The horse-dealer already knew the name and rank of the man who, at sight of the locket in question, had swooned in the farm-house at Dahme; and to put the finishing touch to the tumult of excitement into which this discovery had thrown him, he needed only an insight into the secrets contained in the paper which, for many reasons, he was determined not to open out of mere curiosity. He answered that, in consideration of the ungenerous and unprincely treatment he had been forced to endure in Dresden in return for his complete willingness to make every possible sacrifice, he would keep the paper. To the hunting-page's question as to what induced him to make such an extraordinary refusal when he was offered in exchange nothing less than life and liberty, Kohlhaas answered, "Noble Sir, if your sovereign should come to me and say, 'Myself and the whole company of those who help me wield my sceptre I will destroy—destroy, you understand, which is, I admit, the dearest wish that my soul cherishes,' I should nevertheless still refuse to give him the paper which is worth more to him than life, and should say to him, 'You have the authority to send me to the scaffold, but I can cause you pain, and I intend to do so!'" And with these words Kohlhaas, with death staring him in the face, called a trooper to him and told him to take a nice bit of food which had been left in the dish. All the rest of the hour which he spent in the place he acted as though he did not see the young nobleman who was sitting at the table, and not until he climbed up on the wagon did he turn around to the hunting-page again and salute him with a parting glance.

When the Elector received this news his condition grew so much worse that for three fateful days the doctor had grave fears for his life, which was being attacked on so many sides at once. However, thanks to his naturally good constitution, after several weeks spent in pain on the sick-bed, he recovered sufficiently, at least, to permit his being placed in a carriage well supplied with pillows and coverings, and brought back to Dresden to take up the affairs of government once more.

As soon as he had arrived in the city he summoned Prince Christiern of Meissen and asked him what had been done about dispatching Judge Eibenmaier, whom the government had thought of sending to Vienna as its attorney in the Kohlhaas affair, in order to lay a complaint before his Imperial Majesty concerning the violation of the public peace proclaimed by the Emperor.

The Prince answered that the Judge, in conformity with the order the Elector had left behind on his departure for Dahme, had set out for Vienna immediately after the arrival of the jurist, Zaeuner, whom the Elector of Brandenburg had sent to Dresden as his attorney in order to institute legal proceedings against Squire Wenzel Tronka in regard to the black horses.

The Elector flushed and walked over to his desk, expressing surprise at this haste, since, to his certain knowledge, he had made it clear that because of the necessity for a preliminary consultation with Dr. Luther, who had procured the amnesty for Kohlhaas, he wished to postpone the final departure of Eibenmaier until he should give a more explicit and definite order. At the same time, with an expression of restrained anger, he tossed about some letters and deeds which were lying on his desk. The Prince, after a pause during which he stared in surprise at his master, answered that he was sorry if he had failed to give him satisfaction in this matter; however, he could show the decision of the Council of State enjoining him to send off the attorney at the time mentioned. He added that in the Council of State nothing at all had been said of a consultation with Dr. Luther; that earlier in the affair, it would perhaps have been expedient to pay some regard to this reverend gentleman because of his intervention in Kohlhaas' behalf; but that this was no longer the case, now that the promised amnesty had been violated before the eyes of the world and Kohlhaas had been arrested and surrendered to the Brandenburg courts to be sentenced and executed.

The Elector replied that the error committed in dispatching Eibenmaier was, in fact, not a very serious one; he expressed a wish, however, that, for the present, the latter should not act in Vienna in his official capacity as plaintiff for Saxony, but should await further orders, and begged the Prince to send off to him immediately by a courier the instructions necessary to this end.

The Prince answered that, unfortunately, this order came just one day too late, as Eibenmaier, according to a report which had just arrived that day, had already acted in his capacity as plaintiff and had proceeded with the presentation of the complaint at the State Chancery in Vienna. In answer to the Elector's dismayed question as to how all this was possible in so short a time, he added that three weeks had passed since the departure of this man and that the instructions he had received had charged him to settle the business with all possible dispatch immediately after his arrival in Vienna. A delay, the Prince added, would have been all the more inadvisable in this case, as the Brandenburg attorney, Zaeuner, was proceeding against Squire Wenzel Tronka with the most stubborn persistence and had already petitioned the court for the provisional removal of the black horses from the hands of the knacker with a view to their future restoration to good condition, and, in spite of all the arguments of the opposite side, had carried his point.

The Elector, ringing the bell, said, "No matter; it is of no importance," and turning around again toward the Prince asked indifferently how other things were going in Dresden and what had occurred during his absence. Then, incapable of hiding his inner state of mind, he saluted him with a wave of the hand and dismissed him.

That very same day the Elector sent him a written demand for all the official documents concerning Kohlhaas, under the pretext that, on account of the political importance of the affair, he wished to go over it himself. As he could not bear to think of destroying the man from whom alone he could receive information concerning the secrets contained in the paper, he composed an autograph letter to the Emperor; in this he affectionately and urgently requested that, for weighty reasons, which possibly he would explain to him in greater detail after a little while, he be allowed to withdraw for a time, until a further decision had been reached, the complaint which Eibenmaier had entered against Kohlhaas.

The Emperor, in a note drawn up by the State Chancery, replied that the change which seemed suddenly to have taken place in the Elector's mind astonished him exceedingly; that the report which had been furnished him on the part of Saxony had made the Kohlhaas affair a matter which concerned the entire Holy Roman Empire; that, in consequence, he, the Emperor, as head of the same, had felt it his duty to appear before the house of Brandenburg in this, as plaintiff in this affair, and that, therefore; since the Emperor's counsel, Franz Mueller, had gone to Berlin in the capacity of attorney in order to call Kohlhaas to account for the violation of the public peace, the complaint could in no wise be withdrawn now and the affair must take its course in conformity with the law.

This letter completely crushed the Elector and, to his utter dismay, private communications from Berlin reached him a short time after, announcing the institution of the lawsuit before the Supreme Court at Berlin and containing the remark that Kohlhaas, in spite of all the efforts of the lawyer assigned him, would in all probability end on the scaffold. The unhappy sovereign determined, therefore, to make one more effort, and in an autograph letter begged the Elector of Brandenburg to spare Kohlhaas' life. He alleged as pretext that the amnesty solemnly promised to this man did not lawfully permit the execution of a death sentence upon him; he assured the Elector that, in spite of the apparent severity with which Kohlhaas had been treated in Saxony, it had never been his intention to allow the latter to die, and described how wretched he should be if the protection which they had pretended to be willing to afford the man from Berlin should, by an unexpected turn of affairs, prove in the end to be more detrimental to him than if he had remained in Dresden and his affair had been decided according to the laws of Saxony.

The Elector of Brandenburg, to whom much of this declaration seemed ambiguous and obscure, answered that the energy with which the attorney of his Majesty the Emperor was proceeding made it absolutely out of the question for him to conform to the wish expressed by the Elector of Saxony and depart from the strict precepts of the law. He remarked that the solicitude thus displayed really went too far, inasmuch as the complaint against Kohlhaas on account of the crimes which had been pardoned in the amnesty had, as a matter of fact, not been entered at the Supreme Court at Berlin by him, the sovereign who had granted the amnesty, but by the supreme head of the Empire who was in no wise bound thereby. At the same time he represented to him how necessary it was to make a fearful example of Kohlhaas in view of the continued outrages of Nagelschmidt, who with unheard-of boldness was already extending his depredations as far as Brandenburg, and begged him, in case he refused to be influenced by these considerations, to apply to His Majesty the Emperor himself, since, if a decree was to be issued in favor of Kohlhaas, this could only be rendered after a declaration on his Majesty's part.

The Elector fell ill again with grief and vexation over all these unsuccessful attempts, and one morning, when the Chamberlain came to pay him a visit, he showed him the letters which he had written to the courts of Vienna and Berlin in the effort to prolong Kohlhaas' life and thus at least gain time in which to get possession of the paper in the latter's hands. The Chamberlain threw himself on his knees before him and begged him by all that he held sacred and dear to tell him what this paper contained. The Elector bade him bolt the doors of the room and sit down on the bed beside him, and after he had grasped his hand and, with a sigh, pressed it to his heart, he began as follows "Your wife, as I hear, has already told you that the Elector of Brandenburg and I, on the third day of the conference that we held at Jueterbock, came upon a gipsy, and the Elector, lively as he is by nature, determined to destroy by a jest in the presence of all the people the fame of this fantastic woman, whose art had, inappropriately enough, just been the topic of conversation at dinner. He walked up to her table with his arms crossed and demanded from her a sign—one that could be put to the test that very day—to prove the truth of the fortune she was about to tell him, pretending that, even if she were the Roman Sibyl herself, he could not believe her words without it. The woman, hastily taking our measure from head to foot, said that the sign would be that, even before we should leave, the big horned roebuck which the gardener's son was raising in the park, would come to meet us in the market-place where we were standing at that moment. Now you must know that this roebuck, which was destined for the Dresden kitchen, was kept behind lock and key in an inclosure fenced in with high boards and shaded by the oak-trees of the park; and since, moreover, on account of other smaller game and birds, the park in general and also the garden leading to it, were kept carefully locked, it was absolutely impossible to understand how the animal could carry out this strange prediction and come to meet us in the square where we were standing. Nevertheless the Elector, afraid that some trick might be behind it and determined for the sake of the joke to give the lie once and for all to everything else that she might say, sent to the castle, after a short consultation with me, and ordered that the roebuck be instantly killed and prepared for the table within the next few days. Then he turned back to the woman before whom this matter had been transacted aloud, and said, 'Well, go ahead! What have you to disclose to me of the future?' The woman, looking at his hand, said, 'Hail, my Elector and Sovereign! Your Grace will reign for a long time, the house from which you spring will long endure, and your descendants will be great and glorious and will come to exceed in power all the other princes and sovereigns of the world.'

