The Mysteries of Udolpho

At La Vallee, a stranger arrives to meet Emily. Assuming this is Valancourt, Emily refuses him admission at first, but the stranger turns out to be Ludovico. Ludovico has brought Emily letters from the Count de Villefort, relaying the family’s adventures and the news of Blanche’s engagement to Chevalier Saint Foix. The count has invited Emily back to Chateau-La-Blanc. Ludovico and Annette reunite and Ludovico explains how he came across the Villeforts in the forest.

The face Ludovico saw the night of his disappearance was real and belonged to a pirate hiding in the chambers. Four pirates grabbed Ludovico and brought him to Roussillon. It turns out pirates had been hiding their loot in secret passageways behind the chambers of Chateau-La-Blanc for years. The seaside chateau was a convenient place for them to stash their loot as people believed it was haunted and left it alone. These pirates are part of the same group of banditti who wanted to kill the count’s party. Ludovico, while held in their dungeon, heard the plans and came to the rescue of the Villeforts.

Emily prepares to leave for Languedoc. She plans to sell off Toulouse to set up Annette and Ludovico and persuade M. Quesnel to give her La Vallee. Theresa brings Emily the ring from Valancourt. Emily refuses to accept it. Theresa laments what she considers Emily’s stubbornness.

The count, Blanche, and the others arrive at La Vallee, where they spend a week. Emily leaves for Languedoc with the group, leaving the care of La Vallee to Theresa. At Chateau-La-Blanc, Count de Villefort urges Emily to reconsider Du Pont’s affection for her. Upset with the count for pressuring her, Emily visits the convent, where she learns Sister Agnes is dying. Emily prays for Agnes and leaves for the chateau.

Emily and Blanche visit the convent to check on the ailing Sister Agnes. The abbess tells Emily that Agnes has been naming her in her delirium. Emily finds a stranger leaving the chambers of Agnes. This is a man called Mons. Bonnac, here to listen to the last confession of Sister Agnes. Sister Agnes looks at Emily and accuses her of still punishing Agnes for her crimes. Emily is confused. Agnes believes Emily is the daughter of the Marchioness since Emily looks exactly like her. Agnes shows Emily a miniature of the late Marchioness to prove her theory. Agnes also shows Emily a picture of her youth: Emily is surprised to see she looks exactly like Signora Laurentini, the lady of Udolpho. Emily cannot make sense of the connection between herself, Agnes, the Marchioness, and the Lady of Udolpho. She leaves the convent perplexed.

Mons. Bonnac turns out to be an acquaintance of the count. The count invites Bonnac to the chateau. Bonnac reveals that he met Valancourt in the prison at Paris, where Bonnac had been unfairly confined. He found Valancourt extremely repentant of his addiction to gambling. Once free himself, Valancourt used all his money to bail Bonnac out. Valancourt even helped out Bonnac’s ailing wife in his absence. The money, which everyone believed Valancourt squandered, was thus used to help others. The count begins to revise his negative impression of Valancourt and writes a letter to him, inviting him to Languedoc.

Sister Agnes passes away. Her will is read out a few days later in the presence of Mons. Bonnac. She has left one-third of her property to the nearest surviving relative of the Marchioness de Villeroi, which is Emily. The connections between Emily, Agnes, and the Marchioness are now revealed. The abbess tells Emily Agnes was indeed the Signora Laurentini di Udolpho. She was extremely beautiful, but prone to rash decisions and violence. She and the Marquis de Villeroi fell in love, but the Marquis took her for a mistress, rather than a wife, because of her temperament. The Marquis was married off to another noblewoman. Signora Laurentini faked her disappearance and arrived in France to plot her revenge. She and the Marquis began to secretly poison the Marchioness. After the Marchioness’s death, the Marquis blamed Signora Laurentini for corrupting him. The Signora had a breakdown and arrived at the convent. She played the lute here every night to deal with her inner demons. The music Emily has been hearing around Languedoc was Agnes’s playing.

The reason Emily looks like the Marchioness is because the Marchioness was St. Aubert’s beloved sister. The papers he had asked Emily to destroy were his correspondence with his sister. Agnes gave her fortune to Emily to repent for murdering her aunt. It turns out that the horrible thing Emily had seen under the veil in Udolpho was a wax figure, which she mistook for a corpse in her terror. 

The count has not yet had the chance to clear Valancourt’s name to Emily. Preparations for Blanche’s wedding are in full swing. Emily continues to miss Valancourt. She goes to the stone watchtower and finds a new poem inscribed there. Valancourt enters the watchtower and reveals to Emily he has been invited here by the count. He tells Emily the truth about his reputation to Emily. Emily realizes he is being honest; the lovers reunite and return to Chateau-La-Blanc, where Count Villefort confirms Valancourt’s innocence to Emily.

Emily and Valancourt are wed on the same day as Blanche and Chevalier St. Foix in a grand feast. Annette and Ludovico also get married. Emily and Valancourt return to La Vallee, which Emily recovers from M. Quesnel. Valancourt’s brother is so happy with Emily he gives part of his estate to Valancourt. Emily sells off the estate in Toulouse and gives part of the money from the estate to Annette and Ludovico. Annette is established as the housekeeper and Ludovico as the steward of La Vallee. Emily gives away Udolpho, which she inherited from Agnes/ Signora Laurentini, to the Bonnacs.