Young Cranford hastened to lead his cousin to the table and seated her in a beautifully upholstered chair.
– What a beautiful piece of jewellery," said Lady Cranford in a slightly trembling voice, glancing at her niece's neck.
– Thank you, aunt. I inherited it from my mother," Vivian smiled charmingly at her.
"Dear Lord, does she hurt me on purpose?" – Lady Cranford shuddered in her heart, but answered Vivian with a calm smile, so unsuited to her blue, cold eyes.
Despite the silent tension that prevailed at lunch, and which all three of them unwittingly felt, the meal passed in a lovely discussion of today's heat, Lady Cranford's magnificent garden, and the latest rumours from the royal palace. However, the conversation then drifted smoothly into a discussion of politics and war, and Vivian, who came from a small remote town, could not keep up that part of the conversation, but caught every word her aunt and cousin said carefully. It was only after a while that Anthony noticed how silent his cousin had become and realised that she simply had nothing to say about the royal family, politics or the war with France. And how could a provincial girl have such knowledge? Feeling annoyed, Anthony tried to turn the conversation in another direction, but his mother stubbornly returned to the topics that interested her and ranted about this or that event.
– 'Mother, our talk of politics and war is tiring our guest,' Anthony finally said bluntly to his mother.
– Is that true, my dear? – Lady Cranford raised her eyebrows, though she could see the bored eyes of her niece, who was fiddling with the gold chain round her neck with her long white fingers.
– Alas, Auntie, I am not good at royal gossip, politics, or war," she answered frankly: she was terribly annoyed at Aunt Beatrice's way of making long monologues about things in which she, Vivian, had no interest. She had been looking forward to hearing the latest news about the season, high society, fashion and dancing, and was now leaning back in her chair, bored out of her mind (which her aunt thought was grossly rude). But on hearing Anthony's words, earnestly desiring to allow her to take part in the conversation again, Vivian levelled her back and smiled gratefully at her cousin, much to her mother's displeasure.