Till he is found. His fate, and Stralenheim's, And ours, seem intertwisted! nor can be Unravell'd, till-
Enter an ATTENDANT.
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For one day's peace, after thrice ten dread years,
Each bloodier than the former: I arose,
With all the nobles, and as I look'd down
Along the lines of lifted faces,--from
Our banner'd and escutcheon'd gallery, I
Saw, like a flash of lightning (for I saw
A moment and no more), what struck me sight-
To all else the Hungarian's face! I grew
Sick and when I recover'd from the mist
Which curl'd about my senses, and again
Look'd down, I saw him not. The thanksgiving
Was over, and we march'd back in procession.
Ulr. Continue.
Sieg. When we reach'd the Muldau's bridge,
The joyous crowd above, the numberless
Barks mann'd with revellers in their best garbs,
Which shot along the glancing tide below,
The decorated street, the long array,
The clashing music, and the thundering
Of far artillery, which seem'd to bid
A long and loud farewell to its great doings, The standards o'er me, and the tramplings
Sieg. Admit him, ne'ertheless.
[The ATTENDANT introduces GABOR, and afterwards exit.
Sieg. [haughtily]. The same you knew, sir, by that name; and you!
Gab. looking round]. I recognize you both: father and son,
[yours, It seems. Count, I have heard that you, or Have lately been in search of me: I am here. Sieg. I have sought you, and have found you: you are charged
(Your own heart may inform you why) with such
A crime as-
He pauses.
Give it utterance, and ther
I'll meet the consequences.
You shall do so-
The roar of rushing thousands,-all-all-could Sieg.
Chase this man from my mind, although my
No longer held him palpable.
If not all men: the universal rumour-
My own presence on the spot-the place-the
And every speck of circumstance unite [time-
To fix the blot ou you.
Gab.
My eye for ever feli Pause ere you answer: is no other name,
Save mine, stain'd in this business?
I look'd, as a dying soldier Looks at a draught of water, for this man; But still I saw him not; but in his steadUlr. What in his stead? Sieg. Upon your dancing crest; the loftiest, As on the loftiest and the loveliest head, It rose the highest of the stream of plumes, Which overflow'd the glittering streets of Prague. Ulr. What's this to the Hungarian? Sieg. Much; for I Had almost then forgot him in my son; When just as the artillery ceased, and paused The music, and the crowd embraced in lieu Of shouting, I heard in a deep, low voice, Distinct and keener far upon my ear Than the late cannon's volume, this wordUlr. Utter'd by-[' Werner!' Sieg. HIM! I turn'd- and saw-and fell. Uir. And wherefore? Were you seen?
Trifling villain ! Who play'st with thine own guilt! Of all that breathe
Thou best dost know the innocence of him
'Gainst whom thy breath would blow thy bloody
slander.
But I will talk no further with a wretch,
Further than justice asks. Answer at once,
And without quibbling, to my charge.
Gab.
Sieg. Who says so?
The officious care The presence of the murderer.
I know the assassin.
Sieg.
Gab. [pointing to ULRIC]. Beside you!
ULRIC rushes forward to attack GABOR
SIEGENDORF interposes.
[slain;
Sieg. Liar and fiend! but you shall not be
These walls are mine, and you are safe within
them.
[He turns to ULKIC.
Ulric, repel this calumny, as I
Will do. I avow it is a growth so monstrous,
I could not deem it earth-born: but be calm;
It will refute itself. But touch him not.
[ULRIC endeavours to compose himself.
Gab. Look at him, count, and then hear me.
Sieg. [first to GABOR, and then looking at
ULRIC].
I hear thee.
I will not detain you
By speaking of myself much I began
Life early-and am what the world has made
At Frankfort on the Oder, where I pass'd
A winter in obscurity, it was
My chance at several places of resort
(Which I frequented sometimes, but not often)
As on that dread night, To hear related a strange circumstance
In February last. A martial force,
When we met in the garden.
Ulr. [composes himself]. It is nothing.
