While the right choice of a husband for Belinda is the novel's ostensible concern, and the reader naturally awaits to see whether she will marry the eligible Clarence Hervey, the dominant and by far the most convincing character is the dissipated Lady Delacour. A determined party-giver, brilliantly witty, and fanatically jealous, Lady Delacour is a woman of insight but also of passion, and this has led her into various acts of folly, including wearing male dress and duelling with a female rival. Volumes I and I point a contrast between her domestic relationships with the estranged, burgundy-drinking Lord Delacour and the small daughter who is not even permitted to live with her parents, and the happy family life of Lady Anne Percival at Oakly Park. Fortunately, after being shunned as a possible rival, Belinda succeeds in re-uniting Lady Delacour with both her husband and daughter. Belinda and Clarence Hervey also go through a period of mutual misunderstanding -- encouraged by Lady Anne, Belinda almost marries a Mr. Vincent from the West-Indies, until he proves to be a gamester, while Clarence, who cannot swim but plays an excellent game of chess, almost marries Virginia, a forlorn girl whom he protects after she has been brought up in a condition of complete innocence and isolation from men.