Alice finally breaks her engagement to John Grey and withstands the fierce disapproval of her relatives, refusing to reverse her decision while becoming closer to her cousin Lady Glencora Palliser, whose own marriage presents another conflict between personal desire and social duty. Glencora has married the immensely wealthy Plantagenet Palliser but remains emotionally attached to her former lover Burgo Fitzgerald, and she feels trapped by a husband whose life is dominated by politics and responsibility. At Matching Priory, Alice encounters the political world of the Pallisers and sees more clearly how marriage can be shaped by family interest, wealth, inheritance, and public expectation rather than affection alone. Although her relatives continue pressing her to return to John, Alice leaves the Priory determined to follow her own judgment, bringing her once more toward George and the dangerous attraction of her former life.