Carmilla

It has been ten months since Laura has seen the General, and he has undergone a stark physical change, having now an air of “gloom and anxiety” (67). The General reveals that he was heading to Karnstein himself, on a mission to avenge his niece’s death. Though Laura’s father is confused by the General’s meaning, the General claims that his mission will “relieve our earth of certain monsters, and enable honest people to sleep in their beds without being assailed by murderers” (69). Laura’s father asks him to explain further, and the General begins his story.

The General gives a narration of a masked ball he and his niece Bertha visited about a year ago. A masked young lady named Millarca (an anagram of Carmilla and Mircalla) observes Bertha “with extraordinary interest” (72). Millarca’s supposed chaperone, Madame le Comtesse, (in fact Millarca/Carmilla’s mother) tells the General that she and the General know each other from earlier on in their lives. Since the chaperone is also masked, the General does not know who she is, though the chaperone seems to know a lot about him. Meanwhile, Millarca and Bertha speak together, and find themselves “powerfully” attracted to each other (73). The General flirts with Madame le Comtesse, though he is now convinced that the interview was “prearranged […] with the profoundest cunning” (74). 

Madame le Comtesse receives news from a servant and tells the General that she has urgent business and will be gone for weeks. Claiming her daughter is unwell, she asks the General to look after her for a few weeks, which he agrees to, partly due to the “refined and beautiful face” of Millarca (77). The General feels as though he has been overpowered by the persuasions and charms of Madame le Comtesse and Millarca, and he worries he has made a mistake. Millarca ends up disappearing part way through the ball and only shows up the next afternoon, claiming she had gotten lost.