A Sicilian Romance

The marquis turning to a door on his right hand, ordered it to be

unlocked. It opened upon the country, and the servants knew it to be

the same whence the figure had appeared. Having relocked it, 'Lift

that trapdoor; we will desend into the vaults,' said the marquis.

'What trapdoor, my Lord?' said Robert, with encreased agitation; 'I

see none.' The marquis pointed, and Robert, perceived a door, which

lay almost concealed beneath the stones that had fallen from the

stair-case above. He began to remove them, when the marquis suddenly

turning--'I have already sufficiently indulged your folly,' said he,

'and am weary of this business. If you are capable of receiving

conviction from truth, you must now be convinced that these buildings

are not the haunt of a supernatural being; and if you are incapable,

it would be entirely useless to proceed. You, Robert, may therefore

spare yourself the trouble of removing the rubbish; we will quit this

part of the fabric.' The servants joyfully obeyed, and the marquis locking the several

doors, returned with the keys to the habitable part of the castle.

Every enquiry after Julia had hitherto proved fruitless; and the

imperious nature of the marquis, heightened by the present vexation,

became intolerably oppressive to all around him. As the hope of

recovering Julia declined, his opinion that Emilia had assisted her to

escape strengthened, and he inflicted upon her the severity of his

unjust suspicions. She was ordered to confine herself to her apartment

till her innocence should be cleared, or her sister discovered. From

Madame de Menon she received a faithful sympathy, which was the sole

relief of her oppressed heart. Her anxiety concerning Julia daily

encreased, and was heightened into the most terrifying apprehensions

for her safety. She knew of no person in whom her sister could

confide, or of any place where she could find protection; the most

deplorable evils were therefore to be expected.

One day, as she was sitting at the window of her apartment, engaged in

melancholy reflection, she saw a man riding towards the castle on full

speed. Her heart beat with fear and expectation; for his haste made

her suspect he brought intelligence of Julia; and she could scarcely

refrain from breaking through the command of the marquis, and rushing

into the hall to learn something of his errand. She was right in her

conjecture; the person she had seen was a spy of the marquis's, and

came to inform him that the lady Julia was at that time concealed in a

cottage of the forest of Marentino. The marquis, rejoiced at this

intelligence, gave the man a liberal reward. He learned also, that she

was accompanied by a young cavalier; which circumstance surprized him

exceedingly; for he knew of no person except the Count de Vereza with

whom she could have entrusted herself, and the count had fallen by his

sword! He immediately ordered a party of his people to accompany the

messenger to the forest of Marentino, and to suffer neither Julia nor

the cavalier to escape them, on pain of death.