Chapter: CHAPTER VII



     Was nought around but images of rest,
 Sleep-soothing groves, and quiet lawns between,
 And flowery beds that slumbrous influence kept,
 From poppies breath'd, and banks of pleasant green,
 Where never yet was creeping creature seen.
 Meantime unnumbered glittering streamlets play'd,
 And hurled every where their water's sheen,
 That, as they bicker'd through the sunny glade,
 Though restless still themselves, a lulling murmur made.
     THOMSON

When Emily, in the morning, opened her casement, she was surprised
to observe the beauties, that surrounded it. The cottage was nearly
embowered in the woods, which were chiefly of chesnut intermixed
with some cypress, larch and sycamore. Beneath the dark and spreading
branches, appeared, to the north, and to the east, the woody Apennines,
rising in majestic amphitheatre, not black with pines, as she had been
accustomed to see them, but their loftiest summits crowned with antient
forests of chesnut, oak, and oriental plane, now animated with the rich
tints of autumn, and which swept downward to the valley uninterruptedly,
except where some bold rocky promontory looked out from among the
foliage, and caught the passing gleam. Vineyards stretched along the
feet of the mountains, where the elegant villas of the Tuscan nobility
frequently adorned the scene, and overlooked slopes clothed with
groves of olive, mulberry, orange and lemon. The plain, to which these
declined, was coloured with the riches of cultivation, whose mingled
hues were mellowed into harmony by an Italian sun. Vines, their purple
clusters blushing between the russet foliage, hung in luxuriant festoons
from the branches of standard fig and cherry trees, while pastures of
verdure, such as Emily had seldom seen in Italy, enriched the banks of
a stream that, after descending from the mountains, wound along the
landscape, which it reflected, to a bay of the sea. There, far in the
west, the waters, fading into the sky, assumed a tint of the faintest
purple, and the line of separation between them was, now and then,
discernible only by the progress of a sail, brightened with the sunbeam,
along the horizon.

The cottage, which was shaded by the woods from the intenser rays of the
sun, and was open only to his evening light, was covered entirely with
vines, fig-trees and jessamine, whose flowers surpassed in size and
fragrance any that Emily had seen. These and ripening clusters of grapes
hung round her little casement. The turf, that grew under the woods, was
inlaid with a variety of wild flowers and perfumed herbs, and, on the
opposite margin of the stream, whose current diffused freshness beneath
the shades, rose a grove of lemon and orange trees. This, though nearly
opposite to Emily's window, did not interrupt her prospect, but rather
heightened, by its dark verdure, the effect of the perspective; and
to her this spot was a bower of sweets, whose charms communicated
imperceptibly to her mind somewhat of their own serenity.

She was soon summoned to breakfast, by the peasant's daughter, a girl
about seventeen, of a pleasant countenance, which, Emily was glad to
observe, seemed animated with the pure affections of nature, though
the others, that surrounded her, expressed, more or less, the worst
qualities--cruelty, ferocity, cunning and duplicity; of the latter style
of countenance, especially, were those of the peasant and his wife.
Maddelina spoke little, but what she said was in a soft voice, and
with an air of modesty and complacency, that interested Emily, who
breakfasted at a separate table with Dorina, while Ugo and Bertrand
were taking a repast of Tuscany bacon and wine with their host, near
the cottage door; when they had finished which, Ugo, rising hastily,
enquired for his mule, and Emily learned that he was to return to
Udolpho, while Bertrand remained at the cottage; a circumstance, which,
though it did not surprise, distressed her.

When Ugo was departed, Emily proposed to walk in the neighbouring woods;
but, on being told, that she must not quit the cottage, without having
Bertrand for her attendant, she withdrew to her own room. There, as her
eyes settled on the towering Apennines, she recollected the terrific
scenery they had exhibited and the horrors she had suffered, on the
preceding night, particularly at the moment when Bertrand had betrayed
himself to be an assassin; and these remembrances awakened a train of
images, which, since they abstracted her from a consideration of her own
situation, she pursued for some time, and then arranged in the following
lines; pleased to have discovered any innocent means, by which she could
beguile an hour of misfortune.

