ss--so angelically pure! It was my pride that you were so, and
that you were my mother! And now----

Mother. And now, Louise?

Louise. And now it has been whispered to me----Oh, I cannot speak the
words!

Mother. Speak them--I demand it! I desire it from you! We both stand
before the Judgment-seat of God!

Louise. I have been led to believe that even my mother was not
blameless--that she----

Mother. Go on, Louise!

Louise. That she and Jacobi loved one another--that evil tongues had not
blamed them without cause, and that still--I despised these words, I
despised the person who spoke them! I endeavoured to chase these
thoughts as criminal from my soul. On this account it happened that I
went one day to find you--and I found Jacobi on his knee before you--I
heard him speaking of his love. Now you know all, my mother!

Mother. And what is your belief in all this?

Louise. Ah, I know not what I ought to believe! But since that moment
there has been no peace in my soul, and I have fancied that it never
would return--that I should never lose the doubt which I could make
known to no one.

Mother. Let peace return to your soul, my child! Good God! how
unfortunate I should be at this moment if my conscience were not pure!
But, thank heaven, my child, your mother has no such fault to reproach
herself with; and Jacobi deserves your utmost esteem, your utmost
regard. I will entirely and freely confess to you the entire truth of
that which has made you so uneasy. For one moment, when Jacobi first
came to us, a warmer sentiment towards me awoke in his young,
thoughtless heart, and in part it was returned by me. But you will not
condemn me on account of an involuntary feeling which your father looked
on with pardoning eyes. In a blessed hour we opened to each other our
hearts, and it was his love, his strength and gentleness, which gave me
power to overcome my weakness. Jacobi, at the same moment, woke to a
consciousness of his error, struggled against it, and overcame it. We
separated soon after, and it was our mutual wish not to meet again for
several years. In the mean time Henrik was committed to his care, and
Jacobi has been for him an exemplary friend and instructor. Three years
later, when I again met him, I extended my hand to him as a sister; and
he----yes, my dear girl! and I err greatly if he did not then begin in
his heart to love me as a mother. But that which then had its beginning,
has since then had its c