At length the marquis, who came with food, quitted the cell, and
relocked the door, when Julia stole forth from her hiding-place. The
marchioness again embraced, and wept over her daughter. The narrative
of her sufferings, upon which she now entered, entirely dissipated the
mystery which had so long enveloped the southern buildings of the
castle. 'Oh! why,' said the marchioness, 'is it my task to discover to my
daughter the vices of her father? In relating my sufferings, I reveal
his crimes! It is now about fifteen years, as near as I can guess from
the small means I have of judging, since I entered this horrible
abode. My sorrows, alas! began not here; they commenced at an earlier
period. But it is sufficient to observe, that the passion whence
originated all my misfortunes, was discovered by me long before I
experienced its most baleful effects.
'Seven years had elapsed since my marriage, when the charms of Maria
de Vellorno, a young lady singularly beautiful, inspired the marquis
with a passion as violent as it was irregular. I observed, with deep
and silent anguish, the cruel indifference of my lord towards me, and
the rapid progress of his passion for another. I severely examined my
past conduct, which I am thankful to say presented a retrospect of
only blameless actions; and I endeavoured, by meek submission, and
tender assiduities, to recall that affection which was, alas! gone for
ever. My meek submission was considered as a mark of a servile and
insensible mind; and my tender assiduities, to which his heart no
longer responded, created only disgust, and exalted the proud spirit
it was meant to conciliate.
'The secret grief which this change occasioned, consumed my spirits,
and preyed upon my constitution, till at length a severe illness
threatened my life. I beheld the approach of death with a steady eye,
and even welcomed it as the passport to tranquillity; but it was
destined that I should linger through new scenes of misery.
'One day, which it appears was the paroxysm of my disorder, I sunk in
to a state of total torpidity, in which I lay for several hours. It is
impossible to describe my feelings, when, on recovering, I found
myself in this hideous abode. For some time I doubted my senses, and
afterwards believed that I had quitted this world for another; but I
was not long suffered to continue in my error, the appearance of the
marquis bringing me to a perfect sense of my situation.
'I now understood that I had been conveyed by his direction to this
recess of horror, where it was his will I should remain. My prayers,
my supplications, were ineffectual; the hardness of his heart repelled
my sorrows back upon myself; and as no entreaties could prevail upon
him to inform me where I was, or of his reason for placing me here, I
remained for many years ignorant of my vicinity to the castle, and of
the motive of my confinement.