Chapter: CHAPTER XIX



  Now my task is smoothly done,
 I can fly, or I can run
 Quickly to the green earth's end,
 Where the bow'd welkin low doth bend,
 And, from thence, can soar as soon
 To the corners of the moon.
     MILTON

The marriages of the Lady Blanche and Emily St. Aubert were celebrated,
on the same day, and with the ancient baronial magnificence, at
Chateau-le-Blanc. The feasts were held in the great hall of the castle,
which, on this occasion, was hung with superb new tapestry, representing
the exploits of Charlemagne and his twelve peers; here, were seen the
Saracens, with their horrible visors, advancing to battle; and there,
were displayed the wild solemnities of incantation, and the necromantic
feats, exhibited by the magician JARL before the Emperor. The sumptuous
banners of the family of Villeroi, which had long slept in dust, were
once more unfurled, to wave over the gothic points of painted casements;
and music echoed, in many a lingering close, through every winding
gallery and colonnade of that vast edifice.

As Annette looked down from the corridor upon the hall, whose arches and
windows were illuminated with brilliant festoons of lamps, and gazed
on the splendid dresses of the dancers, the costly liveries of the
attendants, the canopies of purple velvet and gold, and listened to
the gay strains that floated along the vaulted roof, she almost fancied
herself in an enchanted palace, and declared, that she had not met with
any place, which charmed her so much, since she read the fairy tales;
nay, that the fairies themselves, at their nightly revels in this old
hall, could display nothing finer; while old Dorothee, as she surveyed
the scene, sighed, and said, the castle looked as it was wont to do in
the time of her youth.

After gracing the festivities of Chateau-le-Blanc, for some days,
Valancourt and Emily took leave of their kind friends, and returned to
La Vallee, where the faithful Theresa received them with unfeigned
joy, and the pleasant shades welcomed them with a thousand tender and
affecting remembrances; and, while they wandered together over the
scenes, so long inhabited by the late Mons. and Madame St. Aubert, and
Emily pointed out, with pensive affection, their favourite haunts, her
present happiness was heightened, by considering, that it would have
been worthy of their approbation, could they have witnessed it.

Valancourt led her to the plane-tree on the terrace, where he had first
ventured to declare his love, and where now the remembrance of the
anxiety he had then suffered, and the retrospect of all the dangers
and misfortunes they had each encountered, since last they sat together
beneath its broad branches, exalted the sense of their present felicity,
which, on this spot, sacred to the memory of St. Aubert, they solemnly
vowed to deserve, as far as possible, by endeavouring to imitate his
benevolence,--by remembering, that superior attainments of every sort
bring with them duties of superior exertion,--and by affording to their
fellow-beings, together with that portion of ordinary comforts, which
prosperity always owes to misfortune, the example of lives passed in
happy thankfulness to GOD, and, therefore, in careful tenderness to his
creatures.

Soon after their return to La Vallee, the brother of Valancourt came to
congratulate him on his marriage, and to pay his respects to Emily, with
whom he was so much pleased, as well as with the prospect of rational
happiness, which these nuptials offered to Valancourt, that he
immediately resigned to him a part of the rich domain, the whole of
which, as he had no family, would of course descend to his brother, on
his decease.

The estates, at Tholouse, were disposed of, and Emily purchased of
Mons. Quesnel the ancient domain of her late father, where, having given
Annette a marriage portion, she settled her as the housekeeper,
and Ludovico as the steward; but, since both Valancourt and herself
preferred the pleasant and long-loved shades of La Vallee to the
magnificence of Epourville, they continued to reside there, passing,
however, a few months in the year at the birth-place of St. Aubert, in
tender respect to his memory.

The legacy, which had been bequeathed to Emily by Signora Laurentini,
she begged Valancourt would allow her to resign to Mons. Bonnac;
and Valancourt, when she made the request, felt all the value of the
compliment it conveyed. The castle of Udolpho, also, descended to the
wife of Mons. Bonnac, who was the nearest surviving relation of the
house of that name, and thus affluence restored his long-oppressed
spirits to peace, and his family to comfort.

O! how joyful it is to tell of happiness, such as that of Valancourt
and Emily; to relate, that, after suffering under the oppression of the
vicious and the disdain of the weak, they were, at length, restored to
each other--to the beloved landscapes of their native country,--to the
securest felicity of this life, that of aspiring to moral and labouring
for intellectual improvement--to the pleasures of enlightened society,
and to the exercise of the benevolence, which had always animated their
hearts; while the bowers of La Vallee became, once more, the retreat of
goodness, wisdom and domestic blessedness!

O! useful may it be to have shewn, that, though the vicious can
sometimes pour affliction upon the good, their power is transient
and their punishment certain; and that innocence, though oppressed
by injustice, shall, supported by patience, finally triumph over
misfortune!

And, if the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes,
beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him
to sustain it--the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the
writer unrewarded.

 Blanche and Em get married in a double wedding to their sweethearts in grand style at Chateau-le-Blanc. Soon after all the celebrating goes down, Em and Valancourt zip back to La Vallee to start their married life together. Valancourt's brother likes Em so much that he gives him part of his estates. Nice. Em gives Annette a hefty chunk of moolah to settle down with Ludovico. Oh yeah, and Em gives away Udolpho to the Bonnacs. We didn't know Em was that tight with the guy Valancourt helped out of prison, but maybe she wanted the creepy castle out of her hair. Everyone is happy, happy, happy. Let's shut this thing down before a ghost pops up somewhere.

