She now glided into a passage, that opened on the left, without, as
she thought, being perceived; but, in the next instant, another light,
glimmering at the further end of this passage, threw her into new
terror. While she stopped and hesitated which way to go, the pause
allowed her to perceive, that it was Annette, who advanced, and
she hurried to meet her: but her imprudence again alarmed Emily,
on perceiving whom, she burst into a scream of joy, and it was some
minutes, before she could be prevailed with to be silent, or to release
her mistress from the ardent clasp, in which she held her. When, at
length, Emily made Annette comprehend her danger, they hurried
towards Annette's room, which was in a distant part of the castle.
No apprehensions, however, could yet silence the latter. 'Oh dear
ma'amselle,' said she, as they passed along, 'what a terrified time have
I had of it! Oh! I thought I should have died an hundred times! I never
thought I should live to see you again! and I never was so glad to see
any body in my whole life, as I am to see you now.' 'Hark!' cried Emily,
'we are pursued; that was the echo of steps!' 'No, ma'amselle,' said
Annette, 'it was only the echo of a door shutting; sound runs along
these vaulted passages so, that one is continually deceived by it; if
one does but speak, or cough, it makes a noise as loud as a cannon.'
'Then there is the greater necessity for us to be silent,' said Emily:
'pr'ythee say no more, till we reach your chamber.' Here, at length,
they arrived, without interruption, and, Annette having fastened the
door, Emily sat down on her little bed, to recover breath and composure.
To her enquiry, whether Valancourt was among the prisoners in the
castle, Annette replied, that she had not been able to hear, but that
she knew there were several persons confined. She then proceeded, in her
tedious way, to give an account of the siege, or rather a detail of her
terrors and various sufferings, during the attack. 'But,' added she,
'when I heard the shouts of victory from the ramparts, I thought we were
all taken, and gave myself up for lost, instead of which, WE had driven
the enemy away. I went then to the north gallery, and saw a great many
of them scampering away among the mountains; but the rampart walls were
all in ruins, as one may say, and there was a dismal sight to see down
among the woods below, where the poor fellows were lying in heaps, but
were carried off presently by the