Plot Summary
The Romance of Certain Old Clothes The tale begins in the eighteenth century in Massachusetts. It features the Willoughbys, a widowed mother and her three children, one boy and two girls. The two girls, Viola and Perdita, are considered by the narrator to be equally beautiful. The girls were to be married, but their suitors seemed to be more interested in their looks and possessions than in the women themselves.
Both women fall in love with Mr. Arthur Lloyd, who then must choose between them. The sisters vow not to be envious or angry at his choice. Lloyd chooses Perdita, and Viola is jealous in spite of herself. The new Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd moved twenty miles away from the home, and Viola became bitter and depressed. Mr. Lloyd leaves the now-pregnant Perdita at home when he attends the wedding of his brother-in-law, where he meets Viola, and the two renew their friendship. Arthur receives a message that his daughter has been born, but that is wife's health is failing. Perdita, aware that she is dying and angry that her husband was with Viola while she (Perdita) was in childbirth, makes Arthur to promise to preserve the gowns she has saved in a chest for their daughter. She fears Viola will marry Lloyd and appropriate the dresses for herself. Arthur promises he will protect the chest and its contents.
Viola comes to the Lloyd home to help take care of her niece, and eventually she and Mr. Lloyd marry. A series of misfortunes follow, leaving them with significant financial losses and with Viola unable to bear children. At this time, Viola begins to pressure Arthur to open the chest. Arthur argues that he made a promise to Perdita and tells Viola that the matter is closed. However, Viola's hounding continues and eventually, Arthur surrenders and allows her to open the chest. Later in the evening, when Viola has failed to attend dinner or respond to several of Mr. Lloyd's summons, he climbs the stairs to the attic, where the chest is kept, to look for her. In the attic, he finds Viola dead, on her knees in front of the opened chest, with ten hideous wounds inflicted by ghostly hands.
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