The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iv Part 75

'Twill do! No matter.

THE PRINCE. So. Then fare you well.

HOHENZOLL. The fetter follows hard upon the Prince.

THE PRINCE. I go but to the Castle, to my aunt, And in two minutes I am back again.

[_Exeunt omnes._]

SCENE III

_Room of the_ ELECTRESS. _The_ ELECTRESS _and_ NATALIE _enter_.

ELECTRESS. Come, daughter mine, come now! This is your hour.

Count Gustaf Horn, the Swedes' amba.s.sador, And all the company have left the Castle; There is a light in Uncle's study still.

Come, put your kerchief on and steal on him, And see if you can rescue yet your friend.

[_They are about to go._]

SCENE IV

_A lady-in-waiting enters. Others as before._

LADY-IN-WAITING.

Madam, the Prince of Homburg's at the door.

But I am hardly sure that I saw right.

ELECTRESS. Dear G.o.d!

NATALIE. Himself?

ELECTRESS. Is he not prisoner?

LADY-IN-WAITING.

He stands without, in plumed hat and cloak, And begs in urgent terror to be heard.

ELECTRESS (_distressed_).

Impulsive boy! To go and break his word!

NATALIE. Who knows what may torment him?

ELECTRESS (_after a moment in thought_). Let him come!

[_She seats herself._]

SCENE V

_The_ PRINCE OF HOMBURG _enters. The others as before._

THE PRINCE (_throwing himself at the feet of the_ ELECTRESS).

Oh, mother!

ELECTRESS. Prince! What are you doing here?

THE PRINCE. Oh, let me clasp your knees, oh, mother mine!

ELECTRESS (_with suppressed emotion_).

You are a prisoner, Prince, and you come hither?

Why will you heap new guilt upon the old?

THE PRINCE (_urgently_).

Oh, do you know what they have done?

ELECTRESS. Yes, all.

But what can I do, helpless I, for you?

THE PRINCE. You would not speak thus, mother mine, if death Had ever terribly encompa.s.sed you As it doth me. With potencies of heaven, You and my lady, these who serve you, all The world that rings me round, seem blest to save.

The very stable-boy, the meanest, least, That tends your horses, pleading I could hang About his neck, crying: Oh, save me, thou!

I, only I, alone on G.o.d's wide earth Am helpless, desolate, and impotent.

ELECTRESS. You are beside yourself! What has occurred?

THE PRINCE. Oh, on the way that led me to your side, I saw in torchlight where they dug the grave That on the morrow shall receive my bones!

Look, Aunt, these eyes that gaze upon you now, These eyes they would eclipse with night, this breast Pierce and transpierce with murderous musketry.

The windows on the Market that shall close Upon the weary show are all reserved; And one who, standing on life's pinnacle, Today beholds the future like a realm Of faery spread afar, tomorrow lies Stinking within the compa.s.s of two boards, And over him a stone recounts: _He was_.

[_The_ PRINCESS, _who until now has stood in the background supporting herself on the shoulder of one of the ladies-in-waiting, sinks into a chair, deeply moved at his words, and begins to weep._]

ELECTRESS. My son, if such should be the will of heaven, You will go forth with courage and calm soul.

THE PRINCE. G.o.d's world, O mother, is so beautiful!

Oh, let me not, before my hour strike, Descend, I plead, to those black shadow-forms!

Why, why can it be nothing but the bullet?

Let him depose me from my offices, With rank cas.h.i.+erment, if the law demands, Dismiss me from the army. G.o.d of heaven!

Since I beheld my grave, life, life, I want, And do not ask if it be kept with honor.

ELECTRESS. Arise, my son, arise! What were those words?

You are too deeply moved. Control yourself!

THE PRINCE. Oh, Aunt, not ere you promise on your soul, With a prostration that shall save my life Pleading to go before the sovereign presence.

Hedwig, your childhood friend, gave me to you, Dying at Homburg, saying as she died: Be you his mother when I am no more.

Moved to the depths, kneeling beside her bed, Over her spent hand bending, you replied: Yea, he shall be to me as mine own child.

Now, I remind you of the vow you made!