The Mysteries of Udolpho

Montoni’s Departure for the Casino and the Count’s Romantic Focus

Montoni, weary of the harmony, considers how to withdraw himself and such companions as wish to gamble to a Casino; in a pause of the music he proposes returning to shore, a suggestion eagerly seconded by Orsino but warmly opposed by the Count and the other gentlemen. Montoni seizes the chance offered by a passing empty boat to make his departure, committing the ladies to the care of his friends and going off with Orsino to St. Mark’s, where he is soon lost in a crowd of gamesters. The Count, seizing his opportunity, secretly dispatches a servant for his own gondola and musicians; soon Emily hears the gay song of approaching gondolieri, the two boats meet, and the party removes into the Count’s embellished gondola, where, over a collation of fruits and ice and to strains played by musicians following in the other boat, the Count sits by Emily and pays her unremitted, impassioned attention, which she avoids by conversing with Signora Livona, though her mild reserve fails to repress his assiduities.

Supper at Count Morano’s Casino and Madame Montoni’s Captivation

After a near-midnight return to the lantern-bright and crowded St. Mark’s Place, where the gaiety of the colonnades and the beauty of the night dispose Madame Montoni to comply with the Count’s solicitations, the party proceeds to a promenade and thence to supper at the Count’s tastefully fitted Casino. Perceiving that Emily’s reserve is an obstacle, the Count transfers much of his attention to Madame Montoni, whose vanity is so flattered that before the party breaks up he has entirely engaged her esteem, her ungracious countenance relaxing into smiles at his address. He invites the company to take coffee in his box at the opera on the following evening, and Madame Montoni accepts, to Emily’s strong anxiety about how to excuse herself from attending.

Next Day’s Social Call and Signora Herminia’s Impromptu Performance

The party returns home very late, Emily being astonished to see the broad sun rising over the Adriatic as they quit the still-crowded square; Montoni has not yet returned and his wife, in displeasure, retires to her apartment. Montoni comes home late in the morning, having lost considerably at play, and confers privately with Cavigni, whose manner the next day suggests that the subject of their talk was not pleasing to him. In the evening Madame Montoni, sullenly silent toward her husband through the day, receives visits from some Venetian ladies whose sweet, easy, refined manners charm Emily and stand in ludicrous contrast to the aunt’s coarseness. In a pause of conversation, a lady called Signora Herminia takes up a lute and sings with unconscious grace, her rich and expressive voice sounding from behind the flowers and foliage of the saloon; Emily, retiring a little, sketches her figure and surrounding miniature scenery, and on presenting the picture wins the delighted original’s promise of friendship.

Evening Gondola Outing and Emily’s Homesickness

Cavigni joins the ladies for an evening gondola outing, Montoni being otherwise engaged, and they row to St. Mark’s, where the same gay company flutters as on the preceding night. The cool breeze, the glassy sea, the gentle sound of its waves, the sweeter murmur of distant music, the lofty porticos and arcades, and the happy groups beneath them unite to charm Emily, who is no longer teased by the officious attentions of Count Morano. Yet as she looks upon the moonlight sea undulating along the walls of St. Mark and catches the melancholy song of a gondolier waiting below, her softened mind returns to the memory of her home, her friends, and all that is dear in her native country. After walking some time they sit at the door of a Casino for coffee and ice, where Count Morano joins them and seeks Emily with impatient delight, compelling her, as before, to retreat into a timid reserve except when conversing with Signora Herminia and the other ladies.