chapter 8 we passed a few sad hours until 11:00 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 agitation 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 the appearance of Justine was calm she was dressed in mourning and and her countenance always engaging was rendered by the solemnity of her feelings exquisitly beautiful yet she appeared confident in innocence and did not tremble although gazed on and execrated by thousands for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the imagination of the enormi she was supposed to have committed she was tranquil yet her Tranquility was evidently constrained and as her confusion had before been abducted as proof of her guilt she worked up her mind to an appearance of Courage when she entered the court she threw her eyes round it and quickly discovered where we were seated a tears seemed to dim her eye when she saw us but she quickly recovered herself and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest her utter guiltlessness the trial began and after the advocate against her had stated the charge several witnesses were called several strange facts combined against her which might have staggered anyone who had not such proof of her innocence as I had she had been out the whole of the night on which the murder had been committed and towards the morning had been perceived by a mock of woman not far from the spot where the body of the murdered child had been afterwards found the woman asked her what she did there but she looked very strangely and only returned a confused and unintelligible answer she returned to the house about 8:00 and when one inquired where she had passed the night she replied that she had been looking for the child and demanded earnestly if anything had been heard concerning him when shown the body she fell into violent hysterics and kept her bed for several days the picture was then produced which the servant had found in her pocket and when Elizabeth in a faltering voice proved that it was the same which an hour before the child had been missed she had placed around his neck a murmur of horror and indignation filled the court just was called on for her defense as the trial had proceeded her countenance had altered surprise horror and misery were strongly expressed sometimes she struggled with her tears but when she was desired to plead she collected her powers and spoke in an audible although variable voice God knows she said how entirely I am inoc but I do not pretend that my protestations should acit me arrest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced against me and I hope the character I have always borne will incline my judges to a favorable interpretation where any circumstance appears doubtful or suspicious she then related that by the permission of Elizabeth she had passed the evening of the Night On which the murder had been committed at the house of an aunt at Shen a village situated about a league from Geneva on her return at about 9:00 she met a man who asked her if she had seen anything of the child who was lost she was alarmed by this account and passed several hours in looking for him when the gates of Geneva were shut and she was forced to remain several hours of the night in a barn belonging to a cottage being unwilling to call up the inhabitants to whom she was well known most of the night she spent here watching towards the morning she believed that she slept for a few minutes some steps Disturbed her and she awoke it was Dawn and she quitted her Asylum that she might again Endeavor to find my brother if she had gone near the spot where his body lay it was without her knowledge that she had had been bewildered when questioned by the market woman was not surprising since she had passed a sleepless night and the fate of poor William was yet uncertain concerning the picture she could give no account I now continued the unhappy victim how heavily and fatally this one circumstance weighs against me but I have no power of explaining it and when I have expressed my utter ignorance I am only left to conjecture that concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket but here also I am checked I believe that I have no enemy on Earth and none surely would have been so wicked as to destroy me wanly did the murderer place it there I know of no opportunity afforded him for so doing or if I had why should he have stolen the jewel toart with it again so soon I commit my cause to the justice of my judges yet I see no room for hope I beg permission to have a few Witnesses examined concerning my character and if their testimony shall not overway my supposed guilt I must be condemned although I would pledge my salvation on my innocence several witnesses were called who had known her for many years and they spoke well of her but fear and hatred of the crime of which they supposed her guilty rendered them timorous and unwilling to come forward Elizabeth saw even this last resource her excellent dispositions and irreproachable conduct about to fail the accused when although violently agitated she desired permission to address the court I am said she the cousin of the unhappy child who was murdered or rather his sister for I was educated by and have lived with his parents ever since and even long before his birth it may therefore be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion but when I see a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends I wish to be allowed to speak that I may say what I know of her character I am well acquainted with the accused I have lived in the same house with her at one time for five and at another for nearly 2 years during all that period she appeared to me the most amiable and benevolent of human creatures she nursed Madame Frankenstein my aunt in her last illness with the greatest affection and care and afterwards attended her her own mother during a tedious illness in a manner that excited the admiration of all who knew her after which she again lived in my uncle's house where she was beloved by all the family she was warmly attached to the child who is now dead and acted towards him like a most affectionate mother for my own part I do not hesitate to say that not withstanding all the evidence produced against her I believe and rely on her perfect innocence she had no temptation for such an action as to the bble on which the chief proof rests if she had earnestly desired it I should have willingly given it to her so much do I esteem and value her a murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth's simple and Powerful appeal but it was excited by her generous interference and not in favor of poor just on whom the public indignation was turned with renewed violence charging her with the blackest ingratitude she herself wept as Elizabeth spoke but she did not answer my own agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial I believed in her innocence I knew it could the demon who had I did not for a minute doubt murdered my brother also in his hellish sport have betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy I could not sustain the horror of my situation and when I perceived that the popular voice and the countenances of the judges had already condemned the unhappy victim I rushed out of the court in agony the tortures of the accused did not equal mine she was sustained by innocence but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold I passed a night of unmingled wretchedness in the morning I went to the court my lips and throats were parched I dared not ask the Fatal question but I was known and the officer guessed the cause of my visit the ballots had been thrown they were all black and Justine was condemned I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt I had before experienced sensations of horror and I have endeavored to bestow