“Thy sister and her future husband know her birth, and understand the chances they run.”

“She knows all this, and such is her generosity, that she is not disposed to betray me in order to serve herself.  But this self-denial forms an additional obligation on my part to declare myself the wretch I am.  I cannot say that my sister is accustomed to regard our long-endured fortunes with all the horror I feel, for she has been longer acquainted with the facts, and the domestic habits of her sex have left her less exposed to the encounter of the world’s hatred, and perhaps she is partly ignorant of all the odium we sustain.  My long absences in foreign services delayed the confidence as respects myself, while the yearnings of a mother towards an only daughter caused her to be received into the family, though still in secret, several years before I was told the truth.  She is also much my junior; and all these causes, with some difference in our education, have less disposed her to misery than I am; for while my father, with a cruel kindness, had me well and even liberally instructed, Christine was taught as better became the hopes and origin of both.  Now tell me, Adelheid, that thou hatest me for my parentage, and despisest me for having so long dared to intrude on thy company, with the full consciousness of what I am for ever present to my thoughts!”

“I like not to hear thee make these bitter allusions to an accident of this nature, Sigismund.  Were I to tell thee that I do not feel this circumstance with nearly, if not quite, as much poignancy as thyself,” added the ingenuous girl, with a noble frankness, “I should do injustice to my gratitude and to my esteem for thy character.  But there is more elasticity in the heart of woman than in that of thy imperious and proud sex.  So far from thinking of thee as thou wouldst fain believe, I see naught but what is natural and justifiable in thy reserve.  Remember, thou hast not tempted my ears by professions and prayers, as women are commonly entreated, but that the interest I feel in thee has been modestly and fairly won.  I can neither say nor hear more at present for this unexpected announcement has in some degree unsettled my mind.  Leave me to reflect on what I ought to do, and rest assured that thou canst not have a kinder or more partial advocate of what truly belongs to thy honor and happiness than my own heart.”

As the daughter of Melchior de Willading concluded, she extended her hand with affection to the young man, who pressed it against his breast with manly tenderness, when he slowly and reluctantly withdrew.

Chapter XII.

  To know no more
  Is woman’s happiest knowledge, and her praise.

  Milton.