Emily’s request that Annette keep silent about the terrifying events of the previous night proved useless. The news quickly spread among the servants, who now all claimed that they had often heard strange and unexplained noises throughout the château. Soon, a rumor reached the Count that the northern side of the castle was haunted.
At first, the Count laughed at the idea.
But when he saw how much fear and confusion it was creating among his household, he ordered everyone not to repeat such stories, warning that anyone who continued spreading them would be punished.
The arrival of several guests soon distracted the Count from the matter. The servants also became too busy during the day to think much about the supposed haunting. However, every evening after supper, they gathered together in their hall and exchanged ghost stories until they became frightened of their own surroundings.
A door closing somewhere in the château would make them jump.
A faint echo moving through the corridors would make them look around nervously.
And none of them dared walk alone to any distant part of the castle.
Among them, Annette became the most popular storyteller.
She described not only everything she had truly experienced at Udolpho, but also many things she had imagined. She told them about the mysterious disappearance of Signora Laurentini and filled their minds with even greater fear.
She would have gladly revealed her suspicions about Montoni as well, but Ludovico, who was now serving the Count, wisely stopped her whenever her stories began moving in that direction.
Among the visitors staying at the château were the Baron de Saint Foix, an old friend of the Count, and his son, the Chevalier St. Foix.
The young Chevalier was a thoughtful and gentle man. The previous year in Paris, he had met Lady Blanche and had fallen deeply in love with her.
The Count secretly approved of the match because of his long friendship with the Baron and because their families were equal in social position.
However, he had believed that Blanche was still too young to decide on marriage, and he wanted to test whether the Chevalier’s affection was sincere and lasting.
Therefore, he had previously refused his request, though he did not destroy the young man’s hopes.
Now the Chevalier returned with his father, ready to prove that his love had remained unchanged.
The Count accepted his devotion.
And Blanche did not reject him.
During the visit of these guests, the château became filled with happiness, music, and celebration.
The pavilion in the woods was decorated and turned into a dining place for evening gatherings. After supper, the nights often ended with concerts.
The Count and Countess, both skilled musicians, performed there. The Chevaliers Henri and St. Foix also joined them, along with Lady Blanche and Emily, whose beautiful voices and refined taste made up for their lack of professional training.
Several servants played horns and other instruments from different places among the trees, creating gentle echoes that blended with the music coming from the pavilion.
At another time, Emily would have found such gatherings delightful.
But now her heart was burdened with sadness.
She discovered that no ordinary entertainment could remove the melancholy that had settled over her. Sometimes, the soft and emotional music of the concerts only deepened her sorrow.
Emily especially loved walking through the woods that stretched along a high cliff above the sea.
The deep green shade of the trees soothed her troubled thoughts. Through openings among the branches, she could see the Mediterranean spreading below, with its winding coastline and distant ships moving quietly across the water.
The scene combined peaceful beauty with magnificent grandeur.
The paths through the woods were rough and often covered with plants, but their owner valued the natural appearance of the place. He allowed little change to be made and rarely permitted even a single old branch to be cut away.
In one of the most secluded areas stood a simple wooden seat made from the trunk of an ancient oak tree that had long since decayed.
Many of its great branches still survived, growing together with beech trees and pines to form a natural roof above the spot.
From beneath the thick shade, Emily could see the tops of other forests stretching toward the sea.
On the left, through an opening in the trees, stood an old ruined watchtower on a rocky point beside the water, rising above the surrounding leaves.
Emily often came there alone in the quiet of evening.
The peaceful scenery and the distant sound of waves comforted her, and she would remain there until darkness forced her to return to the château.
She also frequently visited the watchtower because it offered a wide view of the landscape.
When she leaned against its broken walls and thought of Valancourt, she never imagined that he had often come to the same place.
Since he had become separated from the neighboring château, the tower had been almost as much his refuge as hers.
One evening, Emily stayed there later than usual.
She sat on the steps of the ruined building, watching the evening slowly cover the wide landscape.
The gray waters of the Mediterranean and the dark forests were almost the only visible parts of the scene.
