The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Vi Part 68

KING. Back to Toledo then?

PAGE. I know not, Sire.

The lords, howe'er--

KING. What lords?

PAGE. Sire, the estates, Who all upon their horses swung themselves; They did not to Toledo take their way-- Rather the way which you yourself did come.

KING. What! To Retiro? Ah, now fall the scales From these my seeing and yet blinded eyes!

Murder this is. They go to slay her there!

My horse! My horse!

PAGE. Your horse, ill.u.s.trious Sire, Was lame, and, as you know, at your command--

KING. Well, then, another--Garceran's, or yours!

PAGE. They've taken every horse from here away, Perhaps with them, perhaps but driv'n afar; As empty as the castle are the stalls.

KING. They think they will outstrip me. But away!

Get me a horse, were't only some old nag; Revenge shall lend him wings, that he may fly.

And if 'tis done? Then, G.o.d above, then grant That as a man, not as a tyrant, I May punish both the guilty and the guilt.

Get me a horse! Else art thou in their league, And payest with thy head, as all shall--

(_Standing at the door, with a gesture of violence._)

All!

[_He hastens away._]

ACT V

_A large room in the castle at Retiro, with one door in the centre and one at each side. Everywhere signs of destruction. In the foreground, at the left, an overturned toilet table with scattered utensils. In the background, at the left, another overturned table; above it a picture half torn from its frame. In the centre of the room, a chair. It is dark. From without, behind the middle wall, the sound of voices, footsteps, and the clatter of weapons, finally, from without--"It is enough! The signal sounds! To horse!" Sounds of voices and footsteps die out. Pause. Then Isaac comes from the door at the right, dragging along a carpet, which is pulled over his head, and which he later drops._

ISAAC. Are they then gone?--I hear no sound.

(_Stepping back._)

But yes-- No, no, 'tis naught! When they, a robber band, Searched all the castle through, I hid myself, And on the ground all doubled up I lay.

This cover here was roof and shield alike.

But whither now? Long since I hid full well Here in the garden what I saved and gained; I'll fetch it later when this noise is past.-- Where is the door? How shall I save my soul?

ESTHER _enters from the door at the left._

ISAAC. Who's there? Woe's me!

ESTHER. Is't thou?

ISAAC. Is't thou, then, Rachel?

ESTHER. What mean'st thou? Rachel? Only Esther, I!

ISAAC. Only, thou say'st? Thou art my only child-- Only, because the best.

ESTHER. Nay, rather say, The best because the only. Aged man, Dost thou, then, nothing know of this attack, Nor upon whom they meant to vent their wrath?

ISAAC. I do not know, nor do I wish to know, For has not Rachel flown, to safety gone?

Oh, she is clever, she!--G.o.d of my fathers!

Why dost thou try me--me, a poor old man, And speak to me from out my children's mouths?

But I believe it not! 'Tis false! No, no!

[_He sinks down beside the chair in the centre, leaning his head against it._]

ESTHER. So then be strong through coward fearsomeness.

Yet call I others what I was myself.

For when their coming roused me from my sleep, And I went hurrying to my sister's aid, Into the last, remote, and inmost room, One of them seizes me with powerful hand, And hurls me to the ground. And coward, I, I fall a-swooning, when I should have stood And offered up my life to save my sister, Or, at the very least, have died with her!

When I awoke, the deed was done, and vain My wild attempt to bring her back to life.

Then could I weep, then could I tear my hair; That is, indeed, true cowardice, a woman's.

ISAAC. They tell me this and that. But 'tis not true!

ESTHER. Lend me thy chair to sit upon, old man!

[_She pulls the chair forward._]

My limbs grow weak and tremble under me.

Here will I sit and here will I keep watch.

[_She sits down._]

Mayhap that one will think it worth his while To burn the stubble, now the harvest's o'er, And will return and kill what still is left.

ISAAC (_from the floor_).

Not me! Not me!--Some one is coming. Hark!

No, many come!--Save me--I flee to thee!

[_He runs to her chair, and cowers on the floor._]

ESTHER. I like a mother will protect thee now, The second childhood of the gray old man.

And, if death comes, then childless shalt thou die-- I following Rachel in advance of thee!

_The KING appears at the centre door, with his page, who carries a torch._

KING. Shall I go farther, or content myself With what I know, though still it is unseen?

This castle all a-wreck, laid bare and waste, Shrieking from ev'ry corner cries to me It is too late, the horror has been done!

And thou the blame must bear, cursed dallier, If not, forsooth, a party to the deed!