"The Elector, after a pause in which he looked thoughtfully at the woman, said in an undertone, as he took a step toward me, that he was almost sorry now that he had sent off a messenger to ruin the prophecy; and while amid loud rejoicing the money rained down in heaps into the woman's lap from the hands of the knights who followed the Elector, the latter, after feeling in his pocket and adding a gold piece on his own account, asked if the salutation which she was about to about to reveal to me also had such a silvery sound as his. The woman opened a box that stood beside her and in a leisurely, precise way arranged the money in it according to kind and quantity; then she closed it again, shaded her eyes with her hand as if the sun annoyed her, and looked at me. I repeated the question I had asked her and, while she examined my hand, I added jokingly to the Elector, 'To me, so it seems, she has nothing really agreeable to announce!' At that she seized her crutches, raised herself slowly with their aid from her stool, and, pressing close to me with her hands held before her mysteriously, she whispered audibly in my ear, 'No!' 'Is that so?' I asked confused, and drew back a step before the figure, who with a look cold and lifeless as though from eyes of marble, seated herself once more on the stool behind her; 'from what quarter does danger menace my house?' The woman, taking a piece of charcoal and a paper in her hand and crossing her knees, asked whether she should write it down for me; and as I, really embarrassed, though only because under the existing circumstances there was nothing else for me to do, answered, 'Yes, do so,' she replied, 'Very well! Three things I will write down for you—the name of the last ruler of your house, the year in which he will lose his throne, and the name of the man who through the power of arms will seize it for himself.' Having done this before the eyes of all the people she arose, sealed the paper with a wafer, which she moistened in her withered mouth, and pressed upon it a leaden seal ring which she wore on her middle finger. And as I, curious beyond all words, as you can well imagine, was about to seize the paper, she said, 'Not so, Your Highness!' and turned and raised one of her crutches; 'from that man there, the one with the plumed hat, standing on the bench at the entrance of the church behind all the people—from him you shall redeem it, if it so please you!' And with these words, before I had clearly grasped what she was saying, she left me standing in the square, speechless with astonishment, and, clapping shut the box that stood behind her and slinging it over her back, she disappeared in the crowd of people surrounding us, so that I could no longer watch what she was doing. But at this moment, to my great consolation, I must admit, there appeared the knight whom the Elector had sent to the castle, and reported, with a smile hovering on his lips, that the roebuck had been killed and dragged off to the kitchen by two hunters before his very eyes. The Elector, gaily placing his arm in mine with the intention of leading me away from the square, said, 'Well then, the prophecy was a commonplace swindle and not worth the time and money which it has cost us!' But how great was our astonishment when, even before he had finished speaking, a cry went up around the whole square, and the eyes of all turned toward a large butcher's dog trotting along from the castle yard. In the kitchen he had seized the roebuck by the neck as a fair prize, and, pursued by men-servants and maids, dropped the animal on the ground three paces in front of us. Thus indeed the woman's prophecy, which was the pledge for the truth of all that she had uttered, was fulfilled, and the roebuck, although dead to be sure, had come to the market-place to meet us. The lightning which falls from heaven on a winter's day cannot annihilate more completely than this sight did me, and my first endeavor, as soon as I had excused myself from the company which surrounded me, was to discover immediately the whereabouts of the man with the plumed hat whom the woman had pointed out to me; but none of my people, though sent out on a three days' continuous search, could give me even the remotest kind of information concerning him. And then, friend Kunz, a few weeks ago in the farm-house at Dahme, I saw the man with my own eyes!"

With these words he let go of the Chamberlain's hand and, wiping away the perspiration, sank back again on the couch. The Chamberlain, who considered it a waste of effort to attempt to contradict the Elector's opinion of the incident or to try to make him adopt his own view of the matter, begged him by all means to try to get possession of the paper and afterward to leave the fellow to his fate. But the Elector answered that he saw absolutely no way of doing so, although the thought of having to do without it or perhaps even seeing all knowledge of it perish with this man, brought him to the verge of misery and despair. When asked by his friend whether he had made any attempts to discover the person of the gipsy-woman herself, the Elector replied that the Government Office, in consequence of an order which he had issued under a false pretext, had been searching in vain for this woman throughout the Electorate; in view of these facts, for reasons, however, which he refused to explain in detail, he doubted whether she could ever be discovered in Saxony.

Now it happened that the Chamberlain wished to go to Berlin on account of several considerable pieces of property in the Neumark of Brandenburg which his wife had fallen heir to from the estate of the Arch-Chancellor, Count Kallheim, who had died shortly after being deposed. As Sir Kunz really loved the Elector, he asked, after reflecting for a short time, whether the latter would leave the matter to his discretion; and when his master, pressing his hand affectionately to his breast, answered, "Imagine that you are myself, and secure the paper for me!" the Chamberlain turned over his affairs to a subordinate, hastened his departure by several days, left his wife behind, and set out for Berlin, accompanied only by a few servants.

Kohlhaas, as we have said, had meanwhile arrived in Berlin, and by special order of the Elector of Brandenburg had been placed in a prison for nobles, where, together with his five children, he was made as comfortable as circumstances permitted. Immediately after the appearance of the Imperial attorney from Vienna the horse-dealer was called to account before the bar of the Supreme Court for the violation of the public peace proclaimed throughout the Empire, and although in his answer he objected that, by virtue of the agreement concluded with the Elector of Saxony at Luetzen, he could not be prosecuted for the armed invasion of that country and the acts of violence committed at that time, he was nevertheless told for his information that His Majesty the Emperor, whose attorney was making the complaint in this case, could not take that into account. And indeed, after the situation had been explained to him and he had been told that, to offset this, complete satisfaction would be rendered to him in Dresden in his suit against Squire Wenzel Tronka, he very soon acquiesced in the matter.

Thus it happened that, precisely on the day of the arrival of the Chamberlain, judgment was pronounced, and Kohlhaas was condemned to lose his life by the sword, which sentence, however, in the complicated state of affairs, no one believed would be carried out, in spite of its mercy. Indeed the whole city, knowing the good will which the Elector bore Kohlhaas, confidently hoped to see it commuted by an electoral decree to a mere, though possibly long and severe, term of imprisonment.

The Chamberlain, who nevertheless realized that no time was to be lost if the commission given him by his master was to be accomplished, set about his business by giving Kohlhaas an opportunity to get a good look at him, dressed as he was in his ordinary court costume, one morning when the horse-dealer was standing at the window of his prison innocently gazing at the passers-by. As he concluded from a sudden movement of his head that he had noticed him, and with great pleasure observed particularly that he put his hand involuntarily to that part of the chest where the locket was lying, he considered that what had taken place at that moment in Kohlhaas' soul was a sufficient preparation to allow him to go a step further in the attempt to gain possession of the paper. He therefore sent for an old woman who hobbled around on crutches, selling old clothes; he had noticed her in the streets of Berlin among a crowd of other rag-pickers, and in age and costume she seemed to him to correspond fairly well to the woman described to him by the Elector of Saxony. On the supposition that Kohlhaas probably had not fixed very deeply in mind the features of the old gipsy, of whom he had had but a fleeting vision as she handed him the paper, he determined to substitute the aforesaid woman for her and, if it were practicable, to have her act the part of the gipsy before Kohlhaas. In accordance with this plan and in order to fit her for the role, he informed her in detail of all that had taken place in Jueterbock between the Elector and the gipsy, and, as he did not know how far the latter had gone in her declarations to Kohlhaas, he did not forget to impress particularly upon the woman the three mysterious items contained in the paper. After he had explained to her what she must disclose in disconnected and incoherent fashion, about certain measures which had been taken to get possession, either by strategy or by force, of this paper which was of the utmost importance to the Saxon court, he charged her to demand of Kohlhaas that he should give the paper to her to keep during a few fateful days, on the pretext that it was no longer safe with him.

As was to be expected, the woman undertook the execution of this business at once on the promise of a considerable reward, a part of which the Chamberlain, at her demand, had to pay over to her in advance. As the mother of Herse, the groom who had fallen at Muehlberg, had permission from the government to visit Kohlhaas at times, and this woman had already known her for several months, she succeeded a few days later in gaining access to the horse-dealer by means of a small gratuity to the warden.

But when the woman entered his room, Kohlhaas, from a seal ring that she wore on her hand and a coral chain that hung round her neck, thought that he recognized in her the very same old gipsy-woman who had handed him the paper in Jueterbock; and since probability is not always on the side of truth, it so happened that here something had occurred which we will indeed relate, but at the same time, to those who wish to question it we must accord full liberty to do so. The Chamberlain had made the most colossal blunder, and in the aged old-clothes woman, whom he had picked up in the streets of Berlin to impersonate the gipsy, he had hit upon the very same mysterious gipsy-woman whom he wished to have impersonated. At least, while leaning on her crutches and stroking the cheeks of the children who, intimidated by her singular appearance, were pressing close to their father, the woman informed the latter that she had returned to Brandenburg from Saxony some time before, and that after an unguarded question which the Chamberlain had hazarded in the streets of Berlin about the gipsy-woman who had been in Jueterbock in the spring of the previous year, she had immediately pressed forward to him, and under a false name had offered herself for the business which he wished to see done.

The horse-dealer remarked such a strange likeness between her and his dead wife Lisbeth that he might have asked the old woman whether she were his wife's grandmother; for not only did her features and her hands—with fingers still shapely and beautiful—and especially the use she made of them when speaking, remind him vividly of Lisbeth; he even noticed on her neck a mole like one with which his wife's neck was marked. With his thoughts in a strange whirl he urged the gipsy to sit down on a chair and asked what it could possibly be that brought her to him on business for the Chamberlain.

