judgment was not
enlightened, and the terrors of superstition again pervaded her mind.

CHAPTER IV

There is one within,
Besides the things, that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights, seen by the watch.
JULIUS CAESAR

In the morning, Emily found Madame Montoni nearly in the same condition,
as on the preceding night; she had slept little, and that little had
not refreshed her; she smiled on her niece, and seemed cheered by her
presence, but spoke only a few words, and never named Montoni, who,
however, soon after, entered the room. His wife, when she understood
that he was there, appeared much agitated, but was entirely silent, till
Emily rose from a chair at the bed-side, when she begged, in a feeble
voice, that she would not leave her.

The visit of Montoni was not to sooth his wife, whom he knew to be
dying, or to console, or to ask her forgiveness, but to make a last
effort to procure that signature, which would transfer her estates in
Languedoc, after her death, to him rather than to Emily. This was a
scene, that exhibited, on his part, his usual inhumanity, and, on that
of Madame Montoni, a persevering spirit, contending with a feeble frame;
while Emily repeatedly declared to him her willingness to resign all
claim to those estates, rather than that the last hours of her aunt
should be disturbed by contention. Montoni, however, did not leave the
room, till his wife, exhausted by the obstinate dispute, had fainted,
and she lay so long insensible, that Emily began to fear that the spark
of life was extinguished. At length, she revived, and, looking feebly
up at her niece, whose tears were falling over her, made an effort to
speak, but her words were unintelligible, and Emily again apprehended
she was dying. Afterwards, however, she recovered her speech, and, being
somewhat restored by a cordial, conversed for a considerable time, on
the subject of her estates in France, with clearness and precision. She
directed her niece where to find some papers relative to them, which she
had hitherto concealed from the search of Montoni, and earnestly charged
her never to suffer these papers to escape her.

Soon after this conversation, Madame Montoni sunk into a dose, and
continued slumbering, till evening, when she seemed better than she
had been since her removal from the turret. Emily never left her, for a
moment, till long after midnight, and even then would not have quitted
the room,