The Mysteries of Udolpho

Annette’s Secret

Annette’s thoughts are meanwhile occupied with a strange circumstance connected to the castle that she has been enjoined not to mention. Though her love of the marvellous and her inclination to tell it are strong, she fears the severer punishment Montoni might impose. When Caterina brings the wood and its bright blaze dispels the gloom, the servant reports that Madame Montoni has enquired for Annette, leaving Emily once again alone with her reflections on Montoni’s stern manners.

The Hidden Staircase

Seeking to distract her troubled spirits, Emily rises and examines her room and its furniture. Passing a door that is not quite shut, she perceives it is not the one through which she entered, and bringing the light forward discovers that it opens onto a steep, narrow staircase winding between two stone walls. Although she wishes to know where it leads—particularly since it communicates so directly with her apartment—she lacks the courage to venture into the darkness alone.

Securing the Door

Emily closes the door and tries to fasten it, but on further examination finds it has no bolts on the chamber side, only two on the other. She places a heavy chair against it to remedy the defect, but remains alarmed at the thought of sleeping alone in this remote room with a door she cannot fully secure from the inside. She considers begging Madame Montoni to allow Annette to stay the night, but is deterred by the fear of betraying what would be called childish fears and by reluctance to increase Annette’s own apt terrors.

CHAPITRE V.

Chapter V centers on a single evening in which Emily is left alone in Montoni’s castle, where Annette arrives with supper and proceeds to recount the dark history of the castle’s inheritance, the mysterious disappearance of Signora Laurentini, and the sightings of her ghost. The chapter traces Emily’s growing unease as Annette’s tales of the supernatural infect her imagination, culminates in a startling knock on the wall, and ends with Emily alone, brooding on her vulnerable position and the prophetic warnings of Valancourt, before retiring to a restless sleep troubled by nameless terrors.

Annette Brings Emily Madame Montoni’s Supper

Annette enters Emily’s chamber with supper sent by Madame Montoni. Emily, grateful for the company, invites Annette to sit at the table near the fire and sup with her, and the two women share a quiet, friendly repast together.

Annette Shares the Secret of Montoni’s Castle Inheritance

After their supper, Annette draws her chair close to Emily’s by the hearth, and asks whether she has ever heard of the strange accident that made Montoni lord of the castle. She reveals that Benedetto told her the story during their journey, but warns that the tale is a secret and that Montoni does not wish it spoken of, while Emily pretends to show only mild curiosity. Annette then explains that the castle, though very old and strong, was not originally Montoni’s, but would pass to him by law if a certain lady died unmarried.

Annette Tells the Story of Signora Laurentini’s Disappearance

Annette relates that the lady in question, Signora Laurentini, lived in the castle in grand style, that Montoni courted her and offered marriage despite being related to her, but that she refused him because she loved another. Annette describes Laurentini as melancholy and unhappy, often walking alone on the terrace beneath the windows and weeping, until one autumn evening she went out into the chestnut woods below the castle with only her maid, despite the cold wind, and vanished without a trace. Though the servants searched the woods all night, nothing was ever found, and from that day forward Signora Laurentini was never heard of again.

Annette Recounts Ghost Sightings of Signora Laurentini

Annette reveals that several of the old servants, and later some of the vassals who stayed in the castle at night, claimed to have seen the Signora’s ghost wandering in the woods and about the castle. She describes the sightings as terrifying: the figure was glimpsed in one part of the castle one moment and another the next, never seen entering or leaving, and never speaking. Parts of the castle, she adds, have since been left unentered because of such apparitions, and an old chapel on the west side is said to echo with dreadful groans at midnight. Emily, skeptical, points out the contradiction in calling the lady both unknown and seen, but Annette insists it remains a great secret.