My chief surprise should be,
that you so long tolerate an executioner in your presence."
"Did I not know and understand the bitterness of feeling natural to one so
placed, this language would cruelly hurt me, Sigismund; but thou canst not
truly mean there is a real danger of thy ever being called to execute this
duty? Should there be the chance of such a calamity, may not the influence
of my father avert it? He is not without weight in the councils of the
canton."
"At present his friendship need not be taxed, for none but my parents, my
sister, and thou, Adelheid, are acquainted with the facts I have just
related. My poor sister is an artless, but an unhappy girl, for the
well-intentioned design of our mother has greatly disqualified her from
bearing the truth, as she might have done, had it been kept constantly
before her eyes. To the world, a young kinsman of my father appears
destined to succeed him, and there the matter must stand until fortune
shall decide differently. As respects my poor sister, there is some little
hope that the evil may be altogether averted.
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