Gab. Count, you are bound to hear me.
came hither
[down
Not seeking you, but sought. When 1 knelt
Amidst the people in the church, I dream'd not
To find the beggar'd Werner in the seat
Of senators and princes; but you have call'd me,
And we have met.
Allow me to inquire, who profited [ever;
By Stralenheim's death? Was't I-as poor as
And poorer by suspicion on my name!
The baron lost in that last outrage neither
Jewels nor gold; his life alone was sought,-
A life which stood between the claims of others
To honours and estates scarce less than princely.
Sieg. These hints, as vague as vain, attach no
To me than to my son.
[less
Gab.
I can't help that.
But let the consequence alight on him
Who feels himself the guilty one among us.
I speak to you, Count Siegendorf, because
I know you innocent, and deem you just.
But ere I can proceed-dare you protect me?
Dare you command me?
[SIEGENDORF first looks at the Hungarian,
and then at ULRIC, who has unbuckled
his sabre, and is drawing lines with it on
the floor-still in its sheath.
Ulr. looks at his father and says]. Let the man go on! [down Gab. I am unarm'd, count-bid your son lay His sabre.
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Sent by the state, and after strong resistance,
Secured a band of desperate men, supposed
Marauders from the hostile camp. --They proved,
However, not to be so-but banditti,
Whom either accident or enterprise
Had carried from their usual haunt-the forests
Which skirt Bohemia-even into Lusatia.
|Many amongst them were reported of
High rank-and martial law slept for a time.
At last they were escorted o'er the frontiers,
And placed beneath the civil jurisdiction
Of the free town of Frankfort. Of their fate
I know no more.
I noted down his form-his gesture-features,
Stature, and bearing-and amidst them all,
'Midst every natural and acquired distinction,
I could discern, methought, the assassin's eye
And gladiator's heart.
Ulr. [smiling].
The tale sounds well.
Gab. And may sound better.-He appear'd
One of those beings to whom Fortune bends,
As she doth to the daring-and on whom
The fates of others oft depend; besides,
An indescribable sensation drew me
Near to this man, as if my point of fortune
Was to be fix'd by him -There I was wrong.
Sieg. And may not be right now.
Gab.
I follow'd him,
Solicited his notice-and obtain'd it-
Though not his friendship :-it was his intention
To leave the city privately-we left it
Together-and together we arrived
In the poor town where Werner was conceal'd,
And Stralenheim was succour'd-Now we are
The verge dare you hear further?
Sieg.
Or I have heard too much.
He, whom you dare not name, nor even I
Scarce dare to recollect, was not then in
The chamber.
[guiltless still-
Sieg. [To ULRIC]. Then, my boy! thou art
Thou bad'st me say I was so once-Oh! now
Do thou as much!
Gab.
Be patient! I can not
Recede now, though it shake the very walls
Which frown above us. You remember, or
If not, your son does,-that the locks were
changed
Beneath his chief inspection on the morn
Which led to this same night: how he had
enter'd
He best knows-but within an antechamber,
I must do so-The door of which was half ajar, I saw
A man who wash'd his bloody hands, and oft
With stern and anxious glance gazed back upon
The bleeding body-but it moved no more.
Sieg. Oh! God of fathers!
I saw in you
A man above his station-and if not
So high, as now I find you, in my then
Conceptions, 'twas that I had rarely seen
Men such as you appear'd in height of mind,
In the most high of worldly rank; you were
Poor, even to all save rags; I would have shared
My purse, though slender, with you-you re-
fused it.
Sieg. Doth my refusal make a debt to you,
That thus you urge it?
Gab.
Still you owe me something,
Though not for that; and I owed you my safety,
At least my seeming safety, when the slaves
Of Stralenheim pursued me on the grounds
That I had robb'd him.
Sieg.
I conceal'd you-I,
Whom and whose house you arraign, reviving
viper !
Gab. I accuse no man-save in my defence.
You, count, have made yourself accuser-judge:
Your hall's my court, your heart is my tribunal.
Be just, and I'll be merciful!
Sieg.
You! Base calumniator!
Gab.
