The Mysteries of Udolpho

Valancourt’s Departure into the Storm

Summoning his resolution, Valancourt takes a final farewell of Emily, wishing her happiness while confessing he has lost all hope of peace. His voice falters, and with one look of ineffable tenderness and grief, he quits the cottage into the storm, leaving Emily lost in sorrow and thought.

The Wound from the Gardener’s Fire

Theresa remarks that Valancourt wears his arm in a sling, and Emily realizes he must have received the shot fired by her gardener at Thoulouse. Her pity returns, and she blames herself for having driven him out into the storm.

Valancourt’s Wanderings and Despair

Valancourt has returned to the village inn after lingering near Château-le-Blanc unable to leave the scenes of his early love, then travelling to Thoulouse where he concealed himself in the gardens and received his wound during a nocturnal wandering when the gardener mistook him for a robber. He has since remained under a surgeon’s care, neglecting to inform his indifferent friends, and only now recovers enough to travel toward the Count de Duvarney’s residence via La Vallée.

The Return to the Cottage at Nightfall

Before the evening concludes, Valancourt returns to Theresa’s cottage to hear her speak of Emily and to linger in the place where she had been. Theresa observes his wild and frenzied looks alternating with dark melancholy as he listens intently to all she can relate concerning her mistress.

The Ring and the Last Farewell

Valancourt entrusts nearly all his money to Theresa and, drawing a valuable ring from his finger, solemnly charges her to present it to Emily as a remembrance. Theresa weeps as she receives it, and when she follows him to the door calling his name, she receives no answer and sees him no more.

CHAPITRE XIV.

CHAPTER XIV opens with Annette bursting into Emily’s parlor in terror, claiming to have seen a ghost. Her interruption coincides with the arrival of a stranger who proves to be Ludovico, presumed dead, returned safely. He brings letters from Count De Villefort and Lady Blanche, who have been delayed in the Pyrenees by injuries to Mons. St. Foix and Blanche’s illness, and who invite Emily to Blanche’s wedding at Château-le-Blanc. After weighing the invitation—torn between her wish for quiet and the impropriety of remaining near Valancourt—Emily accepts. Ludovico then recounts at length his terrifying night-watch in the north chamber, his kidnapping by men emerging from a hidden door in the wall, his transport through secret passages, vaults, and a coastal cave to a pirate vessel and thence to a mountain fort, his discovery that the banditti were pirates using the castle vaults to store plunder under cover of a manufactured haunting, his overhearing of a murder plot against the Count’s party, his warning that prompted the Count’s successful rescue, and his explanation of the bedchamber “ghost” that had frightened the housekeeper. The mysterious midnight music, however, remains unexplained.

Annette Reports Seeing a Ghost

Annette rushes wildly into the parlor where Emily sits reflecting on the previous night’s events, breathless and unable to speak. When she recovers, she exclaims that she has seen a ghost enter from the hall. Her vague, fragmented account drives Emily to impatience as Annette repeatedly fails to name the specter.

Stranger Requests to Meet Emily

A servant interrupts to announce that a stranger outside wishes to speak with Emily. She assumes the visitor is Valancourt and twice refuses to see him, but the stranger persists, claiming to have something of consequence to communicate. Annette, suddenly recognizing the voice, cries out that it is Ludovico and runs from the room.

Ludovico Arrives Safely

Ludette soon returns with Ludovico himself, his safety a cause of extravagant joy for Annette, who forgets all decorum toward her mistress. Emily expresses surprise and satisfaction at seeing him alive, and Ludovico delivers letters from the Count and Lady Blanche before being allowed to take refreshment and speak with Annette.