. It was possible,
however, that the men, who were her conductors, might afford her
information, on this subject; but, fearing to question them immediately,
lest they should be unwilling to discover any circumstance to her in the
presence of each other, she watched for an opportunity of speaking with
them separately.

Soon after, a trumpet echoed faintly from a distance; the guides
stopped, and looked toward the quarter whence it came, but the thick
woods, which surrounded them, excluding all view of the country beyond,
one of the men rode on to the point of an eminence, that afforded a
more extensive prospect, to observe how near the enemy, whose trumpet he
guessed this to be, were advanced; the other, meanwhile, remained with
Emily, and to him she put some questions, concerning the stranger at
Udolpho. Ugo, for this was his name, said, that there were several
prisoners in the castle, but he neither recollected their persons,
or the precise time of their arrival, and could therefore give her no
information. There was a surliness in his manner, as he spoke, that made
it probable he would not have satisfied her enquiries, even if he could
have done so.

Having asked him what prisoners had been taken, about the time, as
nearly as she could remember, when she had first heard the music, 'All
that week,' said Ugo, 'I was out with a party, upon the mountains, and
knew nothing of what was doing at the castle. We had enough upon our
hands, we had warm work of it.'

Bertrand, the other man, being now returned, Emily enquired no further,
and, when he had related to his companion what he had seen, they
travelled on in deep silence; while Emily often caught, between the
opening woods, partial glimpses of the castle above--the west towers,
whose battlements were now crowded with archers, and the ramparts
below, where soldiers were seen hurrying along, or busy upon the walls,
preparing the cannon.

Having emerged from the woods, they wound along the valley in an
opposite direction to that, from whence the enemy were approaching.
Emily now had a full view of Udolpho, with its gray walls, towers and
terraces, high over-topping the precipices and the dark woods, and
glittering partially with the arms of the condottieri, as the sun's
rays, streaming through an autumnal cloud, glanced upon a part of
the edifice, whose remaining features stood in darkened majesty. She
continued to gaze, through her tears, upon walls that, perhaps, con