place; and then he is fo good natured too, he always takes fo much notice of me !-And here is alfo Signor Verezzi, and who do you think befides, ma'amfelle ?"

"I cannot guess, Annette; tell me quickly.” "Nay, ma'am, do guefs once." "Well, then," faid Emily, with -Count Morano, I fuppofe.'

affumed compofure, "it is

"Holy Virgin !" cried Annette, "are you ill, maʼamfelle? you are going to faint! let me get fome water."

the

"Emily funk into a chair; "Stay, Annette," said fhe, feebly," do not leave me-I fhall foon be better; open cafement. The Count, you fay-he is come then?"

"Who, I !—the Count! No, maʼamfelle, I did not say so.” "He is not come then ?" faid Emily, eagerly. "No, ma'amfelle."

"You are fure of it ?"

"Lord blefs me!" faid Annette, you recover very fuddenly ma'am! why, I thought you was dying, juft now." "But the Count-you are fure, is not come ?"

"O yes, quite fure of that, ma'amfelle. Why, I was looking out through the grate in the north turret, when the carriages drove into the court yard, and I never expected to fee fuch a goodly fight in this difmal old caftle! but here are mafters and fervants too, enough to make the place ring again. O! I was ready to leap through the rufty old bars, for joy-O! who would ever have thought of feeing a chriftian face in this huge dreary house ? I could have kiffed the very horfes that brought them."

"Well, Annette, well, I am better now."

Yes, ma'amfelle, I fee you are. O all the fervants will lead merry lives here, now; we shall have finging and dancing in the little hall, for the Signor cannot hear us there-and droll ftories-Ludovico's come, ma'am ; yes, there is Ludovico come with them! You remember Ludovico, ma'am-a tall, handfome, young man-Signor Cavigni's lacquey-who always wears his cloak with fuch a grace, thrown round his left arm, and his hat fet on fo fmartly, all on one fide, and————

"No," faid Emily, who was wearied by her loquacity. "What, ma'amfelle! don't you remember Ludovico-who rowed the Cavaliero's gondola, at the last regatta, and won the prize? And who ufed to fing fuch fweet verfes about Orlandos and about the Black-a-moors, too; and Charly-Charly-mange, yes, that was the name, all under my lattice, in the weft portico, on the moonlight nights at Venice? O! I have listened to him ?"

1

"I fear, to thy peril, my good Annette," faid Emily; "for it feems his verfes have stolen thy heart. But let me advise you; if it is fo, keep the fecret; never let him know it."

"Ah-maʼamfelle !-how can one keep such a secret as that?" "Well, Annette, I am now fo much better, that you may leave me."

"O, but, ma'amfelle, I forgot to afk-how did you fleep in this dreary old chamber laft night ?"-" As well as ufual.' "Did you hear no noifes ?"-"None."- "Nor fee any thing ?” Nothing."-" Well, that is furprifing !"-" Not in the leaft: and now tell me, why you ask these queftions."

"O, ma'amfelle ! I would not tell you for the world, nor all I have heard about this chamber, either; it would frighten you fo?" "If that is all, you have frightened me already, and may therefore tell me what you know, without hurting your confcience."

"O Lord! they fay the room is haunted, and has been fo thefe many years."

"It is by a ghoft, then, who can draw bolts," faid Emily, endeavouring to laugh away her apprehenfions; "for I left that door open, laft night, and found it faftened this morning.” Annette turned pale, and faid not a word.

"Do you know whether any of the fervants faftened this door in the morning before I rofe?"

"No, ma'am, that I will be bound they did not; but I don't know: fhall I go and ask ma'amfelle ?" faid Annette, moving haftily towards the corridor.

66 Stay, Annette, I have other questions to ask tell me what you have heard concerning this room, and whither that staircase leads."

"I will go and ask it all directly, ma'am; befides I am fure my lady wants me. I cannot ftay now, indeed, ma'am."

She hurried from the room, without waiting Emily's reply, whofe heart, lightened by the certainty, that Morano was not arrived, allowed her to fmile at the fuperftitious terror, which had feized on Annette; for, though she sometimes felt its influence herself, she could fmile at it, when apparent in other perfons.

Montoni having refufed Emily another chamber, the determined to bear with patience the evil fhe could not remove, and, in order to make the room as comfortable as poffible, unpacked her books, her fweet delight in happier days, and her foothing_refourse in the hours of moderate forrow: but, there were hours when VOL. II.

D

even thefe failed of their effect; when the genius, the taste, the enthufiafin of the fublimett writers were felt no longer.

Her little library being arranged on a high cheft, part of the furniture of the room, fhe took out her drawing utenfils, and was tranquil enough to be pleafed with the thought of sketching the fublime fcenes, beheld from her windows; but the fuddenly checked this pleafure, remembering how often the had foothed herself by the intention of obtaining amufement of this kind, and had been prevented by fome new circumftance of misfortune.

"How can I fuffer myfelf to be deluded by hope,” said she, "and, because Count Morano is not yet arrived, feel a momentary happiness? Alas! what is it to me, whether he is here to-day, or to-morrow, if he comes at all?-and that he will come-it were weakness to doubt."

