“Madam,” I cut in. “This is hardly the sort of thing—”
“I know, it’s an impolite question, but we are all family here now, and we must get straight down to it,” said my aunt. She turned back to Elizabeth.
“Is it really necessary that you write everything down?” said Elizabeth.
“It is,” said my aunt.
“Are you planning to show it to others?” said Elizabeth.
“His income,” said my aunt.
“I do not know precisely. He does not share his books with me.”
“You have an idea.”
“Perhaps two thousand pounds a year,” said Elizabeth.
Lady Matlock nodded, scribbling. “And this is all from land, not investments?”
“Yes.”
“How many servants do you keep in the household?”
“Three,” said Elizabeth.
“Madam,” I said again. “I must insist—”
“If you keep interrupting me, Darcy, I shall spill the ink all over your table on purpose,” said my aunt. “Now, Mrs. Darcy, do you speak French?”
“A-a little,” said Elizabeth. “Not well, but I think I might carry on a conversation if someone spoke quite slowly, at least about the basics, anyway.”
My aunt scribbled.
Elizabeth ducked her face down, fidgeting even more with her collar.
“Do you draw?”
“I… no,” said Elizabeth.
“Paint?”
“Not really.”
“Play the piano?”
“A little,” said Elizabeth.
“Well, what have you been occupied with, then? Your governess must have been quite appalled at your lack of inclination for anything.”
“We never had a governess,” said Elizabeth.
“Oh,” said Lady Matlock, scribbling yet again. “Well, I suppose you couldn’t afford one. And there are a number of daughters, I understand, and you are not even the eldest, though you’ve been married first, and—”
“All right, enough,” I said.
Lady Matlock ignored me. “And I understand, I have heard, that you girls in this family are just traipsing about the countryside, walking this way and that, going into abandoned houses with men like my nephew here and breaking your ankles.”
Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “No, no, I only walked alone because my sister was sick. But truly, we all walk together much of the time, without any chaperone, and I hardly think there’s anything so scandalous in awalk.”
