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Ulr. Sieg.

But I'll aid you now.

In what?

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Sieg.

Your utmost.

Gab.

If you mean me, I dare

You may do so, and in safety;

I know the assassin. Sieg.

Where is he?

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.

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He gave no name. Sieg. Admit him, ne'ertheless. [The Attendant introduces GABOR, and afterwards exit.

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Gab.

He

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

hither

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Ere I do so,
Allow me to inquire who profited
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
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!

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→→

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May have more names than one. Your lordship had so I have not forgotten it: you spared me for

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[To SIEGENDORF. Sieg. (takes his son by the hand.) My son! I know my own innocence, and doubt not

Of yours-but I have promised this man patience;
Let him continue.
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.

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,

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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.

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!

You merciful!

I. "Twill rest

Gab. With me at last to be so. You conceal'd meIn 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,

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

Sieg.

But he was all alone!

"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

I had not err'd, and watch'd him long and nearly:
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.

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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,

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!

Gab.
I beheld his features
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 lately.
Sieg. This is so-

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.

1 turn'd and filed-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 brief
sleep,

The stars had not gone down when I awoke.

Sieg. I pledge my life for yours. Withdraw into
This tower.
[Opens a turret door.
Gab. (hesitatingly.) This is the second safe
asylum
You have offer'd me.

Sieg.
And was not the first so?
Gab. I know not that even now-But will approve
The second. And I have still a further shield.-
I did not enter Prague alone; and should I
Be put to rest with Stralenheim, they are
Some tongues without will wag in my behalf;
Be brief in your decision!

Sieg.

I will be so.

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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!

Gab.

'Tis not my fault,

If I have read it.-Well! I filed and hid me-
Chance led me here after so many moons-
And show'd me Werner in Count Siegendorf!
Werner, whom I had sought in huts in vain,
Inhabited the palace of a sovereign!

Unsay this villainy.

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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.)

Indeed!

Gab. Is it revenge or justice which inspires Your meditation?

Sieg.

Neither-I was weighing

You shall know it

The value of your secret.

Gab.

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

At once :-When you were poor, and I, though poor, Suspicion woke? I sought and fathom'd you,

Rich enough to relieve such poverty

As might have envied mine, I offer'd you
My purse you would not share it :-I'll be franker
With you: you are wealthy, noble, trusted by
The imperial powers—you understand me?
Sieg.

Yes

Gab. Not quite. You think me venal, and scarce

true:

Tis no less true, however, that my fortunes

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

I would have aided you-and also have
Been somewhat damaged in my name to save
Yours and your son's. Weigh well what I have
said.

Sieg. Dare you await the event of a few minutes'
Deliberation?

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

Is time for union and fer 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 working

now.

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

With right and wrong; and now must
ponder

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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,
only You sought this fatal interview?
Sieg.

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!

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.

Gab.

I know too well

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.

Ulr. Let us have done with that which cankers Enter ULRIC, with others armed, and with weapons

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?

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.

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

Where is the villain ?
Sieg. There are two, sir: which

Ulr.

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. 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!

Let us hear no more

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

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