Then, oh, you blessed ministers above, Keep me in patience; and, in ripen'd time, Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up In countenance.
SHAKESPEARE
Annette came almost breathless to Emily's apartment in the morning.
'O ma'amselle!' said she, in broken sentences, 'what news I have to tell! I have found out who the prisoner is--but he was no prisoner, neither;--he that was shut up in the chamber I told you of.I must think him a ghost, forsooth!'
'Who was the prisoner?' enquired Emily, while her thoughts glanced back to the circumstance of the preceding night.
'You mistake, ma'am,' said Annette; 'he was not a prisoner, after all.'
'Who is the person, then?'
'Holy Saints!' rejoined Annette; 'How I was surprised! I met him just now, on the rampart below, there.I never was so surprised in my life! Ah! ma'amselle! this is a strange place! I should never have done wondering, if I was to live here an hundred years.But, as I was saying, I met him just now on the rampart, and I was thinking of nobody less than of him.'
'This trifling is insupportable,' said Emily; 'prythee, Annette, do not torture my patience any longer.'
'Nay, ma'amselle, guess--guess who it was; it was somebody you know very well.'
'I cannot guess,' said Emily impatiently.
'Nay, ma'amselle, I'll tell you something to guess by--A tall Signor, with a longish face, who walks so stately, and used to wear such a high feather in his hat; and used often to look down upon the ground, when people spoke to him; and to look at people from under his eyebrows, as it were, all so dark and frowning.You have seen him, often and often, at Venice, ma'am.Then he was so intimate with the Signor, too.And, now I think of it, I wonder what he could be afraid of in this lonely old castle, that he should shut himself up for.But he is come abroad now, for I met him on the rampart just this minute.I trembled when I saw him, for I always was afraid of him, somehow; but I determined I would not let him see it; so I went up to him, and made him a low curtesy, "You are welcome to the castle, Signor Orsino," said I.'
'O, it was Signor Orsino, then!' said Emily.
'Yes, ma'amselle, Signor Orsino, himself, who caused that Venetian gentleman to be killed, and has been popping about from place to place, ever since, as I hear.'
'Good God!' exclaimed Emily, recovering from the shock of this intelligence; 'and is HE come to Udolpho! He does well to endeavour to conceal himself.'
'Yes, ma'amselle, but if that was all, this desolate place would conceal him, without his shutting himself up in one room.Who would think of coming to look for him here? I am sure I should as soon think of going to look for any body in the other world.'
'There is some truth in that,' said Emily, who would now have concluded it was Orsino's music, which she had heard, on the preceding night, had she not known, that he had neither taste, or skill in the art.But, though she was unwilling to add to the number of Annette's surprises, by mentioning the subject of her own, she enquired, whether any person in the castle played on a musical instrument?
'O yes, ma'amselle! there is Benedetto plays the great drum to admiration; and then, there is Launcelot the trumpeter; nay, for that matter, Ludovico himself can play on the trumpet;--but he is ill now.
I remember once'--
Emily interrupted her; 'Have you heard no other music since you came to the castle--none last night?'
'Why, did YOU hear any last night, ma'amselle?'
Emily evaded this question, by repeating her own.
'Why, no, ma'am,' replied Annette; 'I never heard any music here, Imust say, but the drums and the trumpet; and, as for last night, Idid nothing but dream I saw my late lady's ghost.'
'Your LATE lady's,' said Emily in a tremulous voice; 'you have heard more, then.Tell me--tell me all, Annette, I entreat; tell me the worst at once.'
'Nay, ma'amselle, you know the worst already.'
'I know nothing,' said Emily.
'Yes, you do, ma'amselle; you know, that nobody knows any thing about her; and it is plain, therefore, she is gone, the way of the first lady of the castle--nobody ever knew any thing about her.'
Emily leaned her head upon her hand, and was, for some time, silent;then, telling Annette she wished to be alone, the latter left the room.
The remark of Annette had revived Emily's terrible suspicion, concerning the fate of Madame Montoni; and she resolved to make another effort to obtain certainty on this subject, by applying to Montoni once more.
When Annette returned, a few hours after, she told Emily, that the porter of the castle wished very much to speak with her, for that he had something of importance to say; her spirits had, however, of late been so subject to alarm, that any new circumstance excited it; and this message from the porter, when her first surprise was over, made her look round for some lurking danger, the more suspiciously, perhaps, because she had frequently remarked the unpleasant air and countenance of this man.She now hesitated, whether to speak with him, doubting even, that this request was only a pretext to draw her into some danger; but a little reflection shewed her the improbability of this, and she blushed at her weak fears.
'I will speak to him, Annette,' said she; 'desire him to come to the corridor immediately.'
Annette departed, and soon after returned.
'Barnardine, ma'amselle,' said she, 'dare not come to the corridor, lest he should be discovered, it is so far from his post; and he dare not even leave the gates for a moment now; but, if you will come to him at the portal, through some roundabout passages he told me of, without crossing the courts, he has that to tell, which will surprise you.But you must not come through the courts, lest the Signor should see you.'
Emily, neither approving these 'roundabout passage,' nor the other part of the request, now positively refused to go.'Tell him,' said she, 'if he has any thing of consequence to impart, I will hear him in the corridor, whenever he has an opportunity of coming thither.'