Montoni’s Search for the Traitor
After settling the strangers, Montoni is eager to discover which servant delivered the castle keys to Morano on the preceding night. Carlo, though too loyal to see his master injured quietly, will not betray a fellow-servant even to justice; he therefore pretends ignorance and repeats only that he overheard strangers describing the plot. Montoni’s suspicion naturally falls upon the porter, whom he orders to attend.
Barnardine the Porter
Carlo hesitates and slowly goes to fetch Barnardine the porter, who denies the accusation with so steady and undaunted a countenance that Montoni can scarcely believe him guilty, though he cannot think him innocent either. The man is at length dismissed and, though the real offender, escapes detection.
The Dispute with Madame Montoni
Montoni then proceeds to his wife’s apartment, where Emily follows but finds them in high dispute. Madame Montoni calls Emily back to be a witness of her opposition and bids Montoni repeat the command she has so often refused. Montoni turns with a stern countenance and orders Emily from the room in a voice of thunder; she obeys and walks down to the rampart to meditate on the unhappy marriage of her father’s sister and her own desolate situation. Emily’s gentle heart is touched by her aunt’s distress, and in the pity thus awakened she forgets the injurious treatment she herself has received.
The Portrait of the Late Lady
As she sauntered on the rampart, Annette appears at the hall door, looks cautiously about, and tells Emily that old Carlo has spoken of a portrait of the late lady of the castle. After a curious exchange in which Emily, despite her pallor, refuses at first to view it and asks whether it is veiled, Annette insists and leads her to an obscure chamber adjoining the servants’ quarters. There Emily surveys a portrait of a lady in the flower of youth and beauty, whose handsome, noble, passionate features—haughty and impatient rather than sweet or pensive—strike Emily with a sense of strong expression. Annette remarks that the portrait has hung there for about twenty years.
Annette’s Revelation of the Veiled Picture
Annette, observing that the late lady’s portrait ought to hang in the handsomest room rather than this old chamber, remarks that in the great apartment it would be as little seen as here, “for the door is always locked, I find”—thus revealing to Emily that the servants have already had access to the chamber housing the famed veiled picture. Emily starts, demands to know how this is possible, and Annette, with lively impertinence, replies that the servants simply had “a little more curiousness” than her mistress had.
CHAPITRE VII.
Chapter VII opens with Emily and Annette viewing a picture in an obscure part of the castle, then shifts to Emily’s discovery of her aunt weeping alone. Madame Montoni, her pride finally overcome by suffering, pours forth a torrent of complaints about her husband’s deception, cruelty, and ruined finances, particularly his demand that she sign away her settlements. Emily, who responds with quiet sympathy and counsel of prudence, is met with bitter rebukes and dismissal. Retreating to her chamber, Emily yields to anxious reflection on the full scope of Montoni’s predicament and his possible designs upon her, and she attempts to soothe her distress with Ariosto and her lute. When Annette brings her dinner, the servant provides news of the strange armed men, Count Morano’s dire condition, and the long-standing quarrels between the Signor and his wife. Annette further reveals that, even at Toulouse, Madame Montoni had spoken of Emily and Valancourt in the most uncharitable terms and had conspired with Montoni to compel the match with Morano.
Emily Finds Her Aunt Weeping
Leaving the painting with Annette, Emily passes to her own apartment and glimpses Montoni descending to the hall. Turning instead into her aunt’s dressing-room, she finds Madame Montoni weeping and alone, with grief and resentment contending on her face. Pride had previously held back complaint, for the aunt, judging Emily by her own disposition, had feared her niece would triumph in her distress rather than pity her. The narrative emphasizes Emily’s contrary nature: her tenderness and benevolence cause her to forget personal injuries in the misfortunes even of an enemy, and the sufferings of others, whoever they are, awaken her ready compassion.
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