'Nay, madam,' cried Annette, 'if this is all I am to get for having
told the secret'--Her mistress thus continued to insist, and Annette to
protest, till Montoni, himself, appeared, who bade the latter leave the
room, and she withdrew, trembling for the fate of her story. Emily also
was retiring, but her aunt desired she would stay; and Montoni had so
often made her a witness of their contention, that he no longer had
scruples on that account.
'I insist upon knowing this instant, Signor, what all this means:' said
his wife--'what are all these armed men, whom they tell me of, gone
out about?' Montoni answered her only with a look of scorn; and Emily
whispered something to her. 'It does not signify,' said her aunt: 'I
will know; and I will know, too, what the castle has been fortified
for.' 'Come, come,' said Montoni, 'other business brought me here. I must
be trifled with no longer. I have immediate occasion for what I
demand--those estates must be given up, without further contention; or I
may find a way--' 'They never shall be given up,' interrupted Madame Montoni: 'they never
shall enable you to carry on your wild schemes;--but what are these?
I will know. Do you expect the castle to be attacked? Do you expect
enemies? Am I to be shut up here, to be killed in a siege?'
'Sign the writings,' said Montoni, 'and you shall know more.' 'What enemy can be coming?' continued his wife. 'Have you entered into
the service of the state? Am I to be blocked up here to die?'
'That may possibly happen,' said Montoni, 'unless you yield to my
demand: for, come what may, you shall not quit the castle till then.'
Madame Montoni burst into loud lamentation, which she as suddenly
checked, considering, that her husband's assertions might be only
artifices, employed to extort her consent. She hinted this suspicion,
and, in the next moment, told him also, that his designs were not so
honourable as to serve the state, and that she believed he had only
commenced a captain of banditti, to join the enemies of Venice, in
plundering and laying waste the surrounding country.
Montoni looked at her for a moment with a steady and stern countenance;
while Emily trembled, and his wife, for once, thought she had said too
much. 'You shall be removed, this night,' said he, 'to the east turret:
there, perhaps, you may understand the danger of offending a man, who
has an unlimited power over you.'