Splendors and Glooms Chapter 50 Summary

A Reunion

  • The next day, Parsefall wakes up and sees that Clara is a little girl now. He asks her what she's going to tell people when they want to know what happened to her, and she says that she'll tell them that Grisini kidnapped her and held her prisoner until she could escape.
  • Parsefall helps her refine the story by giving her other details, like the fact that it was dark and that one night she pried open a board and crawled outside.
  • He asks her if she's going to go back to her parents, and she says that she has to. After all, they are probably super worried.
  • She tells him that the only thing that she minds is not being with Parsefall and Lizzie Rose. She's grown to love them both, and they're the only friends she's ever had in her life.
  • He says that he plans to return to London, too, although he's worried about the police being after him for stealing the picture frame from Clara's house. She says she'll tell her father that he saved her life, and the police will surely leave him alone after that.
  • Lizzie Rose enters the room and tells them that all of the servants have left. Now that they're free of Madama's enchantment, they saw no reason to stay and just left a note.
  • Lizzie Rose starts to cry because she's overwhelmed, so Clara takes charge. She tells them that they need to make tea and keep the fires going, and that they'll have to harness the horses so they can go fetch the doctor for Cassandra.
  • When she asks Parsefall if he's found sugar for his sister's tea, Parsefall says that Lizzie Rose isn't his sister—so Clara slaps him.
  • She tells him that he shouldn't say that and that Lizzie Rose is definitely his sister, at least when it comes to matters of the heart.
  • Then, she reveals to Lizzie Rose that Parsefall had a real sister named Eppie who died in the workhouse; that's why he doesn't want to call anyone else his sister.
  • The bell for the front door starts ringing, and the children run to answer it. And, guess what? It's Clara's parents. They're delighted to see her (duh) and sweep her up into their arms.
  • Her mother asks her why she ran away, at which point Parsefall steps in to say that she didn't run away; she was kidnapped and held captive in the tower.
  • He says that he and Lizzie Rose suspected that Grisini had kidnapped Clara, so they followed him here and saved her. They also say that Grisini fell through the ice while chasing her, and now he's dead.
  • When they're done with the story, Clara reaches out to grab the other children and says that they're her new brother and sister. She wants them to come home and live with them, and she also wants Parsefall to have an apprenticeship with the Royal Marionettes.
  • Her parents are shocked, but when Mrs. Wintermute begins to cry, Clara takes that as a positive answer. She says that they're all going to be so happy together—and Mrs. Wintermute even smiles a little bit at that.
  • Then, Lizzie Rose realizes that Dr. Wintermute is here and asks if he can go check on Cassandra since she's very ill.