  THE PILGRIM*

 Slow o'er the Apennine, with bleeding feet,
 A patient Pilgrim wound his lonely way,
 To deck the Lady of Loretto's seat
 With all the little wealth his zeal could pay.
 From mountain-tops cold died the evening ray,
 And, stretch'd in twilight, slept the vale below;
 And now the last, last purple streaks of day
 Along the melancholy West fade slow.
 High o'er his head, the restless pines complain,
 As on their summit rolls the breeze of night;
 Beneath, the hoarse stream chides the rocks in vain:
 The Pilgrim pauses on the dizzy height.
 Then to the vale his cautious step he prest,
 For there a hermit's cross was dimly seen,
 Cresting the rock, and there his limbs might rest,
 Cheer'd in the good man's cave, by faggot's sheen,
 On leafy beds, nor guile his sleep molest.
 Unhappy Luke! he trusts a treacherous clue!
 Behind the cliff the lurking robber stood;
 No friendly moon his giant shadow threw
 Athwart the road, to save the Pilgrim's blood;
 On as he went a vesper-hymn he sang,
 The hymn, that nightly sooth'd him to repose.
 Fierce on his harmless prey the ruffian sprang!
 The Pilgrim bleeds to death, his eye-lids close.
 Yet his meek spirit knew no vengeful care,
 But, dying, for his murd'rer breath'd--a sainted pray'r!

(* This poem and that entitled THE TRAVELLER in vol. ii, have already
appeared in a periodical publication. [A. R.])


Preferring the solitude of her room to the company of the persons below
stairs, Emily dined above, and Maddelina was suffered to attend her,
from whose simple conversation she learned, that the peasant and his
wife were old inhabitants of this cottage, which had been purchased for
them by Montoni, in reward of some service, rendered him, many years
before, by Marco, to whom Carlo, the steward at the castle, was nearly
related. 'So many years ago, Signora,' added Maddelina, 'that I know
nothing about it; but my father did the Signor a great good, for my
mother has often said to him, this cottage was the least he ought to
have had.'

To the mention of this circumstance Emily listened with a painful
interest, since it appeared to give a frightful colour to the character
of Marco, whose service, thus rewarded by Montoni, she could scarcely
doubt have been criminal; and, if so, had too much reason to believe,
that she had been committed into his hands for some desperate
purpose. 'Did you ever hear how many years it is,' said Emily, who was
considering of Signora Laurentini's disappearance from Udolpho, 'since
your father performed the services you spoke of?'

'It was a little before he came to live at the cottage, Signora,'
replied Maddelina, 'and that is about eighteen years ago.'

This was near the period, when Signora Laurentini had been said to
disappear, and it occurred to Emily, that Marco had assisted in that
mysterious affair, and, perhaps, had been employed in a murder! This
horrible suggestion fixed her in such profound reverie, that Maddelina
quitted the room, unperceived by her, and she remained unconscious of
all around her, for a considerable time. Tears, at length, came to her
relief, after indulging which, her spirits becoming calmer, she
ceased to tremble at a view of evils, that might never arrive; and had
sufficient resolution to endeavour to withdraw her thoughts from the
contemplation of her own interests. Remembering the few books, which
even in the hurry of her departure from Udolpho she had put into her
little package, she sat down with one of them at her pleasant casement,
whence her eyes often wandered from the page to the landscape, whose
beauty gradually soothed her mind into gentle melancholy.

Here, she remained alone, till evening, and saw the sun descend the
western sky, throw all his pomp of light and shadow upon the mountains,
and gleam upon the distant ocean and the stealing sails, as he sunk
amidst the waves. Then, at the musing hour of twilight, her softened
thoughts returned to Valancourt; she again recollected every
circumstance, connected with the midnight music, and all that might
assist her conjecture, concerning his imprisonment at the castle, and,
becoming confirmed in the supposition, that it was his voice she had
heard there, she looked back to that gloomy abode with emotions of grief
and momentary regret.

