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We were soon joined by Elizabeth . Time had altered her since I last beheld her ; it had endowed her with loveliness surpassing the beauty of her childish years . There was the same candour , the same vivacity , but it was allied to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect . She welcomed me with the greatest affection . “ Your arrival , my dear cousin , ” said she , “ fills me with hope . You perhaps will find some means to justify my poor guiltless Justine . Alas ! who is safe , if she be convicted of crime ? I rely on her innocence as certainly as I do upon my own . Our misfortune is doubly hard to us ; we have not only lost that lovely darling boy , but this poor girl , whom I sincerely love , 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 sure she will not ; and then I shall be happy again , even after the sad death of my little William . ” “ She is innocent , my Elizabeth , ” said I , “ and that shall be proved ; fear nothing , but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her acquittal . ” “ How kind and generous you are ! every one else believes in her guilt , and that made me wretched , for I knew that it was impossible : and to see every one else prejudiced in so deadly a manner rendered me hopeless and despairing . ” She wept . “ Dearest niece , ” said my father , “ dry your tears . If she is , as you believe , innocent , rely on the justice of our laws , and the activity with which I shall prevent the slightest shadow of partiality . ” Chapter 8 We passed a few sad hours until eleven o’clock , when the trial was to commence . My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend as witnesses , I accompanied them to the court . During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture . It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow beings : one a smiling babe full of innocence and joy , the other far more dreadfully murdered , with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror . Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy ; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave , and I the cause ! A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine , but I was absent when it was committed , and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me .
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