'Am I then to be of the party, madam?' said Emily, with extreme surprise
and emotion. 'Most certainly,' replied her aunt, 'how could you imagine
we should leave you behind? But I see you are thinking of the Chevalier;
he is not yet, I believe, informed of the journey, but he very soon
will be so. Signor Montoni is gone to acquaint Madame Clairval of our
journey, and to say, that the proposed connection between the families
must from this time be thought of no more.'
The unfeeling manner, in which Madame Montoni thus informed her niece,
that she must be separated, perhaps for ever, from the man, with whom
she was on the point of being united for life, added to the dismay,
which she must otherwise have suffered at such intelligence. When
she could speak, she asked the cause of the sudden change in Madame's
sentiments towards Valancourt, but the only reply she could obtain was,
that the Signor had forbade the connection, considering it to be greatly
inferior to what Emily might reasonably expect.
'I now leave the affair entirely to the Signor,' added Madame Montoni,
'but I must say, that M. Valancourt never was a favourite with me, and
I was overpersuaded, or I should not have given my consent to the
connection. I was weak enough--I am so foolish sometimes!--to suffer
other people's uneasiness to affect me, and so my better judgment
yielded to your affliction. But the Signor has very properly pointed out
the folly of this, and he shall not have to reprove me a second time. I
am determined, that you shall submit to those, who know how to guide you
better than yourself--I am determined, that you shall be conformable.'
Emily would have been astonished at the assertions of this eloquent
speech, had not her mind been so overwhelmed by the sudden shock it had
received, that she scarcely heard a word of what was latterly addressed
to her. Whatever were the weaknesses of Madame Montoni, she might have
avoided to accuse herself with those of compassion and tenderness to the
feelings of others, and especially to those of Emily. It was the same
ambition, that lately prevailed upon her to solicit an alliance with
Madame Clairval's family, which induced her to withdraw from it, now
that her marriage with Montoni had exalted her self-consequence, and,
with it, her views for her niece.
Emily was, at this time, too much affected to employ either
remonstrance, or entreaty on this topic; and when, at length, she
attempted the latter, her emotion overcame her speech, and she retired
to her apartment, to think, if in the present state of her mind to think
was possible, upon this sudden and overwhelming subject. It was very
long, before her spirits were sufficiently composed to permit the
reflection, which, when it came, was dark and even terrible. She saw,
that Montoni sought to aggrandise himself in his disposal of her, and
it occurred, that his friend Cavigni was the person, for whom he was
interested. The prospect of going to Italy was still rendered darker,
when she considered the tumultuous situation of that country, then
torn by civil commotion, where every petty state was at war with its
neighbour, and even every castle liable to the attack of an invader.
She considered the person, to whose immediate guidance she would
be committed, and the vast distance, that was to separate her from
Valancourt, and, at the recollection of him, every other image vanished
from her mind, and every thought was again obscured by grief.