A Well-Behaved Woman 6 - The End (Pages 336 - end)

 

Corneil and Alice's son, Bill, died of typhoid in 1892 while an undergraduate at Yale University.

Alva has a cottage built in Newport. Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style.

One of Alva's friends was Mamie Fish. Marion Graves Anthon Fish (June 8, 1853 – May 25, 1915), often referred as Mamie Fish, was an American socialite and self-styled "fun-maker" of the Gilded Age. She and her husband, Stuyvesant Fish, maintained stately homes in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island.

Consuelo Montagu's husband died, which was a relief for her. The Duke of Manchester died in August 1892 of cirrhosis of the liver aged only 39, and was succeeded in his titles by his son William.

William went to Liverpool and spent months there as his new yacht was being built. When he returned, he took the family to a trip to India. Oliver Belmont was one of his companions, and Winthrop Rutherfurd was another. Winthrop was a reputed womaniser, and he took a shine to Consuelo. This was the start, and they later had a relationship. Winthrop Chanler Rutherfurd (February 4, 1862 – March 19, 1944) was an American socialite from New York, best known for his romance with Consuelo Vanderbilt. 

The Vanderbilts stayed in India with Lord Landsdowne, the vicerroy, and his wife. Lady Landsdowne advised Alva to visit her sister Albertha Spencer-Churchill as her son needed a wife. 

Albertha Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough  (29 July 1847 – 7 January 1932) was an English aristocrat. On 8 November 1869, Albertha married George Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, 7th Duke of Marlborough. On 20 November 1883, the couple were divorced on grounds of his adultery, cruelty, and desertion towards his wife.

Consuelo met Charles Spencer-Churchill. He was Conservative politician, and a close friend of his first cousin Winston Churchill. He was often known as "Sunny" Marlborough after his courtesy title of Earl of Sunderland.

In 1893 when Alva was on her way back to America, she receives a letter from her friend Consuelo Montagu, who confessed that she had an affair with William. That triggered the divorce between Alva and William. Alva Vanderbilt shocked society in March 1895 when she divorced her husband who had long been unfaithful, at a time when divorce was rare among the elite, and received a large financial settlement said to be in excess of $10 million, in addition to several estates. She already owned Marble House outright. The grounds for divorce were allegations of William's adultery, although there were some who believed that William had hired a woman to pretend to be his mistress so that Alva would divorce him.

Consuelo meets Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, who sends his marriage proposal, but she turns him down. Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg 24 September 1861 – 31 July 1924) was the fourth and youngest son and child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and his morganatic wife Julia, Princess of Battenberg.

Consuelo and Alva visited Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough, and she told her mother that she saw herself the mistress of the place. It was built between 1705 and 1722.

In 1895 Consuelo Montagu's daughter, May, died of consumption, and Alva wrote a very brief letter to her former friend. May was born in 1879, making her 16 years old when she died on March 15, 1895.

Gertrude Vanderbilt got engaged to Harry Whitney. At age 21, on August 25, 1896, she married the extremely wealthy sportsman Harry Payne Whitney (1872–1930), a banker and investor.

Consuello and the Duke of Marlborough married  on November 6, 1895, at St. Thomas's Church in New York City in a high-profile, yet ultimately forced marriage orchestrated by her mother, Alva Vanderbilt.

Alva and Oliver Belmont married  on January 12, 1896, a year after her divorce from William Kissam Vanderbilt. The ceremony was a quiet one, performed at her home by Mayor W.L. Strong and was not widely known until after the fact.

 In August 1896 Neily Vanderbilt married Grace Wilson despite his family's opposition. 

Corneil died on September 12, 1899, at age 55 from complications associated with cerebral hemorrhage. 

Oliver died of peritonitis in 1908  on June 10, 1908. 

Consuelo separated and eventually divorced the Duke of Marlborough. The Marlboroughs separated in 1906 and divorced in 1921. The marriage was annulled, at the Duke's request and with Consuelo's assent, on 19 August 1926.

After Oliver's death, Alva became involved in the suffragist movement. In 1909, she founded the Political Equality League to get votes for suffrage-supporting New York State politicians, and wrote articles for newspapers.