SHACKLES

CHAPTER EIGHT

A few days hence, Papa returned—this time not alone. He brought with him a woman with a roundness to her belly, the sort one might get from too much pudding, I thought. Beside her stood a boy who looked about my age, though he carried himself like he was older. The woman did not offer so much as a smile to Mama or me. Her expression remained fixed, warm only toward Papa and the boy—whom I later came to know as George.

“This is your Aunt Eloise, Zoe,” Papa announced, with a flourish as if presenting a prized ornament.

Aunt Eloise curved her lips into what I suspect was meant to be a smile, but it looked more like something forced upon her face by social obligation than any genuine warmth.

“Welcome, ma'am,” I said politely, curtsying ever so slightly.

Papa turned to introduce her to Mama, but Mama offered neither greeting nor grace. She made no effort to soften the air, as she so often did in moments of awkwardness. Instead, she stood still, silent, unmoved.

Mr. Hawkins, our ever-serious butler, arrived promptly to take their cloaks and make arrangements for their shoes to be cleaned.

“The slums are unkind to footwear,” he muttered with disdain. “Mud and brittles everywhere—utterly unbecoming.”

But just then, I caught George trying to smother a laugh—and I knew precisely why. Poor Mr. Hawkins, though loyal and dignified, had ears that defied all proportion—round, wide, and slightly floppy, like something one might find drawn in a child’s fairy tale. I had long ago dubbed him Mr. Ear, though I never dared say it aloud.

What made it all the more comical was the way he carried himself—with a seriousness that could shame a bishop. And when children giggled in his presence, he would lean in with that furrowed brow and ask in all sincerity, “What, pray tell, is the source of such amusement?” Never realising, of course, that he was precisely the cause.

George and I exchanged a glance—his stifled laughter, my raised brow—and in that moment, I felt both wary and oddly curious about what this boy and his oddly silent mother might bring into our lives.