Sreg.

The officious care] Once on a time.

Of those around me dragg'd me from the spot,
Seeing my faintness, ignorant of the cause;
You, too, were too remote in the procession
(The old nobles being divided from their children)
To aid me.

Ulr.
Sieg.

But I'll aid you now.

In what?

Gab.

Ah! "Tis, then, Werner Sieg. (haughtily.) The same you knew, sir, by that name; and you!

Gab. (looking round.) I recognize you both
father and son,

It seems. Count, I have heard that you, or yours,
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.
Gab.

Give it utterance, and then I'll meet the consequences.

Sieg.

You shall do so

Unless

Gab.

First, who accuses me?

Sieg.

All things,

If not all men: the universal rumor

Beside you!

Gab. (pointing to ULRIC.)

[ULRIC rushes forward to attack GABOR; SIE GENDORF interposes.

Sieg. Liar and fiend! but you shall not be slain; These walls are mine, and you are safe within them. [He turns to ULRIC.

Ulric, repel this calumny, as I
Will do. I avow it as a growth so monstrous,
I could not deem it earth-born: but be calm;
It will refute itself. But touch him not.

[ULRIC endeavors to compose himself.
Gab. Look,at him, count, and then hear me.
Sieg. (first to GABOR, and then looking at ULRIC.)
I hear thee.
My God! you look

Ulr.
Sieg.

How?

As on that dread night

It is nothing.

When we met in the garden.
Ulr. (composes himself.)
Gab. Count, you are bound to hear me. I came

By Stralenheim's death? Was't I-as poor as ever;
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 honors and estates scarce less than princely.
Sieg. These hints, as vague as vain, attach no less
To me than to my son.
Gab.
I can't help that.
But let the consequence alight on him

My own presence on the spot-the place-the time, Who feels himself the guilty one among us.
And every speck of circumstance unite

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!

Gab. I am unarm'd, count-bid your son lay down
His sabre.

Ulr. (offers it to him contemptuously.) Take it.
Gab.
No, sir, 'tis enough
That we are both unarm'd-I would not choose
To wear a steel which may be stain'd with more
Blood than came there in battle.

Ulr. (casts the sabre from him in contempt.) It

Gab.

I will not detain you

By speaking of myself much; I began

Life early-and am what the world has made me.
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)
To hear related a strange circumstance
In February last. A martial force,
Sent by the state, had 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 among 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.
Sieg.

And what is this to Ulric?

Gab. Among them there was said to be one man
Of wonderful endowments :-birth and fortune,
Youth, strength, and beauty, almost superhuman,
And courage as unrivall'd, were proclaim'd
His by the public rumor; and his sway

Not only over his associates, but

His judges, was attributed to witchcraft,

Such was his influence:-I have no great faith
In any magic save that of the mine-

I therefore deem'd him wealthy.-But my soul
Was roused with various feelings to seek out
This prodigy, if only to behold him.

Sieg. And did you so?
Gab.

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 refused 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.

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.

You slew him!-Wretch !
Gab.

Asleep! And yet

He was already slain,

You'll hear. Chance favor'd me, A popular affray in the public square Drew crowds together-it was one of those Occasions where men's souls look out of them, And show them as they are—even in their faces : The moment my eye met his, I exclaim'd, "This is the man! though he was then, as since, You saw none else? You did not see the-With the nobles of the city. I felt sure [He pauses from agitation.

And bleeding like a sacrifice. My own
Blood became ice.
Sieg.

Gab.

But he was all alone!

He, whom you dare not name, nor even I
Scarce dare to recollect, was not then in
The chamber.

No

Sieg. (to ULRIC.) Then, my boy! thou art guiltless still

Thou bad'st me say I was so once-Oh! now

Gab. And may sound better.-He appear'd to me Do thou as much!

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.

Be patient! I can not

Gab.
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,

Was vengeance: but though arm'd with a short I saw you eye it eagerly, and him

Why didst thou spare me? I dreamt of my father-And with the other half, could he and thou And now my dream is out!

You sought me and have found me-now you know When we met in the garden, what except
My secret, and may weigh its worth.
Sieg. (after a pause.)

Have made me both at present. You shall aid me; The devil you cannot lay between us.

Sieg. Dare you await the event of a few minutes' Have taught me feeling for you and myself; Deliberation?

Gab. (casts his eyes on ULRIC, who is leaning against a pillar.) If I should do so?

Ulr. Let it work on the grave will keep it

down!

Ashes are feeble foes: it is more easy

To baffle such, than countermine a mole,

Which winds its blind but living path beneath

you.

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 occa-
sion?

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
(It might be) bastardy on me, and on
Himself a felon's brand! The man who is
At once both warm and weak invites by deeds
He longs to do, but dare not. Is it strange
That I should act what you could think? We have
done

Sieg. Whate'er you will: sell them, or hoard,
And prosper; but delay not, or you are lost!

Gab. You pledged your honor for my safety!
Sieg.

Must thus redeem it. Fly! I am not master,
It seems, of my own castle-of my own
Retainers-nay, even of these very walls,
Or I would bid them fall and crush me! Fly:
Or you will be slain by————

Gab.
Is it even so?
Farewell, then! Recollect, however, count,

With right and wrong; and now must only You sought this fatal interview?

ponder

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

that

Of safety-or let me !
Sieg.

I have done with life!

Ulr. 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: I know no fear,
And have within these very walls men whom
(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 us.
[Exit ULRIC.
Sieg. (solus.) Am I awake? are these my father's
halls?

Sieg.

I did:
Let it not be more fatal still!-Begone!
Gab. By the same path I enter'd?
Sieg.

And

Yes; that's safe still:
But loiter not in Prague;-you do not know
With whom you have to deal.

And knew it ere yourself, unhappy sire!
Farewell!
[Exit GABOR
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!
Ludwig.
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?

Vassals, despatch in search of him! You see
'Twas as I said—the wretch hath stript my father
Of jewels which might form a prince's heirloom!
Away! I'll follow you forthwith.

Ulr.

[Exeunt all but SIEGENDORF and ULRIC. What's this?

Let us hear no more
Of this he must be found.

You have not let him

Where is the villain?
Sieg. There are two, sir: which
And you my son? My son! mine! who have ever Are you in quest of?
Abhorr'd both mystery and blood, and yet
Am plunged into the deepest hell of both!
I must be speedy, or more will be shed-
The Hungarian's !-Ulric-he hath partisans,
It seems I might have guess'd as much.
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!

Escape?

[Exit into the turret, closing the door after him. Will you then leave me?