The Mysteries of Udolpho: Volume 4, Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The next morning in her parlor, Emily thinks back on her previous evening’s meeting with Valancourt. Just then, Annette comes rushing in to say that she’s seen a ghost, but Emily thinks at once that Valancourt must be hanging around somewhere. In fact, however, Ludovico is the one who has shown up at her door. Annette is so excited to see him alive that she can barely stop talking.

Ludovico mentions that Count De Villefort, Blanche, and Chevalier St. Foix will all be coming soon to see Emily, after the chevalier recovers a little from his injuries. He then recounts the story of what happened to him on the night he spent in the Marchioness De Villeroi’s old room. Just as he was falling asleep, he heard a strange noise. He went toward the bed, where the noise was coming from, then heard another sound, like a key turning in a lock. It turns out behind a tapestry in the room is a door in the wall, and a man was coming through it.

Ludovico says in fact there were four men who came in through the wall. The men surrounded and overpowered him, then carried him through a long passage that came out on a cave at a beach. They took him by boat, and then over mountains until eventually they arrived at a fort where they kept him captive. It turns out the men (the smugglers from before) were pirates. While Ludovico was there, he heard the pirates plotting to murder Count De Villefort and his party, so Ludovico shouted out to warn the Count and his friends. And so, they stopped the pirates.

That evening, Theresa comes to give Emily the ring that Valancourt left her. Emily, however, refuses to accept it. Theresa lectures her about why she shouldn’t just throw away a chance at happiness. Emily still has conflicted feelings about Valancourt, so she tries to distract herself by making plans to give a marriage portion (a monetary wedding gift) to Annette and Ludovico to help them start a life together.