omplished, that she did not despair.

"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 Melchio