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The Mysteries of Udolpho

Page 291

Annette's grief was now somewhat assuaged, and Emily sent her to make

enquiries, concerning her lady, of whom, however, she could obtain no

intelligence, some of the people she spoke with being really ignorant of

her fate, and others having probably received orders to conceal it.

This day passed with Emily in continued grief and anxiety for her aunt;

but she was unmolested by any notice from Montoni; and, now that Annette

was liberated, she obtained food, without exposing herself to danger, or

impertinence.

Two following days passed in the same manner, unmarked by any

occurrence, during which she obtained no information of Madame Montoni.

On the evening of the second, having dismissed Annette, and retired to

bed, her mind became haunted by the most dismal images, such as her long

anxiety, concerning her aunt, suggested; and, unable to forget herself,

for a moment, or to vanquish the phantoms, that tormented her, she

rose from her bed, and went to one of the casements of her chamber, to

breathe a freer air.

All without was silent and dark, unless that could be called light,

which was only the faint glimmer of the stars, shewing imperfectly

the outline of the mountains, the western towers of the castle and the

ramparts below, where a solitary sentinel was pacing. What an image of

repose did this scene present! The fierce and terrible passions, too,

which so often agitated the inhabitants of this edifice, seemed now

hushed in sleep;--those mysterious workings, that rouse the elements of

man's nature into tempest--were calm. Emily's heart was not so; but her

sufferings, though deep, partook of the gentle character of her mind.

Hers was a silent anguish, weeping, yet enduring; not the wild energy of

passion, inflaming imagination, bearing down the barriers of reason and

living in a world of its own.

The air refreshed her, and she continued at the casement, looking on the

shadowy scene, over which the planets burned with a clear light, amid

the deep blue aether, as they silently moved in their destined course.

She remembered how often she had gazed on them with her dear father, how

often he had pointed out their way in the heavens, and explained their

laws; and these reflections led to others, which, in an almost equal

degree, awakened her grief and astonishment.

They brought a retrospect of all the strange and mournful events, which

had occurred since she lived in peace with her parents. And to Emily,

who had been so tenderly educated, so tenderly loved, who once knew

only goodness and happiness--to her, the late events and her present

situation--in a foreign land--in a remote castle--surrounded by vice

and violence--seemed more like the visions of a distempered imagination,

than the circumstances of truth. She wept to think of what her parents

would have suffered, could they have foreseen the events of her future

life. While she raised her streaming eyes to heaven, she observed the same

planet, which she had seen in Languedoc, on the night, preceding her

father's death, rise above the eastern towers of the castle, while she

remembered the conversation, which has passed, concerning the probable

state of departed souls; remembered, also, the solemn music she had

heard, and to which the tenderness of her spirits had, in spite of her

reason, given a superstitious meaning. At these recollections she wept

again, and continued musing, when suddenly the notes of sweet music

passed on the air. A superstitious dread stole over her; she stood

listening, for some moments, in trembling expectation, and then

endeavoured to re-collect her thoughts, and to reason herself into

composure; but human reason cannot establish her laws on subjects, lost

in the obscurity of imagination, any more than the eye can ascertain the

form of objects, that only glimmer through the dimness of night.

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