The Mysteries of Udolpho

There is one within,

Besides the things, that we have heard and seen,

Recounts most horrid sights, seen by the watch.

JULIUS CAESAR

In the morning, Emily found Madame Montoni nearly in the same condition,

as on the preceding night; she had slept little, and that little had

not refreshed her; she smiled on her niece, and seemed cheered by her

presence, but spoke only a few words, and never named Montoni, who,

however, soon after, entered the room. His wife, when she understood

that he was there, appeared much agitated, but was entirely silent, till

Emily rose from a chair at the bed-side, when she begged, in a feeble

voice, that she would not leave her.

The visit of Montoni was not to sooth his wife, whom he knew to be

dying, or to console, or to ask her forgiveness, but to make a last

effort to procure that signature, which would transfer her estates in

Languedoc, after her death, to him rather than to Emily. This was a

scene, that exhibited, on his part, his usual inhumanity, and, on that

of Madame Montoni, a persevering spirit, contending with a feeble frame;

while Emily repeatedly declared to him her willingness to resign all

claim to those estates, rather than that the last hours of her aunt

should be disturbed by contention. Montoni, however, did not leave the

room, till his wife, exhausted by the obstinate dispute, had fainted,

and she lay so long insensible, that Emily began to fear that the spark

of life was extinguished.

At length, she revived, and, looking feebly

up at her niece, whose tears were falling over her, made an effort to

speak, but her words were unintelligible, and Emily again apprehended

she was dying. Afterwards, however, she recovered her speech, and, being

somewhat restored by a cordial, conversed for a considerable time, on

the subject of her estates in France, with clearness and precision. She

directed her niece where to find some papers relative to them, which she

had hitherto concealed from the search of Montoni, and earnestly charged

her never to suffer these papers to escape her.

Soon after this conversation, Madame Montoni sunk into a dose, and

continued slumbering, till evening, when she seemed better than she

had been since her removal from the turret. Emily never left her, for a

moment, till long after midnight, and even then would not have quitted

the room, had not her aunt entreated, that she would retire to rest. She

then obeyed, the more willingly, because her patient appeared somewhat

recruited by sleep; and, giving Annette the same injunction, as on the

preceding night, she withdrew to her own apartment. But her spirits

were wakeful and agitated, and, finding it impossible to sleep, she

determined to watch, once more, for the mysterious appearance, that had

so much interested and alarmed her.