The Mysteries of Udolpho

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.