Annabella reveals herself in this scene to be a heartless villain, and her views on marriage are even more shallow and corrupt than Arthur’s. She seems to be proving correct Arthur’s theory about Lord Lowborough’s chances of happiness in marriage: she deceives her husband and he doesn’t know the difference. In fact, he worships her. It is perhaps unfortunate that female characters in this novel so often fall into such simple categories—generally angel or devil—as it deprives them of productive complexity.