These he concealed from me with the utmost care; he was conscious that my sentiments were not sufficiently depraved to look without horror upon assassination: he supposed, and with justice, that I should fly with detestation from the embraces of a murderer. Eight years of possession had not abated his love for me; and he cautiously removed from my knowledge every circumstance, which might lead me to suspect the crimes in which he but too often participated. He succeeded perfectly: it was not till after my seducer’s death, that I discovered his hands to have been stained with the blood of innocence.