"
Adelheid saw that the moment was not favorable for urging consolation and
she abstained from a reply. She rejoiced, however, to hear the presence of
the headsman so satisfactorily accounted for, though she could not quiet
herself from an apprehension that the universal weakness of human nature,
which so suddenly permits the perversion of the best of our passions to
the worst, and the dreadful probability that Balthazar, suffering
intensely by this compelled separation from his daughter, on accidentally
encountering the man who was its cause, might have listened to some
violent impulse of resentment and revenge. She saw also that Sigismund, in
despite of his general confidence in the principles of his father, had
fearful glimmerings of some such event, and that he fearfully anticipated
the worst, even while he most professed confidence in the innocence of the
accused. The interview was soon ended, and they separated; each
endeavoring to invent plausible reasons for what had happened.
The arrival of the party from the refuge took place soon afterwards. It
was followed by the necessary explanations, and a more detailed narrative
of all that had passed.
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