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1At that instant my father entered. I saw unhappiness deeply impressed on his countenance, but he endeavoured to welcome
2me cheerfully; and, after we had exchanged our mournful greeting, would have introduced some other topic than that of
3our disaster, had not Ernest exclaimed, "Good God, papa! Victor says that he knows who was the murderer of poor
4William." "We do also, unfortunately," replied my father, "for indeed I had rather have been for ever ignorant than have
5discovered so much depravity and ungratitude in one I valued so highly." "My dear father, you are mistaken; Justine is
6innocent." "If she is, God forbid that she should suffer as guilty. She is to be tried today, and I hope, I sincerely
7hope, that she will be acquitted." This speech calmed me. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that Justine, and indeed
8every human being, was guiltless of this murder. I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be
9brought forward strong enough to convict her. My tale was not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror would be
10looked upon as madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the creator, who would believe, unless his
11senses convinced him, in the existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose
12upon the world? We were soon joined by Elizabeth. Time had altered her since I last beheld her; it had endowed her with
13loveliness surpassing the beauty of her childish years. There was the same candour, the same vivacity, but it was allied
14to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect. She welcomed me with the greatest affection. "Your arrival, my
15dear cousin," said she, "fills me with hope. You perhaps will find some means to justify my poor guiltless Justine.
16Alas! who is safe, if she be convicted of crime? I rely on her innocence as certainly as I do upon my own. Our
17misfortune is doubly hard to us; we have not only lost that lovely darling boy, but this poor girl, whom I sincerely
18love, is to be torn away by even a worse fate. If she is condemned, I never shall know joy more. But she will not, I am
19sure she will not; and then I shall be happy again, even after the sad death of my little William." "She is innocent, my
20Elizabeth," said I, "and that shall be proved; fear nothing, but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her
21acquittal." "How kind and generous you are! every one else believes in her guilt, and that made me wretched, for I knew
22that it was impossible: and to see every one else prejudiced in so deadly a manner rendered me hopeless and despairing."
23She wept. "Dearest niece," said my father, "dry your tears. If she is, as you believe, innocent, rely on the justice of
24our laws, and the activity with which I shall prevent the slightest shadow of partiality." Chapter 8 We passed a few sad
25hours until eleven o'clock, when the trial was to commence. My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend
26as witnesses, I accompanied them to the court. During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living
27torture. It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my
28fellow beings: one a smiling babe full of innocence and joy, the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every
29aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror. Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed
30qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the
31cause! A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent
32when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have
33exculpated her who suffered through me. The appearance of Justine was calm. She was dressed in mourning, and her
34countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her feelings, exquisitely beautiful. Yet she appeared
35confident in innocence and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands, for all the kindness which her
36beauty might otherwise have excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the imagination of the enormity
37she was supposed to have committed. She was tranquil, yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained; and as her
38confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt, she worked up her mind to an appearance of courage. When she
39entered the court she threw her eyes round it and quickly discovered where we were seated. A tear seemed to dim her eye
40when she saw us, but she quickly recovered herself, and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest her utter
41guiltlessness. The trial began, and after the advocate against her had stated the charge, several witnesses were called.
42Several strange facts combined against her, which might have staggered anyone who had not such proof of her innocence as
43I had. She had been out the whole of the night on which the murder had been committed and towards morning had been
44perceived by a market-woman not far from the spot where the body of the murdered child had been afterwards found. The
45woman asked her what she did there, but she looked very strangely and only returned a confused and unintelligible
46answer. She returned to the house about eight o'clock, and when one inquired where she had passed the night, she replied
47that she had been looking for the child and demanded earnestly if anything had been heard concerning him. When shown the
48body, she fell into violent hysterics and kept her bed for several days. The picture was then produced which the servant
49had found in her pocket; and when Elizabeth, in a faltering voice, proved that it was the same which, an hour before the
50child had been missed, she had placed round his neck, a murmur of horror and indignation filled the court. Justine was
51called on for her defence. As the trial had proceeded, her countenance had altered. Surprise, horror, and misery were
52strongly expressed. Sometimes she struggled with her tears, but when she was desired to plead, she collected her powers
53and spoke in an audible although variable voice. "God knows," she said, "how entirely I am innocent. But I do not
54pretend that my protestations should acquit me; I rest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts which
55have been adduced against me, and I hope the character I have always borne will incline my judges to a favourable
56interpretation where any circumstance appears doubtful or suspicious." She then related that, by the permission of
57Elizabeth, she had passed the evening of the night on which the murder had been committed at the house of an aunt at
58Chêne, a village situated at about a league from Geneva. On her return, at about nine o'clock, she met a man who asked
59her if she had seen anything of the child who was lost. She was alarmed by this account and passed several hours in
60looking for him, when the gates of Geneva were shut, and she was forced to remain several hours of the night in a barn
61belonging to a cottage, being unwilling to call up the inhabitants, to whom she was well known. Most of the night she
62spent here watching; towards morning she believed that she slept for a few minutes; some steps disturbed her, and she
63awoke. It was dawn, and she quitted her asylum, that she might again endeavour to find my brother. If she had gone near
64the spot where his body lay, it was without her knowledge. That she had been bewildered when questioned by the
65market-woman was not surprising, since she had passed a sleepless night and the fate of poor William was yet uncertain.
66Concerning the picture she could give no account. "I know," continued the unhappy victim, "how heavily and fatally this
67one circumstance weighs against me, but I have no power of explaining it; and when I have expressed my utter ignorance,
68I am only left to conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket. But here also
69I am checked. I believe that I have no enemy on earth, and none surely would have been so wicked as to destroy me
70wantonly. Did the murderer place it there? I know of no opportunity afforded him for so doing; or, if I had, why should
71he have stolen the jewel, to part with it again so soon?
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