She looked from the quiet sea to the gentle blue sky, where the first pale star of evening had appeared.
The beauty of the hour inspired her thoughts, and she composed these words:
Song of the Evening Hour
I am the last of the hours that follow the fading day.
I move silently through the lands of twilight and hear, far away, the songs of my sister hours as they disappear.
I follow the sun’s fading light across the blue heavens, watching its final rays sink into the distance.
Only a weak glow remains to guide me from the far edge of the sky.
I carry with me the final melodies of happier hours, and my voice extends them into gentle, dying notes.
The world below feels my influence as my quiet sounds drift upon the evening wind.
When the sun’s last beam disappears in the west, and the tired sun sinks away, leaving purple light upon the mountain tops and a faint glow upon the sleeping ocean, I quietly spread across the earth.
I send cool dew over the dry ground.
I refresh every tired plant and flower.
I fill the air with their hidden fragrance.
Wherever I travel, peace follows me.
I cover forests, mountains, fields, and towns with soft shadows that blend everything into gentle harmony.
I send fresh winds across the world, whispering through woods and valleys, comforting those who love solitude and quiet reflection.
I listen to the shepherd’s gentle flute playing beside a murmuring stream.
I hear it calming the ocean waves after storms or rising softly from distant hills.
I awaken the little spirits who hide from daylight.
When they see my pale star leading the coming night, they leave their flower beds and begin their secret celebrations.
They release the sweet scents that had rested inside the blossoms.
They travel to moonlit shores and quiet streams until the morning birds begin their songs.
The forest spirits welcome my cool air and peaceful shade.
They dance lightly beside rivers and scatter fresh flowers along my path.
But I must continue onward.
The moon rises over the eastern clouds, the last colors of day disappear, and I hurry westward before the darkness of midnight surrounds the world.
As Emily finished her thoughts, the moon began rising from the sea.
She watched its slow movement upward, the silver path of light spreading across the water, the sparkling oars of distant boats, and the sails glowing faintly beneath the moonbeams.
The tops of the woods and the walls of the watchtower where she sat became softly illuminated.
Emily’s emotions matched the peaceful beauty before her.
But as she sat quietly, she suddenly heard sounds drifting through the air.
She immediately recognized them.
They were the same music and voice she had heard before during the mysterious midnight event.
A feeling of wonder filled her heart, but it was mixed with fear as she remembered how alone and distant she was.
The sounds came closer.
Emily tried to stand and leave, but the music seemed to approach from the very path she needed to take back to the château.
So she remained where she was, waiting anxiously.
The sounds continued for a while.
Then they stopped.
Emily sat motionless, listening and staring into the darkness.
Suddenly, she saw a figure emerge from the shadows of the woods and move along the bank some distance ahead of her.
The figure passed quickly.
Emily was so overwhelmed by fear and mystery that although she saw it, she hardly understood what she had seen.
She immediately decided never again to visit that place alone so late in the evening.
As she approached the château, she heard voices calling her from the nearby woods.
They were the Count’s servants, who had been sent out to search for her.
When she entered the supper room, where the Count was sitting with Henri and Blanche, the Count looked at her with gentle concern.
Emily felt ashamed because she knew she had deserved his silent reproach.
The incident deeply affected her.
When she later returned to her room, it brought back so strongly the strange events she had witnessed several nights earlier that she barely had the courage to remain alone.
She stayed awake for a long time.
At last, when no frightening sound appeared, she fell asleep.
But her rest did not last.
She was suddenly awakened by a loud and unusual noise coming from the gallery outside her chamber.
She clearly heard groans.
Then something heavy struck against her door with such force that it seemed ready to break open.
Emily called out loudly.
“Who is there?”
No answer came.
Yet from time to time she thought she heard a low, painful sound.
Fear completely froze her.
Soon afterward, she heard footsteps far away in the gallery.
As they approached, she called out again, even louder.
The footsteps stopped directly outside her door.
Then she recognized the voices of several servants.
They seemed completely occupied by something happening outside and did not hear her calls.
Shortly afterward, Annette entered the room to fetch water.
