CHAPTER VII
This chapter documents St. Aubert’s final hours with his daughter Emily, including his guidance on balancing emotional sensibility and fortitude, his formal arrangements for her care with his sister Madame Cheron, his peaceful death, and Emily’s immediate grief and mourning in the aftermath.
St. Aubert’s Advice on Sensibility and Fortitude
On his deathbed, St. Aubert cautions Emily against the dangers of excessive, unregulated sensibility, explaining that it amplifies pain by magnifying negative circumstances and leads people to prioritize hollow emotional sentiment over tangible, virtuous action. He explicitly rejects apathy as a worse vice, and instead urges Emily to cultivate fortitude, value practical beneficence above abstract feeling, and avoid the vanity of taking pride in one’s own sensitive nature.
Emily’s Care Arrangements with Madame Cheron
St. Aubert informs Emily that he has designated his sister, Madame Cheron—his only remaining female relative—as her guardian until she reaches adulthood, and recommends her to Madame Cheron’s care thereafter. He acknowledges Madame Cheron is not his first choice for Emily’s guardian, but describes her as a kind woman overall, and asks Emily to make an effort to win her affection. Emily promises to faithfully carry out his wishes.
St. Aubert’s Final Blessing and Death
After sharing his final advice and care arrangements, St. Aubert bestows a last blessing on Emily, urging her to trust in God, who will support her after his passing. As his strength fades and his sight fails, he gives his final blessing, then sinks back and dies peacefully around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, without struggle or a final sigh.
Emily’s Grief and Post-Death Comfort
Overcome with grief after her father’s death, Emily is escorted from the room by La Voisin and his daughter, who attempt to comfort her. The elderly La Voisin sits with her and weeps alongside her, while his daughter Agnes offers overly eager, misguided attempts at consolation.
CHAPTER VIII
This chapter, CHAPTER VIII, follows Emily St. Aubert in the immediate aftermath of her father St. Aubert’s death. It traces her overwhelming grief, temporary comfort from a sympathetic monk, a visit to her father’s corpse, a haunting nocturnal supernatural vision, her first visit to the St. Clair Convent, background details about the nearby Château Villeroi shared by La Voisin, St. Aubert’s funeral service, Emily’s slow recovery at the convent, and her receipt of an unkind, indifferent reply from her aunt Madame Cheron.
Monk Consoles Grieving Emily
The monk who previously consoled Emily returns in the evening with a kind invitation from the lady abbess to stay at the convent. Though Emily declines the invitation, she expresses gratitude for the gesture. The monk’s mild, benevolent demeanor, which recalls St. Aubert’s character, soothes the violence of Emily’s grief, and their conversation about the soul’s eternal existence in God’s sight helps Emily achieve temporary tranquility, as she reasons her father still lives in God’s presence even if he is dead to her.
Emily Visits Her Father’s Corpse
Before retiring for the night, Emily visits St. Aubert’s corpse. She stands silent and without weeping by his side, initially horrified by the unfamiliar stillness of his placid, serene features, then gazes at him with a mix of doubt and awed astonishment, struggling to overcome an involuntary expectation that he will stir. She takes his cold hand, speaks to him, and finally breaks into a transport of grief. La Voisin hears her sobs and enters to lead her away, but she does not hear him and begs to be left alone. After indulging her tears as evening obscures the chamber, she kisses her father’s lips one last time before leaving, her heart breaking with anguish.
Emily’s Nocturnal Supernatural Vision
Retired to her lonely cabin, Emily remains preoccupied with her father’s body, and when she drifts into a light slumber, she has a vivid vision of her father approaching her with a benign countenance, smiling mournfully and pointing upward. Instead of words, sweet distant music fills the air, and his face glows with the mild rapture of a superior being. She wakes to find the music is real, not a dream, and hears solemn, mournful strains that swell then fade into silence. She connects the music to La Voisin’s earlier story of mysterious château music and her father’s past teachings about departed souls, which overwhelm her with superstitious awe. She goes to the window, sees the planet her father once pointed out set behind the woods, and the music fades entirely before she returns to sleep.
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