She looked round, with anxious enquiry; the deep twilight, that had
fallen over the scene, admitted only imperfect images to the eye, but,
at some distance on the sea, she thought she perceived a gondola: a
chorus of voices and instruments now swelled on the air--so sweet, so
solemn! it seemed like the hymn of angels descending through the silence
of night! Now it died away, and fancy almost beheld the holy choir
reascending towards heaven; then again it swelled with the breeze,
trembled awhile, and again died into silence. It brought to Emily's
recollection some lines of her late father, and she repeated in a low
voice,
Oft I hear,
Upon the silence of the midnight air,
Celestial voices swell in holy chorus
That bears the soul to heaven!
The deep stillness, that succeeded, was as expressive as the strain
that had just ceased. It was uninterrupted for several minutes, till
a general sigh seemed to release the company from their enchantment.
Emily, however, long indulged the pleasing sadness, that had stolen
upon her spirits; but the gay and busy scene that appeared, as the barge
approached St. Mark's Place, at length roused her attention. The rising
moon, which threw a shadowy light upon the terraces, and illumined
the porticos and magnificent arcades that crowned them, discovered the
various company, whose light steps, soft guitars, and softer voices,
echoed through the colonnades.
The music they heard before now passed Montoni's barge, in one of the
gondolas, of which several were seen skimming along the moon-light sea,
full of gay parties, catching the cool breeze. Most of these had music,
made sweeter by the waves over which it floated, and by the measured
sound of oars, as they dashed the sparkling tide. Emily gazed, and
listened, and thought herself in a fairy scene; even Madame Montoni was
pleased; Montoni congratulated himself on his return to Venice, which
he called the first city in the world, and Cavigni was more gay and
animated than ever.
The barge passed on to the grand canal, where Montoni's mansion was
situated. And here, other forms of beauty and of grandeur, such as her
imagination had never painted, were unfolded to Emily in the palaces of
Sansovino and Palladio, as she glided along the waves. The air bore no
sounds, but those of sweetness, echoing along each margin of the canal,
and from gondolas on its surface, while groups of masks were seen
dancing on the moon-light terraces, and seemed almost to realize the
romance of fairyland.
The barge stopped before the portico of a large house, from whence
a servant of Montoni crossed the terrace, and immediately the party
disembarked. From the portico they passed a noble hall to a stair-case
of marble, which led to a saloon, fitted up in a style of magnificence
that surprised Emily. The walls and ceilings were adorned with
historical and allegorical paintings, in fresco; silver tripods,
depending from chains of the same metal, illumined the apartment, the
floor of which was covered with Indian mats painted in a variety of
colours and devices; the couches and drapery of the lattices were of
pale green silk, embroidered and fringed with green and gold. Balcony
lattices opened upon the grand canal, whence rose a confusion of voices
and of musical instruments, and the breeze that gave freshness to the
apartment. Emily, considering the gloomy temper of Montoni, looked upon
the splendid furniture of this house with surprise, and remembered the
report of his being a man of broken fortune, with astonishment. 'Ah!'
said she to herself, 'if Valancourt could but see this mansion, what
peace would it give him! He would then be convinced that the report was
groundless.' Madame Montoni seemed to assume the air of a princess; but Montoni was
restless and discontented, and did not even observe the civility of
bidding her welcome to her home.