The Mysteries of Udolpho

The image of a wicked, heinous fault

Lives in his eye; that close aspect of his

Does shew the mood of a much-troubled breast.

KING JOHN

Leaving the gay scenes of Paris, we return to those of the gloomy

Apennine, where Emily's thoughts were still faithful to Valancourt.

Looking to him as to her only hope, she recollected, with jealous

exactness, every assurance and every proof she had witnessed of his

affection; read again and again the letters she had received from him;

weighed, with intense anxiety, the force of every word, that spoke of

his attachment; and dried her tears, as she trusted in his truth.

Montoni, meanwhile, had made strict enquiry concerning the strange

circumstance of his alarm, without obtaining information; and was, at

length, obliged to account for it by the reasonable supposition, that

it was a mischievous trick played off by one of his domestics. His

disagreements with Madame Montoni, on the subject of her settlements,

were now more frequent than ever; he even confined her entirely to her

own apartment, and did not scruple to threaten her with much greater

severity, should she persevere in a refusal.

Reason, had she consulted it, would now have perplexed her in the choice

of a conduct to be adopted. It would have pointed out the danger of

irritating by further opposition a man, such as Montoni had proved

himself to be, and to whose power she had so entirely committed herself;

and it would also have told her, of what extreme importance to her

future comfort it was, to reserve for herself those possessions, which

would enable her to live independently of Montoni, should she ever

escape from his immediate controul. But she was directed by a more

decisive guide than reason--the spirit of revenge, which urged her to

oppose violence to violence, and obstinacy to obstinacy.

Wholly confined to the solitude of her apartment, she was now reduced

to solicit the society she had lately rejected; for Emily was the only

person, except Annette, with whom she was permitted to converse.

Generously anxious for her peace, Emily, therefore, tried to persuade,

when she could not convince, and sought by every gentle means to induce

her to forbear that asperity of reply, which so greatly irritated

Montoni. The pride of her aunt did sometimes soften to the soothing

voice of Emily, and there even were moments, when she regarded her

affectionate attentions with goodwill.

The scenes of terrible contention, to which Emily was frequently

compelled to be witness, exhausted her spirits more than any

circumstances, that had occurred since her departure from Tholouse. The

gentleness and goodness of her parents, together with the scenes of her

early happiness, often stole on her mind, like the visions of a higher

world; while the characters and circumstances, now passing beneath her

eye, excited both terror and surprise. She could scarcely have

imagined, that passions so fierce and so various, as those which Montoni

exhibited, could have been concentrated in one individual; yet what

more surprised her, was, that, on great occasions, he could bend these

passions, wild as they were, to the cause of his interest, and generally

could disguise in his countenance their operation on his mind; but she

had seen him too often, when he had thought it unnecessary to conceal

his nature, to be deceived on such occasions.