] I agree that the Chatfields seem rather sensible folk who could be good friends, but I'm regarding everyone with a certain amount of reserve at this point.

See, this is why mysteries are always so mysterious to me -- I tend to see the characters the way the author presents them. So far I am not suspicious of the Chatfields, but I reserve the right to change my mind (just as I did with Wickham during my first reading of P&P).

The Kendalls tugged at my curiosity bones during the after dinner discussions. What sort of successful businessman would talk to a (relative) stranger as Kendall does to Darcy? As for Miss Kendall, well, I wouldn't want to be the servant in charge of cleaning the mess she made of the table linens -- heavily sugared tea, indeed. (Of course, if she had tried to drink it, she probably would have gotten sick, and that would have been an even bigger mess!)