nature does not exist
in man than that of the poor Balthazar--the despised and persecuted
Balthazar. I have heard my mother dwell upon the nights of anguish and
suffering that have preceded the day on which the duties of his office
were to be discharged; and often have I heard that admirable woman, whose
spirit is far more equal to support our unmerited fortunes, declare she
has often prayed that he and all that are hers might die, so that they
died innocently, rather than one of a temper so gentle and harmless should
again be brought to endure the agony she had witnessed!"

"It is unhappy that he should be here at so luckless a moment! What
unhappy motive can have led thy father to this spot, at a time so extra
ordinary?"

"Christine will tell thee that she expected to see him at the convent. We
are a race proscribed, Mademoiselle de Willading, but we are human."

"Dearest Sigismund--"

"I feel my injustice, and can only pray to be forgiven. But there are
moments of feeling so intense, that I am ready to believe and treat all of
my species as common enemies. Christine is an only daughter, and thou
thyself, beloved Adelheid, kind, dutiful, and good as I know thee to be,
art not more dear to the Baron de Willading than my poor sister is among
us. Her parents have yielded her to thy generous kindness, for they
believe it for her good; but their hearts have been wrung by the
separation. Thou didst not know it, but Christine took her last embrace of
her mother here on the mountain, at Liddes, and it was then agreed that
her father should watch her in safety over the Col, and bestow the final
blessing at Aoste. Mademoiselle de Willading, you move in pride,
surrounded by many protectors, who are honored in doing you service; but
the abased and the hunted must indulge even their best affections
stealthily, and without obtrusion! The love and tenderness of Balthazar
would pass for mockery with the vulgar! Such is man in his habits and
opinions, when wrong usurps the place of right."

Adelheid saw that the moment was not favorable for urging consolation and
she abstained from a reply. She rejoiced, however, to hear the presence of
the headsman so satisfactorily accounted for, though she could not quiet
herself from an apprehension that the universal weakness of human nature,
which so suddenly permits the perversion of the best of our passions to
the worst, and the dreadful probability that Balthazar, suffering
intensely by