While Kohlhaas' old dog snuffed around her knees and wagged his tail as she gently patted his head, the Woman answered that she had been commissioned by the Chamberlain to inform him what the three questions of importance for the Court of Saxony were, to which the paper contained the mysterious answer; to warn him of a messenger who was then in Berlin for the purpose of gaining possession of it; and to demand the paper from him on the pretext that it was no longer safe next his heart where he was carrying it. She said that the real purpose for which she had come, however, was to tell him that the threat to get the paper away from him by strategy or by force was an absurd and empty fraud; that under the protection of the Elector of Brandenburg, in whose custody he was, he need not have the least fear for its safety; that the paper was indeed much safer with him than with her, and that he should take good care not to lose possession of it by giving it up to any one, no matter on what pretext. Nevertheless, she concluded, she considered it would be wise to use the paper for the purpose for which she had given it to him at the fair in Jueterbock, to lend a favorable ear to the offer which had been made to him on the frontier through Squire Stein, and in return for life and liberty to surrender the paper, which could be of no further use to him, to the Elector of Saxony.

Kohlhaas, who was exulting over the power which was thus afforded him to wound the heel of his enemy mortally at the very moment when it was treading him in the dust, made answer, "Not for the world, grandam, not for the world!" He pressed the old woman's hand warmly and only asked to know what sort of answers to the tremendous questions were contained in the paper. Taking on her lap the youngest child, who had crouched at her feet, the woman said, "Not for the world, Kohlhaas the horse-dealer, but for this pretty, fair-haired little lad!" and with that she laughed softly at the child, petted and kissed him while he stared at her in wide-eyed surprise, and with her withered hands gave him an apple which she had in her pocket. Kohlhaas answered, in some confusion, that the children themselves, when they were grown, would approve his conduct, and that he could do nothing of greater benefit to them and their grandchildren than to keep the paper. He asked, furthermore, who would insure him against a new deception after the experience he had been through, and whether, in the end, he would not be making a vain sacrifice of the paper to the Elector, as had lately happened in the case of the band of troops which he had collected in Luetzen. "If I've once caught a man breaking his word," said he, "I never exchange another with him; and nothing but your command, positive and unequivocal, shall separate me, good grandam, from this paper through which I have been granted satisfaction in such a wonderful fashion for all I have suffered."

The woman set the child down on the floor again and said that in many respects he was right, and that he could do or leave undone what he wished; and with that she took up her crutches again and started to go. Kohlhaas repeated his question regarding the contents of the wonderful paper; she answered hastily that, of course, he could open it, although it would be pure curiosity on his part. He wished to find out about a thousand other things yet, before she left him—who she really was, how she came by the knowledge resident within her, why she had refused to give the magic paper to the Elector for whom it had been written after all, and among so many thousand people had handed it precisely to him, Kohlhaas, who had never consulted her art.

Now it happened that, just at that moment, a noise was heard, caused by several police officials who were mounting the stairway, so that the woman, seized with sudden apprehension at being found by them in these quarters, exclaimed, "Good-by for the present, Kohlhaas, good-by for the present. When we meet again you shall not lack information concerning all these things." With that she turned toward the door, crying, "Farewell, children, farewell!" Then she kissed the little folks one after the other, and went off.

In the mean time the Elector of Saxony, abandoned to his wretched thoughts, had called in two astrologers, Oldenholm and Olearius by name, who at that time enjoyed a great reputation in Saxony, and had asked their advice concerning the mysterious paper which was of such importance to him and all his descendants. After making a profound investigation of several days' duration in the tower of the Dresden palace, the men could not agree as to whether the prophecy referred to remote centuries or, perhaps, to the present time, with a possible reference to the King of Poland, with whom the relations were still of a very warlike nature. The disquietude, not to say the despair, in which the unhappy sovereign was plunged, was only increased by such learned disputes, and finally was so intensified as to seem to his soul wholly intolerable. In addition, just at this time the Chamberlain charged his wife that before she left for Berlin, whither she was about to follow him, she should adroitly inform the Elector, that, after the failure of an attempt, which he had made with the help of an old woman who had kept out of sight ever since, there was but slight hope of securing the paper in Kohlhaas' possession, inasmuch as the death sentence pronounced against the horse-dealer had now at last been signed by the Elector of Brandenburg after a minute examination of all the legal documents, and the day of execution already set for the Monday after Palm Sunday. At this news the Elector, his heart torn by grief and remorse, shut himself up in his room like a man in utter despair and, tired of life, refused for two days to take food; on the third day he suddenly disappeared from Dresden after sending a short communication to the Government Office with word that he was going to the Prince of Dessau's to hunt. Where he actually did go and whether he did wend his way toward Dessau, we shall not undertake to say, as the chronicles—which we have diligently compared before reporting events—at this point contradict and offset one another in a very peculiar manner. So much is certain: the Prince of Dessau was incapable of hunting, as he was at this time lying ill in Brunswick at the residence of his uncle, Duke Henry, and it is also certain that Lady Heloise on the evening of the following day arrived in Berlin at the house of her husband, Sir Kunz, the Chamberlain, in the company of a certain Count von Koenigstein whom she gave out to be her cousin.

In the mean time, on the order of the Elector of Brandenburg, the death sentence was read to Kohlhaas, his chains were removed, and the papers concerning his property, to which papers his right had been denied in Dresden, were returned to him. When the councilors whom the court had dispatched to him asked what disposition he wished to have made of his property after his death, with the help of a notary he made out a will in favor of his children and appointed his honest friend, the bailiff at Kohlhaasenbrueck, to be their guardian. After that, nothing could match the peace and contentment of his last days. For in consequence of a singular decree extraordinary issued by the Elector, the prison in which he was kept was soon after thrown open and free entrance was allowed day and night to all his friends, of whom he possessed a great many in the city. He even had the further satisfaction of seeing the theologian, Jacob Freising, enter his prison as a messenger from Dr. Luther, with a letter from the latter's own hand—without doubt a very remarkable document which, however, has since been lost—and of receiving the blessed Holy Communion at the hands of this reverend gentleman in the presence of two deans of Brandenburg, who assisted him in administering it.

Amid general commotion in the city, which could not even yet be weaned from the hope of seeing him saved by an electoral rescript, there now dawned the fateful Monday after Palm Sunday, on which Kohlhaas was to make atonement to the world for the all-too-rash attempt to procure justice for himself within it. Accompanied by a strong guard and conducted by the theologian, Jacob Freising, he was just leaving the gate of his prison with his two lads in his arms—for this favor he had expressly requested at the bar of the court—when among a sorrowful throng of acquaintances, who were pressing his hands in farewell, there stepped up to him, with haggard face, the castellan of the Elector's palace, and gave him a paper which he said an old woman had put in his hands for him. The latter, looking in surprise at the man, whom he scarcely knew, opened the paper. The seal pressed upon the wafer had reminded him at once of the frequently mentioned gipsy-woman, but who can describe the astonishment which filled him when he found the following information contained in it: "Kohlhaas, the Elector of Saxony is in Berlin; he has already preceded you to the place of execution, and, if you care to know, can be recognized by a hat with blue and white plumes. The purpose for which he comes I do not need to tell you. He intends, as soon as you are buried, to have the locket dug up and the paper in it opened and read. Your Lisbeth."

Kohlhaas turned to the castellan in the utmost astonishment and asked him if he knew the marvelous woman who had given him the note. But just as the castellan started to answer "Kohlhaas, the woman—" and then hesitated strangely in the middle of his sentence, the horse-dealer was borne away by the procession which moved on again at that moment, and could not make out what the man, who seemed to be trembling in every limb, finally uttered.

When Kohlhaas arrived at the place of execution he found there the Elector of Brandenburg and his suite, among whom was the Arch-Chancellor, Sir Heinrich von Geusau, halting on horseback, in the midst of an innumerable crowd of people. On the sovereign's right was the Imperial attorney, Franz Mueller, with a copy of the death sentence in his hand; on his left was his own attorney, the jurist Anton Zaeuner, with the decree of the Court Tribunal at Dresden. In the middle of the half circle formed by the people stood a herald with a bundle of articles, and the two black horses, fat and glossy, pawing the ground impatiently. For the Arch-Chancellor, Sir Heinrich, had won the suit instituted at Dresden in the name of his master without yielding a single point to Squire Wenzel Tronka. After the horses had been made honorable once more by having a banner waved over their heads, and taken from the knacker, who was feeding them, they had been fattened by the Squire's servants and then, in the market-place in Dresden, had been turned over to the attorney in the presence of a specially appointed commission. Accordingly when Kohlhaas, accompanied by his guard, advanced to the mound where the Elector was awaiting him, the latter said, "Well, Kohlhaas, this is the day on which you receive justice that is your due. Look, I here deliver to you all that was taken from you by force at the Tronka Castle which I, as your sovereign, was bound to procure for you again; here are the black horses, the neck-cloth, the gold gulden, the linen—everything down to the very amount of the bill for medical attention furnished your groom, Herse, who fell at Muehlberg. Are you satisfied with me?"

Kohlhaas set the two children whom he was carrying in his arms down on the ground beside him, and with eyes sparkling with astonished pleasure read the decree which was handed to him at a sign from the Arch-Chancellor. When he also found in it a clause condemning Squire Wenzel Tronka to a punishment of two years' imprisonment, his feelings completely overcame him and he sank down on his knees at some distance from the Elector, with his hands folded across his breast. Rising and laying his hand on the knee of the Arch-Chancellor, he joyfully assured him that his dearest wish on earth had been fulfilled; then he walked over to the horses, examined them and patted their plump necks, and, coming back to the Chancellor, declared with a smile that he was going to present them to his two sons, Henry and Leopold!

