The Mysteries of Udolpho

' 'Dear ma'amselle! I will shew you the very cannon; you can see it from

these windows!' 'Well,' said Emily, 'but that does not prove, that an apparition guards

it.' 'What! not if I shew you the very cannon! Dear ma'am, you will believe

nothing.' 'Nothing probably upon this subject, but what I see,' said

Emily.--'Well, ma'am, but you shall see it, if you will only step this

way to the casement.'--Emily could not forbear laughing, and Annette

looked surprised. Perceiving her extreme aptitude to credit the

marvellous, Emily forbore to mention the subject she had intended, lest

it should overcome her with idle terrors, and she began to speak on a

lively topic--the regattas of Venice.

'Aye, ma'amselle, those rowing matches,' said Annette, 'and the fine

moon-light nights, are all, that are worth seeing in Venice. To be sure

the moon is brighter than any I ever saw; and then to hear such sweet

music, too, as Ludovico has often and often sung under the lattice by

the west portico! Ma'amselle, it was Ludovico, that told me about that

picture, which you wanted so to look at last night, and---' '

What picture?' said Emily, wishing Annette to explain herself. 'O! that terrible picture with the black veil over it.' 'You never saw it, then?' said Emily. 'Who, I!--No, ma'amselle, I never did. But this morning,' continued

Annette, lowering her voice, and looking round the room, 'this morning,

as it was broad daylight, do you know, ma'am, I took a strange fancy to

see it, as I had heard such odd hints about it, and I got as far as the

door, and should have opened it, if it had not been locked!

' Emily, endeavouring to conceal the emotion this circumstance occasioned,

enquired at what hour she went to the chamber, and found, that it was

soon after herself had been there. She also asked further questions, and

the answers convinced her, that Annette, and probably her informer, were

ignorant of the terrible truth, though in Annette's account something

very like the truth, now and then, mingled with the falsehood. Emily now

began to fear, that her visit to the chamber had been observed, since

the door had been closed, so immediately after her departure; and

dreaded lest this should draw upon her the vengeance of Montoni. Her

anxiety, also, was excited to know whence, and for what purpose, the

delusive report, which had been imposed upon Annette, had originated,

since Montoni could only have wished for silence and secrecy; but she

felt, that the subject was too terrible for this lonely hour, and she

compelled herself to leave it, to converse with Annette, whose chat,

simple as it was, she preferred to the stillness of total solitude.