But, while I knew myself my brother's murderer, I
thought no more of these sheltering facts than I did of danger. I made it
no secret that my brother had gone over the fall. I went to the foot of
the cataract, thence to search and inquire all down the stream, but no
one had heard of any dead body being found. They told me that the poor
gentleman must, before morning, have been far on his way to the Danube.
"Giving up the quest in despair, I resigned myself to a torture which has
hitherto come no nearer expending itself than the consuming fire of God.
"I dared not carry home the terrible news, which must either involve me
in lying, or elicit such confession as would multiply tenfold my father's
anguish, and was in utter perplexity what to do, when it occurred to me
that I ought to inquire after letters at the lodging where last we had
lived together. Then first I learned that both my father and my elder
brother, your father, little one, were dead.
"The sense of guilt had not destroyed in me the sense of duty. I did not
care what became of the property, but I did care for my brother's child,
and the interests of her succession.
"Your father had all his life been delicate, and had suffered not a
little. When your mother died, about a year after their marriage, leaving
us you, it soon grew plain to see that, while he loved you dearly, and
was yet more friendly to all about him than before, his heart had given
up the world.
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