The Mysteries of Udolpho

'Then there is the greater necessity for us to be silent,' said Emily:

'pr'ythee say no more, till we reach your chamber.' Here, at length,

they arrived, without interruption, and, Annette having fastened the

door, Emily sat down on her little bed, to recover breath and composure.

To her enquiry, whether Valancourt was among the prisoners in the

castle, Annette replied, that she had not been able to hear, but that

she knew there were several persons confined. She then proceeded, in her

tedious way, to give an account of the siege, or rather a detail of her

terrors and various sufferings, during the attack. 'But,' added she,

'when I heard the shouts of victory from the ramparts, I thought we were

all taken, and gave myself up for lost, instead of which, WE had driven

the enemy away.

I went then to the north gallery, and saw a great many

of them scampering away among the mountains; but the rampart walls were

all in ruins, as one may say, and there was a dismal sight to see down

among the woods below, where the poor fellows were lying in heaps, but

were carried off presently by their comrades. While the siege was going

on, the Signor was here, and there, and every where, at the same time,

as Ludovico told me, for he would not let me see any thing hardly, and

locked me up, as he has often done before, in a room in the middle of

the castle, and used to bring me food, and come and talk with me as

often as he could; and I must say, if it had not been for Ludovico, I

should have died outright.'

'Well, Annette,' said Emily, 'and how have affairs gone on, since the

siege?' 'O! sad hurly burly doings, ma'amselle,' replied Annette; 'the Signors

have done nothing but sit and drink and game, ever since. They sit up,

all night, and play among themselves, for all those riches and fine

things, they brought in, some time since, when they used to go out

a-robbing, or as good, for days together; and then they have dreadful

quarrels about who loses, and who wins. That fierce Signor Verezzi is

always losing, as they tell me, and Signor Orsino wins from him, and

this makes him very wroth, and they have had several hard set-to's about

it. Then, all those fine ladies are at the castle still; and I declare I

am frighted, whenever I meet any of them in the passages.'-

'Surely, Annette,' said Emily starting, 'I heard a noise: listen.' After

a long pause, 'No, ma'amselle,' said Annette, 'it was only the wind in

the gallery; I often hear it, when it shakes the old doors, at the other

end. But won't you go to bed, ma'amselle? you surely will not sit up

starving, all night.'