[Wieland; or The Transformation by Charles Brockden Brown]@TWC D-Link book
Wieland; or The Transformation

CHAPTER XII
4/20

Alas! it is the fate of Clara Wieland to fall into the hands of a precipitate and inexorable judge.
But what, O man of mischief! is the tendency of thy thoughts?
Frustrated in thy first design, thou wilt not forego the immolation of thy victim.
To exterminate my reputation was all that remained to thee, and this my guardian has permitted.

To dispossess Pleyel of this prejudice may be impossible; but if that be effected, it cannot be supposed that thy wiles are exhausted; thy cunning will discover innumerable avenues to the accomplishment of thy malignant purpose.
Why should I enter the lists against thee?
Would to heaven I could disarm thy vengeance by my deprecations! When I think of all the resources with which nature and education have supplied thee; that thy form is a combination of steely fibres and organs of exquisite ductility and boundless compass, actuated by an intelligence gifted with infinite endowments, and comprehending all knowledge, I perceive that my doom is fixed.

What obstacle will be able to divert thy zeal or repel thy efforts?
That being who has hitherto protected me has borne testimony to the formidableness of thy attempts, since nothing less than supernatural interference could check thy career.
Musing on these thoughts, I arrived, towards the close of the day, at Pleyel's house.

A month before, I had traversed the same path; but how different were my sensations! Now I was seeking the presence of one who regarded me as the most degenerate of human kind.

I was to plead the cause of my innocence, against witnesses the most explicit and unerring, of those which support the fabric of human knowledge.


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