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1"Nothing further to alarm perhaps may occur the first night. After surmounting your unconquerable horror of the bed, you
2will retire to rest, and get a few hours' unquiet slumber. But on the second, or at farthest the third night after your
3arrival, you will probably have a violent storm. Peals of thunder so loud as to seem to shake the edifice to its
4foundation will roll round the neighbouring mountains--and during the frightful gusts of wind which accompany it, you
5will probably think you discern (for your lamp is not extinguished) one part of the hanging more violently agitated than
6the rest. Unable of course to repress your curiosity in so favourable a moment for indulging it, you will instantly
7arise, and throwing your dressing-gown around you, proceed to examine this mystery. After a very short search, you will
8discover a division in the tapestry so artfully constructed as to defy the minutest inspection, and on opening it, a
9door will immediately appear--which door, being only secured by massy bars and a padlock, you will, after a few efforts,
10succeed in opening--and, with your lamp in your hand, will pass through it into a small vaulted room." "No, indeed; I
11should be too much frightened to do any such thing." "What! not when Dorothy has given you to understand that there is a
12secret subterraneous communication between your apartment and the chapel of St. Anthony, scarcely two miles off. Could
13you shrink from so simple an adventure? No, no, you will proceed into this small vaulted room, and through this into
14several others, without perceiving anything very remarkable in either. In one perhaps there may be a dagger, in another
15a few drops of blood, and in a third the remains of some instrument of torture; but there being nothing in all this out
16of the common way, and your lamp being nearly exhausted, you will return towards your own apartment. In repassing
17through the small vaulted room, however, your eyes will be attracted towards a large, old-fashioned cabinet of ebony and
18gold, which, though narrowly examining the furniture before, you had passed unnoticed. Impelled by an irresistible
19presentiment, you will eagerly advance to it, unlock its folding doors, and search into every drawer--but for some time
20without discovering anything of importance--perhaps nothing but a considerable hoard of diamonds. At last, however, by
21touching a secret spring, an inner compartment will open--a roll of paper appears--you seize it--it contains many sheets
22of manuscript--you hasten with the precious treasure into your own chamber, but scarcely have you been able to decipher
23'Oh thou, whomsoever thou mayst be, into whose hands these memoirs of the wretched Matilda may fall'--when your lamp
24suddenly expires in the socket, and leaves you in total darkness." "Oh, no, no; do not say so. Well, go on." But Henry
25was too much amused by the interest he had raised to be able to carry it farther; he could no longer command solemnity
26either of subject or voice, and was obliged to entreat her to use her own fancy in the perusal of Matilda's woes.
27Catherine, recollecting herself, grew ashamed of her eagerness, and began earnestly to assure him that her attention had
28been fixed without the smallest apprehension of really meeting with what he related. "Miss Tilney, she was sure, would
29never put her into such a chamber as he had described! she was not at all afraid." As they drew near the end of their
30journey, her impatience for a sight of the abbey--for some time suspended by his conversation on subjects very
31different--returned in full force, and every bend in the road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its
32massy walls of grey stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams of the sun playing in beautiful
33splendour on its high Gothic windows. But so low did the building stand, that she found herself passing through the
34great gates of the lodge into the very grounds of Northanger, without having discerned even an antique chimney. She knew
35not that she had any right to be surprised, but there was a something in this mode of approach which she certainly had
36not expected. To pass between lodges of a modern appearance, to find herself with such ease in the very precincts of the
37abbey, and driven so rapidly along a smooth, level road of fine gravel, without obstacle, alarm, or solemnity of any
38kind, struck her as odd and inconsistent. She was not long at leisure, however, for such considerations. A sudden scud
39of rain, driving full in her face, made it impossible for her to observe anything further, and fixed all her thoughts on
40the welfare of her new straw bonnet; and she was actually under the abbey walls, was springing, with Henry's assistance,
41from the carriage, was beneath the shelter of the old porch, and had even passed on to the hall, where her friend and
42the General were waiting to welcome her, without feeling one awful foreboding of future misery to herself, or one
43moment's suspicion of any past scenes of horror being acted within the solemn edifice. The breeze had not seemed to waft
44the sighs of the murdered to her; it had wafted nothing worse than a thick mizzling rain; and having given a good shake
45to her habit, she was ready to be shown into the common drawing-room, and capable of considering where she was. An
46abbey! yes, it was delightful to be really in an abbey! but she doubted, as she looked round the room, whether anything
47within her observation would have given her the consciousness. The furniture was in all the profusion and elegance of
48modern taste. The fireplace, where she had expected the ample width and ponderous carving of former times, was
49contracted to a Rumford, with slabs of plain though handsome marble, and ornaments over it of the prettiest English
50china. The windows, to which she looked with peculiar dependence, from having heard the General talk of his preserving
51them in their Gothic form with reverential care, were yet less what her fancy had portrayed. To be sure, the pointed
52arch was preserved--the form of them was Gothic--they might be even casements--but every pane was so large, so clear, so
53light! to an imagination which had hoped for the smallest divisions, and the heaviest stone-work, for painted glass,
54dirt, and cobwebs, the difference was very distressing. The General, perceiving how her eye was employed, began to talk
55of the smallness of the room and simplicity of the furniture, where everything, being for daily use, pretended only to
56comfort, etc.; flattering himself, however, that there were some apartments in the Abbey not unworthy her notice--and
57was proceeding to mention the costly gilding of one in particular, when, taking out his watch, he stopped short to
58pronounce it with surprise within twenty minutes of five! this seemed the word of separation, and Catherine found
59herself hurried away by Miss Tilney in such a manner as convinced her that the strictest punctuality to the family hours
60would be expected at Northanger. Returning through the large and lofty hall, they ascended a broad staircase of shining
61oak, which, after many flights and many landing-places, brought them upon a long, wide gallery. On one side it had a
62range of doors, and it was lighted on the other by windows which Catherine had only time to discover looked into a
63quadrangle, before Miss Tilney led the way into a chamber, and scarcely staying to hope she would find it comfortable,
64left her with an anxious entreaty that she would make as little alteration as possible in her dress. CHAPTER 21 A
65moment's glance was enough to satisfy Catherine that her apartment was very unlike the one which Henry had endeavoured
66to alarm her by the description of. It was by no means unreasonably large, and contained neither tapestry nor velvet.
67The walls were papered, the floor was carpeted; the windows were neither less perfect nor more dim than those of the
68drawing-room below; the furniture, though not of the latest fashion, was handsome and comfortable, and the air of the
69room altogether far from uncheerful. Her heart instantaneously at ease on this point, she resolved to lose no time in
70particular examination of anything, as she greatly dreaded disobliging the General by any delay. Her habit therefore was
71thrown off with all possible haste, and she was preparing to unpin the linen package, which the chaise-seat had conveyed
72for her immediate accommodation, when her eye suddenly fell on a large high chest, standing back in a deep recess on one
73side of the fireplace. The sight of it made her start; and, forgetting everything else, she stood gazing on it in
74motionless wonder, while these thoughts crossed her:
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