There are casualties: the maiden sister, stifled to the point of breakdown by the social limitations of her position on the periphery of the family; two scullery maids fall at the first hurdle before a more spirited replacement arrives and quickly develops an attachment to Kenny with interesting moral consequences for the entire staff. The stars are Mr Edgar the butler, clearly fulfilling a life-long fantasy, and Sir John, so engrossed in his role that he is able to claim without irony that "a maid that smiles is generally a happy maid". Returning to the real world at the end, he must have been startled to learn that his staff found so little to love in his benign authority. But the tears of parting testify that for everyone involved, this must have been a life changing experience. A companion book is also available. --Piers Ford