“Oh,” he said, with a lilt of pleasant surprise. “How many siblings?”

Rose dropped down on her bed, which creaked, inhaling deeply. At last the corset had come off.

Thank goodness he didn't have to wear a corset.

"Nine living sir" he replied after a moment. "One of my little sisters is married however and lives in another town now" he added with a tone of sad happiness.

“Oh. Good for her.”

All the locals drowned, killed someone, or coughed to death if they stayed too long – did they not?

“What about you?” he said, lackadaisical. “Trapped here?”

He sat back into a seat, face going blank when it creaked.

It stayed together, and Zechariah sank back into it. He wondered what it was like to wear a corset.

Claude was deciding what to reply with when he heard the creak, eyes shooting over to the man and the chair. Was everything here broken?

He went back to the bench he was working on, but he kept an eye on Zechariah from the corner of his eye. "I'm the eldest, my parents need my help and since I don't want to marry...."

That was the plan. Zechariah looked completely unmoved by the creak – figuratively and literally.

“For now?” he said carelessly, picking up a book from the stand by his chair. “A young man, unfettered by household and wife?” He flipped open the book to what might as well have been a random page, using his index finger to keep it open.

Claude couldn't help but wonder if it was poetry again.

"Forever.:

Rose finally made her way to the servant's entrance, face washed, corset tied normally. She did not feel like going to the dance anymore, but she had told her sisters she would be there and they would worry if she did not come. But she figured Claude was at work now, Mr. Meijer was back to... whatever he did.... and she could go and say hello. She approached the drawing room, but then stopped when she heard voices.

Zechariah arched his brows, though did not look especially surprised.

“Your parents must be disappointed – are they not?”

With a light shrug he looked towards the man. "I'm always a disappointment to my father, somehow it's probably the bottom of the list with him."