"I will not wive the daughter of a man hunted of society, and avoided by
all;" he doggedly answered.
"No doubt the respectability of the parent is the next thing to a good
dowry, in the choice of a wife," returned the bailiff, "but one of thy
years has not come hither, without having first inquired into the
parentage of her thou wert about to wed?"
"It was sworn to me that the secret should be kept. The girl is well
endowed, and a promise was solemnly made that her parentage should never
be known. The family of Colis is esteemed in Vaud, and I would not have it
said that the blood of the headsman of the canton hath mixed in a stream
as fair as ours."
"And yet thou wert not unwilling, so long as the circumstance was
unknown? Thy objection is less to the fact, than to its public exposure."
"Without the aid of parchments and tongues, Monsieur le Bailli, we should
all be equal in birth. Ask the noble Baron de Willading, who is seated
there at your side, why he is better than another. He will tell you that
he is come of an ancient and honorable line; but had he been taken from
his castle in infancy, and concealed under a feigned name, and kept from
men's knowledge as being that he is, who would think of him for the deeds
of his ancestors? As the Sire de Willading would, in such a case, have
lost in the world's esteem, so did Christine gain; but as opinion would
return to the baron, when the truth should be published, so does it desert
Balthazar's daughter, when she is known to be a headsman's child.
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