	Phoebe Marks keeps this ploy of blackmail to keep her living, but as she gets tired of her husband’s poverty and incompetence, she gets bolder in her malicious intent. She goes to Lady Audley, under the alleged influence of her drunken husband, to very politely extort her. She complains of her husband’s drunken ways and sheer incompetence in keeping their business open. She then very conveniently lets slip two pieces of information: Robert Audley is staying in the Castle Inn, and Luke Marks has previously nearly burned the inn down handling a candle while inebriated. Lucy, anxious about Robert’s investigation, and unsuspecting of Phoebe’s manipulation, jumps at this opportunity to free herself and her trusted servant from the grip of the men who threaten their welfare. She goes to the inn and sets a candle near the curtains of the room assigned to Robert. It is easy to skim over Phoebe’s role in this crime, attributing her complicity to her mindlessness or naivety. However, when viewed in the frame of her past contributions to the progress of the novel, Phoebe Marks seems to be intentionally manipulating the desperate Lucy Audley. She knows that Lucy Audley was willing to kill before to save her name and newfound life of luxury, so it was not too hard to imagine her doing so again.
	After Robert and Luke survive the fire Phoebe again relies on her innocent seeming nature to keep herself safe and clear of blame. She talks to Robert, who is visiting the severely burned Luke, and asks him to keep a secret her suspicion that Lucy Audley had started the fire. She claims this plea is to keep her old mistress safe, citing her kindness to her, but it can be concluded that she was merely covering her tracks. If Lucy was further questioned about the arson it might be revealed that Phoebe had a hand in manipulating her and be found an accessory to the crime. Even more serious a consequence, her husband could discover what she had done and go after her in violent vengeful fit, realizing she was willing to kill him to try and escape her trapped life. 
	In all, Phoebe Marks exemplifies the theme of hiding moral depravity behind a visage of innocence and naivety. Phoebe is manipulative and exploitative, and by glossing over her actions without much insight into her motives, Mary Elizabeth Braddon conceals Phoebe’s true nature. While the subject of this theme is most notably Lady Audley, Phoebe truly exemplifies it because no explicit fault is pinned upon her. The similarity of their faults is hinted at from the start as she Braddon uses their similarity in appearance and background as a metaphor to foreshadow Phoebe’s role in displaying the theme. Phoebe is a character that deceives even the reader, who can naturally dismiss her revelations to chance, and focus on the far more guilty and sensational Lucy Audley. Thus, Braddon effectively further presses the point that even the most blameless seeming people may be hiding devilish animosity. 