To withdraw her thoughts, however, from the subject of her misfortunes, fhe attempted to read, but her attention wandered from the page, and, at length, the threw afide the book, and determined to explore the adjoining chambers of the caftle. Her imagination was pleafed with the view of ancient grandeur, and an emotion of melancholy awe awakened all its powers, as she walked through rooms, obfcure and defolate, where no footfteps had paffed probably for many years, and remembered the ftrange hiftory of the former poffeffor of the edifice. This brought to her recollection the veiled picture, which had attracted her curiofity, on the preceding night, and the refolved to examine it. As the paffed through the chambers, that led to this, fhe found herself fomewhat agitated; its connection with the late lady of the caftle, and the conversation of Annette, together with the circumftance of the veil, throwing a myftery over the subject, that excited a faint degree of terror. But a terror of this nature, as it occupies and expands the mind, and elevates it to high expectation, is purely fublime, and leads us, by a kind of facination, to feek even the object, from which we appear to shrink.

Emily paffed on with faltering fteps, and having paufed a moment at the door, before she attempted to open it, the then haftily entered the chamber, and went towards the picture, which appeared to be enclosed in a frame of uncommon fize, that hung in a dark part of the room. She paufed again, and then with a timid hand, lifted the veil; but inftantly let it fall-perceiving that what it had concealed was no picture, and, before she could leave the chamber, the dropped fenfeless on the floor.

When the recovered her recollection, the remembrance of what the had feen had nearly deprived her of it a fecond time.

She had fcarcely ftrength to remove from the room, and regain her own; and, when arrived there, wanted courage to remain alone. Horror occupied her mind, and excluded, for a time, all fenfe of past, and dread of future misfortune: she feated herfelf near the cafement, because from thence fhe heard voices, though diftant, on the terrace, and might fee people pass, and thefe, trifling as they were, were reviving circumftances. When her fpirits had recovered their tone, fhe confidered, whether she fhould mention what fhe had feen to Madame Montoni, and va→ rious and important motives urged her to do fo, among which the leaft was the hope of the relief, which an overburdened mind finds in fpeaking of the fubject of its intereft. But she was aware of the terrible confequences, which fuch a communication might lead to; and, dreading the indifcretion of her aunt, at length, endeavoured to arm herfelf with refolution to obferve a profound filence, on the fubject. Montoni and Verezzi foon after paffed under the cafement, fpeaking cheerfully, and their voices revived her. Prefently the Signors Bertolini and Cavigni joined the party on the terrace, and Emily, fuppofing that Madame Montoni was then alone, went to feek her; for the folitude of her chamber, and its proximity to that where fhe had received fo fevere a fhock, again affected her fpirits..

She found her aunt in her dreffing room, preparing for dinner. Emily's pale and affrighted countenance alarmed even Madame Montoni; but he had fufficient ftrength of mind to be filent on the fubject, that still made her fhudder, and which was ready to burft from her lips. In her aunt's apartment fhe remained, till they both defcended to dinner. There he met the gentlemen lately arrived, who had a kind of busy seriousness in their looks, which was fomewhat unusual with them, while their thoughts feemed too much occupied by fome deep interest, to fuffer them to bestow much attention either on Emily, or Madame Montoni. They fpoke little, and Montoni lefs. Emily, as the now looked on him, fhuddered. The horror of the chamber rushed on her mind. Several times the colour faded from her cheeks, and fhe feared, that illness would betray her emotions, and compel her to leave the room; but the ftrength of her refolution remedied the weakness of her frame; the obliged herself to converse, and even tried to look cheerful.

Montoni evidently laboured under fome vexation, fuch as would probably have agitated a weaker mind, or a more fufcep tible heart, but which appeared, from the fternnefs of his countenance, only to bend up his faculties to energy and fortitude.

It was a comfortless and filent meal. The gloom of the caftle feemed to have spread its contagion even over the gay countenance of Cavigni, and with this gloom was mingled a fierceness, fuch as she had feldom feen him indicate. Count Morano was not named, and what converfation there was, turned chiefly upon the wars, which at that time agitated the Italian states, the ftrength of the Venetian armies, and the characters of their generals.

After dinner, when the fervants had withdrawn, Emily learned, that the cavalier who had drawn upon himfelf the vengeance of Orfino, had fince died of his wounds, and that strict search was ftill making for his murderer. The intelligence feemed to difturb Montoni, who mufed, and then inquired, where Orfino had concealed himfelf. His guefts, who all, except Cavigni, were ignorant, that Montoni had himself affifted him to escape from Venice, replied, that he had fled in the night with fuch precipitation and fecrecy, that his moft intimate companions knew not whither. Montoni blamed himself for having asked the queftion, for a fecond thought convinced him, that a man of Orfino's fufpicious temper was not likely to truft any of the perfons prefent with the knowledge of his afylum. He confidered himfelf, however, as entitled to his utmost confidence, and did not doubt, that he should foon hear of him.

Emily retired with Madame Montoni, foon after the cloth was withdrawn, and left the cavaliers to their fecret councils, but not before the fignificant frowns of Montoni had warned his wife to depart, who paffed from the hall to the ramparts, and walked, for fometime, in filence, which Emily did not interrupt, for her mind was also occupied by interests of its own. It required all her refolution, to forbear communicating to Madame Montoni the terrible fubject, which ftill thrilled her every nerve with horror; and sometimes fhe was on the point of doing fo, merely to obtain the relief of a moment; but the knew how wholly fhe was in the power of Montoni, and, confidering, that the indifcretion of her aunt, might prove fatal to them both, she compelled herself to endure a prefent and an inferior evil, rather than to tempt a future and a heavier one. A ftrange kind of prefentiment frequently, on this day occurred to her ;-it feemed as if her fate rested here, and was by fome invifible means connected with this caftle.

"Let me not accelerate it," said she to herself: " for whatever I may be referved, let me, at leaft avoid felf reproach."

As fhe looked on the maffy walls of the edifice, her melancho ly fpirits reprefented it to be her prifor; and the started as at a