The Mysteries of Udolpho

'Very well, old Carlo,' said Madame Montoni; 'I am obliged to you.' 'And the young Signora, too, she may like some of them,' rejoined Carlo,

turning with the basket to Emily, 'it will do me good to see her eat

some.' 'Thank you, Carlo,' said Emily, taking some cherries, and smiling

kindly. 'Come, come,' said Montoni, impatiently, 'enough of this. Leave the

room, but be in waiting. I shall want you presently.'

Carlo obeyed, and Montoni, soon after, went out to examine further into

the state of the castle; while Emily remained with her aunt, patiently

enduring her ill humour, and endeavouring, with much sweetness, to

soothe her affliction, instead of resenting its effect.

When Madame Montoni retired to her dressing-room, Emily endeavoured to

amuse herself by a view of the castle. Through a folding door she passed

from the great hall to the ramparts, which extended along the brow of

the precipice, round three sides of the edifice; the fourth was guarded

by the high walls of the courts, and by the gateway, through which

she had passed, on the preceding evening. The grandeur of the broad

ramparts, and the changing scenery they overlooked, excited her high

admiration; for the extent of the terraces allowed the features of the

country to be seen in such various points of view, that they appeared to

form new landscapes. She often paused to examine the gothic magnificence

of Udolpho, its proud irregularity, its lofty towers and battlements,

its high-arched casements, and its slender watch-towers, perched upon

the corners of turrets. Then she would lean on the wall of the terrace,

and, shuddering, measure with her eye the precipice below, till the

dark summits of the woods arrested it. Wherever she turned, appeared

mountain-tops, forests of pine and narrow glens, opening among the

Apennines and retiring from the sight into inaccessible regions

While she thus leaned, Montoni, followed by two men, appeared, ascending

a winding path, cut in the rock below. He stopped upon a cliff, and,

pointing to the ramparts, turned to his followers, and talked with much

eagerness of gesticulation.--Emily perceived, that one of these men was

Carlo; the other was in the dress of a peasant, and he alone seemed to

be receiving the directions of Montoni.

She withdrew from the walls, and pursued her walk, till she heard at

a distance the sound of carriage wheels, and then the loud bell of

the portal, when it instantly occurred to her, that Count Morano was

arrived. As she hastily passed the folding doors from the terrace,

towards her own apartment, several persons entered the hall by an

opposite door. She saw them at the extremities of the arcades, and

immediately retreated; but the agitation of her spirits, and the extent

and duskiness of the hall, had prevented her from distinguishing the

persons of the strangers. Her fears, however, had but one object, and

they had called up that object to her fancy:--she believed that she had

seen Count Morano.