Love in Excess

Grief-stricken and confused, D’elmont travels to Rome. He and Melliora continue to correspond, which gives him hope that she might someday change her mind and agree to marry him. In Rome, many women take notice of D’elmont, but he ignores all of them. One day, he receives an anonymous letter from a woman professing her love and desire for him. D’elmont attempts to politely discourage her with a note, but her servant (who has delivered the letter) tries to insist that D’elmont go to her house and meet with the anonymous woman. The servant is so insistent that he and D’elmont nearly have a physical fight before the servant leaves.

A short time later, D’elmont is out for a walk when he notices that a woman walking near him has dropped a valuable jewel. He hurries to return it to her; when she begins speaking to him, he realizes that she is the same woman who sent him the notes, and who contrived the meeting to speak with him. The woman is also stunningly beautiful. The pair are interrupted before D’elmont has the chance to tell her that he can never return her feelings. After the encounter, D'elmont feels guilty because he knows the pain unrequited love can cause, and he worries that this woman might come to a tragic fate similar to that of Amena or Alovisa.

That night, D’elmont is out walking when he comes upon a man fighting against three other men. D’elmont is concerned that the man is outnumbered and joins the fight. The stranger ends up killing one man with a pistol, and the other two run off; the stranger chases them, and D’elmont is left alone. He fears he might be blamed for the death of the man who was killed, so he slips into the garden of a nearby house. While hiding in the garden, D’elmont hears two women speaking: One of them is the woman who is desperately in love with him. She tells her companion, Brione, all about her schemes to get D’elmont’s attention and states that she believes she will eventually win D’elmont’s love.

While D’elmont is trying to sneak out of the garden, the two women catch sight of him. When they receive word that Roman officials are looking for a man who was involved in a fatal street-fight, they protect D’elmont by claiming that they have not seen anyone. D’elmont expresses his gratitude, and the woman insists that he come back to see her the next day. D’elmont agrees, although he does not intend to pursue a romantic or sexual relationship with her.

The next day, a very handsome young man comes to D’elmont’s residence, demanding to see him. The man reveals that he is Frankville, Melliora’s brother. Frankville is enraged with D’elmont for mistreating and dishonoring Melliora. D’elmont explains that he loves Melliora and has never disrespected her. Frankville gradually becomes less angry, especially when they realize that Frankville was the man involved in the street fight and that D’elmont saved his life.

After D’elmont and Frankville reconcile, Frankville explains how and why he sought out D’elmont. Monsieur Sanseverin (Amena’s father) sent Frankville a letter accusing D’elmont of seducing Melliora and murdering his wife. Sanseverin is embittered that D’elmont was allowed to get away with this crime. He informed Frankville that D’elmont had fled to Rome, and also explained that Melliora has left the convent and is likely going to go to him.

D'elmont is astonished to learn that Melliora has left the convent, and becomes panicked that she has run off with a new lover. Frankville ends up reassuring D’elmont that Melliora must still love him; he is not convinced that anything Sanseverin wrote is actually true, and therefore is not convinced that Melliora left the convent. D’elmont tells Frankville all about his relationship with Amena, his unhappy marriage, and his devotion to Melliora. Frankville then tells D’elmont about his own woes.

Frankville (like D’elmont and Brillan) was born into a noble French family, but has spent much time travelling around Europe. After he came to Italy, Frankville became close friends with an older man named Cittolini. Cittolini hoped that Frankville would marry his daughter, Violetta. Cittolini has a sister, Ciamara, who is a widow with a stepdaughter named Camilla. Ciamara is planning to have Camilla marry Cittolini in order to keep the young woman’s fortune within the family. While accompanying his friend on a visit, Frankville caught sight of Camilla and immediately fell in love with the beautiful young woman. Frankville becomes conflicted about whether he can justify courting Camilla while knowing that his friend wants to marry her; he is delighted when he learns that Camilla has rejected Cittolini’s advances.

Frankville begins scheming for opportunities to get to know Camilla. Meanwhile, he is also being pressured by Cittolini to get to know Violetta. Violetta sends Frankville a message, asking him to meet with her in secret. When he goes to the meeting, Frankville is surprised to encounter Camilla instead. Camilla reveals that she has seen Frankville several times from afar and fallen in love with him. These feelings have made her even less inclined to marry Cittolini, and she also became alarmed when she learned that Frankville might be marrying Violetta. Camilla wrote to Frankville under false pretenses so that she could engineer a meeting and see how he responded to her. Frankville is, of course, delighted to learn that Camilla is also in love with him.

Frankville makes excuses to avoid pursuing courtship of Violetta, claiming that he has changed his mind and doesn’t plan to stay in Rome. Meanwhile, he meets with Camilla in secret every night, and the two of them begin having sex. Frankville and Camilla plan to marry in secret and then leave Rome, but just before they are able to do so, Camilla alerts Frankville that Ciamara and Cittolini have found out about their relationship (a servant betrayed them). She fears for his life and they can no longer meet.

It is another 10 days before Camilla can even send him another letter. In the second letter, Camilla expresses her despair, and explains that she won’t even be able to send him more letters: Violetta (who is Camilla’s cousin and confidante) has been colluding to send the messages to Frankville but she is soon going to depart for her father’s estate. The only hope Camilla can see is if Frankville can find a trustworthy friend who can visit her by claiming to be sent on behalf of Cittolini. Frankville concludes his story; he has been languishing and trying to find a way to get to Camilla.

D’elmont immediately offers to take a message to Camilla. Since no one in Rome knows there is any relationship between him and Frankville, he will not create any suspicions. Frankville writes a passionate letter confirming his love for Camilla, and explaining that he has been violently attacked (referencing the streetfight in which D’elmont saved him). D’elmont goes to Ciamara’s home to take the message to Camilla. He secretly hopes that, if he can bring about the marriage between Camilla and Frankville, Melliora will want to reward him for helping her brother. D’elmont claims to have a message for Camilla from Cittalino; the servants seem very surprised to see him. Eventually, as directed, they bring him to Camilla and he is stunned to see that she is the same beautiful woman who has actively been pursuing him.

Camilla explains that D’elmont is so desirable that no woman could prefer anyone else over him. D’elmont explains that both his loyalty to Frankville, and his love for Melliora, make it impossible for him to return her feelings. Camilla expresses rage, jealousy, and anguish when D’elmont rejects her, but he stays firm and hurries away. When D’elmont reunites with Frankville, the latter becomes suspicious that D'elmont might have fallen for Camilla. D’elmont explains what happened, sending Frankville into confusion and grief.