"Yes," faid Emily, fmiling, and glad to efcape from more ferious thought, "if we come to the corridor, about midnight, and look down into the hall, we shall certainly fee it illuminated with a thousand lamps, and the fairies tripping in gay circles to the found of delicious mufic; for it is in fuch places as this, you know, that they come to hold their revels. But I am afraid, Annette, you will not be able to pay the neceffary penance for fuch a fight and, if once they hear your voice, the whole scene will vanish in an inftant."

"O! if you will bear me company, ma'amfelle, I will come to the corridor, this very night, and I promife you I will hold my tongue; it fhall not be my fault if the fhow vanishes.-But do you think they will come ?"

"I cannot promife that with certainty, but I will venture to fay, it will not be your fault if the enchantment fhould vanish." "Well, ma'amfelle, that is faying more than I expected of you but I am not so much afraid of fairies, as of ghosts, and they fay there are a plentiful many of them about the castle : now I fhould be frightened to death, if I fhould chance to fee any of them. But hufh! ma'amfelle, walk foftly; I have thought, feveral times, fomething paffed by me."

"Ridiculous!" said Emily, " you must not indulge fuch fan

cies."

"O ma'am ! they are not fancies, for aught I know; Benedetto fays thefe difmal galleries and halls are fit for nothing but ghofts to live in; and I verily believe, if 1 live long in them I fhall turn to one myself!"

"I hope," faid Emily," you will not fuffer Signor Montoni to hear of thefe weak fears; they would highly displease him." "What, you know then, maʼamfelle, all about it!" rejoined Annette. "No, no, I do know better than to do fo; though, if the Signor can fleep found, nobody else in the caftle has any right to lie awake, I am fure." Emily did not appear to notice

this remark.

"Down this paffage, ma'amfelle; this leads to a back staircafe. O if I fee any thing, I thall be frightened out of my wits!"

"That will fcarcely be poffible," faid Emily, fmiling, as the followed the winding of the paffage, which opened into another gallery and then Annette, perceiving that the had miffed her way, while fhe had been fo eloquently haranguing on ghofts and fairies, wandered about through other paffages and galleries, till, at length, frightened by their intricacies and defolation, the call

ed aloud for affiftance: but they were beyond the hearing of the fervants, who were on the other fide of the caftle, and Emily now opened the door of a chamber on the left.

"O! do not go in there, ma'amfelle," faid Annette, " you will only lofe yourself further."

"Bring the light forward," faid Emily, "we may poffibly find our way through thefe rooms."

Annette stood at the door, in an attitude of hesitation, with the light held up to fhew the chamber, but the feeble rays fpread through not half of it. "Why do you hefitate ?" said Emily, "let me fee whither this room leads."

Annette, advanced reluctantly. It opened into a fuite of spacious and ancient apartments, fome of which were hung with tapeftry, and others wainscoted with cedar and black larch wood. What furniture there was, feemed to be almost as old as the rooms, and retained an appearance of grandeur, though covered with duft, and dropping to pieces with the damps, and with age.

"How cold thefe rooms are, ma'amfelle !" faid Annette : "nobody has lived in them for many, many years, they fay. Do let us go."

"They may open upon the great ftaircafe, perhaps," faid Emily, paffing on till fhe came to a chamber, hung with pictures, and took the light to examine that of a foldier on horfeback in a field of battle. He was darting his fpear upon a man, who Jay under the feet of the Forfe, and who held up one hand in a fupplicating attitude. The foldier whofe beaver was up, regarded him with a look of vengeance, and the countenance, with that expreffion, ftruck Emily as refembling Montoni. She fhuddered, and turned from it. Paffing the light haftily over feveral other pictures, the came to one concealed by a veil of black filk. The fingularity of the circumftance ftruck her, and she ftopped before it, wishing to remove the veil, and examine what could thus carefully be concealed, but fomewhat wanting cour age. "Holy Virgin! what can this mean?" exclaimed Annette. "This is furely the picture they told me of at Venice."

"What picture?" faid Emily. "Why a picture-a picture,” replied Annette, hefitatingly-" but I never could make out exactly what it was about, either."

"Remove the veil, Annette."

"What! I, ma'amfelle!-I! not for the world!" Emily, turning round, faw Annette's countenance grow pale." And. pray, what have you heard of this picture, to terrify you fo, my

good girl?" faid fhe. "Nothing ma'amfelle: I have heard nothing, only let us find our way out."

Certainly but I wish firft to examine the picture; take the light, Annette, while I lift the veil." Annette took the light, and immediately walked away with it, difregarding Emily's calls to ftay, who, not choofing to be left alone in the dark chamber, at length followed her. "What is the reafon of this, Annette ?** faid Emily, when the overtook her, "what have you heard concerning that picture, which makes you fo unwilling to ftay when I bid you ?"

"I don't know what is the reafon, ma'amfelle," replied Annette," nor any thing about the picture, only. I have heard there is fomething very dreadful belonging to it-and that it has been covered up in black ever fince-and that nobody has looked at it for a great many years and it fomehow has to do with the owner of this caftle before Signor Montoni came to the poffeffion of it-and”—-—-—-----

"Well, Annette," faid Emily, fmiling, "I perceive it is as you fay that you know nothing about the picture."

"No, nothing, indeed, ma'amfelle, for they made me promife never to tell: but".

