Everyone has a story.

No one's just a background, a sidekick, a piece of furniture in someone else's castle of life. It's just sometimes we don't look too closely, we don't try hard enough to see it. One can miss a lot by doing so, because the most precious things are difficult to see.

But the truth is that not many of us do think about it. Just like Harriet Berkeley. She was a practical kind of woman who never bother herself about ideas or theories which had nothing to do with her life. She was forced very early in her life not to dream impossible dreams, but simply to take everything just the way it was and deal with her problems as best she could.

As the child of a poor clergyman, young Harriet knew her future was limited to two options: marriage or work as a governess. And since there was no suitor to ask for her hand, she decided not to wait any longer for good fortune. She wasn't brilliant or talented in any special way, but she was clever enough to gain some useful knowledge and skills that could help her on the way. Soon she put out an announcement, received an answer and was accepted.

She had no experience, but soon it was clear she was a gifted teacher. Her young pupil loved her, her employers respected her, and most of the house workers act like she was a part of their family. Except one.

James Cogsworth always appeared a bit of an odd person to her. She tried not to judge him, and truly wanted him as a friend, but his actions were sometimes too hard to stand. He always seemed to know everything better than anyone else. He kept bossing everyone around. But that was nothing compared to how he acted toward the master of the house. His loyalty and devotion were so extreme as to be ridiculous to her. She wasn't too independent herself, but what Cogsworth did was beyond her understanding. Always ready to know what his master wanted before he even thought of it himself, always prepared to do absolutely anything he wanted. When the other servants were joking and gossiping about the family, he never took part in it. Even more! He was openly against it. There were moments when she wanted to shout AT him, "Stop acting like his slave, for heaven's sake! Think about your own life!".

Yet, there was something in him that she truly respected. And if not for one night, she would never have realized what it was, and he would never have known.