Fountain Abbey (episode)

Summary

 * Muffy's devastated when she learns her great, great grandmother Mary Alice wasn't royalty, but a common maid. The indignity! However, Mary Alice's old diary reveals a more interesting story.

Plot
Muffy is thinking that she will be crowned princess in Fountain Abbey. Fountain Abbey is a royal palace in England. The rest of the kids think otherwise. They think she is overeacting. The whole reason Muffy is acting like this is because she recently found out that one of her relatives used to work in Fountain Abbey. Her great, great, grandmother! Binky feels like he heard that name before. Meanwhile, Muffy finds a picture of her great, great grandmother standing in front of Fountain Abbey. Then, Binky takes a look at the photograph and realizes something familiar. He tells the gang about how he feels, but Muffy doesn't believe him. Then, he digs up an old chest filled with Barnes history. To his surprise, it turns out that Binky's great, great, grandfather owned Fountain Abbey! Binky felt so proud! He was so excited to tell the others about his news. When he did tell them, Muffy was in disbelief. That day, she dug up an old diary of Mary Alice. (her great, great grandmother) The next day, she read the journal out to her friends, and to her disbelief, Mary Alice was a maid! Just a maid! Not even royalty! That was enough to make Muffy break down. She cried and cried and cried. Finally, the next day, she read the diary with her friends.

Turns out, Mary Alice was over-worked and was very bad at her job. She had a lot, and a lot, and a LOT of jobs. Until one day, when Mary Alice was ironing the newspaper when the bell rang. This mean’t Lord Bantam needed something. “What are you waiting for? GO!” Lord Bantam’s mother called out. Mary accidentally left the iron on, which burned a hole in the news. She hurried to the library, where she found Lord Bantam looking out a window. Turns out, Lord Bantam pressed the bell by accident. While they were there, Lord Bantam mentioned his ability to “juggle”. But Mary pointed out you need more than one thing to juggle, and juggling with one thing is tossing. Lord Bantam agreed. Meanwhile, Mary was dusting the library, when you knocked down a globe, broke a painting, and broke a limb off a statue. Obviously she wasn't very good at her job. Then, she had an idea! To open a circus! It could make more funds for Fount. Abbey, and it could show off Lord Bantam tricks. He liked the idea. Then, Countess Bantam, his mother, told her to get out.

The next day, they worked on a blueprint for the circus. One of the staff members, O'Breean, gives Mary a pair a earrings as a gift. That night, Mary Alice finished the blueprint. The next day, she was going to turn it in when the Countess noticed the earrings. Turns out they belonged to her and Mary is fired on the spot. She didn't want too leave, but she had to listen to the royalty. Before she left, she dropped those blueprints. Lord Bantam wanted her back. He made her Business Manager, and the circus was a success. Much to O'Breean's charden.

Without Mary Alice, Fountain Abbey wouldn't have been so successful. And that was the end of her diary. Muffy was still curious about her life, though. So, she started researching. Then, she found out, that Mary Alice moved to America! She was now wealthy from the circus and was living the dream. And that, my friends, and is the story of Mary Alice, who went from rags to riches!

Major

 * Muffy Crosswire
 * D.W. Read
 * Francine Frensky
 * Binky Barnes

Minor

 * Arthur Read
 * Bailey
 * George Lundgren
 * Wally

Major

 * Mary Alice Miller
 * Countess D.W. Bantam
 * Lord Binkford Bantam
 * Mr. Clarkson
 * Ms. O'Breean

Trivia

 * Many of the costumes from this episode were available in Muffy's Costume Game, in Arthur's Big App, before the episode's release.

Episode connections

 * Muffy had previously learned about her family's humble past in "Background Blues" and "Family Fortune."
 * Sue Ellen learned about the past by reading a diary in "Strangers on a Train."
 * Binkford wants to join a circus, as Shelley Barnes, another one of Binky's ancestors, would do in "What's in a Name?"
 * Muffy wears the same crown she did in "Framed!"
 * When Muffy's ancestor, Mary Alice Miller, sails for America after leaving England, she remarks, "I think I'll travel around America by car. I so adore those machines." Her interest in automobiles is likely the reason for one of her descendants establishing Crosswire Motors.

Cultural references

 * This episode was inspired by the British costume drama television series . and numerous names and locations bare a striking resemblance to the programme.
 * A portrait in the dining hall looks like.

Home Video
DVD:
 * Arthur's Fountain Abbey

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