The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Author:Ann Radcliffe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2007-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII

‘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[Measure for Measure]1

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

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