The Mysteries of Udolpho

All within was still. On looking round, his eye

was arrested by the portrait of the deceased Marchioness, upon which he

gazed, for a considerable time, with great attention and some surprise;

and then, having examined the closet, he returned into the bed-room,

where he kindled a wood fire, the bright blaze of which revived his

spirits, which had begun to yield to the gloom and silence of the place,

for gusts of wind alone broke at intervals this silence. He now drew a

small table and a chair near the fire, took a bottle of wine, and some

cold provision out of his basket, and regaled himself. When he had

finished his repast, he laid his sword upon the table, and, not feeling

disposed to sleep, drew from his pocket the book he had spoken of.--It

was a volume of old Provencal tales. Having stirred the fire upon the

hearth, he began to read, and his attention was soon wholly occupied by

the scenes, which the page disclosed.

The Count, meanwhile, had returned to the supper-room, whither those of

the party, who had attended him to the north apartment, had retreated,

upon hearing Dorothee's scream, and who were now earnest in their

enquiries concerning those chambers. The Count rallied his guests on

their precipitate retreat, and on the superstitious inclination which

had occasioned it, and this led to the question, Whether the spirit,

after it has quitted the body, is ever permitted to revisit the earth;

and if it is, whether it was possible for spirits to become visible to

the sense. The Baron was of opinion, that the first was probable, and

the last was possible, and he endeavoured to justify this opinion by

respectable authorities, both ancient and modern, which he quoted.

The Count, however, was decidedly against him, and a long conversation

ensued, in which the usual arguments on these subjects were on both

sides brought forward with skill, and discussed with candour, but

without converting either party to the opinion of his opponent. The

effect of their conversation on their auditors was various. Though the

Count had much the superiority of the Baron in point of argument, he

had considerably fewer adherents; for that love, so natural to the

human mind, of whatever is able to distend its faculties with wonder and

astonishment, attached the majority of the company to the side of the

Baron; and, though many of the Count's propositions were unanswerable,

his opponents were inclined to believe this the consequence of their

own want of knowledge, on so abstracted a subject, rather than that

arguments did not exist, which were forcible enough to conquer his.