The Chancellor, Sir Heinrich von Geusau, looking graciously down upon him from his horse, promised him in the name of the Elector that his last wish should be held sacred and asked him also to dispose of the other articles contained in the bundle, as seemed good to him. Whereupon Kohlhaas called out from the crowd Herse's old mother, whom he had caught sight of in the square, and, giving her the things, said, "Here, grandmother, these belong to you!" The indemnity for the loss of Herse was with the money in the bundle, and this he presented to her also, as a gift to provide care and comfort for her old age. The Elector cried, "Well, Kohlhaas the horse-dealer, now that satisfaction has been rendered you in such fashion, do you, for your part, prepare to give satisfaction to His Majesty the Emperor, whose attorney is standing here, for the violation of the peace he had proclaimed!" Taking off his hat and throwing it on the ground Kohlhaas said that he was ready to do so. He lifted the children once more from the ground and pressed them to his breast; then he gave them over to the bailiff of Kohlhaasenbrueck, and while the latter, weeping quietly, led them away from the square, Kohlhaas advanced to the block.

He was just removing his neck-cloth and baring his chest when, throwing a hasty glance around the circle formed by the crowd, he caught sight of the familiar face of the man with blue and white plumes, who was standing quite near him between two knights whose bodies half hid him from view. With a sudden stride which surprised the guard surrounding him, Kohlhaas walked close up to the man, untying the locket from around his neck as he did so. He took out the paper, unsealed it, and read it through; then, without moving his eyes from the man with blue and white plumes, who was already beginning to indulge in sweet hopes, he stuck the paper in his mouth and swallowed it. At this sight the man with blue and white plumes was seized with convulsions and sank down unconscious. While his companions bent over him in consternation and raised him from the ground, Kohlhaas turned toward the scaffold, where his head fell under the axe of the executioner.

Here ends the story of Kohlhaas. Amid the general lamentations of the people his body was placed in a coffin, and while the bearers raised it from the ground and bore it away to the graveyard in the suburbs for decent burial, the Elector of Brandenburg called to him the sons of the dead man and dubbed them knights, telling the Arch-Chancellor that he wished them to be educated in his school for pages.

The Elector of Saxony, shattered in body and mind, returned shortly afterward to Dresden; details of his subsequent career there must be sought in history.

Some hale and happy descendants of Kohlhaas, however, were still living in Mecklenburg in the last century.



THE PRINCE OF HOMBURG

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

FREDERICK WILLIAM, Elector of Brandenburg.

THE ELECTRESS.

PRINCESS NATALIE OF ORANGE, his niece, Honorary Colonel of a regiment of Dragoons.

FIELD-MARSHAL DOeRFLING.

PRINCE FREDERICK ARTHUR OF HOMBURG, General of cavalry.

COLONEL KOTTWITZ, of the regiment of the Princess of Orange.

HENNINGS COUNT TRUCHSZ Infantry Colonels.

COUNT HOHENZOLLERN, of the Elector's suite.

VON DER GOLZ } COUNT GEORGE VON SPARREN STRANZ } SIEGFRIED VON MOeRNER } Captains of Cavalry COUNT REUSS } A SERGEANT }

Officers. Corporals and troopers. Ladies- and Gentlemen-in-waiting. Pages. Lackeys. Servants. People of both sexes, young and old.

Time: 1675.



THE PRINCE OF HOMBURG (1810)

By HEINRICH VON KLEIST

TRANSLATED BY HERMANN HAGEDORN, A.B.

Author of A Troop of the Guard and Other Poems

ACT I

Scene: Fehrbellin. A garden laid out in the old French style. In the background, a palace with a terrace from which a broad stair descends. It is night.

SCENE I

The PRINCE OF HOMBURG sits with head bare and shirt unbuttoned, half-sleeping, half waking, under an oak, binding a wreath. The ELECTOR, ELECTRESS, PRINCESS NATALIE, COUNT HOHENZOLLERN, CAPTAIN GOLZ and others come stealthily out of the palace and look down upon him from the balustrade of the terrace. Pages with torches.

HOHENZOLLERN. The Prince of Homburg, our most valiant cousin, Who these three days has pressed the flying Swedes Exultant at the cavalry's forefront, And scant of breath only today returned To camp at Fehrbellin—your order said That he should tarry here provisioning Three hours at most, and move once more apace Clear to the Hackel Hills to cope with Wrangel, Seeking to build redoubts beside the Rhyn?

ELECTOR. 'Tis so.

HOHENZOLLERN. Now having charged the commandants Of all his squadrons to depart the town Obedient to the plan, sharp ten at night, He flings himself exhausted on the straw Like a hound panting, his exhausted limbs To rest a little while against the fight Which waits us at the glimmering of dawn.

ELECTOR. I heard so! Well?

HOHENZOLLERN. Now when the hour strikes And in the stirrup now the cavalry Expectant paws the ground before the gates— Who still absents himself The Prince of Homburg, Their chief. With lights they seek the valiant man, With torches, lanterns, and they find him—where?

[He takes a torch from the hand of a page.]

As a somnambulist, look, on that bench, Whither in sleep, as you would ne'er believe, The moonshine lured him, vaguely occupied Imagining himself posterity And weaving for his brow the crown of fame.

ELECTOR. What!

HOHENZOLL. Oh, indeed! Look down here: there he sits!

[From the terrace he throws the light on the PRINCE.]

ELECTOR. In slumber sunk? Impossible!

HOHENZOLLERN. In slumber Sunk as he is, speak but his name—he drops.

[Pause.]

ELECTRESS. Sure as I live, the youth is taken ill.

NATALIE. He needs a doctor's care—

ELECTRESS. We should give help, Not waste time, gentlemen, meseems, in scorn.

HOHENZOLLERN (handing back the torch). He's sound, you tender-hearted women folk, By Jove, as sound as I! He'll make the Swede Aware of that upon tomorrow's field. It's nothing more, and take my word for it, Than a perverse and silly trick of the mind.

ELECTOR. By faith, I thought it was a fairy-tale! Follow me, friends, we'll take a closer look.

[They descend from the terrace.]

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING (to the pages). Back with the torches!



HOHENZOLLERN. Leave them, leave them, friends! These precincts might roar up to heaven in fire And his soul be no more aware of it Than the bright stone he wears upon his hand.

[They surround him, the pages illuminating the scene.]

ELECTOR (bending over the PRINCE). What leaf is it he binds? Leaf of the willow?

HOHENZOLL. What! Willow-leaf, my lord? It is the bay, Such as his eyes have noted on the portraits Of heroes hung in Berlin's armor-hall.

ELECTOR. Where hath he found that in my sandy soil?

HOHENZOLL. The equitable gods may guess at that!

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. It may be in the garden, where the gardener Has nurtured other strange, outlandish plants.

ELECTOR. Most curious, by heaven! But what's the odds? I know what stirs the heart of this young fool.

HOHENZOLL. Indeed! Tomorrow's clash of arms, my liege! Astrologers, I'll wager, in his mind Are weaving stars into a triumph wreath.

[The PRINCE regards the wreath.]

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. Now it is done!

HOHENZOLLERN. A shame, a mortal shame, That there's no mirror in the neighborhood! He would draw close to it, vain as any girl, And try his wreath on, thus, and then again This other way—as if it were a bonnet!

ELECTOR. By faith! But I must see how far he'll go!

[The ELECTOR takes the wreath from the PRINCE'S hand while the latter regards him, flushing. The ELECTOR thereupon twines his neck-chain about the wreath and gives it to the PRINCESS. The PRINCE rises in excitement, but the ELECTOR draws back with the PRINCESS, still holding the wreath aloft. The PRINCE follows her with outstretched arms.]

THE PRINCE (whispering). Natalie! Oh, my girl! Oh, my beloved!

ELECTOR. Make haste! Away!

HOHENZOLLERN. What did the fool say?

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. What?

[They all ascend the stair to the terrace.]

THE PRINCE. Frederick, my prince! my father!

HOHENZOLLERN. Hell and devils!

ELECTOR (backing away from him). Open the gate for me!

THE PRINCE. Oh, mother mine!

HOHENZOLL. The raving idiot!

ELECTRESS. Whom did he call thus?

THE PRINCE (clutching at the wreath). Beloved, why do you recoil? My Natalie!

[He snatches a glove from the PRINCESS' hand.]

HOHENZOLL. Heaven and earth! What laid he hands on there?

COURTIER. The wreath?

NATALIE. No, no!

HOHENZOLLERN (opening the door). Hither! This way, my liege! So the whole scene may vanish from his eye!

ELECTOR. Back to oblivion, with you, oblivion, Sir Prince of Homburg! On the battle-field, If you be so disposed, we meet again! Such matters men attain not in a dream!

[They all go out; the door crashes shut in the PRINCE'S face. Pause.]



SCENE II

The PRINCE OF HOMBURG remains standing before the door a moment in perplexity; then dreamily descends from the terrace, the hand holding the glove pressed against his forehead. At the foot of the stair he turns again, gazing up at the door.



SCENE III

Enter COUNT HOHENZOLLERN by the wicket below. A page follows him. The PRINCE OF HOMBURG.

PAGE (Softly). Count! Listen, do! Most worshipful Sir Count!

HOHENZOLLERN (vexed). Grasshopper! Well? What's wanted?

PAGE. I am sent—

HOHENZOLL. Speak softly now, don't wake him with your chirping! Come now! What's up?

PAGE. The Elector sent me hither. He charges you that, when the Prince awakes, You breathe no word to him about the jest It was his pleasure to allow himself.

HOHENZOLLERN (softly). You skip off to the wheatfield for some sleep. I knew that, hours ago. So run along.



