Saville, because of the difference in her surname, has a husband. With this confirmed,
we discover as well that she has children. One reason Mary Shelley may be supplying
this information now would be to justify the emotional intensity of this outpouring
in which Walton in solitude and dire straits reaches out to his only family connections.
But by the same token, that connectedness contrasts pointedly with the situation in
the Frankenstein household, where when the novel ends only Ernest, who would seem
to have little to recommend him beyond being a dull and regular fellow, will survive
its events.