"Oh, it's so much the same here! It's all--just like you say, every time you even just ask a question, it's just Don't you worry about that and That's how we've always done things here and Oh it would be too much trouble to teach the laundry girls a new way. Even Meg, who's very sweet, half the time she's too busy and she tells me to go out into the gardens, like a child. Unless I ask one of my husband's advisers..." Mary falters and frowns. "Well, that is... it's like your husband's grandfather, I think. If I ask Balvenie, he's on the king's council, Can we have such-and-such for dinner, or How do I get more blue thread for embroidery, he tells me he'll take care of it. And he does, I'm not complaining about that. But...he says just what your husband's grandfather does, that the household matters are mine to take care of, and then unless he's the one who talks to the servants nothing happens."

She reaches out and squeezes Cosette's hand impulsively. "Is it really like that for you too? I didn't think everything would be easy right away after I married, but--but it's like they want me to be a child again. To just keep on always being a little child."

Her eyes search Cosette's. Is that--is that how things are? Is it normal?