"Oh why, I almost forgot." He laughed, refilling Erin's glass once more. "Where was it again where we left off?" He raised his voice so that Mrs. Sutherton could hear him clearly from afar.

"I believe you left off when you had to translate the different languages before the Duke cut off his foot off in a duel." She almost bounced in her chair with giddy excitement.

"That was quite a story. I would like to finish hearing as well," Mr. Sutherton said, cracking a whisper of engaged interest.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Erin measured her breathing, tapping the table and sharply watching the situation unfold.

Ezra jovially started speaking. "Right. I should give a little more context before we continue from that part. Duke Eckert, as I said before, was wonderful and generous on most days. But after he fought in the flash war during his youth, he had suffered an injury that was a bit, personality altering, some of his companions often said."

"What type of injury?" Mrs. Sutherton asked.

"Ah, it was a horrid one, really." He winced. "Hilt of an enemy sword made a deep dent on the entire back of his head." He tapped the back of his skull with a pained squint.

"Yikes." She cringed.

He nodded. "It was quite the indentation. Sort of like a bulbous soft spot in a baby's head."

"Soft spot on a baby?" She lightly laughed.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Yes, and ever since then, he had that dent that sort of pushed out his skull and made him look like he had two heads. His doctors said because of that he was prone to abnormal behaviors and bipolar moods. As in—." He paused to explode in a fit of thundering laughter. "And—." He pressed his hands against his face mimicking sorrowful weeping.

His actions were so emphatically loud and hearty, they were all nearly shaken by surprise.

"Mister Ezra!" Mrs. Sutherton giddily laughed. "Don't surprise us like that! You had me nearly fooled that you had become bipolar yourself!"

Mr. Sutherton, slightly taken aback, remained silent as he mused. Despite the surprise, there was a look of maintained interest in his eyes.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Well, when I worked at Duke Eckert's, every second I had to learn to expect the unexpected like that." He chuckled.

"Ah, but you surprised us," Mrs. Sutherton chortled. "Really took me for a loop for a second there."

"Expect the unexpected," he coined a sparkling, coquettish grin.

"Don't spook us again." She was rolling with laughs.

"Unfortunately, my Lord and Lady, I can't give you any such guarantee."

"Do you hear this man?" Mrs. Sutherton glanced at her husband, widening her smile at the amusement in her husband's face.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

On the spur of the moment, Erin imploded with similarly fashioned, roaring back hunching giggles and sniggers. "Haha haha!" She wrapped a hand over mouth, and the other struck and slapped the table with every electrified laugh.

They all started to stare at her, mystified.

"Haha!" She trembled, rocking with chuckles. "So funny!" She slapped the table, pressed her back against her chair, and abruptly stopped. Without hesitation, she killed her smile and smothered her laugh. She noticed all eyes were on her, and so she grimaced.

"What?" Erin met their stares with fabricated bafflement. "Why is everyone staring at me like I'm crazy?" Her eyes rolled around like marbles in slit sockets. "Such a binary standard," she mumbled, twirling her glass.

"Is something the matter, Erin?" Concern numbed her mother's shock.

"Nothing is wrong, mother." She bated the lashes of her eyes. "It's just, well?" She halted to turn to Ezra. "Mister Ezra, you seem to have such a lovely sense of humor." Disgust crept along her lips as the words escaped.

"Really?" Ezra beamed.

Her free hand fiddled with the cutlery, fingers cradling the knife. "Really.” She gestured with the knife. “Please, continue with your lovely story."

"Thank you. Now, before I was interrupted. I had to let you know of Duke Eckert's strange proneness to mood swings, or this next part of the story may come off as unbelievable."

"Will it now?" The joy was automatic in Mrs. Sutherton.

"Yes, so you see, the duke happened to be racing the horses with a fellow acquaintance, when he fell off his horse and hit head. We had to call his doctor, as he appeared to be intensely injured. But the problem was, the duke had hit his head on that bad spot in such a way a fit of mania and delusion took him. He falsely assumed that his doctor was his long-lost, and very dead brother he despised."

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Silently, Erin examined them whilst periodically tapping her finger against the table, barely suppressing her anger with each tap.

"So, there I was having to keep the duke in his mad delusional state from cutting down his Doctor, and somehow amidst the scuffle, a sword ended up being pointed towards me."

"Such a thing!" Mrs. Sutherton covered her mouth in shock. "What did you have to do?"

"Well, first I had to think about what wouldn't get the duke or my head chopped off. Which wasn't easy, considering the language barriers. The duke’s doctor was a foreign man, and you can imagine he was confused why the duke was suddenly trying to attack him with a sword. One thing eventually led to another before I had the duke attacking me, and the Doctor pulling out a weapon of his own to fight back."

"Oh my, that must have been so terrifying for you." Mrs. Sutherton gasped.

"Terrifying doesn't cover the half of it. I was as anxious as a pig at the butcher."

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Ezra's words fell flat on Erin's ears. Every word he spoke and every sound he dictated turned into unrecognizable noises.

She looked around the table, watching her parent's faces bloat with intrigue and glee every time he opened his mouth. They were listening to him with an unbroken focus, and it became apparent that it was more than just listening. They actually enjoyed conversing with him---a butler.

They enjoyed listening to a butler speak.

A butler.

It was completely baffling to her.

He was some man that they had just met, and yet it seemed they already loved him as if he were their own.

She had never received such smiles and laughter from her parents and yet; the butler was managing to get all of their attention merely by breathing.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

A deep-set scowl carved into her face. The more she thought about it, the more she was set off. The idea completely bothered her and things that bothered her never sat well.