The Lawyers, A Drama in Five Acts Part 17

_Fred._ I wonder where he stays so long.

_Clar._ He is dissolving the partnership of sin with Reissman.

_Gern._ I wish it may be done in writing.

_Clar._ I have insisted on his having a conversation with him.

SCENE VII.

Enter SOPHIA.

_Clar._ Whom have I the honour to--(Bows, and all the rest rise.)

_Soph._ Without ceremony, my friends,

_Fred._ It is Miss Reissman, father!

_Soph._ Give me leave to wait for your son, Sir, who is to introduce me to your acquaintance, (To Frederica.) We have seen one another already.

_Clar._ Miss Reissman? So--(with a smile.) The daughter of Mr.----; do not take it amiss.

_Soph._ What?

_Fred._ Father, let it rest there.

_Clar._ Yes, yes! We do not like to mention any thing about it. You, you are welcome wherever you go; and so you are to me, G.o.d knows! Sit down here near an old man, if you have no objection. (Gern. reaches her a chair.)

_Soph._ I know how to value the honour of this seat.

_Clar._ You have a good opinion of my son.

_Soph._ Yes, good Sir.

_Clar._ He is rather in an odd predicament to day; but I hope things will take a better turn.

_Soph._ I sincerely hope so, good father.

SCENE VIII.

Enter Privy Counsellor CLARENBACH.

_P. Coun._ I am happy to find you, Sophia, by the side of my good father, hand in hand. What an enchanting picture in my eye! love, worth, and affection, hand in hand! my Sophia beneath the same roof under which I was born!

_Soph._ Yes; and I read in your eyes that you were pleased to see me here.

_P. Coun._ (kissing her hand.) G.o.d is my witness, this moment is the happiest of my life; happiness has been a stranger to my heart this long time.

_Soph._ (rises.) