Here is a fine bustle below stairs, all the servants running to and fro, and none of them fast enough! Here is a bustle, indeed, all of a sudden, and nobody knows for what!' 'Who is below besides them ?' said Emily, 'Annette, do not trifle with me!' 'Not for the world, ma'amselle, I would not trifle for the world; but one cannot help making one's remarks, and there is the Signor in such a bustle, as I never saw him before; and he has sent me to tell you, ma'am, to get ready immediately.' 'Good God support me!' cried Emily, almost fainting, 'Count Morano is below, then!' 'No, ma'amselle, he is not below that I know of,' replied Annette, 'only his excellenza sent me to desire you would get ready directly to leave Venice, for that the gondolas would be at the steps of the canal in a few minutes: but I must hurry back to my lady, who is just at her wits end, and knows not which way to turn for haste.' 'Explain, Annette, explain the meaning of all this before you go,' said Emily, so overcome with surprise and timid hope, that she had scarcely breath to speak.
'Nay, ma'amselle, that is more than I can do.

I only know that the Signor is just come home in a very ill humour, that he has had us all called out of our beds, and tells us we are all to leave Venice immediately.' 'Is Count Morano to go with the signor ?' said Emily, 'and whither are we going ?' 'I know neither, ma'am, for certain; but I heard Ludovico say something about going, after we get to terra-firma, to the signor's castle among some mountains, that he talked of.' 'The Apennines!' said Emily, eagerly, 'O! then I have little to hope!' 'That is the very place, ma'am.

But cheer up, and do not take it so much to heart, and think what a little time you have to get ready in, and how impatient the Signor is.

Holy St.Mark! I hear the oars on the canal; and now they come nearer, and now they are dashing at the steps below; it is the gondola, sure enough.' Annette hastened from the room; and Emily prepared for this unexpected flight, as fast as her trembling hands would permit, not perceiving, that any change in her situation could possibly be for the worse.

She had scarcely thrown her books and clothes into her travelling trunk, when, receiving a second summons, she went down to her aunt's dressing-room, where she found Montoni impatiently reproving his wife for delay.