As Rufford’s enthusiasm cools Arabella intensifies her pursuit through letters, personal pressure, and the influence of aristocratic relatives at Mistletoe, with Lady Augustus joining the campaign to force him to acknowledge an engagement, but Rufford finally resolves that however imprudent his flirtation may have been he never formally proposed and will not allow himself to be driven into marriage, while Mary at last writes decisively to Lawrence Twentyman that she cannot marry him and endures the disappointment of her family and the anger of her stepmother as she acknowledges that her heart belongs elsewhere and begins choosing her own future, and Senator Gotobed’s involvement in the Goarly dispute and his encounters with the hunting community deepen his criticism of English law, privilege, and social convention while Arabella’s struggle increasingly exposes the harsh economic realities underlying the Victorian marriage market.
