Twenty years later, Esteban receives a letter that his mother has died. At her funeral, Esteban notices that Clara, now all grown up but still not speaking, is in attendance with her parents, who are taking care of her. Esteban decides to ask for Clara's hand, despite Férula's protests that Clara is too emotionally unstable and will not take care of him properly. When he shows up at the Del Valle family's house, Clara asks him right away if he has come to ask her to marry him, thus speaking again for the first time in twenty years, much to her family's delight. From there, wedding plans move forward very quickly.