- Chapter 25 starts out with an entry from Ellen Ash's journal, dated November 25, 1889.
- As we read it, we realize it was written shortly after Randolph Henry Ash had died.
- We also learn that Ellen Ash burned a number of her husband's papers after his death—and that she planned to bury some of his other papers with him.
- From Ellen Ash's journal, we skip immediately to an excerpt from Mortimer Cropper's biography of Ash. Through it, we learn that Ash was buried with the specimen box that he used for his biological collections and experiments. Inside it, Ellen Ash seems to have hidden "letters and other mementoes" that she considered "too dear to burn, too precious ever to expose to the public view" (25.6).
- Then we're whisked back to late November 1889.
- There, we watch as Ellen Ash tackles the difficult task of sorting through her late husband's things.
- As Ellen chooses what to burn and what to keep, we also see her memories of her last days with Randolph.
- Soon, we learn that one of the documents that Ellen has buried with Randolph Henry Ash is a sealed letter from Christabel LaMotte. As we learn, Christabel sent it after hearing that Randolph was on his deathbed, but Ellen chose not to give it to her husband.
- As Ellen Ash reflects on her marriage with Randolph, we readers learn about the moment when Randolph admitted to his affair with Christabel. We also see flashbacks of the day when Blanche Glover showed up at Ellen's door, and we get to see a letter that Randolph wrote—but never sent—to Christabel.
- In it, Randolph begs Christabel to tell him what became of their child. The letter also reveals another striking thing: at the infamous séance where Randolph demanded to know what Christabel had done with their child, Christabel had cut him to the bone by saying, "You have made a murderess of me" (25.148). Yikes!
- Ellen burned that letter. None of the novel's contemporary scholars will ever see it.
- As if all of this weren't revelation enough, we now follow Ellen back to her memories of her honeymoon with Randolph Henry Ash. As we read, we learn something else that Possession's twentieth-century scholars will never know: throughout the 40+ years of their marriage, Ellen and Randolph were never sexually intimate.
- The chapter ends with Ellen putting Christabel's unopened letter into the specimen box, which will soon be buried with the body of Ash.