He first laid upon the pavement of the chapel a collection of
child's clothing. The articles were rich, and according to the fashions of
the times; but they contained no positive proofs that could go to
substantiate the origin of the wearer, except as they raised the
probability of his having come of an elevated rank in life. As the
different objects were placed upon the stones, Adelheid and Christine
kneeled beside them, each too intently absorbed with the progress of the
inquiry to bethink themselves of those forms which, in common, throw a
restraint upon the manners of their sex. The latter appeared to forget her
own sorrows, for a moment, in a new-born interest in her brother's
fortunes while the ears of the former drank in each syllable that fell
from the lips of the different speakers, with an avidity that her strong
sympathy with the youth could alone give.
"Here is a case containing trinkets of value," added Balthazar. "The
condemned man said they were taken through ignorance, and he was
accustomed to suffer the child to amuse himself with them in the prison.
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