The Mysteries of Udolpho

And poor Misfortune feels the lash of Vice.

THOMSON

Emily seized the first opportunity of conversing alone with Mons.

Quesnel, concerning La Vallee. His answers to her enquiries were

concise, and delivered with the air of a man, who is conscious of

possessing absolute power and impatient of hearing it questioned. He

declared, that the disposal of the place was a necessary measure; and

that she might consider herself indebted to his prudence for even the

small income that remained for her.

'But, however,' added he, 'when

this Venetian Count (I have forgot his name) marries you, your present

disagreeable state of dependence will cease. As a relation to you I

rejoice in the circumstance, which is so fortunate for you, and, I may

add, so unexpected by your friends.' For some moments Emily was chilled

into silence by this speech; and, when she attempted to undeceive him,

concerning the purport of the note she had inclosed in Montoni's letter,

he appeared to have some private reason for disbelieving her assertion,

and, for a considerable time, persevered in accusing her of capricious

conduct.

Being, at length, however, convinced that she really disliked

Morano and had positively rejected his suit, his resentment was

extravagant, and he expressed it in terms equally pointed and inhuman;

for, secretly flattered by the prospect of a connection with a nobleman,

whose title he had affected to forget, he was incapable of feeling

pity for whatever sufferings of his niece might stand in the way of his

ambition. Emily saw at once in his manner all the difficulties, that awaited

her, and, though no oppression could have power to make her renounce

Valancourt for Morano, her fortitude now trembled at an encounter with

the violent passions of her uncle.

She opposed his turbulence and indignation only by the mild dignity of

a superior mind; but the gentle firmness of her conduct served to

exasperate still more his resentment, since it compelled him to feel

his own inferiority, and, when he left her, he declared, that, if she

persisted in her folly, both himself and Montoni would abandon her to

the contempt of the world.

The calmness she had assumed in his presence failed Emily, when alone,

and she wept bitterly, and called frequently upon the name of her

departed father, whose advice to her from his death-bed she then

remembered. 'Alas!' said she, 'I do indeed perceive how much more

valuable is the strength of fortitude than the grace of sensibility,

and I will also endeavour to fulfil the promise I then made; I will

not indulge in unavailing lamentation, but will try to endure, with

firmness, the oppression I cannot elude.'