Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 4).djvu/173

 upon, nor would my single testimony avail. I saw your misery and despair when cut off from all hope of a last forgiveness. I concealed myself in a closet, and in the agony of the moment, the words I pronounced, you thought proceeded from the dead body of your father. Heaven forgive me, if I did wrong; but it tranquillized your mind, and that was my only object.

"Twice afterwards I made use of the same device; the last time, the deceit was surely meritorious, for then I was master of a secret that froze me with horror; but to spare you, I had recourse to that method of warning you from."

"O, Heavens!" said Ferdinand, "what a black scene of iniquity opens before me! Unhappy man!" cried he, violently agitated; "What indeed must be the torture of your mind!" Rhodophil gasped for breath, every feature seemed convulsed, he struggled for speech.