The Mysteries of Udolpho

'Then it doubtless was the Signor,' said Emily.

'O no, ma'amselle, it could not be him, for I left him busy

a-quarrelling in my lady's dressing-room!'

'You bring me strange tales, Annette,' said Emily: 'it was but this

morning, that you would have terrified me with the apprehension of

murder; and now you would persuade me, you have seen a ghost! These

wonderful stories come too quickly.'

'Nay, ma'amselle, I will say no more, only, if I had not been

frightened, I should not have fainted dead away, so. I ran as fast as I

could, to get to your door; but, what was worst of all, I could not call

out; then I thought something must be strangely the matter with me, and

directly I dropt down.' 'Was it the chamber where the black veil hangs?' said Emily. 'O! no,

ma'amselle, it was one nearer to this. What shall I do, to get to my

room? I would not go out into the corridor again, for the whole world!'

Emily, whose spirits had been severely shocked, and who, therefore,

did not like the thought of passing the night alone, told her she might

sleep where she was. 'O, no, ma'amselle,' replied Annette, 'I would not

sleep in the room, now, for a thousand sequins!'

Wearied and disappointed, Emily first ridiculed, though she shared, her

fears, and then tried to sooth them; but neither attempt succeeded, and

the girl persisted in believing and affirming, that what she had seen

was nothing human. It was not till some time after Emily had recovered

her composure, that she recollected the steps she had heard on the

stair-case--a remembrance, however, which made her insist that Annette

should pass the night with her, and, with much difficulty, she, at

length, prevailed, assisted by that part of the girl's fear, which

concerned the corridor.

Early on the following morning, as Emily crossed the hall to the

ramparts, she heard a noisy bustle in the court-yard, and the clatter of

horses' hoofs. Such unusual sounds excited her curiosity; and, instead

of going to the ramparts, she went to an upper casement, from whence

she saw, in the court below, a large party of horsemen, dressed in a

singular, but uniform, habit, and completely, though variously, armed.

They wore a kind of short jacket, composed of black and scarlet, and

several of them had a cloak, of plain black, which, covering the person

entirely, hung down to the stirrups. As one of these cloaks glanced

aside, she saw, beneath, daggers, apparently of different sizes, tucked

into the horseman's belt.