ROME – Fans of the epic British period drama “Downton Abbey” will recall that in the series finale, at one point Gladys Denker, maid to the Dowager Countess of Grantham, schemes to sabotage her chief rival, Spratt the butler, by revealing that he moonlights as an advice columnist for a lady’s journal, expecting that he’ll be fired. Instead, old Lady Grantham declares herself amused, and Spratt’s job is safe.
Later, Spratt says to Denker that she made a fatal mistake regarding their employer in her haste to be rid of him. When Denker asks what it was, the reply is lapidary.