Refreshed by the cool and fragrant air, and her spirits soothed to a
state of gentle melancholy by the stilly murmur of the brook below and
of the woods around, she lingered at her casement long after the sun
had set, watching the valley sinking into obscurity, till only the
grand outline of the surrounding mountains, shadowed upon the horizon,
remained visible. But a clear moon-light, that succeeded, gave to the
landscape, what time gives to the scenes of past life, when it softens
all their harsher features, and throws over the whole the mellowing
shade of distant contemplation. The scenes of La Vallee, in the early
morn of her life, when she was protected and beloved by parents equally
loved, appeared in Emily's memory tenderly beautiful, like the prospect
before her, and awakened mournful comparisons. Unwilling to encounter
the coarse behaviour of the peasant's wife, she remained supperless in
her room, while she wept again over her forlorn and perilous situation,
a review of which entirely overcame the small remains of her fortitude,
and, reducing her to temporary despondence, she wished to be released
from the heavy load of life, that had so long oppressed her, and prayed
to Heaven to take her, in its mercy, to her parents.

Wearied with weeping, she, at length, lay down on her mattress, and sunk
to sleep, but was soon awakened by a knocking at her chamber door,
and, starting up in terror, she heard a voice calling her. The image of
Bertrand, with a stilletto in his hand, appeared to her alarmed fancy,
and she neither opened the door, or answered, but listened in profound
silence, till, the voice repeating her name in the same low tone, she
demanded who called. 'It is I, Signora,' replied the voice, which she
now distinguished to be Maddelina's, 'pray open the door. Don't be
frightened, it is I.'

'And what brings you here so late, Maddelina?' said Emily, as she let
her in.

'Hush! signora, for heaven's sake hush!--if we are overheard I shall
never be forgiven. My father and mother and Bertrand are all gone
to bed,' continued Maddelina, as she gently shut the door, and crept
forward, 'and I have brought you some supper, for you had none, you
know, Signora, below stairs. Here are some grapes and figs and half a
cup of wine.' Emily thanked her, but expressed apprehension lest
this kindness should draw upon her the resentment of Dorina, when she
perceived the fruit was gone. 'Take it back, therefore, Maddelina,'
added Emily, 'I shall suffer much less from the want of it, than
I should do, if this act of good-nature was to subject you to your
mother's displeasure.'

'O Signora! there is no danger of that,' replied Maddelina, 'my mother
cannot miss the fruit, for I saved it from my own supper. You will make
me very unhappy, if you refuse to take it, Signora.' Emily was so
much affected by this instance of the good girl's generosity, that she
remained for some time unable to reply, and Maddelina watched her in
silence, till, mistaking the cause of her emotion, she said, 'Do not
weep so, Signora! My mother, to be sure, is a little cross, sometimes,
but then it is soon over,--so don't take it so much to heart. She often
scolds me, too, but then I have learned to bear it, and, when she has
done, if I can but steal out into the woods, and play upon my sticcado,
I forget it all directly.'

Emily, smiling through her tears, told Maddelina, that she was a good
girl, and then accepted her offering. She wished anxiously to know,
whether Bertrand and Dorina had spoken of Montoni, or of his designs,
concerning herself, in the presence of Maddelina, but disdained to tempt
the innocent girl to a conduct so mean, as that of betraying the private
conversations of her parents. When she was departing, Emily requested,
that she would come to her room as often as she dared, without offending
her mother, and Maddelina, after promising that she would do so, stole
softly back again to her own chamber.

Thus several days passed, during which Emily remained in her own room,
Maddelina attending her only at her repast, whose gentle countenance and
manners soothed her more than any circumstance she had known for many
months. Of her pleasant embowered chamber she now became fond, and
began to experience in it those feelings of security, which we naturally
attach to home. In this interval also, her mind, having been undisturbed
by any new circumstance of disgust, or alarm, recovered its tone
sufficiently to permit her the enjoyment of her books, among which she
found some unfinished sketches of landscapes, several blank sheets of
paper, with her drawing instruments, and she was thus enabled to amuse
herself with selecting some of the lovely features of the prospect,
that her window commanded, and combining them in scenes, to which her
tasteful fancy gave a last grace. In these little sketches she generally
placed interesting groups, characteristic of the scenery they animated,
and often contrived to tell, with perspicuity, some simple and affecting
story, when, as a tear fell over the pictured griefs, which her
imagination drew, she would forget, for a moment, her real sufferings.
Thus innocently she beguiled the heavy hours of misfortune, and, with
meek patience, awaited the events of futurity.

