"They are very fine drawings, Sir, but I think the subjects of them are exceptionable"

I love the language they use. So lovely. So ladylike. When shown obscene drawings our heroine says the line in the title. In modern parlance we'd say something more like...

Getting ahead of myself. Last we saw Mathilda had decided the rest of the household were senile and she was going to go find out what was haunting the castle, trusting that she is so virtuous that evil could not harm her (in which case, why did she need to run away from..... Getting ahead of myself again.)

She does find what is haunting the castle, which is actually a hidden lady and her elderly serving woman. And since Parsons can't be mysterious and withhold the names of both ladies without it getting really confusing, this is when we actually learn Mathilda's name is Mathilda, so the other lady can just be "the lady." Because apparently no one actually tells their name when introducing themselves....

Anyway, Mathilda becomes immediately great friends with lady, sharing everything (except for a name) kindred spirit, Anne Shirley and Diana Barry style.

And Mathilda tells her tragic story, which because it is a gothic, involves her much older male guardian--in this case her uncle-- developing a "love" for her. And since Mathilda is a very young woman, and in his care, when he was "for ever seeking opportunities to caress" her, she "scarce knew how to repulse" him.

Ew.

But she finally decides she will run away after overhearing her uncle planning with his devoted maid.

where they plan that he should "not longer stand upon ceremony" with Mathilda, and instead go "into her room at night when she's asleep," and "be happy." (See what I mean? And we thought the government was good at euphemisms. And I repeat, Ew.)

So instead she packs her box, carries it down downstairs, and runs away with the help of Albert, who goes with her. They travel a bit. They intended to live with his sister, but when they show up, "this sister, on whose protection I relied, had been dead three weeks."  Poor Mathilda. She goes on to say that her "fellow traveller [Albert] was more affected" than herself. Hard to believe that a man learning his sister died would be more affected than our heroine, but he was.

Since their plan fell through, and Mathilda's money was running out, she and Albert were heading for Zurich which Albert tells her is a good city and that "some way or other, doubtless, [she] might procure a living by [her] talents." (Clearly she is an innocent, because what exactly is a 16 year-old pretty girl who grew up secluded from everything by a creepy uncle going to be able to do to earn a living?

But fortunately for Mathilda's virtue and the sake of this story, they don't make it to Zurich, and instead end up in a storm, in a woods, at night, and she ends up in this not-really-haunted castle with her mysterious lady new BFF.

At which point, before the mysterious lady can tell Mathilda anything about herself, Mathilda decides she's been away from the old people for too long and needs to go back to them so they don't worry. Which Parsons probably did just to try to draw out the mystery, but sort of makes Mathilda look a bit like an ass. I mean, she comes in, she doesn't bother to learn the lady's name, she talks all about herself and then says she needs to leave.

She must mean it in the sweetest, bestest ways, because she's a heroine. And of course old Albert was thinking she could do sewing or something when he suggested that they go to Zurich where she could earn a living on her talents. Yep. Nothing creepy there at all. Or maybe Albert had other plans in mind once they hit Zurich...