Page "Gaudy Night" Paragraph 29

Even had she been so inclined, Annie could never have pursued an academic career, since she could not have afforded the high tuition fees.

Her one route of social mobility out of her working-class origin was through the traditional way of marriage.

This Annie took, becoming a professor's wife-only to have a woman scholar destroy her husband's career, drive him to suicide, and thus push Annie herself back down to the status of a servant.

Thus, Annie's strong drive to take revenge on women scholars in general and on Miss de Vine in particular is perfectly comprehensible, and in fact does not in itself prove her to be mentally deranged.

However, it is as such that she is ultimately treated-rather than being prosecuted in an open trial ( which she might have welcomed ) Annie is discreetly packed off to a private asylum.