Those who
have lived such a life as I have, are never young; they are old in
suffering, even in their childhood. And if by experience you mean
lack of confidence, a knowledge of good and evil, distrust of
everything and everybody, mine, young girl though I be, will no
doubt equal yours." She paused, hesitated for a moment, and then
continued: "But why should I wait for you to question me? It is
neither sincere nor dignified on my part to do so. The person who
claims counsel owes absolute frankness to his adviser. I will
speak to you as if I were communing with my own soul. I will tell
you what no person has ever known--no one, not even Pascal. And
believe me, my past life was full of bitter misery, although you
find me here in this splendid house. But I have nothing to
conceal; and if I have cause to blush, it is for others, not for
myself."
Perhaps she was impelled by an irresistible desire to relieve her
overburdened heart, after long years of self-restraint; perhaps
she no longer felt sure of herself, and desired some other advice
than the dictates of her conscience, in presence of the calamity
which had befallen her. At all events, too much engrossed in her
own thoughts to heed the magistrate's surprise, or hear the words
he faltered, she rose from her seat, and, with her hands pressed
tightly on her throbbing brow, she began to tell the story of her
life.
"My first recollections," she said, "are of a narrow, cheerless
courtyard, surrounded by grim and massive walls, so high that I
could scarcely see the top of them.
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