ni, and retire unnoticed to her former apartment, for she
shrunk from the thought of encountering either him, or any of his party,
at this hour. The uproar within the castle was now so loud, that, though
Ugo knocked repeatedly at the hall door, he was not heard by any of
the servants, a circumstance, which increased Emily's alarm, while it
allowed her time to deliberate on the means of retiring unobserved; for,
though she might, perhaps, pass up the great stair-case unseen, it was
impossible she could find the way to her chamber, without a light, the
difficulty of procuring which, and the danger of wandering about the
castle, without one, immediately struck her. Bertrand had only a torch,
and she knew, that the servants never brought a taper to the door, for
the hall was sufficiently lighted by the large tripod lamp, which hung
in the vaulted roof; and, while she should wait till Annette could bring
a taper, Montoni, or some of his companions, might discover her.

The door was now opened by Carlo; and Emily, having requested him to
send Annette immediately with a light to the great gallery, where
she determined to await her, passed on with hasty steps towards the
stair-case; while Bertrand and Ugo, with the torch, followed old Carlo
to the servants' hall, impatient for supper and the warm blaze of a wood
fire. Emily, lighted only by the feeble rays, which the lamp above threw
between the arches of this extensive hall, endeavoured to find her way
to the stair-case, now hid in obscurity; while the shouts of merriment,
that burst from a remote apartment, served, by heightening her terror,
to increase her perplexity, and she expected, every instant, to see
the door of that room open, and Montoni and his companions issue forth.
Having, at length, reached the stair-case, and found her way to the top,
she seated herself on the last stair, to await the arrival of Annette;
for the profound darkness of the gallery deterred her from proceeding
farther, and, while she listened for her footstep, she heard only
distant sounds of revelry, which rose in sullen echoes from among the
arcades below. Once she thought she heard a low sound from the dark
gallery behind her; and, turning her eyes, fancied she saw something
luminous move in it; and, since she could not, at this moment, subdue
the weakness that caused her fears, she quitted her seat, and crept
softly down a few stairs lower.

Annette not yet appearing, Emily now concluded, that