THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPH O. CHAP. XIX. "Dark power! with fhudd'ring, meek submitted thought COLLIN'S ODE TO FEAR. EMILY was recalled from a kind of flumber, into which the had at length, funk, by a quick knocking at her chamber door. She started in up terror, for Montoni and Count Morano instantly came to her mind; but, having liftened in filence for fometime, and recognifing the voice of Annette, fhe rofe and opened the door. "What brings you hither fo early?" faid Emily, trembling exceffively. She was unable to fupport herself, and fat down on the bed. "Dear ma'amfelle !" faid Annette, "do not look fo pale. I am quite frightened to fee you. Here is a fine buftle below ftairs, all the fervants running to and fro, and none of them fast enough! Here is a buftle, indeed all of a fudden, and nobody knows for what!" "Who is below befides them ?" faid Emily, "Annette, do not trifle with me !” "Not for the world, maʼamfelle, I would not trifle for the world; but one cannot help making one's remarks, and there is the Signor in fuch a bustle, as I never faw him before; and he has fent me to tell you, ma'am to get ready immediately.” "Good God fupport me !" cried Emily, almost fainting, "Count Morano is below, then !" "No, ma'amfelle, he is not below that I know of," replied Annette, "only his Excellenza, fent me to defire you would get ready directly to leave Venice, for that the gondolas would be at the fteps of the canal in a few minutes; but I must hurry back to my lady, who is juft at her wits end, and knows not which way to turn for hafte." "Explain, Annette, explain the meaning of all this before you go," faid Emily, fo overcome with furprise and timid hope, that The had fcarcely breath to speak. "Nay, ma'amfelle, that is more than I can do. I only know that the Signor is juft come home in a very ill humour, that he has had us all called out of our beds, and tells us we are all to leave Venice immediately." "Is Count Morano to go with the Signor ?" faid Emily,. and whither are we going?" "I know neither, ma'am, for certain; but I heard Ludovico fay fomething about going, after we got to Terrafirma, to the Signor's caftle among fome mountains, that he talked of." "The Apennines!" faid Emily, eagerly, "O! then I have little to hope !" "That is the very place ma'am. But cheer up, and do not take it so much to heart, and think what a little time you have got to get ready in, and how impatient the Signor is.. Holy St. Mark! I hear the oars on the canal ; and now they come nearer, and now they are dafhing at the fteps below; it is the gondola, fure enough." Annette haftened from the room; and Emily prepared for this unexpected flight as faft as her trembling hands would per mit, not perceiving, that any change in her fituation could poffibly be for the worfe. She had fcarcely thrown her books and clothes into her travelling trunk, when receiving a fecond fummons, fhe went down to her aunt's dreffing-room, where the found Montoni impatiently reproving his wife for delay. He went out, foon after, to give fome further orders to his people, and Emily then inquired the occafion of this hafty journey; but her aunt appeared to be as ignorant as herfelf, and to undertake the journey with more reluctance. The family at length embarked, but neither Count Morano, or Cavigni, was of the party. Somewhat revived by obferving. this, Emily, when the gondolieri dafhed their oars in the water, and put off from the fteps of the portico, felt like a criminal, who receives a fhort reprieve. Her heart beat yet lighter, when they emerged from the canal into the ocean, and lighter ftill, when they skimmed paft the walls of St. Mark, without having ftopped to take up Count Morano. The dawn now began to tint the horizon, and to break upon the fhores of the Adriatic. Emily did not venture to ask any questions of Montoni, who fat, for fometime, in gloomy filence, and then rolled himself up in his cloak, as if to fleep, while Madame Montoni did the fame ; but Emily, who could not fleep, undrew one of the little curtains of the gondola, and looked out upon the fea. The rifing dawn now enlightened the mountaintops of Friuli, but their lower fides, and the diftant waves, that rolled at their feet, were ftill in deep fhadow. Emily, funk in tranquil melancholy, watched the ftrengthening light fpreading upon the ocean, fhewing fucceffively, Venice and her iflets, and the fhores of Italy, along which boats, with their pointed latin fails, began to move. The gondolieri were frequently hailed, at this early hour, by the market-people, as they glided by towards Venice, and the Lagune foon difplayed a gay fcene of innumerable little barks, paffing from Terrafirma with provifions. Emily gave a laft look to that fplendid city, but her mind was then occupied by confidering the probable events that awaited her, in the frenes, to which he was removing, and with conjectures, concerning the motive of this fudden journey. It appeared, upon calmer confideration, that Montoni was removing her to his fecluded castle, because he could there, with more probability of fuccefs, attempt to terrify her into obedience; or, that, fhould its gloomy and fequeftered fcenes fail of this effect, her forced marriage with the Count could there be folemnized with the fecrecy, which was neceffary to the honour of Montoni. The little fpirit, which this reprieve had recalled, now began to fail, and, when Emily reached the fhore, her mind had funk into all its former depreffion. Montoni did not embark on the Brenta, but purfued his way in carriages across the country, towards the