y endeavoured
to encourage her. To enquiries, concerning Madame Montoni, she could
give no satisfactory answers.

'I quite forgot to ask among the servants, ma'amselle,' said she, 'for I
could think of nobody but poor Ludovico.'

Annette's grief was now somewhat assuaged, and Emily sent her to make
enquiries, concerning her lady, of whom, however, she could obtain no
intelligence, some of the people she spoke with being really ignorant of
her fate, and others having probably received orders to conceal it.

This day passed with Emily in continued grief and anxiety for her aunt;
but she was unmolested by any notice from Montoni; and, now that Annette
was liberated, she obtained food, without exposing herself to danger, or
impertinence.

Two following days passed in the same manner, unmarked by any
occurrence, during which she obtained no information of Madame Montoni.
On the evening of the second, having dismissed Annette, and retired to
bed, her mind became haunted by the most dismal images, such as her long
anxiety, concerning her aunt, suggested; and, unable to forget herself,
for a moment, or to vanquish the phantoms, that tormented her, she
rose from her bed, and went to one of the casements of her chamber, to
breathe a freer air.

All without was silent and dark, unless that could be called light,
which was only the faint glimmer of the stars, shewing imperfectly
the outline of the mountains, the western towers of the castle and the
ramparts below, where a solitary sentinel was pacing. What an image of
repose did this scene present! The fierce and terrible passions, too,
which so often agitated the inhabitants of this edifice, seemed now
hushed in sleep;--those mysterious workings, that rouse the elements of
man's nature into tempest--were calm. Emily's heart was not so; but her
sufferings, though deep, partook of the gentle character of her mind.
Hers was a silent anguish, weeping, yet enduring; not the wild energy of
passion, inflaming imagination, bearing down the barriers of reason and
living in a world of its own.

The air refreshed her, and she continued at the casement, looking on the
shadowy scene, over which the planets burned with a clear light, amid
the deep blue aether, as they silently moved in their destined course.
She remembered how often she had gazed on them with her dear father, how
often he had pointed out their way in the heavens, and explained their
laws; and these reflections led to oth