SCENE IV

COUNT HOHENZOLLERN and the PRINCE of HOMBURG.

HOHENZOLLERN (taking a position some distance behind the PRINCE who is still gazing fixedly up toward the terrace). Arthur!

[The PRINCE drops to the ground.]

And there he lies! You could not do it better with a bullet.

[He approaches him.]

Now I am eager for the fairy-tale He'll fabricate to show the reason why Of all the world he chose this place to sleep in.

[He bends over him.]

Arthur! Hi! Devil's own! What are you up to? What are you doing here at dead of night?

THE PRINCE. Ah, dear, old fellow!

HOHENZOLLERN. Well, I'm hanged! See here! The cavalry's a full hour down the road And you, their colonel, you lie here and sleep.

THE PRINCE. What cavalry?

HOHENZOLLERN. The Mamelukes, of course! Sure as I live and breathe, the man's forgot That he commands the riders of the Mark!

THE PRINCE (rising). My helmet, quick then! My cuirass!

HOHENZOLLERN. Where are they?

THE PRINCE. Off to the right there, Harry.—On the stool.

HOHENZOLL. Where? On the stool?

THE PRINCE. I laid them there, I thought—

HOHENZOLLERN (regarding him). Then go and get them from the stool yourself.

THE PRINCE. What's this glove doing here

[He stares at the glove in his hand.]

HOHENZOLLERN. How should I know? [Aside.] Curses! He must have torn that unobserved from the lady niece's arm. [Abruptly.] Quick now, be off! What are you waiting for?

THE PRINCE (casting the glove away again). I'm coming, coming. Hi, Frank! The knave I told to wake me must have—

HOHENZOLLERN (regarding him). It's raving mad he is!

THE PRINCE. Upon my oath, Harry, my dear, I don't know where I am.

HOHENZOLL. In Fehrbellin, you muddle-headed dreamer— You're in a by-path of the Castle gardens.

THE PRINCE (to himself). Engulf me, Night! Unwittingly once more In slumber through the moonshine have I strayed! [He pulls himself together.] Forgive me! Now I know! Last night, recall, The heat was such one scarce could lie in bed. I crept exhausted hither to this garden, And because Night with so sweet tenderness Encompassed me, fair-haired and odorous Night— Even as the Persian bride wraps close her lover, Lo, here I laid my head upon her lap. What is the clock now?

HOHENZOLLERN. Half an hour of midnight.

THE PRINCE. And you aver the troops are on the march?

HOHENZOLL. Upon my word, sharp, stroke of ten, as planned. The Princess Orange regiment in van, By this undoubtedly has reached the heights Of Hackelwitz, there in the face of Wrangel To cloak the army's hid approach at dawn.

THE PRINCE. Well, no harm's done. Old Kottwitz captains her And he knows every purpose of this march. I should have been compelled, at all events By two, to come back hither for the council: Those were the orders. So it's just as well I stayed in the beginning. Let's be off. The Elector has no inkling?

HOHENZOLLERN. Bah! How should he? He's tight abed and snoozing long ago.

[They are about to depart when the PRINCE starts, turns, and picks up the glove.]

THE PRINCE. I dreamed such an extraordinary dream! It seemed as though the palace of a king, Radiant with gold and silver, suddenly Oped wide its doors, and from its terrace high The galaxy of those my heart loves best Came down to me: The Elector and his Lady and the—third— What is her name?

HOHENZOLLERN. Whose?

THE PRINCE (searching his memory). Why, the one I mean! A mute must find his tongue to speak her name.

HOHENZOLL. The Platen girl?

THE PRINCE. Come, come, now!

HOHENZOLLERN. The Ramin

THE PRINCE. No, no, old fellow!

HOHENZOLLERN. Bork? Or Winterfeld?

THE PRINCE. No, no! My word! You fail to see the pearl For the bright circlet that but sets it off!

HOHENZOLL. Damn it, then, tell me! I can't guess the face! What lady do you mean?

THE PRINCE. Well, never mind. The name has slipped from me since I awoke, And goes for little in the story.

HOHENZOLLERN. Well, Let's have it then!

THE PRINCE. But now, don't interrupt me!— And the Elector of the Jovelike brow, Holding a wreath of laurel in his hand, Stands close beside me, and the soul of me To ravish quite, twines round the jeweled band That hangs about his neck, and unto one Gives it to press upon my locks—Oh, friend!

HOHENZOLL. To whom?

THE PRINCE. Oh, friend!

HOHENZOLLERN. To whom then? Come, speak up!

THE PRINCE. I think it must have been the Platen girl.

HOHENZOLL. Platen? Oh, bosh! Not she who's off in Prussia?

THE PRINCE. Really, the Platen girl. Or the Ramin?

HOHENZOLL. Lord, the Ramin! She of the brick-red hair? The Platen girl with those coy, violet eyes— They say you fancy her.

THE PRINCE. I fancy her—

HOHENZOLL. So, and you say she handed you the wreath?

THE PRINCE. Oh, like some deity of fame she lifts High up the circlet with its dangling chain As if to crown a hero. I stretch forth, Oh, in delight unspeakable, my hands I stretch to seize it, yearning with my soul To sink before her feet. But as the odor That floats above green valleys, by the wind's Cool breathing is dispelled, the group recedes Up the high terrace from me; lo, the terrace Beneath my tread immeasurably distends To heaven's very gate. I clutch at air Vainly to right, to left I clutch at air, Of those I loved hungering to capture one. In vain! The palace portal opes amain. A flash of lightning from within engulfs them; Rattling, the door flies to. Only a glove I ravish from the sweet dream-creature's arm In passionate pursuing; and a glove, By all the gods, awaking, here I hold!

HOHENZOLL. Upon my word—and, you assume, the glove Must be her glove?

THE PRINCE. Whose?

HOHENZOLLERN. Well, the Platen girl's.

THE PRINCE. Platen! Of course. Or could it be Ramin's

HOHENZOLLERN (with a laugh). Rogue that you are with your mad fantasies! Who knows from what exploit delectable Here in a waking hour with flesh and blood The glove sticks to your hand, now?

THE PRINCE. Eh? What? I? With all my love—

HOHENZOLLERN. Oh, well then, what's the odds? Call it the Platen lady, or Ramin. There is a Prussian post on Sunday next, So you can find out by the shortest way Whether your lady fair has lost a glove. Off! Twelve o'clock! And we stand here and jaw!

THE PRINCE (dreamily into space). Yes, you are right. Come, let us go to bed. But as I had it on my mind to say— Is the Electress who arrived in camp Not long since with her niece, the exquisite Princess of Orange, is she still about?

HOHENZOLL. Why?—I declare the idiot thinks—

THE PRINCE. Why? I've orders to have thirty mounted men Escort them safely from the battle-lines. Ramin has been detailed to lead them.

HOHENZOLLERN. Bosh! They're gone long since, or just about to go. The whole night long, Ramin, all rigged for flight, Has hugged the door. But come. It's stroke o' twelve. And I, for one, before the fight begins, I want to get some sleep.



SCENE V

The same. Hall in the palace. In the distance, the sound of cannon. The ELECTRESS and PRINCESS NATALIE, dressed for travel, enter, escorted by a gentleman-in-waiting, and sit down at the side. Ladies-in-waiting. A little later the ELECTOR enters with FIELD-MARSHAL. DOeRFLING, the PRINCE OF HOMBURG with the glove in his collar, COUNT HOHENZOLLERN, COUNT TRUCHSZ, COLONEL HENNINGS, TROOP-CAPTAIN VON DER GOLZ and several other generals, colonels and minor officers.

ELECTOR. What is that cannonading?—Is it Goetz?

DOeRFLING. It's Colonel Goetz, my liege, who yesterday Pushed forward with the van. An officer Has come from him already to allay Your apprehensions ere they come to birth. A Swedish outpost of a thousand men Has pressed ahead into the Hackel Hills, But for those hills Goetz stands security And sends me word that you should lay your plans As though his van already held them safe.

ELECTOR (to the officers). The Marshal knows the plan. Now, gentlemen, I beg you take your pens and write it down.

[The officers assemble on the other side about the FIELD-MARSHAL, and take out their tablets. The ELECTOR turns to a gentleman-in-waiting.]

Ramin is waiting with the coach outside?

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. At once, my sovereign. They are hitching now.

ELECTOR (seating himself on a chair behind the ELECTRESS and the PRINCESS). Ramin shall escort my beloved wife, Convoyed by thirty sturdy cavalrymen. To Kalkhuhn's, to the chancellor's manor-house. At Havelberg beyond the Havel, go. There's not a Swede dare show his face there now.

ELECTRESS. The ferry is restored?

ELECTOR. At Havelberg? I have arranged for it. The day will break In all events before you come to it.

[Pause.]

You are so quiet, Natalie, my girl? What ails the child?

NATALIE. Uncle, I am afraid.

ELECTOR. And yet my little girl was not more safe In her own mother's lap than she is now.

[Pause.]

ELECTRESS. When do you think that we shall meet again?

ELECTOR. If God grants me the victory, as I Doubt not He will, in a few days, perhaps.

[Pages enter and serve the ladies refreshments. FIELD-MARSHAL DOeRFLING dictates. The PRINCE OF HOMBURG, pen and tablet in hand, stares at the ladies.]

MARSHAL. The battle-plan his Highness has devised Intends, my lords, in order that the Swedes' Fugitive host be utterly dispersed, The severing of their army from the bridges That guard their rear along the river Rhyn. Thus Colonel Hennings—

HENNINGS. Here!

[He writes.]

MARSHAL. Who by the will Of his liege lord commands the army's right, Shall seek by stealthy passage through the bush To circumscribe the enemy's left wing, Fearlessly hurl his force between the foe And the three bridges; then, joined with Count Truchsz— Count Truchsz!

