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The Castle of Otranto-Part5_Horace Walpole(1717-1797)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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that your family was in no way related to his: and I am sure I cannot

conceive why my Lady, the Princess, sends you in a cold morning or a



damp evening to pray at his tomb: he is no saint by the almanack. If

you must pray, why does she not bid you address yourself to our great



St. Nicholas? I am sure he is the saint I pray to for a husband."

"Perhaps my mind would be less affected," said Matilda, "if my mother



would explain her reasons to me: but it is the mystery she observes,

that inspires me with this - I know not what to call it. As she never



acts from caprice, I am sure there is some fatal secret at bottom -

nay, I know there is: in her agony of grief for my brother's death



she dropped some words that intimated as much."

"Oh! dear Madam," cried Bianca, "what were they?"



"No," said Matilda, "if a parent lets fall a word, and wishes it

recalled, it is not for a child to utter it."



"What! was she sorry for what she had said?" asked Bianca; "I am sure,

Madam, you may trust me - "



"With my own little secrets when I have any, I may," said Matilda;

"but never with my mother's: a child ought to have no ears or eyes



but as a parent directs."

"Well! to be sure, Madam, you were born to be a saint," said Bianca,



"and there is no resisting one's vocation: you will end in a convent

at last. But there is my Lady Isabella would not be so reserved to



me: she will let me talk to her of young men: and when a handsome

cavalier has come to the castle, she has owned to me that she wished



your brother Conrad resembled him."

"Bianca," said the Princess, "I do not allow you to mention my friend



disrespectfully. Isabella is of a cheerfuldisposition, but her soul

is pure as virtue itself. She knows your idle babbling humour, and



perhaps has now and then encouraged it, to divertmelancholy, and

enliven the solitude in which my father keeps us - "



"Blessed Mary!" said Bianca, starting, "there it is again! Dear

Madam, do you hear nothing? this castle is certainly haunted!"



"Peace!" said Matilda, "and listen! I did think I heard a voice - but

it must be fancy: your terrors, I suppose, have infected me."



"Indeed! indeed! Madam," said Bianca, half-weeping with agony, "I am

sure I heard a voice."



"Does anybody lie in the chamber beneath?" said the Princess.

"Nobody has dared to lie there," answered Bianca, "since the great



astrologer, that was your brother's tutor, drowned himself. For

certain, Madam, his ghost and the young Prince's are now met in the



chamber below - for Heaven's sake let us fly to your mother's

apartment!"



"I charge you not to stir," said Matilda. "If they are spirits in

pain, we may ease their sufferings by questioning them. They can mean



no hurt to us, for we have not injured them - and if they should,

shall we be more safe in one chamber than in another? Reach me my



beads; we will say a prayer, and then speak to them."

"Oh! dear Lady, I would not speak to a ghost for the world!" cried



Bianca. As she said those words they heard the casement of the little

chamber below Matilda's open. They listened attentively, and in a few



minutes thought they heard a person sing, but could not distinguish

the words.



"This can be no evil spirit," said the Princess, in a low voice; "it

is undoubtedly one of the family - open the window, and we shall know



the voice."

"I dare not, indeed, Madam," said Bianca.



"Thou art a very fool," said Matilda, opening the window gently

herself. The noise the Princess made was, however, heard by the



person beneath, who stopped; and they concluded had heard the casement

open.



"Is anybody below?" said the Princess; "if there is, speak."

"Yes," said an unknown voice.



"Who is it?" said Matilda.

"A stranger," replied the voice.



"What stranger?" said she; "and how didst thou come there at this

unusual hour, when all the gates of the castle are locked?"



"I am not here willingly," answered the voice. "But pardon me, Lady,

if I have disturbed your rest; I knew not that I was overheard. Sleep



had forsaken me; I left a restless couch, and came to waste the

irksome hours with gazing on the fair approach of morning, impatient






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