A beautiful evening, that had succeeded to a sultry day, at length
induced Emily to walk, though she knew that Bertrand must attend her,
and, with Maddelina for her companion, she left the cottage, followed by
Bertrand, who allowed her to choose her own way. The hour was cool and
silent, and she could not look upon the country around her, without
delight. How lovely, too, appeared the brilliant blue, that coloured all
the upper region of the air, and, thence fading downward, was lost in
the saffron glow of the horizon! Nor less so were the varied shades and
warm colouring of the Apennines, as the evening sun threw his slanting
rays athwart their broken surface. Emily followed the course of the
stream, under the shades, that overhung its grassy margin. On the
opposite banks, the pastures were animated with herds of cattle of a
beautiful cream-colour; and, beyond, were groves of lemon and orange,
with fruit glowing on the branches, frequent almost as the leaves,
which partly concealed it. She pursued her way towards the sea, which
reflected the warm glow of sun-set, while the cliffs, that rose over its
edge, were tinted with the last rays. The valley was terminated on the
right by a lofty promontory, whose summit, impending over the waves, was
crowned with a ruined tower, now serving for the purpose of a beacon,
whose shattered battlements and the extended wings of some sea-fowl,
that circled near it, were still illumined by the upward beams of the
sun, though his disk was now sunk beneath the horizon; while the lower
part of the ruin, the cliff on which it stood and the waves at its foot,
were shaded with the first tints of twilight.

Having reached this headland, Emily gazed with solemn pleasure on the
cliffs, that extended on either hand along the sequestered shores,
some crowned with groves of pine, and others exhibiting only barren
precipices of grayish marble, except where the crags were tufted with
myrtle and other aromatic shrubs. The sea slept in a perfect calm;
its waves, dying in murmurs on the shores, flowed with the gentlest
undulation, while its clear surface reflected in softened beauty the
vermeil tints of the west. Emily, as she looked upon the ocean, thought
of France and of past times, and she wished, Oh! how ardently, and
vainly--wished! that its waves would bear her to her distant, native
home!

'Ah! that vessel,' said she, 'that vessel, which glides along so
stately, with its tall sails reflected in the water is, perhaps, bound
for France! Happy--happy bark!' She continued to gaze upon it, with warm
emotion, till the gray of twilight obscured the distance, and veiled it
from her view. The melancholy sound of the waves at her feet assisted
the tenderness, that occasioned her tears, and this was the only sound,
that broke upon the hour, till, having followed the windings of the
beach, for some time, a chorus of voices passed her on the air. She
paused a moment, wishing to hear more, yet fearing to be seen, and,
for the first time, looked back to Bertrand, as her protector, who
was following, at a short distance, in company with some other person.
Reassured by this circumstance, she advanced towards the sounds, which
seemed to arise from behind a high promontory, that projected athwart
the beach. There was now a sudden pause in the music, and then one
female voice was heard to sing in a kind of chant. Emily quickened
her steps, and, winding round the rock, saw, within the sweeping bay,
beyond, which was hung with woods from the borders of the beach to the
very summit of the cliffs, two groups of peasants, one seated beneath
the shades, and the other standing on the edge of the sea, round the
girl, who was singing, and who held in her hand a chaplet of flowers,
which she seemed about to drop into the waves.

Emily, listening with surprise and attention, distinguished the
following invocation delivered in the pure and elegant tongue of
Tuscany, and accompanied by a few pastoral instruments.

  TO A SEA-NYMPH

 O nymph! who loves to float on the green wave,
 When Neptune sleeps beneath the moon-light hour,
 Lull'd by the music's melancholy pow'r,
 O nymph, arise from out thy pearly cave!

 For Hesper beams amid the twilight shade,
 And soon shall Cynthia tremble o'er the tide,
 Gleam on these cliffs, that bound the ocean's pride,
 And lonely silence all the air pervade.

 Then, let thy tender voice at distance swell,
 And steal along this solitary shore,
 Sink on the breeze, till dying--heard no more--
 Thou wak'st the sudden magic of thy shell.