I. "Twill rest
With me at last to be so. You conceal'd me-
In secret passages known to yourself,
You said, and to none else. At dead of night,
Weary with watching in the dark, and dubious
Of tracing back my way, I saw a glimmer,
Through distant crannies, of a twinkling light:
I follow'd it, and reach'd a door-a secret
Portal-which open'd to the chamber, where,
With cautious hand and slow, having first undone
As much as made a crevice of the fastening,
I look'd through, and beheld a purple bed,
And on it Stralenheim !—
Sieg.
As I see yours-but yours they were not, though
Resembling them-behold them in Count
Ulric's!
Distinct as I beheld them, though the expression
Is not now what it then was !-but it was so
When I first charged him with the crime-so
Sieg. This is so→→
[lately.
Gab. [interrupting him]. Nay—but hear me
to the end!
Now you must do so.-I conceived myself
Betray'd by you and him (for now I saw
There was some tie between you) into this
Pretended den of refuge, to become
The victim of your guilt; and my first thought
Was Vengeance: but, though arm'd with a
short poniard
(Having left my sword without), I was no match
For him at any time, as had been proved
That morning-either in address or force.
I turn'd and fled-i' the dark: chance rather
than
Skill made me gain the secret door of the hall,
And thence the chamber where you slept: if I
Had found you waking, Heaven alone can tell
What vengeance and suspicion might have
prompted;
But ne'er slept guilt as Werner slept that night.
Sieg. And yet I had horrid dreams! and such
The stars had not gone down when I awoke.
Why didst thou spare me? I dreamt of my
And now my dream is out.
[father-
'Tis not my fault,
If I have read it.-Well! I fled and hid me-
Chance led me here after so many moons-
This tower.
Gab. [hesitatingly]. You have offer'd me. Sieg.
[Opens a turret door. This is the second safe [asylum
And was not the first so? Gab. I know not that even now-but will approve
The second. I have still a further shield.-
I did not enter Prague alone; and should I
Be put to rest with Stralenheim, there are
Some tongues without will wag in my behalf.
Be brief in your decision!
Sieg.
I will be so.-
My word is sacred and irrevocable
Within these walls, but it extends no further.
Gab. I'll take it for so much.
Sieg. [points to ULRIC'S sabre, still upon the
ground].
Take also that-
I saw you eye it eagerly, and him
Distrustfully.
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For trifling or dissembling. I have said
His story's true; and he too must be silenced.
Sieg. How so?
Ulr. As Stralenheim is. Are you so dull
As never to have hit on this before?
When we met in the garden, what except
Discovery in the act could make me know
His death? Or had the prince's household been
Then summon'd, would the cry for the police
Been left to such a stranger? Or should I
Have loiter'd on the way? Or could you,
Werner,
The object of the baron's hate and fears,
Have fled-unless by many an hour before
Suspicion woke? I sought and fathom'd you,
Doubting if you were false or feeble: I
Perceived you were the latter and yet so
Confiding have I found you, that I doubted
At times your weakness.
Sieg.
Parricide! no less
Than common stabber! What deed of my life,
Or thought of mine, could make you deem me fit
For your accomplice ?
Ulr.
Father, do not raise
The devil you cannot lay between us. This
Is time for union and for action, not
For family disputes. While you were tortured,
Could I be calm? Think you that I have heard
This fellow's tale without some feeling ?-You
Have taught me feeling for you and myself?
For whom or what else did you ever teach it?
Sieg. Oh! my dead father's curse! 'tis work-
Ulr. Let it work on! the grave will keep it
Ashes are feeble foes: it is more easy
To baffle such, than countermine a mole, [you.
Which winds its blind but living path beneath
Yet hear me still!-If you condemn me, yet
Remember who hath taught me once too often
To listen to him! Who proclaim'd to me
That there were crimes made venial by the
occasion?
That passion was our nature? that the goods
Of Heaven waited on the goods of fortune?