Emily then learned that one of the maids had fainted and immediately ordered that the girl be brought inside.
She helped revive her.
When the maid finally recovered, she told them what had happened.
She said that while climbing the back staircase toward her room, she had seen a ghost on the second landing.
Because several steps were broken and unsafe, she had held her lamp low while walking.
When she raised her eyes, she saw the figure standing in the corner ahead.
It remained there for a moment.
Then it slowly moved up the stairs and disappeared through the door of the recently opened apartment.
Afterward, she heard a hollow sound.
Dorothée immediately exclaimed:
“Then the devil himself must have a key to that room, because no one else could have entered. I locked that door myself!”
The terrified girl had then rushed down the stairs and run through the main staircase toward the gallery.
With a weak cry, she had collapsed outside Emily’s door.
Emily gently scolded her for causing such fear and tried to convince her that she must have been mistaken.
But the girl insisted that she had truly seen an apparition.
She finally returned to her room, accompanied by nearly all the servants.
Only Dorothée remained with Emily, because Emily requested her company through the night.
Emily was confused.
Dorothée was terrified.
She began recalling many events from the past that had strengthened her belief in supernatural happenings.
Among them, she claimed that she had once witnessed a similar figure in the very same place.
She explained that this memory was the reason she had hesitated earlier when accompanying Emily upstairs and why she had been so unwilling to open the northern apartments.
Whatever Emily truly believed, she kept her thoughts to herself.
She listened carefully to everything Dorothée revealed, and the information left her deeply troubled and uncertain.
After that night, the servants’ fear became so extreme that several of them decided to leave the château.
They asked the Count to release them from their duties.
The Count, whether he believed their fears or not, chose not to reveal his own thoughts. Instead, wishing to avoid losing his servants, he first used humor and then reason to convince them that they had nothing to fear from supernatural forces.
But fear had already closed their minds.
Reason could no longer reach them.
At this moment, Ludovico showed both his courage and his gratitude toward the Count, who had treated him kindly.
He offered to spend one night alone in the rooms believed to be haunted.
“I fear no spirits,” he said.
“And if anything appears in human form, I will prove that I fear that even less.”
The Count paused at this brave offer.
The servants who heard it looked at each other with amazement and uncertainty.
Annette, terrified for Ludovico’s safety, begged him with tears not to attempt such a dangerous task.
The Count smiled.
“You are a brave man,” he said. “Think carefully about what you are about to face before making your final decision. But if you remain determined, I will accept your offer, and your courage will not go unrewarded.”
“I ask for no reward, your Excellency,” Ludovico replied.
“Your approval is enough. You have already been very kind to me. But I do wish to have weapons, so that I may face my enemy if one appears.”
“A sword cannot defend you against a ghost,” the Count replied, glancing humorously at the frightened servants.
“Neither can locks or doors. A spirit, as everyone knows, can pass through a keyhole as easily as through a door.”
“Give me a sword, my lord Count,” said Ludovico.
“And I will send every spirit that attacks me straight to the bottom of the sea.”
“Very well,” said the Count.
“You shall have a sword, and a good supper as well. Perhaps your brave companions here will find enough courage to remain another night in the château, since your boldness will surely keep the ghost’s attention on you alone.”
Curiosity slowly began to overcome fear among the servants.
Finally, several of them decided to stay and witness the result of Ludovico’s daring decision.
When Emily heard of his plan, she was both surprised and worried.
Several times she almost told the Count what she had discovered in the northern apartments because she feared for Ludovico’s safety.
Although reason told her such fears were unreasonable, she could not completely dismiss them.
However, she had promised to keep Dorothée’s secret.
If she revealed what she knew, she would also have to explain why she had secretly entered the northern rooms.
For this reason, she remained silent.
Instead, she tried only to comfort Annette, who was convinced that Ludovico would certainly be killed.
Emily’s comforting words helped little.
Annette was far more affected by old Dorothée’s fearful reactions, for whenever she mentioned Ludovico’s name, Dorothée would sigh deeply and raise her eyes toward heaven in sorrow.