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Notes on The Soul of the Rose

Delphinia leaves Gauvain and Oskar staring resentfully at each other.

Distraught, Delphinia listens anxiously for word of Gauvain till she is lulled into a semi-conscious state. It is in this state she travels to Oriente's room.

Delphinia steps into Oriente's room, drawn by Oriente's "presence." She dares to take her diary from the room and read it in secret.

However, Beatrice interrupts with unsettling news. Adelia is to arrive within days. As soon as she is able, Delphinia requests an interview with the Markgraf, but Gervaise tells her he has left on an unexpected journey.

Delphinia is filled with anxiety as shadows gather and a storm builds. Unanswered questions leave her restless. Feeling afraid at all kinds of sounds without her room, she secures the door and lights a candle, determined to soothe away her terror by reading Oriente's diary

Oriente recalls her earliest childhood days and Oskar, the boy charged with pushing her wheelchair. Circumstances beyond her understanding separate them, and Oriente becomes lost to the world. She isolates herself in a secret world. When Oriente is a teenager Oskar appears again, and her childhood obsession with him separates. He is entranced with her and refuses to be apart from her, thwarting convention to embrace her.

When Gauvain returns Oriente confesses her love for Oskar, not anticipating his violent reaction. He sends Oskar away, and Oriente dies desolate of any hope at happiness.

Her miserable state of mind haunts Gauvain long after her death, as Delphinia learns. She feels close to Oriente, and becomes close to Oskar when he returns to the estate without revealing what she knows of his relationship with Oriente.

Adelia arrives at the castle unexpectedly, and Delphinia is devastated. She feels the full force of her forbidden love for Gauvain when he cuts her off completely, treating her like a stranger. She finds that to cope with the pain, she must retreat to a land of dreams.

Oskar is the only other person fully sensible of Delphinia's forbidden love with his half-brother. Given that Gauvain destroyed his own love he is in a position to gloat, or wreak revenge. However his heart is moved by Delphinia's passionate nature. When he learns how deeply she feels Oriente's companionship he vows to place her as Gauvain's wife and oust Adelia.

Adelia is with child and desperate to marry Gauvain as hastily as possible. When Delphinia learns her deception she is heartbroken that Adelia is attempting to deceive Gauvain in such a way, but knows he is too wise to be fooled by her loving act.

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