[1]. Some historians assert, that the sufferings of Rodolpho of the Beacon-Tower lasted for three whole days. During this time his wife could not be persuaded to quit the place of execution, and it was not till he had breathed his last, that she suffered herself to be conveyed to Basle, where she soon after expired.
They forcibly removed her from the scaffold; whether out of cruelty or compassion I cannot pretend to say. Understanding how closely I was connected with her, the new Emperor Henry of Luxemburg caused her to be removed to my convent, that she might end her days in my arms. God be thanked, they were ended soon! death and eternal rest were all, that it was left us to wish the poor sufferer. Scarcely had she strength to reach the place of my abode. The lay-sister informed me that a lady ill and weary requested to see me. I hastened to the convent-gate; it was Adelaide. Wearied in truth she was, alas! wearied even unto death! it was on my bosom, that the angel breathed her last.
All-merciful Heaven, was not the burthen then imposed on me too great for the strength of one like me, a poor weak helpless mortal? the bloody death of my beloved though guilty brother was scarcely announced, when I was doomed to weep over the grave of that innocent creature, whom I called my sister not more with my lips, than with my whole full heart!
Adelaide was herself unable to explain to me the connection of those terrible events, which cost her her existence: but it was easy to guess those which had happened lately. Her poor wounded feet convinced me, that she had performed some long and painful journey, and whither could the wife have directed her steps but to the scaffold, on which her husband was condemned to breathe his last? Poor, poor Adelaide! the attempt to throw yourself into my arms was the last exertion of your exhausted powers: words were denied you to explain your excess of suffering to your sister; but your looks so expressive of anguish and pious resignation spoke to my heart in a language most intelligible!
Adelaide’s attendants had mist her soon after her escape, and hastened in pursuit of her: but ignorance of the way which she had taken for some time led them astray. At length the report of Rodolpho’s death reached them, and gave them a clue to trace the fugitive. From the place of execution it was easy to follow her to my convent; where else could they expect to find the unhappy Adelaide, but in the arms of sisterly affection?
I learned such circumstances as were still unknown to me from these afflicted women, who were almost distracted at hearing the loss of their mistress, whose sudden death they attributed to their own carelessness in suffering her to escape. Not long after these melancholy events, the gentle and pious Queen of Hungary sent to request that the body of the noble sufferer might be delivered up to her messengers; it being (as they informed me) her intention to deposit it in her newly-erected church of Konigfeld, which she had built on the spot where her father Albert had perished, and in which she had already ordered a sumptuous monument to be prepared for the Lady of the Beacon-Tower.
Report was loud in praise of this generous act of the saint-like Johanna, who thus offered an honourable grave to the wife of her father’s murderer. As it appeared to me in a light by no means so amiable, I scrupled not to give the Queen’s request a positive refusal. My sister’s bones repose in the vaults beneath our convent-chapel; the marble which covers them bears no inscription except the name of her who is buried there, a name which will be sacred to the latest posterity, as an example of undeserved affliction and of love and truth unequalled.
Come to this place of sorrow, dearest Urania; come, and bathe that hallowed stone with your tears, on which my own still fall in my most serious hours. At present suffer me to rest from the painful task of describing scenes, the slightest recollection of which is almost sufficient to break my heart in pieces. God grant that ere long it may break for ever! Adelaide’s smiling form seems to beckon me away to the regions of light.—Rodolpho’s shade I strive in vain to discern; it appears not!—oh! thou my brother! my dear seduced unhappy brother! may the Divine Providence grant me not to close my eyes, till my unceasing fervent prayers shall have obtained the absolution of thy sins, and have gained thy admission into the dwellings of the blessed!