How does the narrator’s description of L’Abri, from Madame Valmonde’s point of view, develop the mood of the text?

Her description of the plantation is dark and depressing. The narrator describes the property as a "sad looking place," which had not been had a woman's "gentle presence" for many years. The narrator says that the "roof came down steep and black like a cowl," like a hood: an allusion perhaps to the Grim Reaper. Even the natural setting is sad. She describes "solemn oaks" and the shadow they cast , "like a pall" over the grounds.