 While the long coast in echo sweet replies,
 Thy soothing strains the pensive heart beguile,
 And bid the visions of the future smile,
 O nymph! from out thy pearly cave--arise!

  (Chorus)--ARISE!
  (Semi-chorus)--ARISE!

The last words being repeated by the surrounding group, the garland of
flowers was thrown into the waves, and the chorus, sinking gradually
into a chant, died away in silence.

'What can this mean, Maddelina?' said Emily, awakening from the pleasing
trance, into which the music had lulled her. 'This is the eve of a
festival, Signora,' replied Maddelina; 'and the peasants then amuse
themselves with all kinds of sports.'

'But they talked of a sea-nymph,' said Emily: 'how came these good
people to think of a sea-nymph?'

'O, Signora,' rejoined Maddelina, mistaking the reason of Emily's
surprise, 'nobody BELIEVES in such things, but our old songs tell of
them, and, when we are at our sports, we sometimes sing to them, and
throw garlands into the sea.'

Emily had been early taught to venerate Florence as the seat of
literature and of the fine arts; but, that its taste for classic story
should descend to the peasants of the country, occasioned her both
surprise and admiration. The Arcadian air of the girls next attracted
her attention. Their dress was a very short full petticoat of light
green, with a boddice of white silk; the sleeves loose, and tied up at
the shoulders with ribbons and bunches of flowers. Their hair, falling
in ringlets on their necks, was also ornamented with flowers, and with a
small straw hat, which, set rather backward and on one side of the head,
gave an expression of gaiety and smartness to the whole figure. When
the song had concluded, several of these girls approached Emily, and,
inviting her to sit down among them, offered her, and Maddelina, whom
they knew, grapes and figs.

Emily accepted their courtesy, much pleased with the gentleness and
grace of their manners, which appeared to be perfectly natural to them;
and when Bertrand, soon after, approached, and was hastily drawing her
away, a peasant, holding up a flask, invited him to drink; a temptation,
which Bertrand was seldom very valiant in resisting.

'Let the young lady join in the dance, my friend,' said the peasant,
'while we empty this flask. They are going to begin directly. Strike up!
my lads, strike up your tambourines and merry flutes!'

They sounded gaily; and the younger peasants formed themselves into a
circle, which Emily would readily have joined, had her spirits been in
unison with their mirth. Maddelina, however, tripped it lightly,
and Emily, as she looked on the happy group, lost the sense of her
misfortunes in that of a benevolent pleasure. But the pensive melancholy
of her mind returned, as she sat rather apart from the company,
listening to the mellow music, which the breeze softened as it bore it
away, and watching the moon, stealing its tremulous light over the waves
and on the woody summits of the cliffs, that wound along these Tuscan
shores.

Meanwhile, Bertrand was so well pleased with his first flask, that he
very willingly commenced the attack on a second, and it was late before
Emily, not without some apprehension, returned to the cottage.

After this evening, she frequently walked with Maddelina, but was never
unattended by Bertrand; and her mind became by degrees as tranquil as
the circumstances of her situation would permit. The quiet, in which
she was suffered to live, encouraged her to hope, that she was not sent
hither with an evil design; and, had it not appeared probable, that
Valancourt was at this time an inhabitant of Udolpho, she would have
wished to remain at the cottage, till an opportunity should offer of
returning to her native country. But, concerning Montoni's motive for
sending her into Tuscany, she was more than ever perplexed, nor could
she believe that any consideration for her safety had influenced him on
this occasion.

She had been some time at the cottage, before she recollected, that, in
the hurry of leaving Udolpho, she had forgotten the papers committed
to her by her late aunt, relative to the Languedoc estates; but, though
this remembrance occasioned her much uneasiness, she had some hope,
that, in the obscure place, where they were deposited, they would escape
the detection of Montoni.

 Em wakes up in the morning in Tuscany and realizes life ain't bad. She meets Dorina's daughter, Maddelina, and the two quickly become bosom buddies. Em figures out that Maddelina's dad, Marco, probably performed some services for Montoni at some point. Her immediate conclusion: he totally murdered Signora Laurentini. In her hurry to leave Udolpho, Em totally forgot about hiding the papers Madame Montoni told her to keep. Let's hope for everyone's sake that Montoni doesn't dig them up.

