Love in Excess

The next day, Frankville shows D’elmont the letter he received from Camilla. Camilla professes her love and fidelity to him, explaining that she has found a new servant willing to transport letters between them. However, she is soon going to be forced to marry Cittolini. Frankville writes back coldly, explaining that he no longer wants to see her.

The two men are interrupted when D’elmont receives a shocking letter: It turns out that he has been tricked. Ciamara (Cittolini’s sister, and Camilla’s stepmother) is the woman who has been pursuing D’elmont. When her servants reported that D’elmont was at the house asking to meet with Camilla, Ciamara posed as Camilla and met with him instead. Since D’elmont had never seen Camilla and had never learned the name of the anonymous Roman woman who was pursuing him, he fell for the trick, believing that Camilla was unfaithful. In the letter, Ciamara explains what she did, and pleads with D’elmont to return her feelings.

D'elmont and Frankville are both delighted to learn that Camilla is not unfaithful. They decide to leverage Ciamara’s desire for D’elmont in the hopes of getting Frankville access to Camilla—this is especially urgent because he needs to explain the cold letter he sent to her. D’elmont writes back to Ciamara, explaining that he will come and see her, and is going to bring a servant with him. The next day, Frankville disguises himself as a servant, and both he and D’elmont go to Ciamara’s home.

D’elmont is ushered into Ciamara’s private rooms, where she continues trying to seduce him while he politely declines. D’elmont eventually begins to be aroused by Ciamara’s beauty and sexual overtures. Meanwhile, Frankville has forced a servant to take him to Camilla. When Camilla sees Frankville, she is initially enraged, because he has seemingly rejected her. While Frankville is pleading with Camilla, Ciamara’s servant cries for help, claiming that Camilla is being abducted. She attracts the attention of other servants and neighbors, and then rushes into Ciamara’s rooms, where she interrupts Ciamara and D’elmont.

The servant exclaims that D’elmont has tricked them by bringing Frankville to the house. D’elmont rushes to help Frankville fight off the household servants, and the two men escape together. Frankville is devastated, and fears that Camilla will never forgive him. A few days later, Frankville receives a letter from Violetta. Violetta has been Camilla’s confidante throughout, and tells Frankville that Camilla still loves him, even though she feels hurt and betrayed. However, Camilla is so upset that she is planning to go to a convent. Violetta tells Frankville that if he can give her a letter, she will deliver it to Camilla. She also warns D’elmont to be very careful, since Ciamara is furious with him for deceiving her and may try to poison him.

D'elmont and Frankville are relieved to have Violetta’s help; they had feared that she might be unwilling to help Camilla, since it was originally planned for her (Violetta) to marry Frankville. They decide that Camilla will only forgive Frankville for rejecting her if they reveal the whole story, detailing how Ciamara’s deceit led them to mistakenly believe that Camilla was unfaithful. Frankville writes a long letter, and D’elmont adds a note attesting to the truth of everything in the letter. They contrive to secretly pass the note to Violetta. During this interaction, Violetta hints that she might be partially motivated by love for D’elmont, which worries him.

Violetta writes to inform them that Camilla is coming close to forgiving Frankville. The two young women are going to be visiting a convent, and she urges Frankville and D’elmont to meet them there so that Frankville and Camilla can speak in private. Just before the meeting, D’elmont receives a letter from his brother: Brillan informs him that Melliora has been abducted from the convent where she was staying. It is not known who took her, or where, but some people are accusing D’elmont of having orchestrated the abduction and arranging for Melliora to be taken to Rome. D’elmont wants to rush back to France and attempt to find out what happened but Frankville persuades him to stay until after the meeting with Camilla.

At the meeting, Camilla and Frankville finally reconcile. She agrees to go to France with him and D’elmont. Meanwhile, D’elmont praises Violetta’s kindness and virtue but gently reminds her that he will never fall in love with anyone except Melliora. When the group parts ways, Violetta seems sad. On the night that the group plans to secretly flee from Rome, a handsome young man named Fidelio comes to D’elmont bearing a letter from Violetta. The letter asks D’elmont to accept Fidelio as his page and bring him along to France. D’elmont, Fidelio, Camilla and Frankville ride away from Rome and begin their journey. After several days, they reach the border of France and Italy.

