As I began reading the posts below in this thread, it also occurred to me that Lady R *is* the only one who loves Anne and gives her any notice, the only one to treat her with any human dignity. What could the early years after her mother's death have been like without a Lady R? Probably rather wretched. On the other hand, Anne, regardless of the circumstances could have had the great love of Wentworth these eight years too. So taken as such, for the time being, I guess Lady R balances out to a fairly decent person in the long run but I will save final judgement until later. :)