TRUCHSZ (writing). Here!

MARSHAL. Thereupon, joined with Count Truchsz—

[He pauses.]

Who, meanwhile, facing Wrangel on the heights Has gained firm footing with his cannonry—

TRUCHSZ (writing). Firm footing with his cannonry—

MARSHAL. You hear it?—

[Proceeding.]

Attempt to drive the Swedes into the swamp Which lies behind their right.

[A lackey enters.]

LACKEY. Madam, the coach is at the door.

[The ladies rise.]

MARSHAL. The Prince of Homburg—

ELECTOR (also rising). Is Ramin at hand?

LACKEY. He's in the saddle, waiting at the gates.

[The royalties take leave of one another.]

TRUCHSZ (writing). Which lies behind their right.

MARSHAL. The Prince of Homburg— Where is the Prince of Homburg?

HOHENZOLLERN (in a whisper). Arthur!

THE PRINCE (with a start). Here!

HOHENZOLL. Have you gone mad?

THE PRINCE. My Marshal, to command!

[He flushes, and, taking out pen and parchment, writes.]

MARSHAL. To whom His Highness, trusting that he lead His force to glory as at Rathenow, Confides the mounted squadrons of the Mark

[He hesitates.]

Though in no way disprizing Colonel Kottwitz Who shall be aid in counsel and right hand—

[To CAPTAIN GOLZ in a low voice.]

Is Kottwitz here?

GOLZ. No, General. He has, You note, dispatched me hither in his place To take the battle order from your lips.

[The PRINCE gazes over toward the ladies again.]

MARSHAL (continuing). Takes station in the plain near Hackelwitz Facing the right wing of the enemy Well out of range of the artillery fire.

GOLZ (writing). Well out of range of the artillery fire.

[The ELECTRESS ties a scarf about the PRINCESS' throat. The PRINCESS, about to draw on a glove, looks around as if she were in search of something.]

ELECTOR (approaches her). Dear little girl of mine, what have you lost?

ELECTRESS. What are you searching for?

NATALIE. Why, Auntie dear, My glove! I can't imagine—

[They all look about.]

ELECTOR (to the ladies-in-waiting). Would you mind?—

ELECTRESS (to the PRINCESS). It's in your hand.

NATALIE. The right glove; but the left?

ELECTOR. You may have left it in your bedroom.

NATALIE. Oh, Bork, if you will?

ELECTOR (to the lady-in-waiting). Quick, quick!

NATALIE. Look on the mantel.

[_The lady-in-waiting goes out.-]

THE PRINCE (aside). Lord of my life? Could I have heard aright?

[He draws the glove from his collar.]

MARSHAL (looking down at the paper which he holds in his hand). Well out of range of the artillery fire.

[Continuing.]

The Prince's Highness—

THE PRINCE (regarding now the glove, now the PRINCESS). It's this glove she's seeking—

MARSHAL. At our lord sovereign's express command—

GOLZ (writing). At our lord sovereign's express command—

MARSHAL. Whichever way the tide of battle turn Shall budge not from his designated place.

THE PRINCE. Quick! Now I'll know in truth if it be hers.

[He lets the glove fall, together with his handkerchief; then recovers the handkerchief but leaves the glove lying where everybody can see it.]

MARSHAL (piqued). What is His Highness up to?

HOHENZOLLERN (aside). Arthur!

THE PRINCE. Here!

HOHENZOLL. Faith, you're possessed!

THE PRINCE. My Marshal, to command!

[He takes up pen and tablet once more. The MARSHAL regards him an instant, questioningly. Pause.]

GOLZ (reading, after he has finished writing). Shall budge not from his designated place.

MARSHAL (continues). Until, hard pressed by Hennings and by Truchsz—

THE PRINCE (looking over GOLZ's shoulder). Who, my dear Golz? What? I?

GOLZ. Why, yes. Who else

THE PRINCE. I shall not budge—

GOLZ. That's it.

MARSHAL. Well, have you got it

THE PRINCE (aloud). Shall budge not from my designated place.

[He writes.]

MARSHAL. Until, hard pressed by Hennings and by Truchsz— [He pauses.] The left wing of the enemy, dissolved, Plunges upon its right, and wavering The massed battalions crowd into the plain, Where, in the marsh, criss-crossed by ditch on ditch, The plan intends that they be wholly crushed.

ELECTOR. Lights, pages! Come, my dear, your arm, and yours.

[He starts to go out with the ELECTRESS and the PRINCESS.]

MARSHAL. Then he shall let the trumpets sound the charge.

ELECTRESS (as several officers, bowing and scraping, bid her farewell). Pray, let me not disturb you, gentlemen.— Until we meet again!

[The MARSHAL also bids her good-by.]

ELECTOR (suddenly standing still). Why, here we are! The lady's glove. Come, quick now! There it is.

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. Where?

ELECTOR. At our cousin's, at Prince Homburg's feet.

THE PRINCE. What! At my feet! The glove? It is your own?

[He picks it up and brings it to the PRINCESS.]

NATALIE. I thank you, noble Prince.

THE PRINCE (confused). Then it is yours?

NATALIE. Yes, it is mine; it is the one I lost.

[She takes it and draws it on.]

ELECTRESS (turning to the PRINCESS, she goes out). Farewell! Farewell! Good luck! God keep you safe! See that erelong we joyously may meet!

[The ELECTOR goes out with the ladies. Attendants, courtiers and pages follow.]

THE PRINCE (stands an instant as though struck by a bolt from heaven; then with triumphant step he returns to the group of officers). Then he shall let the trumpets sound the charge!

[He, pretends to write.]

MARSHAL (looking down at his paper). Then he shall let the trumpets sound the charge.— However, the Elector's Highness, lest Through some mistake the blow should fall too soon—

[He pauses.]

GOLZ (writes). Through some mistake the blow should fall too soon—

THE PRINCE (aside to COUNT HOHENZOLLERN in great perturbation). Oh, Harry!

HOHENZOLLERN (impatiently). What's up now? What's in your head?

THE PRINCE. Did you not see?

HOHENZOLLERN. In Satan's name, shut up!

MARSHAL (continuing). Shall send an officer of his staff to him; Who, mark this well, shall finally transmit The order for the charge against the foe. Ere this the trumpets shall not sound the charge.

[The PRINCE gazes dreamily into space.]

Well, have you got it?

GOLZ (writes). Ere this the trumpets shall not sound the charge.

MARSHAL (in raised tone). Your Highness has it down?

THE PRINCE. Marshal?

MARSHAL. I asked If you had writ it down?

THE PRINCE. About the trumpets?

HOHENZOLLERN (aside, with emphatic indignation). Trumpets be damned! Not till the order—

GOLZ (in the same tone). Not Till he himself—

THE PRINCE (interrupting). Naturally not, before— But then he'll let the trumpets sound the charge.

[He writes. Pause.]

MARSHAL. And I desire—pray note it, Baron Golz— Before the action opens, to confer With Colonel Kottwitz, if it can be done.

GOLZ (significantly). He shall receive your message. Rest assured.

[Pause.]

ELECTOR (returning). What now, my colonels and my generals! The morning breaks. Have you the orders down?

MARSHAL. The thing is done, my liege. Your battle-plan Is in all points made clear to your commanders.

ELECTOR (picking up his hat and gloves). And you, I charge, Prince Homburg, learn control! Recall, you forfeited two victories Of late, upon the Rhine, so keep your head! Make me not do without the third today. My land and throne depend on it, no less.

[To the officers.] Come!—Frank!

A GROOM (entering). Here!

ELECTOR. Quick there! Saddle me my gray! I will be on the field before the sun!

[He goes out, followed by generals, colonels and minor officers.]



SCENE VI

THE PRINCE (coming forward). Now, on thine orb, phantasmic creature, Fortune, Whose veil a faint wind's breathing even now Lifts as a sail, roll hither! Thou hast touched My hair in passing; as thou hovered'st near Already from thy horn of plenty thou Benignantly hast cast me down a pledge. Child of the gods, today, O fugitive one, I will pursue thee on the field of battle, Seize thee, tear low thy horn of plenty, pour Wholly thy radiant blessings round my feet, Though sevenfold chains of iron bind thee fast To the triumphant chariot of the Swede!

[Exit.]



ACT II

Scene: Battlefield of Fehrbellin.

SCENE I

COLONEL KOTTWITZ, COUNT HOHENZOLLERN, CAPTAIN VON DER GOLZ and other officers enter at the head of the cavalry.

KOTTWITZ (outside). Halt! Squadron, halt! Dismount!

HOHENZOLLERN AND GOLZ (entering). Halt, halt!

KOTTWITZ. Hey, friends, who'll help me off my horse?

HOHENZOLLERN AND GOLZ. Here—here!

[They step outside again.]

KOTTWITZ (still outside). Thanks to you-ouch! Plague take me! May a son Be giv'n you for your pains, a noble son Who'll do the same for you when you grow sear.

[He enters, followed by_ HOHENZOLLERN, GOLZ _and others._]

Oh, in the saddle I am full of youth! When I dismount, though, there's a battle on As though the spirit and the flesh were parting, In wrath. [Looking about.] Where is our chief, the Prince's Highness?

HOHENZOLL. The Prince will momentarily return.

KOTTWITZ. Where has he gone? HOHENZOLLERN. He rode down to a hamlet, In foliage hidden, so you passed it by. He will return erelong.

OFFICER. Last night, they say, His horse gave him a tumble.

HOHENZOLLERN. So they say.

KOTTWITZ. He fell?

HOHENZOLLERN (turning). A matter of no consequence. His horse shied at the mill, but down his flank He lightly slipped and did himself no harm. It is not worth the shadow of a thought.