The group eventually receives an update on what has happened in Rome. Both Cittolini and Ciamara were furious and attempted legal action, claiming that Camilla was abducted—since Ciamara is Camilla’s legal guardian, she can demand that Camilla be returned to her. However, Ciamara was more distressed by the loss of D’elmont and ended up consuming poison and dying by suicide. Cittolini realizes that Violetta (his daughter) has also mysteriously disappeared and falls ill from stress and rage, dying a short time later.

The news of these deaths is mostly a relief to the group of travelers, but Fidelio seems strangely distressed and falls ill. The group continue to travel onwards to Paris. They encounter a dangerous and violent storm, and Fidelio makes strange claims that the storm has been sent to punish him. They end up taking shelter at the estate of the Marquess De Saguillier and decide to stay for a few days to see if Fidelio recovers. However, D’elmont is also growing increasingly anxious to find out what happened to Melliora. That night, D’elmont wakes up to find a woman in his room; he is surprised and confused, but then realizes that she is Melliora. The two lovers blissfully reunite.

Melliora then explains everything that has happened to her. After Alovisa died, she entered a convent and became friends with a young woman residing there, named Charlotta D’Mezray. Charlotta was engaged to the Marquess de Saguillier, and when the Marquess came to visit his fiancée, he became more and more interested in Melliora. Then, out of the blue, Saguillier begins expressing suspicions that Charlotta is unfaithful. He secretly sends a note to Melliora, explaining that he is in love with her and that is why he is trying to break off the relationship with Charlotta. Melliora firmly rejects him, but a few days later, she is tricked into stepping outside of the convent garden and abducted. She is taken to the estate of Saguillier, who tries to justify abducting her by claiming that he is in love; he has not raped or harmed her, but he refuses to let her go.

After some time, Charlotta arrives at the estate, disguised as a servant. She is able to spend time with Melliora, since no one knows who she is. When Melliora was abducted, Charlotta was the only one to suspect that Saguillier might be responsible. She made up a reason for leaving the convent, travelled to Saguillier’s estate, disguised herself, and gained access. She believes that Melliora was taken against her will and does not love Saguillier. When D’elmont and his companions arrive, Charlotta reports this news to Melliora, and Melliora has now snuck in to see her lover, delighted to be reunited. After a few hours together, Charlotta comes to summon Melliora to leave. Melliora tells D’elmont that she and Charlotta have a plan, and that he must not tell Frankville anything.

The next morning, Saguillier summons D’elmont, Frankville, and Camilla. He explains that he is deeply in love and has resorted to abducting his beloved, but has now won her over. His beloved has finally agreed to marry him, and Saguillier wants his guests to witness the wedding. Saguillier proudly introduces Melliora, but is astonished to find that his guests are Melliora’s brother (Frankville) and guardian (D’elmont). Melliora announces that since these men are present, they must give their consent before she can marry Saguillier, and obviously neither Frankville nor D’elmont are going to do so. It seems that the men are going to come to blows, but Melliora reveals that Charlotta is present: Charlotta announces that she is willing to forgive Saguillier for everything he has done. Saguillier quickly repents, gives up his hopes of Melliora’s love and decides to renew his relationship with Charlotta.

Fidelio continues to grow sicker, and Frankville notices that Camilla is tending to him very lovingly. He begins to grow suspicious and jealous, but Camilla reveals that Fidelio is actually Violetta in disguise. Violetta is dying of unrequited love for D’elmont, and asks to see D’elmont before she dies. She knows that D’elmont has reunited with Melliora, but wishes to have a final glimpse of him. D’elmont and all the others assemble at her bedside. Violetta speaks of her deep love for D’elmont and says that she can die at peace knowing that he is happy. Melliora assures Violetta that she is not jealous and would be happy if Violetta recovers, but Violetta says it is better for her to die. She dies peacefully in D’elmont’s arms.

Eventually, after a period of mourning for Violetta, a triple wedding is celebrated: Frankville marries Camilla, Saguillier marries Charlotta, and D’elmont marries Melliora. When Frankville and D’elmont return to Paris with their wives, they are welcomed by Brillan and Ansellina, and the negative gossip about D’elmont dies down now that he is happily married. All of the couples enjoy long and happy marriages.