Who show'd me his humanity secured
By his nerves only? Who deprived me of
All power to vindicate myself and race
In open day? By his disgrace which stamp'd
[vide (It might be) bastardy on me, and on
Gab. [takes up the sabre. I will; and so proTo sell my life-not cheaply. [GABOR goes into the turret, which SIEGEN
Sieg. [advances to ULRIC]. Now, Count Ulric!
For son I dare not call thee-What say'st thou? Ulr. His tale is true.
Sieg. True, monster ! Ulr. Most true, father! And you did well to listen to it: what We know, we can provide against. He must
Himself-a felon's brand! The man who is
At once both warm and weak invites to deeds
He longs to do, but dare not. Is it strange
That I should act what you could think? We
have done
[ponder
With right and wrong and now must only
Upon effects, not causes. Stralenheim,
Whose life I saved from impulse, as, unknown,
I would have saved a peasant's or a dog's, I slew
Known as our foe-but not from vengeance. He
Was a rock in our way which I cut through,
As doth the bolt, because it stood between us
And our true destination-but not idly.
As stranger I preserved him, and he owed me
His life when due, I but resumed the debt.
He, you, and I stood o'er a gulf wherein
I have plunged our enemy.
You kindled first
The torch-you show'd the path: now trace me
Of safety or let me !
[that
Sieg.
I have done with life!
Uir. Let us have done with that which
cankers life--
Familiar feuds and vain recriminations
Of things which cannot be undone. We have
No more to learn or hide : know no fear,
And have within these very walls men who
(Although you know them not) dare venture all
things.
You stand high with the state; what passes here
Will not excite her too great curiosity :
Keep your own secret, keep a steady eye,
Stir not, and speak not ;-leave the rest to me :
We must have no third babblers thrust between
Sieg. [solus and listening]. He hath clear'd
the staircase. Ah! I hear
The door sound loud behind him! He is safe!
Safe!-Oh, my father's spirit !—I am faint-
[He leans down upon a stone seat, near the wall of the tower, in a drooping posture. Enter ULRIC, with others armed, and with weapons drawn.
Ulr. Despatch !-he's there.
Lud.
The count, my lord!
Ulr. [recognizing SIEGENDORF]. You here,
sir !
Sieg. Yes; if you want another victim, strike! Ulr. [seeing him stript of his jewels]. Where is the ruffian who hath plunder'd you? [Exit ULRIC. Vassals, despatch in search of him! You see Sieg. [solus]. Am I awake? are these my 'Twas as I said—the wretch hath stript my father fathers' halls? [ever Of jewels which might form a prince's heir-loom! And you my son! My son! mine! who have Away! I'll follow you forthwith. Abhorr'd both mystery and blood, and yet Am plunged into the deepest hell of both! I must be speedy, or more will be shedThe Hungarian's !-Ulric-he hath partisans, It seems I might have guess'd as much. Oh fool!
Wolves prowl in company. He hath the key
(As I too) of the opposite door which leads
Into the turret. Now then! or once more
To be the father of fresh crimes-no less
Than of the criminal! Ho! Gabor! Gabor!
[Exit into the turret, closing the door after him.
SCENE II.-The Interior of the Turret.
GABOR and SIEGENDORF.
Gab. Who calls?
Sieg. I-Siegendorf! Take these and fly!
Lose not a moment!
[Tears off a diamond star and other jewels,
and thrusts them into GABOR'S hand.
What am I to do
[Exeunt all but SIEGENDORF and ULRIC. What's this?
Are you in quest of?
Ulr.
There are two, sir: which
Denounced-dragg'd, it may be, in chains; and
By your inherent weakness, half-humanity, [all
Selfish remorse, and temporizing pity,
That sacrifices your whole race to save
A wretch to profit by our ruin! No, count,
Henceforth you have no son!
I never had one;
And would you ne'er had borne the useless
Where will you go? I would not send you forth
Without protection.
Leave that unto me.
I am not alone; nor merely the vain heir
Of your domains; a thousand, ay, ten thousand
Swords, hearts, and hands are mine.
With whom the Hungarian found you first at
Ulr. Yes-men-who are worthy of the name!
Go tell
|