It shocked her to her very core, but his answer hit her hard. It was something she may very well have said herself. It was Lucy's job to be the dependable, always there for moral support but nothing else sister. It wasn't her right to expect a husband or a family of her own, for she was not pretty enough to marry someone rich enough. No, her job was to be there for her more beautiful sisters, so they could marry someone with money. And if she did open up to the people she encountered, they would notice her more, and she would lose her position as being the fly on the wall. The result of that would be the end of her very lucrative column. Not good.
"I am very sorry to hear that. You're alomst human when you're not grinning like a fool and flailing about as you were."