Apennine; during which journey, his manner to Emily was fo particularly fevere, that this alone would have confirmed her late conjecture, had any fuch confirmation been neceffary. Her fenfes were now dead to the beautiful country, through which he travelled.Sometimes fhe was compelled to file at the naivete of Annette, in her remarks on what the faw, and fometimes to figh, as a fcene of peculiar beauty recalled Valancourt to her thoughts, VOL. II. B who was indeed feldom abfent from them, and of whom the could never hope to hear in the folitude, to which she was haftening. At length, the travellers began to afcend among the Apennines. The immenfe pine foretts, which, at that period, overhung thefe mountains, and between which the road wound, excluded all view but of the cliffs afpiring above, except, that, now and then, an opening through the dark woods allowed the eye a momentary glimfe of the country below. The gloom of thefe fhades, their folitary filence, except when the breeze fwèpt over their fummits, the tremendous precipices of the mountains, that came partially to the eye, each affifted to raise the folemnity of Emily's feelings into awe; the faw only images of gloomy grandeur, or of dreadful fublimity, around her; other images, equally gloomy and equally terrible, gleamed on her imagination. She was going the fcarcely knew whither, under the dominion of a perfon, fren whose arbitrary difpofition she had already fuffered fo much, to marry, perhaps, a man who poffeffed neither her affection or efteem; or to endure, beyond the hope of fuccour, whatever punishment revenge, and that Italian revenge, might dictate. The more fhe confidered what might be the motive of the journey, the more fhe became convinced, that it was for the purpofe of concluding her nuptials with Count Morano, with that fecrecy which her refolute resistance had made neceffary to the honour, if not to the fafety of Montoni. From the deep folitudes, into which the was emerging, and from the gloomy caftle, of which fhe had heard fome myfterious hints, her fick heart recoiled in defpair, and the experienced, that, though her mind was already occupied by peculiar diftress,' it was ftill alive to the influence of new and local circumftance; why elfe did the fhudder at the idea of this defolate castle ? As the travellers ftill afcended among the pine forests, steep rofe over fteep, the mountains feemed to multiply, as they went, and what was the fummit of one eminence proved to be only the bafe of another. At length, they reached a little plain, where the drivers ftopped to reft the mules, whence a scene of fuch extent and magnificence opened below, as drew even from Madame Montoni a note of admiration. Emily loft, for a moment, her forrows, in the immenfity of nature. Beyond the amphitheatre of mountains that stretched below, whofe tops appeared as numerous almoft, as the waves of the fea, and whofe feet were concealed by the forefts-extended the Campagna of Italy, where cities and rivers, and woods and all the glow of cultivation were mingled in gay confufion. The Adriatic bounded the horizon, into which the Po and the Brenta, after winding through the whole extent of the landscape, poured their fruitful waves. Emily gazed long on the fplendours of the world she was quitting, of which the whole magnificence feemed thus given to her fight only to increase her regret on leaving it; for her, Valancourt alone was in that world; to him alone her heart turned, and for him alone fell her bitter tears. From this fublime fcene the travellers continued to afcend among the pines, till they entered a narrow pafs of the mountains, which fhut out every feature of the diftant country, and, in its stead, exhibited only tremendous crags, impending over the road, where no veftige of humanity, or even of vegitation, appeared, except here and there the trunk and fcathed branches of an oak, that hung nearly headlong from the rock, into which its ftrong roots had faftened. This pafs, which led into the heart of the Apennine, at length opened to day, and a scene of mountains ftretched in long perfpective, as wild as any the travellers had yet paffed. Still vaft pine-forefts hung upon their bafe, and crowned their ridgy precipice, that rofe perpendicularly from the vale, while, above, the rolling mifts caught the funbeams, and touched their cliffs with all the magical colouring of light and fhade. The fcene feemed perpetually changing, and its features to affume new forms, as the winding road brought them to the eye in different attitudes; while the fhifting vapours, now partially concealing their minuter beauties, and now illuminating them with fplendid tints, affifted the illufions of the fight. Though the deep vallies between thefe mountains were, for the most part, clothed with pines, fometimes an abrupt opening prefented a perfpective of only barren rocks, with a cataract flafhing from their fummit among broken cliffs, till its waters, reaching the bottom, foamed along with unceafing fury; and fometimes paftoral fcenes exhibited their "green delights" in the narrow vales, fmiling amid furrounding horror. There herds and flocks of goats and fheep, browfing under the fhade of hanging woods, and the fhepherd's little cabin, reared on the margin of a clear stream, prefented a fweet picture of repofe. Wild and romantic as were thefe fcenes, their character had-far lefs of the fublime, than had those of the Alps, which guard the entrance of Italy. Emily was often elevated, but seldom felt thofe emotions of indefcribable awe, which fhe had fo continu ally experienced, in her paffage over the Alps. |