Henrietta also notes "she is so very clever," and in chapter 2 she is described as a woman of "rather of sound than of quick abilities," but it bothers me that, at least in regards to CW, she is neither. I can understand a wrong first impression, but she would have had several opportunities to meet with CW, and her impression evidently didn't change, so how is her opinion "sound"?

And why is she clever? We hear from Louisa that brother Charles may not have been "learned and bookish enough to please LR," so we infer she is a great reader. I suppose it's a common enough prejudice to assume that people who read a lot are smarter than average (perhaps even true), but while LR may have a lot of "book learning" I wonder how good her "people skills" are. She has some influence over Anne, but Anne is close to her. She is very rational and business-like about trying to assist with retrenchment, but evidently doesn't know how to motivate Sir Walter or Elizabeth. JA has a great intuitive understanding of psychology -- but LR does not.

This might also explain why she didn't bother to stop in to see Mary when she dropped Anne off. Maybe it just didn't occur to her that Mary would take offense?