The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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СКАЧАТЬ They will find means to free him with the sword.

      Tertsky. What shall we make of this?

      Wallenstein. Said I not so?

       O my prophetic heart! he is still here.

       He has not betrayed me — he could not betray me. 25

       I never doubted of it.

      Countess. If he be

       Still here, then all goes well; for I know what

      [Embracing THEKLA.

      Will keep him here for ever.

      Tertsky. It can’t be.

       His father has betrayed us, is gone over

       To the Emperor — the son could not have ventured 30

       To stay behind.

      Thekla (her eye fixed on the door). There he is!

      [After 22] [All stand amazed. 1800, 1828, 1829.

SCENE VI

       Table of Contents

      To these enter MAX PICCOLOMINI.

      Max. Yes! here he is! I can endure no longer

       To creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurk

       In ambush for a favourable moment.

       This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

      [Advancing to THEKLA.

      Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me! 5

       Confess it freely before all. Fear no one,

       Let who will hear that we both love each other.

       Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy

       Is for the happy — misery, hopeless misery,

       Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns 10

       It dares act openly.

      [He observes the COUNTESS looking on THEKLA with

       expressions of triumph.

      No, Lady! No!

       Expect not, hope it not. I am not come

       To stay: to bid farewell, farewell for ever.

       For this I come! ‘Tis over! I must leave thee!

       Thekla, I must — must leave thee! Yet thy hatred 15

       Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me

       One look of sympathy, only one look.

       Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!

      [Grasps her hand.

      O God! I cannot leave this spot — I cannot!

       Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla! 20

       That thou dost suffer with me, art convinced

       That I cannot act otherwise.

      [THEKLA, avoiding his look, points with her hand to

       her father. MAX turns round to the DUKE, whom

       he had not till then perceived.

      Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I sought.

       I trusted never more to have beheld thee.

       My business is with her alone. Here will I 25

       Receive a full acquittal from this heart —

       For any other I am no more concerned.

      Wallenstein. Think’st thou, that fool-like, I shall let thee go,

       And act the mock-magnanimous with thee?

       Thy father is become a villain to me; 30

       I hold thee for his son, and nothing more:

       Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been given

       Into my power. Think not, that I will honour

       That ancient love, which so remorselessly

       He mangled. They are now past by, those hours 35

       Of friendship and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance

       Succeed—’tis now their turn — I too can throw

       All feelings of the man aside — can prove

       Myself as much a monster as thy father!

      Max. Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power. 40

       Thou know’st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage.

       What has detained me here, that too thou know’st.

      [Taking THEKLA by the hand.

      See, Duke! All — all would I have owed to thee,

       Would have received from thy paternal hand

       The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou 45

       Laid waste for ever — that concerns not thee.

       Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust

       Their happiness, who most are thine. The god

       Whom thou dost serve, is no benignant deity.

       Like as the blind irreconcileable 50

       Fierce element, incapable of compact,

       Thy heart’s wild impulse only dost thou follow.

      Wallenstein. Thou art describing thy own father’s heart.

       The adder! O, the charms of hell o’erpowered me.

       He dwelt within me, to my inmost soul 55

       Still to and fro he passed, suspected never!

       On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven

       Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I

       In my heart’s heart had folded! Had I been

       To Ferdinand what Octavio was to me, 60

       War had I ne’er denounced against him. No,

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