The Duchess at Prayer

Book excerpt: The Duchess at Prayer by Edith Wharton is a gothic short story about Duchess Violante whose chambers remain empty since her mysterious death. Excerpt: "HAVE you ever questioned the long-shuttered front of an old Italian house, that motionless mask, smooth, mute, equivocal as the face of a priest behind which buzz the secrets of the confessional? Other houses declare the activities they shelter; they are the clear expressive cuticle of a life flowing close to the surface; but the old palace in its narrow street, the villa on its cypress-hooded hill, are as impenetrable as death."