upon them adequate Expressions but words cannot convey an idea of the heart sickening despair that I then endured the person to whom I addressed myself added that Justine had already confed confessed her guilt that evidence he observed was hardly required in so glaring a case but I am glad of it and indeed none of our judges like to condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence be it ever so decisive this was strange and unexpected intelligence what could it mean had my eyes deceived me and was I really as mad as the whole world would believe me to be if I disclosed the object of my suspicions I hastened to return home and Elizabeth eagerly demanded the result my cousin replied I it is decided as you may have expected all judges had rather that 10 Innocents should suffer than that one guilty should Escape but she has confessed this was a dire blow to poor Elizabeth who had relied with firmness upon Justine's innocence less said she how shall I ever again believe in human goodness Justine whom I loved and esteemed as my sister how could she put on those Smiles of Innocence only to betray her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile yet she had has committed a murder soon after we heard that the poor victim had expressed a desire to see my cousin my father wished her not to go but said that he left it to her own judgment and feelings to decide yes said Elizabeth I will go although she is guilty and you Victor shall accompany me I cannot go alone the idea of this visit was torture to me yet I could not refuse we entered the gloomy prison chamber and beheld Justine sitting on some straw at the farther end her hands were manacled and her head rested on her knees she rose on seeing us enter and when we were left alone with her she threw herself at the feet of Elizabeth weeping bitterly my cousin also wept oh Justine said she why did you rob me of my last consolation I relied on your innocence and although I was then very wretched I was not so miserable as I am now and do you also believe that I'm so very very Wicked do you also join with my enemies to crush me to condemn me as a murderer her voice was suff uated with sobs rise my poor girl said Elizabeth why do you kneel if you are innocent I'm not one of your enemies I believed you Guiltless not withstanding every evidence until I heard that you had yourself declared your [Music] guilt that report you say is false and be assured dear Justine that nothing can shake my confidence in you for a moment but your own confession I did confess but I confessed a lie I confess that I might obtain Absolution but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins the god of Heaven forgive me ever since I was condemned my Confessor has besieged me he threatened and menaced until I almost began to think that I was the monster that said I was he threatened excommunication and hellfire in my last moments if I continued abdor it dear lady I had none to support me all looked on me as a wretch doomed to ignominy and medition what could I do in an evil hour I subscribed to a lie and now only am I truly miserable she paused weeping and then continued I thought with horror my sweet lady that you should believe your Justine whom your blessed aunt had so highly honored and whom you loved was a creature capable of a crime which none but the Devil Himself could have perpetrated dear William dearest blessed child I soon shall see you again in heaven where we shall all be happy and that consoles me going as I am to suffer ignominy and death oh Justine forgive me for having for one moment distrusted you why did you confess but do not mourn dear girl do not fear I will Proclaim I will prove your innocence I will melt the Stony hearts of your enemies by my tears and prayers you shall not die you my sa fellow my companion my sister perish on the scaffold no no I never could survive so horrible a misfortune Justine shook her head mournfully I do not fear to die she said that pay is passed God raises my weaknesses and gives me courage to endure the worst Al leavea sad and bitter world and if you remember me and think of me as one unjustly condemned I am resigned to the Fate awaiting me learn from me dear lady to submit in patience to the will of Heaven during this conversation I had retired to a corner of the Prison Room where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me despair who dared talk of that the poor victim who on the marrow was to pass the awful boundary between life and death felt not as I did such deep and bitter Agony I nashed my teeth and ground them together uttering a groan that came from my inmost soul Justine started when she saw who it was she approached me and said dear sir you are very kind to visit me you I hope do not believe that I'm guilty I could not answer no Justine said Elizabeth he is more convinced of your innocence than I was for even when he heard that you had confessed he did not credit it I'll truly thank him in these last moments I feel the sincerest gratitude towards those who think of me with kindness how sweet is the affection of others to such a wretch as I am it removes more than half my Misfortune and I feel as if I could die in peace now that my innocence is acknowledged by you dear lady and your cousin thus the poor sufferer tried to comfort others and herself she indeed gained the resignation she desired but I the true murderer felt the Never Dying worm alive in my bosom which allowed of no hope or consolation Elizabeth also wept and was unhappy but hers also was the misery of Innocence which like a cloud that passes over the fair moon for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart I bore or a hell within me which nothing could extinguish we stayed several hours with Justine and it was with great difficulty that Elizabeth could tear herself away I wish cried she that I would to die with you I cannot live in this world of misery Justine assumed an air of cheerfulness while she with difficulty repressed her bitter tears she embraced Elizabeth and said in a voice of half-suppressed emotion farewell sweet lady dearest Elizabeth my beloved and only friend may heaven in its Bounty bless and preserve you may this be the last Misfortune that you will ever suffer live and be happy and make others so and on the tomorrow Justine died Elizabeth's heart-rending eloquence failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the criminality of the saintly sufferer my passionate and indignant appeals were lost upon them and when I received their cold answers and heard the harsh unfeeling reasoning of these men my purposed a vowel died away in my lips thus I might Proclaim myself a Madman but not revoke the sentence passed upon my wretched victim she perished on the scaffold as a murderous from the tortures of my own heart I turned to contemplate the deep and voiceless grief of my Elizabeth this also was my doing and my father's woe and the desolation of that late so smiling home all was the work of my Thrice the cursed hands yay weep unhappy ones but these are not your last tears again shall you raise the funeral whale and the sound of your Lamentations shall again and again be heard Frankenstein your son your Kinsman your early much loved friend he who would spend each vital drop of blood for your sakes who has no thought nor sense of Joy except as it is mirrored also in your dear countenances who would fill the air with blessings and spend his life in serving you he bids You Weep to shed countless tears happy beyond his hopes if thus inexorable fate be satisfied and if the destruction pause before the Peace of the Grave have succeeded to your sad torments Thus Spoke my prophetic Soul as torn by remorse horror and despair I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine the first hapless victims to my unhallowed Arts