that Mrs. Goddard left the Woodhouses when she might have been most needed. And the line She was a plain, motherly kind of woman, who had worked hard in her youth, and now thought herself entitled to the occasional holiday of a tea-visit Ch. 3, suggests a much longer time period than 16 years.

Though the Woodhouses are rich, they don't seem to have all the hoo-haas associated with wealthy families. For instance, there is no mention of a housekeeper. Isabella may not have had a governess before Miss Taylor- perhaps Mrs. Woodhouse, who seems to have been intelligent and capable, taught her daughters herself.