young Lady, and persuading her
to treat him more distantly than She had done hitherto. The idea of
obeying her Mother's will at once determined Antonia. Though She
grieved at losing his society, She conquered herself sufficiently to
receive the Monk with some degree of reserve and coldness. She thanked
him with respect and gratitude for his former visits, but did not
invite his repeating them in future. It now was not the Friar's
interest to solicit admission to her presence, and He took leave of her
as if not designing to return. Fully persuaded that the acquaintance
which She dreaded was now at an end, Flora was so much worked upon by
his easy compliance that She began to doubt the justice of her
suspicions. As She lighted him down Stairs, She thanked him for having
endeavoured to root out from Antonia's mind her superstitious terrors
of the Spectre's prediction: She added, that as He seemed interested
in Donna Antonia's welfare, should any change take place in her
situation, She would be careful to let him know it. The Monk in
replying took pains to raise his voice, hoping that Jacintha would hear
it. In this He succeeded; As He reached the foot of the Stairs with
his Conductress, the Landlady failed not to make her appearance.

'Why surely you are not going away, reverend Father?' cried She; 'Did
you not promise to pass the night in the haunted Chamber? Christ Jesus!
I shall be left alone with the Ghost, and a fine pickle I shall be in
by morning! Do all I could, say all I could, that obstinate old Brute,
Simon Gonzalez, refused to marry me today; And before tomorrow comes, I
suppose, I shall be torn to pieces, by the Ghosts, and Goblins, and
Devils, and what not! For God's sake, your Holiness, do not leave me in
such a woeful condition! On my bended knees I beseech you to keep your
promise: Watch this night in the haunted chamber; Lay the Apparition
in the Red Sea, and Jacintha remembers you in her prayers to the last
day of her existence!'

This request Ambrosio expected and desired; Yet He affected to raise
objections, and to seem unwilling to keep his word. He told Jacintha
that the Ghost existed nowhere but in her own brain, and that her
insisting upon his staying all night in the House was ridiculous and
useless. Jacintha was obstinate: She was not to be convinced, and
pressed him so urgently not to leave her a prey to the Devil, that at
length He granted her request. All this show of resistanc