IX. Echo
The slip of a girl signifies but a slip of a shadow, perhaps, but, to be quite frank, I was perturbed that Vincent should have Echo to serve as his personal valet. Everything about her reeked of impropriety, once I recognized her presence around the Nightray manor. Her sartorial taste was a cross between a circus dollop and a child's dollie (instead of a proper humble servant's attire); her passivity and demureness unsettling rather than decorous (once one actually notices her); and, furthermore, a young man Vincent's age should not be keeping a woman like Echo for such personal daily assistance without also calling her wife. Even if relations between the two were strictly innocent, the scandal of this pairing was too much for me.
I've voiced my concerns to Vincent about his choice of help, but he merely smirked and castigated me for being an old man with old man sensibilities and how "crass" it was for me to encroach upon his choice in servants with such criticisms. During my first conversation with the young woman a few days later, while she was on her way to run errands for her master, I struck up a small interrogation concerning how she viewed her relations with Vincent, trying hard not to make any unwarranted insinuations as to the purpose behind my questioning.
Her reply: "Master Vincent is my master and I am only his servant. Why should Echo view him in any other way?"
The pure flatness of her words was both disturbing yet reassuring. Certainly I could not assume any grievous misconduct between the two judging by the calmness of her answer.
Certainly….