] Did anyone else notice teh small detail that gentelmen preferred relatives to be their housekeepers?

I wonder if this is because you wouldn't have to pay them, and they would be far less likely to run off. ;-)

] I wonder if Mrs Reynolds was some distant relation of Darcy's?Would explain her paritality, wouldn't it? ;-)

It seems very unlikely to me that Mrs. Reynolds was related to Darcy, but I too wondered about her. The things I have read in Vickery's analysis really seems to give her admiration a lot more weight. The fact that she has been with the Darcys since Fitzwilliam was a child, and is trusted enough to run Pemberley even though she is not a relative, and still likes Darcy after all these years, speaks volumes, now that I know how fickle servants were, especially female ones. Before, I would read P&P and wonder why Elizabeth and the Gardiners were so struck by her admiration of Darcy. To me, it just seemed like, "So one person thinks he's a good guy. So what." But now I too feel how impressive that is, just like Elizabeth and the Gardiners!