 Robert, the Marquis of Stockbridge, has fallen in love with Georgina and proposes to her. She accepts him, but neither anticipates the hurdles they must face. Georgina s notoriety is not lost on Robert s parents, the Duke and Duchess of Buckminster, but the Duchess does invite Georgina to tea. The conversation is pleasant, but the Duchess is very firm on what s been planned. In the Victorian custom, Robert will travel around the world for a year and they will not see each other. If, upon his return, he still wants to marry her, he will have their consent. Robert rails against his mother, but Georgina pragmatically complies. Downstairs, Mrs. Bridges and Ruby have bitter words and Ruby leaves to work for a middle-class woman in suburban London. An agency sends a replacement for Ruby, a cheeky, disrespectful and lazy girl called Mabel. Mrs. Bridges can t manage her, but Ruby s lot has not improved -- her mistress is a nasty taskmaster and Ruby is not her servant, but her slave. Mrs. Bridges gets wind of her whereabouts and the two are reconciled -- with a greater appreciation of the other -- warts and all.