921. Headstrong, ambitious, and determined, she sets her sights on recent widower, Tom Branson.[1] He however is not ready for romance because he is still mourning his wife, Lady Sybil Branson. Edna immediately starts asking questions and making comments about Tom and Sybil, such as him being handsome and that Lady Sybil could have done better, to which Mrs. Hughes immediately tells her to mind her place. Unlike the other servants she does not show any respect in talking with Tom and refuses to stand up when he enters the servant´s hall. He seems to be taken aback by her behavior, but responds in a polite way to her forwardness. She even skips work to go see him in the Grantham Arms, after hearing that he would be eating lunch there. She makes him feel guilty about having moved up in the world, going so far as to get him to eat downstairs again and suggests that he drive them to the Thirsk Fair, after urging him to come with them. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes is watching her suspicously, especially after Tom beings to feel uneasy about moving upstairs.
She later takes his arm at the Thirsk Fair. At one point Edna enters Tom's room whilst he is changing and impulsively kisses him, after he asks her to leave. She later tells Mrs Hughes and Charles Carson that she had made plans to meet "Tom", using his first name, when they ask her to do a job that clashes with those plans, asking them if she must do what they asked her to do. After hearing this news Charles and Mrs. Hughes immediately agree that she has to go. Mrs. Hughes does not approve of the way Edna has attempted to pursue Tom and says to Tom that he let Edna made him feel ashamed of his new life. Edna doesn't think she has done anything wrong, insisting she is just as good as him and that there was nothing improper. But Mrs Hughes say that, "there are rules to this way of life and, if you don't intend to abide by them, it is not the life for you." Edna leaves soon after being fired. Tom kindly asks Mrs. Hughes to give her a decent reference. She does, though she thinks Edna is not cut out to be a housemaid.
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References
- ↑ DailyMail.co.uk, A racy new maid, another shock for Lady Edith and simmering tension between Matthew and Lady Mary. Hold on to your hats as Downton decamps to Scotland By Nicole Lampert, PUBLISHED: 17:31 EST, 21 December 2012 | UPDATED: 17:59 EST, 21 December 2012; excerpt: "New maid Edna takes a shine to Branson but who wouldn't?"