Who is Mr Clay from Anecdotes of Destiny ; and, Ehrengard and what is their importance?

Mr. Clay appears in The Immortal Story, in which, he is a successful merchant in the city of Canton, China. Like Elishama, he is alone, but his isolation is directly due to his own rejection of his fellow human beings. Clay has no wife, no family, and he has destroyed his partner, a French merchant named Mr. Dupont, and taken over his home. Now, Mr. Clay is old, sick, and tired of hearing Elishama read about his past financial accounts and old business deals.