Carmilla: A Critical Edition

III

19 III We Compare Notes We followed the cortege1 with our eyes until it was swiftly lost to sight in the misty wood; and the very sound of the hoofs and the wheels died away in the silent night air. Nothing remained to assure us that the adventure had not been an illusion of a moment but the young lady, who just at that moment opened her eyes. I could not see, for her face was turned from me, but she raised her head, evidently looking about her, and I heard a very sweet voice ask complainingly, “Where is mamma?” Our good Madame Perrodon answered tenderly, and added some comfortable assurances. I then heard her ask: “Where am I? What is this place?” and after that she said, “I don’t see the carriage; and Matska, where is she?” Madame answered all her questions in so far as she understood them; and gradually the young lady remembered how the misadventure came about, and was glad to hear that no one in, or in attendance on, the carriage was hurt; and on learning that her mamma had left her here, till her return in about three months, she wept. I was going to add my consolations to those of Madame Perrodon when Mademoiselle De Lafontaine placed her hand upon my arm, saying: 1. Italics added in In a Glass Darkly. 20 J O S E P H S H E R I D A N L E F A N U “Don’t approach, one at a time is as much as she can at present converse with; a very little excitement would possibly overpower her now.” As soon as she is comfortably in bed, I thought, I will run up to her room and see her. My father in the meantime had sent a servant on horseback for the physician, who lived about two leagues away; and a bedroom was being prepared for the young lady’s reception. The stranger now rose, and leaning on Madame’s arm, walked slowly over the drawbridge and into the castle gate. In the hall,2 servants waited to receive her, and she was conducted forthwith to her room. The room we usually sat in as our drawing-room is long, having four windows, that looked over the moat and drawbridge, upon the forest scene I have just described. It is furnished in old carved oak, with large carved cabinets, and the chairs are cushioned with crimson Utrecht velvet.3 The walls are covered with tapestry, and surrounded with great gold frames, the figures being as large as life, in ancient and very curious costume, and the subjects represented are hunting, hawking, and generally festive. It is not too stately to be extremely comfortable; and here we had our tea, for with his usual patriotic leanings he insisted that the national beverage should make its appearance regularly with our coffee and chocolate. We sat here this night, and with candles lighted, were talking over the adventure of the evening. Madame Perrodon and Mademoiselle De Lafontaine were both of our party. The young stranger had hardly lain down in her bed when she sank into a deep sleep; and those ladies had left her in the care of a servant. “How do you like our guest?” I asked, as soon as Madame entered. “Tell me all about her?” 2. Comma added in In a Glass Darkly. 3. A particular plush type of velvet from Utrecht, Holland. Carmilla 21 “I like her extremely,” answered Madame, “she is, I almost think, the prettiest creature I ever saw; about your age, and so gentle and nice.” “She is absolutely beautiful,” threw in Mademoiselle, who had peeped for a moment into the stranger’s room. “And such a sweet voice!” added Madame Perrodon. “Did you remark a woman in the carriage, after it was set up again, who did not get out,” inquired Mademoiselle, “but only looked from the window?” “No, we had not seen her.” Then she described a hideous black woman, with a sort of coloured turban on her head, who was gazing all the time from the carriage window, nodding and grinning derisively towards the ladies, with gleaming eyes and large white eye-balls, and her teeth set as if in fury. “Did you remark what an ill-looking pack of men the servants were?” asked Madame. “Yes,” said my father, who had just...