KOTTWITZ (ascending a slight elevation). A fine day, as I breathe the breath of life! A day our God, the lofty Lord of earth, For sweeter things than deadly combat made. Ruddily gleams the sunlight through the clouds And with the lark the spirit flutters up Exultant to the joyous airs of heaven!

GOLZ. Did you succeed in finding Marshal Dorfling?

KOTTWITZ (coming forward). The Devil, no! What does my lord expect? Am I a bird, an arrow, an idea, That he should bolt me round the entire field? I was at Hackel hillock with the van And with the rearguard down in Hackel vale. The one man whom I saw not was the Marshal! Wherefore I made my way back to my men.

GOLZ. He will be ill-content. He had, it seemed, A matter of some import to confide.

OFFICER. His Highness comes, our commandant, the Prince!



SCENE II

The PRINCE OF HOMBURG with a black bandage on his left hand. The others as before.

KOTTWITZ. My young and very noble prince, God greet you! Look, how I formed the squadrons down that road While you were tarrying in the nest below. I do believe you'll say I've done it well.

THE PRINCE. Good morning, Kottwitz! And good morning, friends! You know that I praise everything you do.

HOHENZOLL. What were you up to in the village, Arthur? You seem so grave.

THE PRINCE. I—I was in the chapel That beckoned through the placid village trees; The bells were ringing, calling men to prayers, As we passed by, and something urged me on To kneel before the altar, too, and pray.

KOTTWITZ. A pious gentleman for one so young! A deed, believe me, that begins with prayer Must end in glory, victory, and fame.

THE PRINCE. Oh, by the way, I wanted to inquire—

[He draws the COUNT forward a step.]

Harry, what was it Dorfling said last night In his directions, that applied to me?

HOHENZOLL. You were distraught. I saw that well enough.

THE PRINCE. Distraught—divided! I scarce know what ailed me. Dictation always sets my wits awry.

HOHENZOLL. Not much for you this time, as luck would have it. Hennings and Truchsz, who lead the infantry, Are designated to attack the foe, And you are ordered here to halt and stay, Ready for instant action with the horse, Until an order summon you to charge.

THE PRINCE (after a pause, dreamily). A curious thing!

HOHENZOLLERN. To what do you refer?

[He looks at him. A cannon-shot is heard.]

KOTTWITZ. Ho, gentlemen! Ho, sirs! To horse, to horse! That shot is Hennings', and the fight is on!

[They all ascend a slight elevation.]

THE PRINCE. Who is it? What?

HOHENZOLLERN. It's Colonel Hennings, Arthur, He's stolen his way about to Wrangel's rear. Come, you can watch the entire field from here.

GOLZ (on the hillock). At the Rhyn there, how terribly he uncoils!

THE PRINCE (shading his eyes with his hand). Is Hennings over there on our right wing?

1ST OFFICER. Indeed, Your Highness.

THE PRINCE. What the devil then Why, yesterday he held our army's right.

[Cannonade in the distance.]

KOTTWITZ. Thunder and lightning! Wrangel's cutting loose At Hennings' now, from twelve loud throats of fire.

1ST OFFICER. I call those some redoubts the Swedes have there!

2D OFFICER. By heaven, look, they top the very spire Rising above the hamlet at their back!

[Shots near-by.]

GOLZ. That's Truchsz!

THE PRINCE. Truchsz?

KOTTWITZ. To be sure! Of course, it's Truchsz, Approaching from the front to his support.

THE PRINCE. What's Truchsz there in the centre for, today?

[Loud cannonading.]

GOLZ. Good heavens, look. The village is afire!

3D OFFICER. Afire, as I live!

1ST OFFICER. Afire! Afire! The flames are darting up the steeple now!

GOLZ. Hey! How the Swedish aides fly right and left!

2D OFFICER. They're in retreat!

KOTTWITZ. Where?

1ST OFFICER. There, at their right flank!

3D OFFICER. In masses! Sure enough! Three regiments! The intention seems to be to brace the left.

2D OFFICER. My faith! And now the horse are ordered out To screen the right living's march!

HOHENZOLLERN (with a laugh). Hi! How they'll scamper When they get ware of us here in the vale!

[Musketry fire.]

KOTTWITZ. Look, brothers, look!

2D OFFICER. Hark!

1ST OFFICER. Fire of musketry!

3D OFFICER. They're at each other now in the redoubts!

GOLZ. My God, in my born days I never heard Such thunder of artillery!

HOHENZOLLERN. Shoot! Shoot! Burst open wide the bowels of the earth! The cleft shall be your corpses' sepulchre!

[Pause. Shouts of victory in the distance.]

1ST OFFICER. Lord in the heavens, who grants men victories! Wrangel is in retreat already!

HOHENZOLLERN. No!

GOLZ. By heaven, friends! Look! There on his left flank! He's drawing back his guns from the redoubts!

ALL. Oh, triumph! Triumph! Victory is ours!

THE PRINCE (descending from the hillock). On, Kottwitz, follow me!

KOTTWITZ. Come, cool now—cool!

THE PRINCE. On! Let the trumpets sound the charge! And on!

KOTTWITZ. Cool, now, I say.

THE PRINCE (wildly). By heaven and earth and hell!

KOTTWITZ. Our liege's Highness in the ordinance Commanded we should wait his orders here. Golz, read the gentlemen the ordinance.

THE PRINCE. Orders? Eh, Kottwitz, do you ride so slow? Have you not heard the orders of your heart?

KOTTWITZ. Orders?

HOHENZOLLERN. Absurd!

KOTTWITZ. The orders of my heart?

HOHENZOLL. Listen to reason, Arthur!

GOLZ. Here, my chief!

KOTTWITZ (offended). Oh, ho! you give me that, young gentleman?—The nag you dance about on, at a pinch I'll tow him home yet at my horse's tail! March, march, my gentlemen! Trumpets, the charge! On to the battle, on! Kottwitz is game!

GOLZ (to KOTTWITZ). Never, my colonel, never! No, I swear!

2D OFFICER. Remember, Hennings' not yet at the Rhyn!

1ST OFFICER. Relieve him of his sword!

THE PRINCE. My sword, you say?

[He pushes him back.]

Hi, you impertinent boy, who do not even Know yet the Ten Commandments of the Mark! Here is your sabre, and the scabbard with it!

[He tears off the officer's sword together with the belt.]

1ST OFFICER (reeling). By God, Prince, that's—

THE PRINCE (threateningly). If you don't hold your tongue—

HOHENZOLLERN (to the officer). Silence! You must be mad!

THE PRINCE (giving up the sword). Ho, corporal's guard! Off to headquarters with the prisoner!

[To KOTTWITZ and the other officers.]

Now, gentlemen, the countersign: A knave Who follows not his general to the fight!— Now, who dares lag?

KOTTWITZ. You heard. Why thunder more?

HOHENZOLLERN (mollifying). It was advice, no more, they sought to give.

KOTTWITZ. On your head be it. I go with you.

THE PRINCE (somewhat calmed). Come! Be it upon my head then. Follow, brothers!

[Exeunt.]



SCENE III

A room in a village. A gentleman-in-waiting, booted and spurred, enters. A peasant and his wife are sitting at a table, at work.

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. God greet you, honest folk! Can you make room To shelter guests beneath your roof?

PEASANT. Indeed! Gladly, indeed!

THE WIFE. And may one question, whom?

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. The highest lady in the land, no less. Her coach broke down outside the village gates, And since we hear the victory is won There'll be no need for farther journeying.

BOTH (rising). The victory won? Heaven!

GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. What! You haven't heard? The Swedish army's beaten hip and thigh; If not forever, for the year at least The Mark need fear no more their fire and sword!— Here comes the mother of our people now.



SCENE IV

The ELECTRESS, pale and distressed, enters with the PRINCESS NATALIE, followed by various ladies-in-waiting. The others as before.

ELECTRESS (on the threshold). Bork! Winterfeld! Come! Let me have your arm.

NATALIE (going to her). Oh, mother mine!

LADIES-IN-WAITING. Heavens, how pale! She is faint.

[They support her.]

ELECTRESS. Here, lead me to a chair, I must sit down. Dead, said he—dead?

NATALIE. Mother, my precious mother!

ELECTRESS. I'll see this bearer of dread news myself.



SCENE V

CAPTAIN VON MOeRNER enters, wounded, supported by two troopers. The others.

ELECTRESS. Oh, herald of dismay, what do you bring?

MOeRNER. Oh, precious Madam, what these eyes of mine To their eternal grief themselves have seen!

ELECTRESS. So be it! Tell!

MOeRNER. The Elector is no more.

NATALIE. Oh, heaven Shall such a hideous blow descend on us?

[She hides her face in her hands.]

ELECTRESS. Give me report of how he came to fall— And, as the bolt that strikes the wanderer, In one last flash lights scarlet-bright the world, So be your tale. When you are done, may night Close down upon my head.

MOeRNER (approaching her, led by the two troopers). The Prince of Homburg, Soon as the enemy, hard pressed by Truchsz, Reeling broke cover, had brought up his troops To the attack of Wrangel on the plain; Two lines he'd pierced and, as they broke, destroyed, When a strong earthwork hemmed his way; and thence So murderous a fire on him beat That, like a field of grain, his cavalry, Mowed to the earth, went down; twixt bush and hill He needs must halt to mass his scattered corps.

NATALIE (to the ELECTRESS). Dearest, be strong!

ELECTRESS. Stop, dear. Leave me alone.

