Carmilla: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Laura and her governesses calm down slightly seeing that there is no sign of an attack, and they send the servants away. The three of them search for Carmilla, wondering if she had been frightened or was playing a trick, but she is nowhere to be found. Laura wonders how Carmilla could have escaped her room without unlocking the door. 

Laura spends the rest of the evening in Madame Perrodon’s room, and the next morning she informs her father of Carmilla’s disappearance. The entire household resumes the search but there is no sign of Carmilla. Laura’s father is distraught, and Laura is also extremely worried, though she feels that her grief is of a different kind. At one o’clock, she finds Carmilla in her room as though nothing has happened. She embraces the girl and notifies the others. 

Carmilla tells Laura what happened to her the previous evening. She had gone to sleep in her own bed and awoke to find herself on the sofa in the dressing room, with the door between the rooms open. Laura’s father, the governesses, and a handful of servants enter the room and are relieved to see that she is alright. She recounts her story, confused as to how any of it is possible.

After sending the servants away, Laura’s father speculates on what happened. He predicts that Carmilla was sleepwalking, and that she unlocked the door in her sleep and put the key somewhere in the house where it was unlikely to ever be found. She then went into the dressing room where she awoke. He laughs at the innocent and natural explanation for Carmilla’s actions and insists that there is no reason to be alarmed. Turning to Laura, he sighs and says he wishes she were looking more like herself, but they are relieved that Carmilla has been found safe and sound.