The Mysteries of Udolpho

While he paced the room with thoughtful steps, and Madame Montoni sat

silently on a couch, at the upper end of it, waiting till the servant

returned, Emily was observing the singular solemnity and desolation of

the apartment, viewed, as it now was, by the glimmer of the single lamp,

placed near a large Venetian mirror, that duskily reflected the scene,

with the tall figure of Montoni passing slowly along, his arms folded,

and his countenance shaded by the plume, that waved in his hat.

From the contemplation of this scene, Emily's mind proceeded to the

apprehension of what she might suffer in it, till the remembrance of

Valancourt, far, far distant! came to her heart, and softened it into

sorrow. A heavy sigh escaped her: but, trying to conceal her tears, she

walked away to one of the high windows, that opened upon the ramparts,

below which, spread the woods she had passed in her approach to the

castle. But the night-shade sat deeply on the mountains beyond, and

their indented outline alone could be faintly traced on the horizon,

where a red streak yet glimmered in the west. The valley between was

sunk in darkness. The scene within, upon which Emily turned on the opening of the door,

was scarcely less gloomy. The old servant, who had received them at the

gates, now entered, bending under a load of pine-branches, while two of

Montoni's Venetian servants followed with lights.

'Your excellenza is welcome to the castle,' said the old man, as he

raised himself from the hearth, where he had laid the wood: 'it has been

a lonely place a long while; but you will excuse it, Signor, knowing we

had but short notice. It is near two years, come next feast of St. Mark,

since your excellenza was within these walls.'

'You have a good memory, old Carlo,' said Montoni: 'it is there-about;

and how hast thou contrived to live so long?'

'A-well-a-day, sir, with much ado; the cold winds, that blow through the

castle in winter, are almost too much for me; and I thought sometimes of

asking your excellenza to let me leave the mountains, and go down into

the lowlands. But I don't know how it is--I am loth to quit these old

walls I have lived in so long.' 'Well, how have you gone on in the castle, since I left it?' said

Montoni. 'Why much as usual, Signor, only it wants a good deal of repairing.

There is the north tower--some of the battlements have tumbled down, and

had liked one day to have knocked my poor wife (God rest her soul!) on

the head. Your excellenza must know'-