Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 2.djvu/36

 wise, would, like my worthy friend, have been deceived by his intricate machinations, and tempted to adopt the opinion that enlightened officer had once defended so stoutly.

I was almost angry with myself for having let slip the opportunity of forcing that dangerous man to a confession of his dark and diabolical transgressions. It is true, I myself knew him as an hardened impostor, but could he not drag into the gulph of perdition many of my fellow creatures, who, like myself, would fall an easy victim to his deceitful hypocrisy?

This thought overwhelmed me with a load of uneasiness, and I reproached myself severely for having imitated the over generous example of the Austrian, and suffered the accomplished villain to decamp, without punishment. I had, indeed, reason to apprehend that the magistrate of F would not have regarded much the information of a recruiting