The Mysteries of Udolpho

CHAPTER VI

Chapter VI follows Emily’s morning at the Castle of Udolpho, where daylight dispels the superstitious fears of the night but cannot ease her apprehensions about Count Morano. Through a series of unfolding events—a mysteriously bolted door, a dismissive Montoni, the arrival of visitors, and rumours of a haunted chamber—Emily is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the castle, culminating in her resolve to examine the veiled picture that had caught her attention the previous night.

Morning Apprehensions

Daylight banishes Emily’s superstitious fears, but a more grounded apprehension remains. The first image that occurs to her waking thoughts is that of Count Morano, followed by a train of anticipated evils she can neither conquer nor avoid. Seeking distraction, she rises and compels herself to notice the external world from her casement.

The Alpine Vista

From her casement, Emily contemplates the wild grandeur of the alpine scene: steep mountains fading into mist, dark wooded promontories, a foaming stream falling among crags, and a mountain-vista veiled in a thin vapour that rises, catches the sunbeams, and kindles into a crimson tint. The pastoral beauty of the valley and the streaming splendour above restore her spirits, and she raises her thoughts in prayer, finding her mind recovering its strength amidst the sublimity of nature.

The Mysterious Door

When Emily turns from the casement, she notices the door she had carefully guarded the previous night. Approaching to examine it, she discovers that the chairs have been moved and the door is now fastened from the outside. Greatly alarmed, she realises that someone must have entered during the night and bolted the door. Seriously uneasy about sleeping again in such a remote, intrusion-prone chamber, she resolves to mention the circumstance to Madame Montoni and request a change of room.

Emily’s Request Denied

After some difficulty, Emily finds her way to the breakfast room where her aunt sits alone. Observing that Madame Montoni has been weeping, Emily softens towards her and seizes the opportunity of Montoni’s absence to mention the bolted door and to inquire again about the cause of their sudden journey. Her aunt refuses to interfere in the chamber matter, referring her to Montoni, and professes utter ignorance of the journey’s purpose. Emily’s attempt to soften her aunt’s situation by praising the castle and scenery is met with ridicule rather than warmth.

Breakfast with Montoni

Montoni returns and seats himself at the breakfast-table with a countenance darker and sterner than usual. Breakfast passes in near silence until Emily ventures to request another apartment and relates the circumstance of the bolted door. Montoni dismisses her fears as idle whims, suggesting the wind must have moved the rusty bolts. Emily, having observed that the bolts were rusted and could not easily slide, repeats her request but is sternly told to conquer her fears and not torment others with the mention of them. Wounded and disappointed, she withdraws from the subject.

Carlo’s Cherries

Carlo soon enters with fruit, addressing Montoni as “Excellenza” and beginning to mention a place in the vaulted passage. Montoni silences him with a frown and a wave of the hand. Undeterred, Carlo offers cherries to Madame Montoni and Emily, boasting that he gathered them himself from an old tree catching the south sun. Emily accepts some with a kind smile before Montoni impatiently dismisses Carlo from the room.

Exploring the Ramparts

After breakfast, Montoni departs to examine further into the state of the castle, and Madame Montoni retires to her dressing-room. Left to herself, Emily passes through a folding door onto the ramparts, which extend along the brow of the precipice. She admires the gothic magnificence of Udolpho—its proud irregularity, lofty towers, high-arched casements, and slender watch-towers—as well as the changing scenery of mountain-tops, pine forests, and narrow glens. From the terrace wall, she observes Montoni ascending a winding path below, followed by Carlo and a peasant, gesturing with great eagerness.

Arrival of Visitors

Hearing the sound of carriage wheels and the loud bell of the portal, Emily is seized with the fear that Count Morano has arrived. She hastily retreats from the terrace, glimpsing several persons entering the hall by an opposite door, but the duskiness prevents her from identifying them. Convinced she has seen the Count, she proceeds to her room in agitation, where she later observes Montoni conversing earnestly with Signor Cavigni on the rampart below, and the footsteps in the corridor heighten her alarm.