All was silent in the chambers, through which the Count passed, and,
having reached the saloon, he called loudly upon Ludovico; after which,
still receiving no answer, he threw open the door of the bed-room, and
entered. The profound stillness within confirmed his apprehensions for Ludovico,
for not even the breathings of a person in sleep were heard; and his
uncertainty was not soon terminated, since the shutters being all
closed, the chamber was too dark for any object to be distinguished in
it. The Count bade a servant open them, who, as he crossed the room to
do so, stumbled over something, and fell to the floor, when his cry
occasioned such panic among the few of his fellows, who had ventured
thus far, that they instantly fled, and the Count and Henri were left to
finish the adventure.
Henri then sprung across the room, and, opening a window-shutter, they
perceived, that the man had fallen over a chair near the hearth, in
which Ludovico had been sitting;--for he sat there no longer, nor could
any where be seen by the imperfect light, that was admitted into the
apartment. The Count, seriously alarmed, now opened other shutters, that
he might be enabled to examine further, and, Ludovico not yet appearing,
he stood for a moment, suspended in astonishment and scarcely trusting
his senses, till, his eyes glancing on the bed, he advanced to examine
whether he was there asleep. No person, however, was in it, and he
proceeded to the oriel, where every thing remained as on the preceding
night, but Ludovico was no where to be found.
The Count now checked his amazement, considering, that Ludovico might
have left the chambers, during the night, overcome by the terrors, which
their lonely desolation and the recollected reports, concerning them,
had inspired. Yet, if this had been the fact, the man would naturally
have sought society, and his fellow servants had all declared they had
not seen him; the door of the outer room also had been found fastened,
with the key on the inside; it was impossible, therefore, for him to
have passed through that, and all the outer doors of this suite were
found, on examination, to be bolted and locked, with the keys also
within them. The Count, being then compelled to believe, that the lad
had escaped through the casements, next examined them, but such as
opened wide enough to admit the body of a man were found to be carefully
secured either by iron bars, or by shutters, and no vestige appeared of
any person having attempted to pass them; neither was it probable, that
Ludovico would have incurred the risque of breaking his neck, by leaping
from a window, when he might have walked safely through a door.