In truth, Anne’s stratagem encompassed nothing more ingenious than silence. If her mother’s overbearing heartlessness could be construed by society as masculine, why would invincible reserve and obstinate indifference fail to deter the greatest part of the male sex? Even the most resolute of aspirants must receive the occasional token of encouragement to maintain his campaign; thus, her plan answered every expectation of success. This method was exempt even from the censure of her mother, who could distinguish no alteration in Anne’s conduct from that at Rosings, and the constancy and duration of her daughter’s demeanor had long led Lady Catherine to reclassify Anne’s studied silence as a becoming modesty, occasioned only by a most appropriate deference to a mother’s superior judgement. It was fortuitous for Anne that her mother’s expectations as to the manifold virtues necessarily comprehended in an husband worthy of the hand of Lady Catherine’s daughter rendered the reserve of applicants very thin, indeed. Unsurprisingly, Anne had met no-one remaining in this highly exclusive fraternity who could shake her resolution against gambling with that minute portion of happiness that remained in a known evil and the security of a tenure that an unmarried daughter could command.

It must be remarked—in fairness—that Miss de Bourgh was more scrupulous in the exhibition of her feelings than many of the men who surrounded her. Such men laboured only to look the gentleman, whilst sparing themselves the inconvenience that a compatible morality would require. Their ambition encompassed only the minimal exertion required in arrogating unto themselves the right of self-adjudged superiority, despising everyone who sought honest accomplishment—dining, dressing, and cultivating ill-humour, insolence, and eccentricity to a degree unattainable by an English gentleman. The modus operandi of these illustrious exquisites was captured in an anecdote frequently related in the drawing-rooms of London: “In the course of the evening, the dandy told a lady a wondrous story, and upon her looking incredulous, he said vehemently, ‘Upon my honour, Madam, it is true!’ then added gently, ‘When I say, ‘Upon my honour,’ Madam, never believe me.’”

Anne’s countenance never assumed the beautiful crossness of a young lady who finds herself seated away from a popular gentleman, sitting in a lovely state of pique watching others dance, or displaying a graceful bonhomie in making away with the lover of her friend. Anne possessed none of these superior refinements of sentiment, leaving her features to remain expressionless and impenetrable. And so, day-by-day, week-by-week, season-by-season, year-by-year, one of England’s wealthiest and most advantageously connected daughters remained single. A mother of lesser determination than Lady Catherine might have despaired, or at least resolved on an alternate method for detaching her daughter, but as Lady Catherine valued tenacity in her own character to an higher degree than she comprehended as evil Anne’s unmarried status, no substitute scheme could be considered.