Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 2).djvu/135

 'Oh! my good friend (cried he) your words were but too true; the discovery of that frightful spectacle but foreruns the discovery of the murderer; in me you behold that guilty wretch.'—At this there was a general cry, and all praised the wonderful Providence of Heaven.

'You shall have (he continued) a full confession of my guilt; I no longer wish (even if it was possible to do so) to evade the punishment due to it.'

"As he spoke, he fell into such agonies, that they thought he would have died, and were forced to get him some wine to take.

"Being a little revived by it, he was seated on the grass, and thus began:—

'To the old, as well as the young, my story may be instructive; it will prove to the former, that their authority over youth should never be too much relaxed; and to the latter, that those who are disobedient to their parents or guardians, and waste the morning of their life in idleness or vice, may assuredly expect to end its evening in misery.