Ushant is a figure shaped by rank, habit, and an inherited definition of purpose. His mother, the Dowager Duchess, has trained him to see himself as a custodian of the family’s line and estate. His view of marriage therefore treats affection and interest as secondary to the issues of continuity and decorum, and he prioritizes duty to his family name above everything else. In this framework, he expects obedience and acquiescence from his wife, and the narrative therefore uses his mistreatment of Nan to sharply critique these premises.

Specifically, the novel illustrates that although Ushant’s family title confers power and esteem, it does not confer happiness. The demands associated with the dukedom narrow Ushant’s lead to his misguided belief that he can direct the lives of others according to a fixed design. His conversations with Nan in London and with his solicitor in Chancery Lane show him as a man who interprets his own marital troubles through the sterile lenses of jurisdiction and duty. In his view, Nan has a duty to him and to the family into which she has married, and it is this duty to which he appeals when he tells her to come home. He signals again that marital life is a matter of compliance when he adds that she has “no choice but to obey” (342). For Na, Ushant’s callous behavior exemplifies the very worst consequences of The Costs of Marrying for Status.

The portrayal of Ushant’s fascination with clocks clarifies both his mental habits and his limitations, for his admiration of machinery’s predictability suggests that he expects a similar degree of predictability from his human relations. In the case of his failed marriage, for example, he wishes that he could identify the broken spring or misaligned gear that would account for Nan’s refusal to perform the duties expected of a duchess. The novel also records the limits of his competence. When he tries to realize his ambitions to build his own clock, nothing quite works as intended, and this relatively minor detail symbolically illustrates his failure to use mechanical rules to engineer desired outcomes in the real world. Ironically, his assumed mastery of systems does not translate into insight about Nan’s experience, for she does not respond to adjustments or orders; she speaks, reasons, and chooses. The clock analogy highlights the folly of Ushant’s approach to marriage, and his habit of treating his wife and his own household as a regulated mechanism ultimately drives Nan away.

It is therefore only logical that when faced with Nan’s “desertion,” he once again resorts to the familiar comfort of systems to solve his problems, relying upon legal procedures to formulate his next steps. As he demands of his solicitor, “I only want [the marriage] over with, as soon and as quietly as possible” (353). In this scene, the imbalance of power is clear, as Britain’s laws and customs unquestioningly support Ushant as a peer while placing his erstwhile wife at risk of surveillance and lasting social stigma. In the end Ushant remains consistent in his cruelty and entitlement, registering no interest in Nan’s perspective and seeking only to end the marriage according to the accepted forms.

Miss Testvalley is presented as a bilingual intermediary who understands aristocratic codes and continental intellectual traditions while belonging fully to neither. Her anglicized name is a compromise that enables her employment amongst upper-class families, and although her own family history includes Italian patriots, poets, and artists, the household in Denmark Hill lives modestly. This background allows Miss Testvalley to understand both the prestige and the fragility of the British aristocracy. She can admire a painting at Longlands while understanding the financial pressures that force the sale of such items, and she can introduce American mothers to hospitality without mistaking hospitality for solidity. Her dual vantage point allows her to counsel the St. George sisters about practical matters such as invitations and wardrobes while engaging them in more philosophical conversations about literature and art. She is thus an outsider who functions as a mirror for the insiders and as a moral witness for the reader.

Professionally, Miss Testvalley is a governess who supports her family by selling her time and expertise. The position places her in proximity to upper-class young women without granting her equality with them. She runs lessons, takes the girls to museums, assigns reading in French and English, and develops their abilities. As she enlarges the girls’ intellectual world, the narrative often stresses the fact that her employment is inevitably temporary. When a cohort marries, the governess must find a new post. This reality renders her even more precarious when she protects Nan during the separation from Ushant. Miss Testvalley knows that this act will damage her reputation and jeopardize her ability to secure references from grand houses, yet her strong loyalty to Nan compels her to act. Nan responds by trying to secure references for her and by treating her as more than a mere employee. When Nan begins to see Miss Testvalley as her “mother” (398), the narrative suggests that their mutual affection is grounded in the governess’s instruction and generosity.

Miss Testvalley’s decision to end her engagement to Sir Helmsley Thwarte is consistent with her understanding of The Conflict Between Personal Happiness and Societal Duty. His proposal offers her an unprecedented degree of security, as well as entry into the very world she has served, and the proposal itself is also based on real regard. However, she declines because she judges that the marriage is “impossible,” given her staunch loyalty to Nan and Guy. Her letter of refusal is also an act of protection toward the ailing Sir Helmsley, who would otherwise be entangled in a scandal not of his making. Her decision reflects her desire to maintain her integrity and to avoid complicity in a structure that would expose others to humiliation. The novel’s last description of her on the platform depicts a working woman who has completed a difficult task and is now turning back toward London to face the next necessity that will arise in her life. In the end, Miss Testvalley knows that although she cannot undo the institutions that govern divorce and status, she can decide where to stand as a “female warrior” (406) and whom to assist, even at great cost to herself.

