I did even that Which you commission'd me to do. I told them, You had determined on our daughter's marriage Nay, that you must ask the mathematician there. And wish'd, ere yet you went into the field, SECOND SERVANT. Poh! stuff and nonsense! That's what I call a hum. And did they guess the choice which I had made? A chamber is a chamber; what much can the place signify in the affair? DUCHESS. They only hoped and wish'd it may have fallen Upon no foreign nor yet Lutheran noble. WALLENSTEIN. And you-what do you wish, Elizabeth? DUCHESS. Your will, you know, was always mine. WALLENSTEIN (after a pause). Well then? And in all else, of what kind and complexion [The DUCHESS casts her eyes on the ground, and Hide nothing from me. How were you received? DUCHESS. And what may you have to object against eleven? O! my dear Lord, all is not what it was. I should like to know that now. SENI. Eleven is transgression; eleven oversteps The ten commandments. SECOND SERVANT. That s good! and why do you call five a holy number? SENI. Five is the soul of man: for even as man Is mingled up of good and evil, so A canker-worm, my Lord, a canker-worm Has stolen into the bud. WALLENSTEIN. Ay! is it so? What, they were lax? they fail'd of the old respect DUCHESS. Not of respect. No honors were omitted, I have been long accustom'd to defend you, No; no one rail'd at you. They wrapp'd them up, No transient pique, no cloud that passes over : WALLENSTEIN. Now she omitted it? DUCHESS (wiping away her tears, after a pause). But then first when I had already taken WALLENSTEIN (seizes her hand soothingly). DUCHESS (shaking her head). DUCHESS. WALLENSTEIN. Proceed! DUCHESS. They talk WALLENSTEIN. DUCHESS. Of a second-catches her voice and hesitates). -Dismission. WALLENSTEIN. Second DUCHESS. More disgraceful WALLENSTEIN. Talk they? [Strides across the Chamber in vehement agitatu O! they force, they thrust me With violence against my own will, onward! DUCHESS (presses near to him, in entreaty). Win down your proud heart to it! Tell that heart, SCENE VIII. Enter the Countess TERTSKY, leading in her hand the Princess THEKLA, richly adorned with Brilliants. COUNTESS, THEKLA, WALLENSTEIN, DUCHESS. COUNTESS. How, sister! What, already upon business! [Observing the countenance of the DUCHESS And business of no pleasing kind I see, Ere he has gladden'd at his child. The first Moment belongs to joy. Here, Friedland! father! This is thy daughter. [THEKLA approaches with a shy and timid air, and bends herself as about to kiss his hand. He receives her in his arms, and remains standing for some time lost in the feeling of her presence. WALLENSTEIN. Yes! pure and lovely hath hope risen on me. I take her as the pledge of greater fortune. DUCHESS. 'Twas but a little child when you departed To raise up that great army for the Emperor: And after, at the close of the campaign, When you return'd home out of Pomerania, Your daughter was already in the convent, Wherein she has remain'd till now. WALLENSTEIN. We in the field here gave our cares and toils Thou wouldst not have recognized thy father, When last she saw your face. THEKLA. O yes, yes, mother! WALLENSTEIN. The voice of my child! I was indignant at my destiny, I wrong'd my destiny. Here upon this head, No! 'twas not so intended, that my business [TERTSKY enters, and delivers letters to the DUKE COUNTESS (to Max.). THEKLA. Then I too must have scruples of his love; MAX. Yes; 'tis his nature ever to be giving [He grasps the hand of the DUCHESS with still in- How my heart pours out Its all of thanks to him! O! how I seem In this name hath my destiny charm-bound me! My brother wishes us to leave him. Come. WALLENSTEIN (turns himself round quick, collects himself, and speaks with cheerfulness to the DUCHESS). [He clasps her in his arms as PICCOLOMINI enters. Once more I bid thee welcome to the camp. SCENE IX. Enter MAX. PICCOLOMINI, and some time after Count COUNTESS. There comes the Paladin who protected us. WALLENSTEIN. Max.! Welcome, ever welcome! Always wert thou MAX. My General WALLENSTEIN. Till now it was the Emperor who rewarded thee, MAX. Thou art the hostess of this court. You, Max., SCENE X. WALLENSTEIN, COUNT TERTSKY. It is the king of Hungary, Ferdinand, The Emperor's delicate son! he's now their savior You made no common hurry to transfer it. It must be, a mere office, not a favor Which I leapt forward to receive, and which Is entering on possession-Therefore-dispatch! Count Altringer will have himself excused, TERTSKY. And if WALLENSTEIN. Altringer Is master of the Tyrol passes. I must forthwith -Well, and the old Sesin, that ancient trader In contraband negotiations, he Had you meant nothing further than to gull him For the Emperor's service. WALLENSTEIN (after a pause, during which he looks narrowly on TERTSKY). And from whence dost thou know Has shown himself again of late. What brings he That I'm not gulling him for the Emperor's service? From the Count Thur? Off with them, off! Thou understand'st not this. To come with stealthy tread, and filch away TERTSKY. You will deal, however, More fairly with the Saxons? They lose patience While you shift ground and make so many curves. Say, to what purpose all these masks? Your friends Are plunged in doubts, baffled, and led astray in you. There's Oxenstein, there's Arnheim-neither knows What he should think of your procrastinations, And in the end I prove the liar; all Passes through me. I have not even your handwriting. WALLENSTEIN. I never give my handwriting; thou knowest it. TERTSKY. But how can it be known that you're in earnest, Whence knowest thou that I'm not gulling all of you? Dost thou know me so well? When made I thee I am not conscious that I ever open'd My inmost thoughts to thee. The Emperor, it is true. I could repay him with usurious interest To know my power; but whether I shall use it, You'll find them in the very mood you wish They know about the Emperor's requisitions, And are tumultuous. Declared himself? WALLENSTEIN. How hath Isolan ILLO. You might have done with safety all you have done, They too must bind themselves to me. Ere it slips from you. The signatures! ILLO. Seize, seize the hour, Seldom comes the moment In life, which is indeed sublime and weighty. To make a great decision possible, O! many things, all transient and all rapid, Must meet at once: and, haply, they thus met May by that confluence be enforced to pause Time long enough for wisdom, though too short, Far, far too short a time for doubt and scruple! This is that moment. See, our army chieftains, Our best, our noblest, are assembled around you, Their king-like leader! On your nod they wait. The single threads, which here your prosperous for tune Hath woven together in one potent web Tis the high tide that heaves the stranded ship, Thou speakest as thou understand'st. How oft [He walks across the chamber, then returns, and 1 The heavenly constellations make not merely PAGE (entering). My Lords, the Generals. WALLENSTEIN Let them come in. |