Does the soldier who
falls in battle have time to confess his sins? Who grants him
absolution?"
"Perhaps--were I in--the midst of the turmoil of battle--I should not
feel this agony of mind. But here--there is so much time to think. Every
sin that I have committed--rises before me like--like a troop of
soldiers that--have been mustered for roll-call."
"Pray cease these idle fancies, Henry. Of what are you thinking? You
want to tell a priest that you are living here under a false name--tell
him that I, too, am an impostor? You would say to him: 'When the
revolutionists imprisoned my royal master and his family, to behead them
afterward, I clothed my own daughter in the garments belonging to my
master's daughter, in order to save the royal child from death, I gave
up my own child to danger, and carried my master's child to a place of
safety. My own child I gave up to play the role of king's daughter, when
kings and their offspring were hunted down like wild beasts; and made of
the king's daughter a servant, that she might be allowed to go free. I
counterfeited certificates of baptism, registers, passports, in order to
save the king's daughter from her enemies.
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