"Oh," Henri said, watching Helga scribble. She did see, but seeing and comprehending may have been two different tasks where this was concerned. "You write down all of that, for every gentleman you meet?" she asked, eyeing the pages of the notebook prior to where Helga had started writing, presumably the ones already filled out. It certainly was a lot of gentleman; how had she managed to meet so many? But then, Helga had been out for several years already, and Henri was still months away from her debut, so perhaps she would understand in time.

"How do you know all that? We only met him yesterday. What if you meet a gentleman and you don't know their — what was it? The birth order and the profession and the demeanor?" It was an awfully lot to consider, Henrietta thought, in choosing a man; she had never anticipated that it would be quite so complicated.