Joseph turns to look, nail scraping over the buttons, assessing the youth before him; his strange eyes may make it difficult to entirely track where he's looking, but there's no doubt that he's giving Alphinaud the old up-and-down-and-up.

"Surely there is a mistake."

Of course they had told him that he would have one, but he didn't quite believe it--what nonsense, to expect him to share a room.