"Well," rejoined Emily, who obferved that fhe was struggling between her inclination to reveal a fecret, and her apprehenfion for the confequence, " I will inquire no further”

"No, pray, ma'am, do not.'

"Left you should tell all," interrupted Emily.

Annette blush'd, and Emily fmiled, and they paffed on to the extremity of this fuite of apartments, and found themselves after fome further perplexity, once more at the top of the marble staircafe, where Annette left Emily, while fhe went to call one of the fervants of the caftle to fhew them to the chamber, for which they had been feeking.

While fhe was abfent, Emily's thoughts returned to the picture; an unwillingness to tamper with the integrity of a fervant had checked her inquiries on this fubject, as well as concerning fome alarming hints, which Annette had dropped respecting Montoni; though her curiofity was entirely awakened, and she had perceived, that her questions might eafily be antwered. She was now, however, inclined to go back to the apartment and examine the picture; but the loneliness of the hour and of the place, with the melancholy filence that reigned around her, confpired with a certain degree of awe, excited by the mystery attending this picture, to prevent her. She determined, however,

when daylight fhould have re-animated her fpirits, to go thither and remove the veil. As fhe leaned from the corridor, over the staircase, and her eyes wandered round, the again ob ferved, with wonder, the vaft ftrength of the walls, now fome what decayed, and the pillars of folid marble, that rofe from the hall, and fupported the roof.

A fervant now appeared with Annette, and conducted Emily to her chamber, which was in a remote part of the caftle, and at the end of the very corridor, from whence the fuite of apartments opened, through which they had been wandering. The lonely afpect of her room made Emily unwilling that Annette fhould leave her immediately, and the dampness of it chilled her with more than fear. She begged Caterina, the fervant of the castle, to bring fome wood and light a fire.

"Aye, lady, it's many a year fince a fire was lighted here,” faid Caterina.

"You need not tell us that, good woman," faid Annette ; every room in the caftle feels like a well. I wonder how you contrive to live here; for my part, I wish myself at Venice again." Emily waved her hand for Caterina to fetch the wood.

"I wonder, ma'am, why they call this the double chamber?” faid Annette, while Emily furveyed it in filence, and saw that it was lofty and fpacious, like the others fhe had feen, and, like many of them, too, had its walls lined with dark larch-wood. The bed and other furniture was very ancient, and had an air of gloomy grandeur, like all that fhe had feen in the caftle. One of the high cafements, which the opened, overlooked a rampart, but the view beyond was hid in darkness.

In the prefence of Annette, Emily tried to fupport her spirits, and to reftrain the tears, which, every now and then, came to her eyes. She wifhed much to inquire when Count Morano was expected at the caftle, but an unwillingness to afk unneceffary queftions, and to mention family concerns to a fervant, withheld her. Meanwhile, Annette's thoughts were engaged upon another fubject: fhe dearly loved the marvellous, and had heard of a circumftance connected with the caftle, that highly gratified this tafte. Having been enjoined not to mention it, her inclination to tell it was fo ftrong, that fhe was every inftant on the point of fpeaking what he had heard. Such aftrange circumstance, too, and to be obliged to conceal it, was a fevere punishment; but the knew, that Montoni might impofe one much feverer, and the feared to incur it by offending him.

Caterina now brought the wood, and its bright blaze difpel

ed, for a while, the gloom of the chamber. She told Annette that her lady had inquired for her, and Emily was once again left to her own fad reflections. Her heart was not yet hardened against the stern manners of Montoni, and fhe was nearly as much fhocked now, as fhe had been when fhe first witneffed them. The tenderness and affection, to which the had been accustomed, till fhe loft her parents, had made her particularly fenfible to any degree of unkindness, and fuch a reverse as this no apprehenfion had prepared her to fupport.

To call off her attention from fubjects, that preffed heavily upon her fpirits, she rose and again examined her room and its furniture. As the walked round it, fhe paffed a door, that was not quite fhut, and, perceiving, that it was not the one, through which the entered, fhe brought the light forward to difcover whither it led. She opened it, and, going forward, had nearly fallen down a steep, narrow staircase, that wound from it, between two ftone walls. She wifhed to know to what it led, and was the more anxious, fince it communicated fo inmediately with her apartment; but, in the prefent ftate of her spirits, she wanted courage to venture into the dark nefs alone. Clofing the door, therefore, the endeavoured to faften it, but, upon further examination, perceived, that it had no bolts on the chamber fide, though it had two on the other. By placing a heavy chair against it, fhe in fome measure remedied the defect; yet she was still alarmed at the thought of fleeping in this remote room alone, with a door opening fhe knew not whither, and which could not be perfectly fastened on the infide. Sometimes fhe wished to entreat of Madame Montoni, that Annette might have leave to remain with her all night, but was deterred by apprehenfion of betraying what would be thought childish fears, and by an unwillingness to increase the apt terrors of Annette.

an

Her gloomy reflections were, foon after interrupted by a footstep in the corridor, and the was glad to fee Annette enter with fome fupper, fent by Madame Montoni. Having a table near the fire, the made the good girl fit down and fup with her; and, when their little repaft was over, Auncite, encouraged by Ler kindness and ftirring the wood into a blaze, drew her chair upon the hearth, nearer to Emily, and faid,- Die you ever lear maʼamfelle, of the ftrange accident, that made the Signor lord of this caftle ?"

"What wonderful flory have you now to tell?" faid Frily concealing the curiofity, occafioned by the myfterious hints the had formerly heard on that fubject,

VOL. II.

C