Page:The Castle of Wolfenbach - Parsons - 1854.djvu/230

 have led me into a thousand inconsistencies, from fears and terrors, only created by guilt. Thus it is with the wicked; early plunged into vice, they proceed from one bad action to another; afraid to look back, unable to repent, they go on to fill up the measure of their crimes, till their best concerted schemes prove their ruin. Had not the hand of death overtaken me, this confession never would have been made; yet even at this moment I adore Matilda. Pardon me, dear unhappy girl, the evils I have caused you; let me die forgiven by you, and join in supplicating that mercy I have so little room to hope for, but from Divine goodness to the truly penitent."

Matilda assured him of her forgiveness, and implored heaven's mercy on him. "But tell me, Sir, (said she) did you never hear of my mother?" "Only once, and by accident, eight years ago; she was then at Naples, with her family." "Grant heaven! (said Matilda) she may be there still; O, what happiness, if I should ever embrace a mother!" Tears stopped her utterance; her uncle was affected. "O, Matilda! leave me; I cannot bear your tears, they reproach me too deeply; and I have much to repent of before I leave you for ever."

She quitted the room, oppressed with the most painful sensations: the tragical end of her father, the melancholy situation of her mother, the crimes of her uncle, and her own present distressed and forlorn state, altogether gave her unutterable pangs: yet a gleam of joy darted through the gloom that pervaded her fate—she was of noble birth; no unlawful offspring, no child of poverty: then she thought of the Count—"Ah! (cried she) he is now the husband of Mrs. Courtney; in all probability I shall never see him more." A sigh followed the reflection, which she strove to place on another score.

She was soon after joined by the captain. "The surgeon came in as you left the room, madam; and