Guy functions as a foil to the idle peers of Britain, and his presence in the narrative alongside Ushant also clarifies the latter’s limitations. Guy belongs to an old family and is heir to Honourslove, but his father’s extravagance forces him to work abroad as an engineer. He spends years in Brazil and marries Paquita there, although she dies untimely. As he acquires languages and technical skills beyond those expected of an aristocrat, the narrative contrasts his experience with the insular habits of the London social circles. He returns with a readiness to act and an independence of judgment that set him apart from his peers. When county interests and family friends propose a parliamentary candidacy at Lowdon under the auspices of the Duke, he considers this political opportunity but then rejects it. The withdrawal follows his recognition that continued public proximity to Nan would make life intolerable for them both. He therefore distinguishes between obligations that serve people and obligations that serve fashion. Guy is presented as a man whose particular brand of integrity is not inherent to his social class.

The narration of Guy’s thoughts records the care with which he monitors his feelings for Nan. When Lady Churt’s public accusation makes Nan vulnerable, he seeks out Nan in order to apologize and to establish a plan that will protect her from scandal. When he finally speaks freely to Nan, he states simply that he loves her “more than anything in the world” (382), offering her an emotional directness and sincerity that are completely at odds with anything Ushant has ever said to her. His combination of decisiveness and restraint defines his role as the antithesis to Ushant.

In the end, Guy decides to give up what remains of a public life in England in order to make a practical life with Nan elsewhere. He secures a position to survey a Greek line from Piraeus toward Larissa and anticipates further work in India, and he invites Nan to travel with him only after she has declared that she has left Ushant. This union is far more suitable for Nan that her actual marriage, and the novel’s conclusion establishes Guy as a uniquely earnest and moral character invites Nan into an equal partnership in which the new couple’s work and regard can be joined in a rewarding manner.

Lizzy Elmsworth is one of the young American women who comes to Britain with the unstated aim of finding an aristocratic husband. Just like Mable, Virginia, and Nan, she succeeds in doing so, but not in the manner that she first expected. On arrival in Britain, Lizzy is a rival to Virginia, who is of similar age, reputation, wealth, and status. When they are both in the company of Lord Seadown, they vie for his attention and affection. At the cottage in Runnymede, they are in direct competition, but when a third rival, Lady Churt, is introduced, Lizzy shows her capacity for self-sacrifice by announcing Lord Seadown’s engagement to Virginia. In doing so, she accepts defeat in her rivalry with Virginia but shows the solidarity that exists in the small set of young American women. She may have been Virginia’s rival, but she recognizes more of herself in Virginia than she does in Lady Churt. Lizzy’s moment of sacrifice is a foreshadowing of the higher level thinking which she will display later in the book.

Rather than marrying an aristocrat, Lizzy marries a gentleman. Hector Robinson is an ambitious, wealthy young man who lacks a hereditary title, and he is far removed from Seadown and Ushant in terms of status. However, Lizzy’s marriage to Hector is the most viable of all the matches made during the fateful summer at the cottage in Runnymede. In Hector, Lizzy finds a man who is willing to respect her person and her intellect. He often takes an admiring backseat as she plots out the complicated network of social happenstance that may allow her sister to marry Ushant and enable Nan to get a divorce. Although Lizzy’s political maneuvering is somewhat cynical, it is also evidence of her ability to reckon with the pragmatic, competitive nature of British high society. She and Hector represent a form of budding ambition and intelligence that highlights the Disruptive Forces in Aristocratic Society. Lizzy’s marriage is a platform for her success and an opportunity for her to earn a degree of respect from Hector which other British husbands deny to their American wives.

As Nan’s older sister, Virginia is used to gaining the lion’s share of the attention. In the sisters’ early years, Nan’s bookish quiet is typically secondary to Virginia’s charm and beauty. Accustomed to being seen as the preeminent of the two St. George girls, Virginia grows used to her elevated status. Whereas Nan goes to Britain to see more of the country she has read about in books, Virginia is out to find a husband and soon does so, marrying Lord Seadown and elevating herself into the British nobility. Whereas Nan gets married almost by accident, Virginia’s marriage is the consequence of concerted effort, allowing her to unite her American money with her husband’s British prestige.

In this respect, the success of Virginia’s marriage only stresses the collapse of Nan’s marriage. Unlike Nan, who bristles at the responsibilities of a duchess, Virginia appreciates the etiquette and the expectations of her station. This contrast is illustrated when Virginia confronts her sister about the imminent divorce. Nan’s divorce may rebound socially on Virginia, who resents the necessity of ensuring that she will not be tainted by the resulting scandal. Rather than supporting Nan, Virginia is openly annoyed with her sister’s inability to conform. From Virginia’s perspective, Nan’s marriage to Ushant was a triumph, and she cannot understand why Nan is not satisfied. Tellingly, the only threat she can offer is their mother’s anger, and it is clear that Virginia is essentially distancing herself from her scandalous younger sister and openly embracing everything that Nan is about to reject. The sister’s may have grown up in the same environment, but their fates diverge in almost opposite directions.