He was still reading the driveling end, for once he started something he also completed it beyond all sense.

His eyes flicked up lazily from the book to the ongoing struggle between the child and his newest hire.

"Mr. Benjamin," he said leisurely. "Do you remember our first conversation?"

Benny was outraged. Luckily, he left a window unlocked in the kitchen from when he was cooking to cool the dessert faster. He slipped in and came up behind the kid immediately wrapping an arm around and lifting the kid up like a sack of potatoes. He bowed slightly.

"I am very sorry, sir. It was completely my fault for stepping out to chase him away. I beg your forgiveness and mercy.." He was good at groveling when needed, he thought.

Rose had come to see what all the noise was about. "James!" She exclaimed when she recognized the boy.

James struggled to try and get free. "I can work ser!"

Mr. Meijer looked unimpressed by the desperate groveling, but mentally it gave him the image of a human footstool and it pleased him. His gaze iced over immediately at Rose's implication.

"This is one of your brothers then, Rose?"

He wasn't being lectured anymore for the moment, that was good. He wrapped his other arm around the kid to keep him from getting free as Rose entered. Of course she would know so much trouble, she seemed to be a magnet for it.

He covered the boy's mouth. "I'll just drop him off outside, sir." Maybe tie him up and toss him on a train out of town so he'd be out of his hair for a good long time.

"Wha- no, ser. He's Claude Longbottom's brother." Rose said. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the struggling boy. "And wait til he hears about this, James!"

James glared at Rose as if she was the one who had ruined everything. He opened his mouth and bit Benny's hand. "She's lying! I'm Rose's brother!"

Mr. Meijer's mouth pursed at the first revelation. Great. He could not cause too much trouble with this one if he wanted Claude to have a hard time sitting fix his chairs.

But then, little James threw it all into question. Ugh. Did he torture this child or not?

"Hold, Mr. Benjamin." His attention turned to James, cold and judgmental. "But you are not redheaded," he reasoned aloud, looking down at the child. "Are you a bastard Ward?"

Benny winced in pain and was about to box his ear when his boss spoke. He frowned but held the boy tighter so he couldn't struggle but could speak. He was suddenly seeing a silver lining to his unable to father children , the idea of having a kid like this made his blood start to boil. How did anyone do it?

[Content warning: cruelty to a child]

"Aye ser. Her mother was a whore." James said.

Rose grasped. "How dare you!?" She stepped over and boxed the boy's ear. "You wicked child!"

"We do not gossip here," Zechariah said, verbally.

His eyes, on the other hand...