The House of Beardsley

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning I still didn't see Master Eugene in his room. I did his bed without our usual conversation, and truth was, it was lonely. The room seemed even more big than it was and especially empty without a person in it.

When I went downstairs, I bumped into Matthew.

"Oh, it's you," he said, looking at me.

He was a round man with a round face, round nose, and round belly, but he had a nice air about him. I wondered if I should ask about Master Eugene, but then again, I didn't exactly have a reason to care. My job here was to clean the room, not care about the whereabouts of the masters.

"Good morning, Matthew," I said instead.

"Good morning, uh—forgive me. I forgot your name." He looked apologetic, and I smiled to show it was fine.

"I'm Shuyan, or Sue."

"Sue? Shuyan? You have two names?"

"Yes. My parents gave me up for adoption under the name Shuyan, but everyone found it hard to say and called me Sue."

Matthew suddenly smiled really big. "But you kept using Shuyan?"

"No, not really." I thought about the first day I came here. "I was going to tell Mister Kupka and everyone to call me Sue, but then my friends—Clo and Beth, told me to use my real name. They said it was prettier."

"How wonderful!" He smiled. "Those are some wonderful friends! My real name is Matheus, but people never bothered with pronouncing it and called me by the more common Matthew. Before I knew it, I was going with the flow! I wish I had people who called me by my real name."

"I suppose I never thought of it that way." I smiled. "Would you like me to call you Matheus from now on?"

"Hmm," he tapped his chin. "You know what? Yes, Miss Shuyan. Thank you."

"I'll be going now," I said, "I almost forgot I still have to go to Mister Kupka."

"Oh, before that—Master Eugene told me that recently he might be eating breakfast downstairs, so don't be too worried if you don't see him."

My eyes widened.

Eating breakfast with the others? Why?

"Oh, thank you for telling me, Matheus." I tried to sound as lively as possible. "Have a nice day, then."

"Same to you, Miss Shuyan."

I hurried down the stairs, where the girls were already there again. Just as I arrived, Mister Kupka arrived, this time telling us to clean the stairs and banisters of the staircase on the East side of the mansion.

I couldn't focus on listening, though. All I could think about was that something happened to Master Eugene. Was he never going to be allowed to eat breakfast in bed again? To talk to me?

Why?

Was it—could it be because of Silas?

It left an aching feeling in my heart. I shouldn't have expected anything, but losing a friend still felt painful after all those times. And although we were in the same house—this large mansion was so big, with its West wing and East wing, front entrances and back entrances, and three different parlor rooms for different occasions, that I have never seen any of the masters when we were working. Not to mention that Mister Kupka would purposefully assign us to clean a room only if he was sure none of the masters would be using it then.

The days passed and turned into weeks, and then October approached. Looking at Eugene's empty bed was the only way I could be sure of his existence, and that once, we talked, with me tucking in the sheets as he sat in the chair next to the nightstand.