Wieland

The story is taken up again three years later. Clara did not die. She writes now from Montpellier in France. She observes in this new letter that even the profoundest grief gradually fades. A person may not be reasoned out of despair, but over time, it wears away. She thinks it possible, however, that her release came in part from the fact that her house burned down, forcing her out of her retreat from reality. It also helped her to write the story down.

One night shortly after she finished writing her story, Clara went to bed and experienced tumultuous and violent lucid dreams featuring whirlpools, pointed rocks, a dark abyss, and finally the volcanic eruption of Mount Etna. She woke to find her room on fire. Someone picked her up and carried her to the window and down a ladder to her uncle’s arms. The shock of the episode finally roused her from her depression, and for the first time, she considered the possibility that her life might not be completely unbearable. She finally went with her uncle to Europe and allowed new experiences and new sights to rouse her imagination and curiosity.

With her psychological recovery, she began to feel again her old attachment to Henry. He was married to Theresa and living in Boston. Clara’s uncle had sent Carwin to make his confession to Henry. As a result, Henry regained his good opinion of Clara, and the two of them exchanged letters as old friends. Theresa died in childbirth, so Henry sold his property in Boston and relocated to Montpellier. After a reasonable interval, Henry and Clara married, and they have been happy.

Clara takes the opportunity of this final letter to recount the story of Louisa Conway’s family. Louisa’s father, Major Stuart, returned to Philadelphia and found Mettingen abandoned. Mrs. Baynton told him what happened to the family. When he recovered somewhat from the shock, he found Clara and her uncle in Europe and finally filled them in on how his wife and daughter came to be estranged from him.

While Stuart was in the military, he became involved in a duel with a rival, Maxwell. Maxwell had spread a damaging rumor about Stuart, and a duel was proposed to settle the matter. Maxwell was wounded. He recovered but remained resentful, so when he saw the opportunity to seduce Stuart’s wife, Louisa, he took it.

He only partially succeeded. Louisa Stuart fell in love with Maxwell but refused to leave her husband. Eventually, Maxwell lost interest in her. Maxwell’s estranged wife then wrote to Louisa informing her of Maxwell’s debased character. Unable to face her husband, Louisa Stuart fled to America with their infant daughter.

Maxwell was a member of Clara’s social circle in Avignon where Clara and her uncle resided. Maxwell even proposed marriage to Clara, but she refused him. Major Stuart encountered Maxwell again in Avignon. Stuart identified Maxwell as the ultimate cause of his wife and daughter’s deaths. Their old quarrel resumed, and they agreed that they would duel again on the following day. That night, as Stuart was walking back to his hotel, someone leapt out from the dark and stabbed him. Thus, Louisa’s parents both died young, having been betrayed by Maxwell.

Clara points out, however, that although Carwin and Maxwell were the agents of their victims’ suffering, their efforts could not have succeeded if not for their victims’ weaknesses. If Louisa Stuart had rejected Maxwell’s advances adamantly at the outset, she would not have been swayed. If Major Stuart had resisted the impulse to carry out revenge against Maxwell, he would not have died. If Theodore had relied on rationalism rather than blind faith, or if Clara had been of a calmer and steadier disposition, neither one of them would have been deceived by Carwin. Each of the victims failed to apply critical thinking, and the result was that they brought their disaster on themselves.