Not being content to tolerate the ignominy of remaining in London for the twelve-month, she had successively persuaded Sir Lewis to take a country property on a short-term let, whilst they sought out a suitable permanent estate, could engage an architect of suitable stature, and complete a residence of suitable expense. After some months, the de Bourghs secured a tolerably large property in Kent and began the construction of an imposing modern house. The old manor house was relegated to the future—to the distant time that a dower house would be necessary—but ignored for the present, in favour of amending the natural situation of the land to conform with Lady Catherine’s own views on the picturesque, an endeavor hindered only by Sir Lewis’s desire not to dissipate his entire fortune in a fruitless attempt to insult nature completely; indeed, his last rational act had been to dismiss the London gentleman hired for that purpose. In a surprisingly short space of time, made possible by the expedient of unimpeded ready means, Rosings had been established: a large house and a respectable park, although the shades of Pemberley suffered naught by comparison. Being modern-built, Rosings lacked both the situation and elegance of the former. Nonetheless, the expense of Rosings well-satisfied Lady Catherine’s notions of a sufficiently imposing retreat for the wife of Sir Lewis de Bourgh: the result of much money, little taste, and no restraint.

For all of Lady Catherine’s selfless endeavours, her one deficiency as a wife (and it was a serious omission, indeed) was that she failed to provide her husband with a son. However unlikely to begin a dynasty, she did bless him with a daughter, Anne. It is commonly regarded as unusual for a father to be sincerely attached to a daughter; however, in Anne, Sir Lewis found one with a disposition most like his own: quiet, more inclined to sufferance than forbearance, grown comfortable in the assumption of being constantly ill-used by Lady Catherine, and a willing and understanding commiserator. Neither had any inclination to see their own errors: Sir Lewis’s in the impropriety of infusing a daughter’s mind with derision and contempt for her mother, and Anne’s in forswearing her mother’s natural claim to gratitude and respect.