] I couldn't really say. She's wallpaper - in the book, she just sits in the background being inert. Even away from her domineering mother, I think that like Hero, you'd have to wait until Act III before she says more than two consecutive lines.

] I think Col Fitzwilliam's admiration of Lizzie suggests he'd rather marry a Beatrice than a Hero.

But as the Colonel points out, he can't necessarily afford to do what he'd rather. Anne comes with a healthy chunk of property attached, and that can be a pretty good cosmetic. And even if she would fall well short of a perfect life's helpmeet, "sickly and cross" is easier for a husband to evade than energetic and domineering like her mother.

Picture having Lady Catherine for a mother-in-law, though. That's one case where marrying for money means earning it the hard way.