“George! There you are! I think you’ve grown three inches since Christmas.” She pulled her broad brother into a hug and planted a kiss on his cheek.
At sixteen his strong, squirming body and poorly returned sentiment proved his embarrassment, but his smile did seem to connote that he was pleased with his height.
“And Joseph! How I’ve missed you.” Joseph welcomed her hug with more ease. He was only thirteen, quite a bit scrawnier, and in his first year at Harrow. “Tell me, how was school? Are you glad to be on holiday?”
“Most definitely,” Joseph said, his voice cracking. “I thank you for your many letters these past few months. They were a bright spot.”
“First year’s the roughest, mate,” George said, clasping a hand on Joseph’s shoulder. George then made a face to Charlotte behind his brother’s back, and Charlotte understood that school hadn’t been easy for Joseph.
“Well, let us not talk of it, then.” Charlotte smiled and ushered them out the door. “Your carriage awaits. I am so excited to show you what I have planned. Off we go.”
The young men watched through the carriage window the whole of the short journey, until they came near the large barred entrance.
“Look at the carriage line,” George noted. His voice had grown deeper, his manners more polished. “A popular place.”
“Droves of people!” Joseph added, his curly hair bobbing.
Their carriage pulled to a stop, and George handed Charlotte down. Joseph glanced up at the large fence and sign before them. “The London Zoo?”
“Quite right.” Charlotte smiled. “You boys aren’t too old, are you?”
Joseph vehemently shook his head, while George folded his arms, looked thoughtful, and smiled back at her. “There are singular species here, I’ve heard tell. I assume mostgrownmen think coming here is a privilege.”
“Yes,” Charlotte returned, “and just wait until you see their newest—”
“Oh, I’ve heard all about it!” Joseph exclaimed. “The Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt gifted a hippopotamus! Can we go see it first, please?”
George’s eyes grew wide. “Is it true?”
“Yes, it is,” Charlotte said, tousling Joseph’s curly hair and then linking each arm around one of her brother’s arms. “Apparently in exchange for some hounds and deer.”
“Interesting,” George said.
Charlotte made her way to the ticket booth and procured three tickets.
Together the trio walked inside the tall gates. They hadn’t even made it to the hippopotamus before Joseph began commenting on everything in sight. “There! I knew they had an oryx. Look at him!” Joseph wriggled out of Charlotte’s arm and ran to the enclosure. “What I wouldn’tgiveto go to Africa,” he exclaimed, pushing his hair out of his eyes as she and George came closer. He studied the animal in awe and then pointed across the way. “And there! What is that creature? A zebra? But it forgot half its stripes!”
Again Charlotte and George followed their ecstatic brother. “This is good for him,” George confided in her. “He’s been picked on at school. I think he sometimes tries to act older than he is, but he is still a young boy at heart. Here he can be himself and really express how he feels.”
Charlotte nodded, concerned but grateful for the information. As she came to Joseph, she wanted to join in the excitement. “What is that?” she asked.
“A quagga, apparently, from South Africa,” Joseph said, pointing to a sign near the metal fence. “I wasn’t even aware such an animal existed,” he whispered, almost to himself. The front of the animal looked just like a zebra, but its legs and back seemed to fade into a horse’s markings.
They moved through the zoo for a half hour, taking in various animals, until George spoke up. “Didn’t you say, Joseph, that you wanted to see the hippo?”
“Oh, you are right!” Joseph exclaimed. “I am so completely overcome that I forgot.”
“Shall we make our way there now?” Charlotte asked, opening her parasol in the bright sunshine. “I assume it’s near that crush.”
They walked briskly toward the crowd of people who were indeed watching Obaysch, the hippopotamus.
“What a name!” Charlotte exclaimed as they skirted around the edge of the enclosure and caught sight of the breadth of the animal.
“A great name for a great specimen,” one of the zookeepers said. He stood near the edge of the enclosure and told the story of how the great hippo was brought up the Nile before coming to England.
Charlotte listened but preferred to watch the awe on Joseph’s and George’s faces over watching the animal. Then she glanced at the surrounding crowd, admiring so many happy observers.
From the corner of her eye she caught sight of a well-dressed man on the fringe of the group. Around his great coat hung an untied scarf, draping down both lapels. She’d recognize the black-and-white woven lines from the border sheep’s wool anywhere. It was unmistakably Northumbrian, though the man looked to be a gentleman, not a sheep herder.
