So Rose was getting married. What a nice, happy life Rose would lead without intervention.

Without intervention.

He had a brood for a day after Rose’s notice, before he came to the logical conclusion: this was not a hell on earth to wreak alone.

“Mr. Benjamin?” he called through the cabin.

Which was not unheard of, but boded ill for Rose half the time.

Benny slipped into the room at being called, flour on his wrists showed he was perhaps baking something and tried to wipe them quickly. He looked towards his boss with a large curious smile. Things had been near quiet recently to the point he'd wondered if he'd been forgotten save for when he entered the room with a meal. It had taken some time to learn about kosher so that he wouldn't get Zechariah angry at him.

"You called me, sir?"

There were a lot of kitchen rules. The meat and everything-else cookware and utensils were not to be used interchangeably. Beef had hard to comprehend exclusions, that he seemed to finally settle for explaining with “no cuts past the shoulder. And no brains. Not even if the Rabbi himself scooped them out.” He declined broccoli outright because of bug concerns, and often scrutinized every pocket of a berry before it touched his lips.

Zechariah’s anger was not overt, per se … toward Mr. Benjamin. There were certain looks cast his way (mostly in the brows, but occasionally a pinching of the lips) when his standards were not met, but he did not sneer, scold, humiliate and outright threaten the way he did with Rose.

Why was he so tolerant toward Mr. Benjamin? It was Rose. It was 99.9% about pissing off Rose.

“There you are!” Zechariah smiled, turning to face him with hands clasped behind his back.

Zechariah was in a good mood: Rose was in trouble.

“Guess who has a child on the way, Mr. Benjamin?”

Benny had been grateful towards his employer. The rules for cooking and serving him were difficult but he had been learning and very upfront any time he had faltered or were uncertain if something met his level. The fact that the man was kinder to him than Rose only sweetened it as he wanted to rub it in her face any time he'd been shown generosity in punishment for a failure.

Today though, there was clearly something new going on. He watched the man's smile and a word popped up in his mind that he wanted so badly to say with a joking grin.

You.

He wasn't a fool though, he'd never seen nor heard a woman caller that wasn't strictly business. No suspicious purchases that could be gifts. If the man was seeing a woman, he was a magician at keeping it a secret. Benny had ideas, but honestly the man seemed to have no interests. It was something he certainly could understand well for the most part.

His head tilted to the side as he tried to think on any female he knew that his boss also knew. If it was the man's sister, he'd doubt he'd look so pleased. Suddenly, his brows raised and his lips curled into a devious smile.

"Really and truly, sir? Are the Wards really going to increase their numbers? Already the one sister, but now another? Is it.." He couldn't even dare to speak her name, it was really far too much and too wonderful to think of the misery she'll be soon facing.

Indeed: thus far, the vast majority of women on Zechariah’s doorstep had been direct relations, and few so far from the tree as to fancy a British marriage. The most suspicious that could be said of him was that he spent an awful lot of time letter-writing, and seemed [rather] protective of some of the contents, both incoming and outgoing. ‘Confidentiality,’ he would cite.

Zechariah’s smile only widened as his servant turned co-conspirator (or was it co-conspirator turned servant?) caught on quick. Had he known what deductions had brought that conclusion’s immediacy, he might have not.

“She thinks she marries two weeks from now,” he said, dropping his voice to a conspiring murmur, “so our dear Rose must be fairly far along.”

As the former pirate listened, leaning in as every word got juicier. His smile grew and he nodded enthusiastically. "Oh of course of course. I am under your guidance in however you wish to use this information."

The giddiness in his smile as he rolled up his sleeves higher. "I think the best thing is to bring a small gift over, to loudly congratulate them on the marriage and the safety of their quickly approaching family. Yes?"

There was the small chance he was wrong, but he could see the delight and tempered mischief in his boss's face. He loved that expression and even more so that he could be a part of it.

This brilliant young man was music to his ears. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no flower-named maids were eavesdropping, then lightly clasped a hand on Mr. Benjamin’s.

“I agree,” he conspired, “that this news must be acknowledged in some way. But I am certain they already know.”

He dropped his hands and crossed his arms in [mean] thought.

“What should Mr. Willaby be aware of regarding Rose?”

Benny rubbed his chin in thought. He knew Rose but wasn't certain he knew her so intimately he could come up with anything particularly juicy. "We both know that her cooking is terrible. Her family is crazy too.." He added as he paced.

"Honestly surprised any one would fall for her, to be certain. But I guess if they only managed to see her sunny side, it would make some sense." He then looked around as if afraid someone was listening in and whispered, "I may have found her attending a meeting of socialists..." He didn't need to say he was there to watch as well.

Zechariah nodded in agreement, but waved Mr. Benjamin’s statements off at the same time.

“The heart is an idiotic thing. Think reputation.”

Zechariah crossed his arms and looked to the ceiling for answers. Was her ‘sunny’ side even that sunny? He would not know nor care. It was when his servant whispered of socialists that he stilled completely.

“What kind of socialists?” he answered back just as quietly.

Benny shrugged. "I am merely telling you things that cross my mind, boss."

He spoke softly of the meeting and the pamphlets and their leader, Jacob Feldmann. "It's a pretty radical group, I think. "