I wanted to take another tour of the secret passage before night fell, but first I stopped in my room to examine the fireplace. It took careful scrutiny, but eventually I found two small holes to the side of the chimney chute. I plugged them up with tissue. If someone wanted to spy on me, they would have a hard time locating the holes, and would leave evidence behind.
Next, I unbolted the second door in my room and stepped into a winding staircase. I frowned, and followed the staircase upward at once, to a door that I discovered led out onto the ramparts.
Satisfied, I followed the stairs past my door to the bottom stair, where another door lay. This one led out into the hallway beneath my room. I began to ascend the stairs to my room, when I noticed a recess in the wall similar to the one in the turret I had exited the passage from. Hesitating, I reached into the recess and pushed against the stone backing. It shifted easily.
Excited by this new discovery, I returned to my room to retrieve a lantern, then entered the recess, pushing the backing in far enough to allow for me to squeeze into the perpendicular passage. Like the other, I was able to stand just inside the opening and gaze down a narrow corridor. This one, however, did not go far. I very quickly found myself before a door.
It was locked.
Frustrated, I shook the doorknob, to no avail and let out a sigh as I leaned against it. I stood there for a minute before I realized that I heard something within. Was it voices?
I pressed my ear against the door and could make out some low noises, like moans. Was a person locked in the room? I stood back and stared at the wall. Should I call out? If it was Montoni or some schemer, I would be giving away my advantage, but if someone was in trouble, I couldn’t just leave them, could I?
I took a chance. “Hello?” I called out. “Is someone there?”
No reply came. I rested my ear against the solid frame of the door once more and continued to hear noises within, muffled and troubling.
Putting my eye to the keyhole, I tried to see inside the room, but only a yellow haze greeted me. The chamber beyond was lit. That implied that it was occupied or, at least, active. I frowned as I stood, wondering how I could enter the room, before giving up, deciding that I would have to think on it.
Since I had plenty of time before dinner yet, I traversed the first tunnel I’d discovered once more, stopping to listen at every door I came across, should I find that more were occupied and perhaps holding prisoners. Udolpho was a castle, after all. Didn’t all castles have dungeons?
I discovered nothing new this time around. I did take the time to look on each room with peepholes, even as I realized by doing so, I was invading the privacy of others in the way I abhorred the idea of someone doing so to myself. But I couldn’t help myself. And anyway, I didn’t have malicious intentions.
Blanche was getting her hair brushed by Annette, who prattled on with a constant stream of conversation, but Lady Morano didn’t seem to be listening. She was staring at her reflection in the mirror, as if lost in thought. Her eyes looked sad, tired, and I wondered what she was thinking about. The life she would be giving up if she were to cave to her uncle’s demands? She was as much a victim in this as I was, and I empathized with her. But I had to put myself first. Even if she saw the advantage in our attachment, I couldn’t allow my future well-being to fall into the hands of Montoni. Even for her happiness.
Blanche picked up an envelope sitting on her bureau and tapped its edge against the surface momentarily before Annette raised an eyebrow at her. “Another letter from Carmilla, my lady?”
“That’s none of your concern,” Blanche said, setting the envelope back down.
“Keeping secrets from me now, are you?” Annette teased. “You know you can hardly scandalize me. I’ve seen it all.”
“That, I believe,” Blanche smiled into the mirror thinly, her eyes lingering on the letter.
Henri wasn’t in his room. Neither was Father Schedoni. My aunt and Montoni, however, were, and their topic of conversation was of interest, as it pertained to me.
“I don’t see the advantage of allowing this to drag on,” the count was saying. “If your nephew doesn’t consent to marry my niece, there is nothing left to say on the matter. We will need to sidestep the boy entirely.”
Aunt Cheron’s jaw twitched. “Oh? And these documents you want me to fill out are for our future happiness, are they? I was always prepared to send Emile into the care of an institution if he couldn’t grow beyond his perversions, or at least sire an heir, but that was always intended as a temporary measure. What you’re proposing is cruel.”
Montoni sniffed. “It’s just a formality. Should you accept the inheritance, we must be prepared for any eventuality. If you should die, the money would need to go somewhere. I would think you’dwantyour husband to inherit it.”
“And trust that you won’t use these documents to rid yourself of us both? You must think me an imbecile.”
“No. I think you as hardheaded and suspicious as your nephew.”
My aunt scowled. “And anyway, this doesn’t address the fact that there is no heir to my bloodline. After a temporary stay at an institution, I’m sure my nephew would be too fearful of returning. He would fall in line and do his duty.”
I closed my eyes. So Montoni wanted me locked up for the rest of my life. That was what I had to look forward to if I didn’t give in to his demands and marry Blanche. A bleak future, indeed.
“I won’t take that chance,” the count returned. “And our families are united under our marriage, Madame Montoni. Don’t forget that. My niece and nephew are your family now too. You must think of them as much as Emile.”
“Emile is my blood. He will always come first. I cannot forget that my brother put him under my care. I will do what’s right for him and the bloodline. And signing those papers is not to his, nor my, advantage.”
I didn’t see the blow coming until my aunt sunk onto the bed, a hand at her cheek. I watched in horror as Montoni slowly lowered his open palm. He glared down at her menacingly. “I have ways of making people change their minds,” he said through clenched teeth. And then he stomped from the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
My aunt flung herself onto the bed, sobbing into the pillows as I watched helplessly.
If I hadn’t known the extent of Montoni’s cruelty before, I did now. He was a monster. He did not have my best interest in mind, nor my aunt’s. All he cared about was taking my inheritance for himself, as I’d suspected.