MOeRNER. That moment, watching, clear above the dust, We see our liege beneath the battle-flags Of Truchsz's regiments ride on the foe. On his white horse, oh, gloriously he rode, Sunlit, and lighting the triumphant plain. Heart-sick with trepidation at the sight Of him, our liege, bold in the battle's midst, We gather on a hillock's beetling brow; When of a sudden the Elector falls, Horseman and horse, in dust before our eyes. Two standard-bearers fell across his breast And overspread his body with their flags.

NATALIE. Oh, mother mine!

FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING. Oh, heaven!

ELECTRESS. Go on, go on!

MOeRNER. At this disastrous spectacle, a pang Unfathomable seized the Prince's heart; Like a wild beast, spurred on of hate and vengeance, Forward he lunged with us at the redoubt. Flying, we cleared the trench and, at a bound, The shelt'ring breastwork, bore the garrison down, Scattered them out across the field, destroyed; Capturing the Swede's whole panoply of war— Cannon and standards, kettle-drums and flags. And had the group of bridges at the Rhyn Hemmed not our murderous course, not one had lived Who might have boasted at his father's hearth At Fehrbellin I saw the hero fall!

ELECTRESS. Triumph too dearly bought! I like it not. Give me again the purchase-price it cost.

[She falls in a faint.]

FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING. Help, God in heaven! Her senses flee from her.

[NATALIE is weeping.]



SCENE VI

The PRINCE OF HOMBURG enters. The others.

THE PRINCE. Oh, Natalie, my dearest!

[Greatly moved, he presses her hand to his heart.]

NATALIE. Then it is true?

THE PRINCE. Could I but answer No! Could I but pour my loyal heart's blood out To call his loyal heart back into life!

NATALIE (drying her tears). Where is his body? Have they found it yet?

THE PRINCE. Until this hour, alas, my labor was Vengeance on Wrangle only; how could I Then dedicate myself to such a task? A horde of men, however, I sent forth To seek him on the battle-plains of death. Ere night I do not doubt that he will come.

NATALIE. Who now will lead us in this terrible war And keep these Swedes in subjugation? Who Shield us against this world of enemies His fortune won for us, his high renown?

THE PRINCE (taking her hand). I, lady, take upon myself your cause! Before the desolate footsteps of your throne I shall stand guard, an angel with a sword! The Elector hoped, before the year turned tide, To see the Marches free. So be it! I Executor will be of that last will.

NATALIE. My cousin, dearest cousin!

[She withdraws her hand.]

THE PRINCE. Natalie!

[A moment's pause.]

What holds the future now in store for you?

NATALIE. After this thunderbolt which cleaves the ground Beneath my very feet, what can I do? My father and my precious mother rest Entombed at Amsterdam; in dust and ashes Dordrecht, my heritage ancestral lies. Pressed hard by the tyrannic hosts of Spain Maurice, my kin of Orange, scarcely knows How he shall shelter his own flesh and blood. And now the last support that held my fate's Frail vine upright falls from me to the earth. Oh, I am orphaned now a second time!

THE PRINCE (throwing his arm about her waist). Oh, friend, sweet friend, were this dark hour not given To grief, to be its own, thus would I speak Oh, twine your branches here about this breast, Which, blossoming long years in solitude, Yearns for the wondrous fragrance of your bells.

NATALIE. My dear, good cousin!

THE PRINCE. Will you, will you?

NATALIE. Ah, If I might grow into its very marrow!

[She lays her head upon his breast.]

THE PRINCE. What did you say

NATALIE. Go now!

THE PRINCE (holding her). Into its kernel! Into the heart's deep kernel, Natalie!

[_He kisses her. She tears herself away.]

Dear God, were he for whom we grieve but here To look upon this union! Could we lift To him our plea: Father, thy benison!

[He hides his face in his hands; NATALIE turns again to the ELECTRESS.]



SCENE VII

A sergeant enters in haste. The others as before.

SERGEANT. By the Almighty God, my Prince, I scarce Dare bring to you the rumor that's abroad!— The Elector lives!

THE PRINCE. He lives!

SERGEANT. By heaven above! Count Sparren brought the joyful news but now!

NATALIE. Lord of my days! Oh, mother, did you hear?

[She falls down at the feet of the ELECTRESS and embraces her.]

THE PRINCE. But say! Who brings the news

SERGEANT. Count George of Sparren, Who saw him, hale and sound, with his own eyes At Hackelwitz amid the Truchszian corps.

THE PRINCE. Quick! Run, old man! And bring him in to me!

[The SERGEANT goes out.]



SCENE VIII

COUNT SPARREN and the Sergeant enter. The others as before.

ELECTRESS. Oh, do not cast me twice down the abyss!

NATALIE. No, precious mother mine!

ELECTRESS. And Frederick lives?

NATALIE (holding her up with both hands). The peaks of life receive you once again!

SERGEANT (entering). Here is the officer!

THE PRINCE. Ah, Count von Sparren! You saw His Highness fresh and well disposed At Hackelwitz amid the Truchszian corps?

SPARREN. Indeed, Your Highness, in the vicarage court Where, compassed by his staff, he gave commands For burial of both the armies' dead.

LADIES-IN-WAITING. Dear heaven! On thy breast—

[They embrace.]

ELECTRESS. My daughter dear!

NATALIE. Oh, but this rapture is well-nigh too great!

[She buries her face in her aunt's lap.]

THE PRINCE. Did I not see him, when I stood afar Heading my cavalry, dashed down to earth, His horse and he shivered by cannon-shot?

SPARREN. Indeed, the horse pitched with his rider down, But he who rode him, Prince, was not our liege.

THE PRINCE. What? Not our liege?

NATALIE. Oh, wonderful!

[She rises and remains standing beside the ELECTRESS.]

THE PRINCE. Speak then! Weighty as gold each word sinks to my heart.

SPARREN. Then let me give you tidings of a deed So moving, ear has never heard its like. Our country's liege, who, to remonstrance deaf, Rode his white horse again, the gleaming white That Froben erstwhile bought for him in England, Became once more, as ever was the case, The target for the foe's artillery. Scarce could the members of his retinue Within a ring of hundred yards approach About there and about, a stream of death, Hurtled grenades and cannon-shot and shell. They that had lives to save fled to its banks. He, the strong swimmer, he alone shrank not, But beckoning his friends, unswervingly Made toward the high lands whence the river came.

THE PRINCE. By heaven, i' faith! A gruesome sight it was!

SPARREN. Froben, the Master of the Horse who rode Closest to him of all, called out to me "Curses this hour on this white stallion's hide, I bought in London for a stiff round sum! I'd part with fifty ducats, I'll be bound, Could I but veil him with a mouse's gray." With hot misgiving he draws near and cries, "Highness, your horse is skittish; grant me leave To give him just an hour of schooling more." And leaping from his sorrel at the word He grasps the bridle of our liege's beast. Our liege dismounts, still smiling, and replies "As long as day is in the sky, I doubt If he will learn the art you wish to teach. But give your lesson out beyond those hills Where the foe's gunners will not heed his fault." Thereon he mounts the sorrel, Froben's own, Returning thence to where his duty calls. But scarce is Froben mounted on the white When from a breastwork, oh! a murder-shell Tears him to earth, tears horse and rider low. A sacrifice to faithfulness, he falls; And from him not a sound more did we hear.

[Brief pause.]

THE PRINCE. He is well paid for! Though I had ten lives I could not lose them in a better cause!

NATALIE. Valiant old Froben!

ELECTRESS (in tears). Admirable man!

NATALIE (also weeping). A meaner soul might well deserve our tears!

THE PRINCE. Enough! To business! Where's the Elector then Is Hackelwitz headquarters?

SPARREN. Pardon, sir! The Elector has proceeded to Berlin And begs his generals thence to follow him.

THE PRINCE. What? To Berlin? You mean the war is done?

SPARREN. Indeed, I marvel that all this is news. Count Horn, the Swedish general, has arrived; And, following his coming, out of hand The armistice was heralded through camp. A conference, if I discern aright The Marshal's meaning, is attached thereto Perchance that peace itself may follow soon.

ELECTRESS (rising). Dear God, how wondrously the heavens clear!

THE PRINCE. Come, let us follow straightway to Berlin. 'Twould speed my journey much if you could spare A little space for me within your coach?— I've just a dozen words to write to Kottwitz, And on the instant I'll be at your side.

[He sits down and writes.]

ELECTRESS. Indeed, with all my heart!

THE PRINCE (folds the note and gives it to the Sergeant; then, as he turns again to the ELECTRESS, softly lays his arm about NATALIE's waist). I have a wish, A something timorously to confide I thought I might give vent to on the road.

NATALIE (tearing herself away). Bork! Quick! My scarf, I beg—

ELECTRESS. A wish to me?

FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING. Princess, the scarf is round your neck.

THE PRINCE (to the ELECTRESS). Indeed! Can you not guess?

ELECTRESS. No—

THE PRINCE. Not a syllable?

ELECTRESS (abruptly). What matter? Not a suppliant on earth Could I deny today, whate'er he ask, And you, our battle-hero, least of all! Come!

THE PRINCE. Mother! Oh, what did you speak? Those words— May I interpret them to suit me best?

ELECTRESS. Be off, I say! More, later, as we ride! Come, let me have your arm.

THE PRINCE. Oh, Caesar Divus! Lo, I have set a ladder to thy star!

[He leads the ladies out. Exeunt omnes.]



SCENE IX

Scene: Berlin. Pleasure garden outside the old palace. In the background the palace chapel with a staircase leading up to it. Tolling of bells. The church is brightly illuminated. The body of FROBEN is carried by and set on a splendid catafalque. The ELECTOR, FIELD-MARSHAL DOeRFLING, COLONEL HENNINGS, COUNT TRUCHSZ and several other colonels and minor officers enter. From the opposite side enter various officers with dispatches. In the church as well as in the square are men, women and children of all ages.