by thy sister is that of a female, Sigismund, whose heart
is stronger than her pride; and, what is more, it is just."

"I deny it not; 'tis just. But the ill-judged mercy has for ever
disqualified me to sympathize as I could wish with those to whom I belong.
'Tis an error to draw these broad distinctions between our habits and our
affections. Creatures stern as soldiers cannot bend their fancies like
pliant twigs, or with the facility of female--"

"Duty," said Adelheid gravely, observing that he hesitated.

"If thou wilt, duty. The word has great weight with thy sex, and I do not
question that it should have with mine."

"Thou canst not be wanting in affection for thy father, Sigismund. The
manner in which thou interposedst to save his life, when we were in that
fearful jeopardy of the tempest, disproves thy words."

"Heaven forbid that I should be wanting in natural feeling of this sort,
and yet, Adelheid, it is horrible not to be able to respect, to love
profoundly, those to whom we owe our existence! Christine in this is far
happier than I, an advantage that I doubt not she owes to her simple life,
and to the closer intimacies which unite females. I am the son of a
headsman; that bitter fact is never absent from my thoughts when they turn
to home and those scenes in which I could so gladly take pleasure.
Balthazar may have meant a kindness when he caused me to be trained in
habits so different from his own, but, to complete the good work, the veil
should never have been removed."

Adelheid was silent. Though she understood the feelings which controlled
one educated so very differently from those to whom he owed his birth, her
habits of thought were opposed to the indulgence of any reflections that
could unsettle the reverence of the child for its parent.

"One of a heart like thine, Sigismund, cannot hate his mother!" she said,
after a pause.

"In this thou dost me no more than justice; my words have ill represented
my thoughts, if they have left such an impression. In cooler moments, I
have never considered my birth as more than a misfortune, and my education
I deem a reason for additional respect and gratitude to my parents, though
it may have disqualified me in some measure to enter deeply into their
feelings. Christine herself is not more true, nor of more devoted love,
than my poor mother. It is necessary, Adelheid, to see and know that
excellent woman in order to understand all the wrongs that the worl