Читать книгу Eligible - Curtis Sittenfeld - Страница 18

“The thing I’m confused about,” Liz said to Mary, “is what day does Mervetta come? Because the house is getting gross.” A twice-monthly fixture at the Tudor since Liz’s childhood, Mervetta cleaned the Bennets’ toilets, vacuumed their rugs, and changed their sheets; once, when Liz was ten, Mervetta had told her that the Bennets were the only white people she’d ever known who ate grits.

Mary’s expression was both uncomfortable and amused, as if Liz had made an offensive joke that Mary wished she didn’t find funny. She said, “Mervetta died.”

“Oh, God,” Liz said. “No one told me.”

“Maybe because before that, Mom fired her. She caught her sitting on Lydia’s bed watching TV.”

Liz winced. “So who cleans the house now?”

Mary shrugged. “Nobody.”

The two sisters were standing in the kitchen; Liz had just returned from lunch with Charlotte Lucas.

Liz said, “Did anyone go to Mervetta’s funeral?”

Mary shrugged again. “I didn’t.”