The Mysteries of Udolpho

In the evening Cavigni joined the ladies, but Montoni had other

engagements; and they embarked in the gondola for St. Mark's, where the

same gay company seemed to flutter as on the preceding night. The cool

breeze, the glassy sea, the gentle sound of its waves, and the sweeter

murmur of distant music; the lofty porticos and arcades, and the happy

groups that sauntered beneath them; these, with every feature and

circumstance of the scene, united to charm Emily, no longer teased by

the officious attentions of Count Morano. But, as she looked upon the

moon-light sea, undulating along the walls of St. Mark, and, lingering

for a moment over those walls, caught the sweet and melancholy song of

some gondolier as he sat in his boat below, waiting for his master, her

softened mind returned to the memory of her home, of her friends, and of

all that was dear in her native country.

After walking some time, they sat down at the door of a Casino, and,

while Cavigni was accommodating them with coffee and ice, were joined

by Count Morano. He sought Emily with a look of impatient delight, who,

remembering all the attention he had shewn her on the preceding evening,

was compelled, as before, to shrink from his assiduities into a timid

reserve, except when she conversed with Signora Herminia and the other

ladies of her party. It was near midnight before they withdrew to the opera, where Emily

was not so charmed but that, when she remembered the scene she had just

quitted, she felt how infinitely inferior all the splendour of art is

to the sublimity of nature. Her heart was not now affected, tears

of admiration did not start to her eyes, as when she viewed the vast

expanse of ocean, the grandeur of the heavens, and listened to the

rolling waters, and to the faint music that, at intervals, mingled

with their roar.

Remembering these, the scene before her faded into

insignificance. Of the evening, which passed on without any particular incident, she

wished the conclusion, that she might escape from the attentions of the

Count; and, as opposite qualities frequently attract each other in

our thoughts, thus Emily, when she looked on Count Morano, remembered

Valancourt, and a sigh sometimes followed the recollection.

Several weeks passed in the course of customary visits, during which

nothing remarkable occurred. Emily was amused by the manners and scenes

that surrounded her, so different from those of France, but where Count

Morano, too frequently for her comfort, contrived to introduce himself.

His manner, figure and accomplishments, which were generally admired,

Emily would, perhaps, have admired also, had her heart been disengaged

from Valancourt, and had the Count forborne to persecute her with

officious attentions, during which she observed some traits in his

character, that prejudiced her against whatever might otherwise be good

in it.