“When   I   reflect,   my   dear   cousin,”   said   she,   “on   the   miserable   death   of   Justine   Moritz,   I   no   longer   see   the   world and   its   works   as   they   before   appeared   to   me.   Before,   I   looked   upon   the   accounts   of   vice   and   injustice,   that   I read   in   books   or   heard   from   others   as   tales   of   ancient   days   or   imaginary   evils;   at   least   they   were   remote,   and more   familiar   to   reason   than   to   the   imagination;   but   now   misery   has   come   home,   and   men   appear   to   me   as monsters   thirsting   for   each   other’s   blood.   Yet   I   am   certainly   unjust.   Every   body   believed   that   poor   girl   to   be guilty;   and   if   she   could   have   committed   the   crime   for   which   she   suffered,   assuredly   she   would   have   been   the most   depraved   of   human   creatures.   For   the   sake   of   a   few   jewels,   to   have   murdered   the   son   of   her   benefactor and   friend,   a   child   who   she   had   nursed   from   its   birth,   and   appeared   to   love   as   if   it   had   been   her   own!   I   could not   consent   to   the   death   of   any   human   being;   but   certainly   I   should   have   thought   such   a   creature   unfit   to remain   in   the   society   of   men.   But   she   was   innocent.   I   know,   I   feel,   she   was   innocent;   you   are   of   the   same opinion,   and   that   confirms   me.   Alas!   Victor,   when   falsehood   can   look   so   like   the   truth,   who   can   assure themselves   of   certain   happiness?   I   feel   as   if   I   were   walking   on   the   edge   of   a   precipice,   towards   which thousands   are   crowding,   and   endeavouring   to   plunge   me   into   the   abyss.   William   and   Justine   were assassinated,   and   the   murderer   escapes;   he   walks   about   the   world   free,   and   perhaps   respected.   But   eve   if   I were   condemned   to   suffer   on   the   scaffold   for   the   same   crimes,   I   would   not   change   places   with   such   a   wretch.”