The Mysteries of Udolpho

Abbess’ Private Meeting with Emily

The abbess draws Emily aside and informs her that she has something of consequence to discuss, but defers the conversation until the following day due to the late hour, asking Emily to visit her then. Emily promises to come, and takes her leave.

Woods Walk to the Château

Emily and Lady Blanche depart the convent and make their way through the deep gloom of the woods toward the château. Blanche laments the advanced hour, made fearful by the surrounding stillness and obscurity, but Emily is too consumed by the horrors of the convent scene to be affected by the solemnity of the shades, until Blanche draws her attention to two persons slowly advancing along the dusky path. Rather than risk the more secluded woods to avoid them, they continue forward and recognize the voice of Mons. Du Pont, whose companion turns out to be the gentleman Emily had previously seen at the monastery.

Encounter with Mons. Bonnac

Du Pont joins the ladies while his companion, who had been conversing with great earnestness, takes his leave. The party proceeds to the château, where Count Villefort identifies the stranger as Mons. Bonnac, an acquaintance of his. Upon learning the melancholy reason for Bonnac’s visit to Languedoc and that he is lodged at a small village inn, the Count requests Du Pont to invite him to the château, where the kindness of the Count and the sprightliness of his son work to lift the gloom from the stranger’s spirits.

Bonnac’s Background at the Château

M. Bonnac is introduced as an officer in the French service, about fifty years old, with a tall and commanding figure, manners polished to the highest degree, and a countenance uncommonly interesting—features that must have been remarkably handsome in youth, now shadowed by a melancholy that seems the product of long misfortune rather than of constitution or temper. At supper, his conversation is an evident effort of politeness, though he repeatedly relapses into silence and abstraction; the Count draws him out with such delicate and benevolent attention that Emily, watching him, almost fancies she beheld her late father.

Emily’s Nighttime Reflections on Laurentini and Her Family

In the solitude of her apartment, Emily reflects with horror on her discovery that the dying nun was Signora Laurentini, who now appears herself guilty of some dreadful crime rather than murdered by Montoni. She considers with deep interest Laurentini’s hints concerning the marriage of the Marchioness de Villeroi and her enquiries about Emily’s birth, realizing that the story formerly told by Sister Frances as Agnes’ history was fabricated. Emily contemplates the connection between her father and the late Marchioness—evidenced by his grief upon hearing her named, his wish to be buried near her, and her portrait among his papers—wondering if he might have been her early lover, though she cannot believe he afterwards cherished a passion for her. She speculates that the papers her father bade her destroy may have related to this connection, and reflects uneasily that the injunction might have stemmed from a dishonourable mystery in her birth.

Agnes’ Death and Bonnac’s Inheritance

On the following morning, Emily is too unwell to keep her appointment with the abbess, and before the day ends she learns that sister Agnes is dead. Mons. Bonnac receives the news with concern but appears less affected than he had been immediately after witnessing Agnes’ confession, perhaps because the death is less terrible to him than the confession itself. He may also be consoled by learning of the legacy Agnes bequeathed him, given his large family and the distress caused by the extravagance of some of its members.

Bonnac Recounts Imprisonment and Valancourt’s Generosity

Mons. Bonnac confides to his friend Du Pont the particulars of his late sufferings: he had been confined for several months in a Paris prison with little hope of release, unable to see his wife, who was in the country vainly seeking assistance. When she finally obtained an order for admittance, she was so shocked by his altered appearance that she suffered dangerous fits. Their situation moved a fellow prisoner, a generous friend, who upon gaining his own liberty devoted his first efforts to obtaining Bonnac’s release, succeeded in discharging the heavy debt that oppressed him, and then fled from Bonnac’s attempts to express his gratitude—likely returning to confinement himself. Every enquiry for the benefactor proved unsuccessful, and Bonnac exclaims over the “amiable and unfortunate Valancourt” as the one he believes responsible for his deliverance.