"And is it possible that this frightful combination has been invented by a woman?"
"Do you recollect in the arbor of the Hôtel des Postes, at Perugia, seeing a man in a brown cloak, whom your stepmother was questioning upon aqua tofana? Well, ever since then, this infernal project has been ripening in her brain."
"Ah, then, indeed, sir," said the sweet girl, bathed in tears, "I see that I am condemned to die!"
"No, Valentine, for I have foreseen all their plots; no, your enemy is conquered since we know her, and you will live, Valentine–live to be happy yourself, and to confer happiness upon a noble heart; but to insure this you must rely on me."
"Command me, sir—what am I to do?"
"You must blindly take what I give you."
"Alas! were it only for my own sake, I should pefer to die!"
"You must not confide in any one—not even in your father."
"My father is not engaged in this fearful plot, is he, sir?" asked Valentine, clasping her hands.
"No; and yet your father, a man accustomed to judicial accusations, ought to have known that all these deaths have not happened naturally; it is he who should have watched over you—he should have occupied my place he should have emptied that glass—he should have risen against the assassin. Spectre against spectre!" he murmured in a low voice, as he concluded his sentence.
"Sir," said Valentine, "I will do all I can to live, for there are two beings who love me and will die—if I die my grandfather and Maximilian."
"I will watch over them as I have over you."
"Well, sir, do as you will with me;" and then she added, in a low voice,—"Oh, heavens! what will befall me?"
"Whatever may happen, Valentine, do not be alarmed; though you suffer; though you lose sight, hearing, consciousness, fear nothing; though you should awake and be ignorant where you are, still do not fear; even though you should find yourself in a sepulchral vault or coffin, reassure yourself at once, and reflect: 'At this moment, a friend, a father, who lives for my happiness and that of Maximilian, watches over me!'"
"Alas! alas! what a fearful extremity!"
"Valentine, would you rather denounce your stepmother?"
"I would rather die a hundred times oh, yes, die!"
"No, you will not die; but will you promise me, whatever happens, that you will not complain, but hope?"
