sound of the castle
clock, to which she listened not without some degree of awe, as it
rolled away on the breeze. Another and another note succeeded, and died
in sullen murmur among the mountains:--to her mournful imagination it
seemed a knell measuring out some fateful period for her.

'Aye, there is the old clock,' said Bertrand, 'there he is still; the
cannon have not silenced him!'

'No,' answered Ugo, 'he crowed as loud as the best of them in the midst
of it all. There he was roaring out in the hottest fire I have seen this
many a day! I said that some of them would have a hit at the old fellow,
but he escaped, and the tower too.'

The road winding round the base of a mountain, they now came within view
of the castle, which was shewn in the perspective of the valley by a
gleam of moon-shine, and then vanished in shade; while even a transient
view of it had awakened the poignancy of Emily's feelings. Its massy and
gloomy walls gave her terrible ideas of imprisonment and suffering:
yet, as she advanced, some degree of hope mingled with her terror; for,
though this was certainly the residence of Montoni, it was possibly,
also, that of Valancourt, and she could not approach a place, where he
might be, without experiencing somewhat of the joy of hope.

They continued to wind along the valley, and, soon after, she saw again
the old walls and moon-lit towers, rising over the woods: the strong
rays enabled her, also, to perceive the ravages, which the siege had
made,--with the broken walls, and shattered battlements, for they were
now at the foot of the steep, on which Udolpho stood. Massy fragments
had rolled down among the woods, through which the travellers now began
to ascend, and there mingled with the loose earth, and pieces of rock
they had brought with them. The woods, too, had suffered much from the
batteries above, for here the enemy had endeavoured to screen themselves
from the fire of the ramparts. Many noble trees were levelled with the
ground, and others, to a wide extent, were entirely stripped of their
upper branches. 'We had better dismount,' said Ugo, 'and lead the mules
up the hill, or we shall get into some of the holes, which the balls
have left. Here are plenty of them. Give me the torch,' continued Ugo,
after they had dismounted, 'and take care you don't stumble over any
thing, that lies in your way, for the ground is not yet cleared of the
enemy.'

'How!' exclaimed Emily, 'are any of the enemy