Lopez enters the Silverbridge election expecting the Duchess’s patronage to carry him toward Parliament, but when the contest ends in defeat and leaves him burdened with substantial expenses he attempts to hold the Duchess and ultimately the Duke responsible for his losses, causing the Prime Minister intense embarrassment because his wife’s intervention has allowed the prestige of his office to become entangled with Lopez’s private ambitions, while tensions within the coalition also worsen and Sir Orlando withdraws amid growing political frustration, and back in London Lopez’s speculative ventures begin collapsing as he presses Emily to obtain more money from her father and pursues increasingly uncertain schemes such as the kauri-gum enterprise, spreading financial damage to Sexty Parker and others while Emily slowly realizes that the marriage she once defended as a matter of love has become dominated by greed, manipulation, and fear.
