Frozen with shock and horror, Clara hears someone enter the house and climb the stairs. Theodore enters the room, his face exultant in a transport of joy. At first, it doesn’t occur to her to wonder what he is doing there. To her astonishment, he sets eyes on her and lets out a groan. She hears him protest to heaven, “Have I not sufficiently attested my faith and my obedience? She that is gone, they that have perished, were linked with my soul by ties which only thy command would have broken; but here is sanctity and excellent surpassing human” (78). By his words, Clara deduces that he already knows of Catherine’s death, and it seems that he has gone mad from grief. Although she hears his words, Clara doesn’t fully grasp their significance: Theodore is the murderer, there are more victims, and she is intended to be the next.

A moment later, Theodore strikes his forehead and cries, “Wretch! Who made thee quicksighted in the councils of thy maker?” (78)

They hear shouts and footsteps outside. Theodore flees, and a throng of anxious people pour into the room. Clara recognizes Mr. Hallet, a distant relative on her mother’s side.