 A second marriage at Christ Church, St Kilda, Melbourne on 1 October 1909 to George D'Arcie Lavender, thirty years her junior, was apparently short lived.Returning to teaching from financial necessity, Bella taught in Sydney, then Carlton, Prahran and East Melbourne.From the mid-1890s she frequented suffragist circles, becoming office-bearer in the Bendigo Women's Franchise League while running University College, Bendigo from 1898 - 1903.