e to relate it.

Ludovico smiled at Annette, and bowed to Emily, and then began as
follows:

'You may remember, madam, that, on the night, when I sat up in the north
chamber, my lord, the Count, and Mons. Henri accompanied me thither, and
that, while they remained there, nothing happened to excite any alarm.
When they were gone I made a fire in the bed-room, and, not being
inclined to sleep, I sat down on the hearth with a book I had brought
with me to divert my mind. I confess I did sometimes look round the
chamber, with something like apprehension--'

'O very like it, I dare say,' interrupted Annette, 'and I dare say too,
if the truth was known, you shook from head to foot.'

'Not quite so bad as that,' replied Ludovico, smiling, 'but several
times, as the wind whistled round the castle, and shook the old
casements, I did fancy I heard odd noises, and, once or twice, I got up
and looked about me; but nothing was to be seen, except the grim figures
in the tapestry, which seemed to frown upon me, as I looked at them.
I had sat thus for above an hour,' continued Ludovico, 'when again I
thought I heard a noise, and glanced my eyes round the room, to discover
what it came from, but, not perceiving any thing, I began to read
again, and, when I had finished the story I was upon, I felt drowsy, and
dropped asleep. But presently I was awakened by the noise I had heard
before, and it seemed to come from that part of the chamber, where the
bed stood; and then, whether it was the story I had been reading that
affected my spirits, or the strange reports, that had been spread of
these apartments, I don't know, but, when I looked towards the bed
again, I fancied I saw a man's face within the dusky curtains.'

At the mention of this, Emily trembled, and looked anxiously,
remembering the spectacle she had herself witnessed there with Dorothee.

'I confess, madam, my heart did fail me, at that instant,' continued
Ludovico, 'but a return of the noise drew my attention from the bed, and
I then distinctly heard a sound, like that of a key, turning in a lock,
but what surprised me more was, that I saw no door where the sound
seemed to come from. In the next moment, however, the arras near the
bed was slowly lifted, and a person appeared behind it, entering from
a small door in the wall. He stood for a moment as if half retreating,
with his head bending under the arras which concealed the upper part of
his face except his eyes scowlin