Penelope Dies in Childbirth While Imprisoned

Penelope Aldaya’s death in childbirth is the fatal consequence of her father Don Ricardo’s decision to imprison her and exclude others from her care. She dies on 26 September 1919 after giving birth to a stillborn son; the two are buried secretly in the mansion’s basement crypt, and the family seals the place away.

Causes and Confinement

After Don Ricardo learns that Penelope and Julián Carax have been together, a doctor confirms that she has been sexually active and may be pregnant. Don Ricardo responds with rage at what he sees as betrayal and humiliation. He orders Penelope confined to a bedroom on the mansion’s third floor, a decision that the narrative identifies as the beginning of his own destruction.

Don Ricardo also helps arrange for Julián to be removed from Barcelona and sent into the army, where orders have been given for him to meet with an “accidental” death. While Penelope remains imprisoned, Don Ricardo forbids doctors, servants, and other family members from seeing her; only he and his wife are permitted access. The absence of medical care turns the confinement into a lethal condition rather than simply a punishment.

Death in the Mansion

Penelope gives birth to a stillborn boy on 26 September 1919. The account makes clear that medical intervention might have changed the outcome: a doctor could have recognized the danger and performed a Caesarean, and might have stopped the haemorrhaging that kills her. Instead, Penelope dies behind a locked door, while her father remains outside and her mother is present but unable to intervene.

When the door is finally opened, Penelope is dead, holding her child. The family’s silence in the face of what has happened underscores how completely Don Ricardo’s decision has foreclosed help and accountability. The narrative describes the circumstances as murder, making his refusal to let anyone examine or treat Penelope central to the responsibility for her death.

Concealment and Consequences

Penelope and her son are buried together in the basement crypt, without a ceremony or witnesses. The household destroys the evidence of the birth and seals the place behind a brick wall. Her death is thus hidden not only from the outside world but also within the physical architecture of the mansion: the crypt preserves the family secret while rendering it inaccessible.

The event reaches beyond the locked room. Two years later, after Señora Aldaya dies, Jorge Aldaya understands her death through the memory of Penelope’s suffering and the family’s failure to prevent it. Meanwhile, the Aldaya fortune collapses amid greed and revenge, and the family prepares to leave for Argentina. Penelope’s death remains a buried fact behind the mansion’s reputation for haunting, joining personal loss to the house’s history of secrecy and ruin.