The marquis turning to a door on his right hand, ordered it to be
unlocked. It opened upon the country, and the servants knew it to be
the same whence the figure had appeared. Having relocked it, 'Lift
that trapdoor; we will desend into the vaults,' said the marquis.
'What trapdoor, my Lord?' said Robert, with encreased agitation; 'I
see none.' The marquis pointed, and Robert, perceived a door, which
lay almost concealed beneath the stones that had fallen from the
stair-case above. He began to remove them, when the marquis suddenly
turning--'I have already sufficiently indulged your folly,' said he,
'and am weary of this business. If you are capable of receiving
conviction from truth, you must now be convinced that these buildings
are not the haunt of a supernatural being; and if you are incapable,
it would be entirely useless to proceed. You, Robert, may therefore
spare yourself the trouble of removing the rubbish; we will quit this
part of the fabric.' The servants joyfully obeyed, and the marquis locking the several
doors, returned with the keys to the habitable part of the castle.
Every enquiry after Julia had hitherto proved fruitless; and the
imperious nature of the marquis, heightened by the present vexation,
became intolerably oppressive to all around him. As the hope of
recovering Julia declined, his opinion that Emilia had assisted her to
escape strengthened, and he inflicted upon her the severity of his
unjust suspicions. She was ordered to confine herself to her apartment
till her innocence should be cleared, or her sister discovered. From
Madame de Menon she received a faithful sympathy, which was the sole
relief of her oppressed heart. Her anxiety concerning Julia daily
encreased, and was heightened into the most terrifying apprehensions
for her safety. She knew of no person in whom her sister could
confide, or of any place where she could find protection; the most
deplorable evils were therefore to be expected.
One day, as she was sitting at the window of her apartment, engaged in
melancholy reflection, she saw a man riding towards the castle on full
speed. Her heart beat with fear and expectation; for his haste made
her suspect he brought intelligence of Julia; and she could scarcely
refrain from breaking through the command of the marquis, and rushing
into the hall to learn something of his errand. She was right in her
conjecture; the person she had seen was a spy of the marquis's, and
came to inform him that the lady Julia was at that time concealed in a
cottage of the forest of Marentino. The marquis, rejoiced at this
intelligence, gave the man a liberal reward. He learned also, that she
was accompanied by a young cavalier; which circumstance surprized him
exceedingly; for he knew of no person except the Count de Vereza with
whom she could have entrusted herself, and the count had fallen by his
sword! He immediately ordered a party of his people to accompany the
messenger to the forest of Marentino, and to suffer neither Julia nor
the cavalier to escape them, on pain of death.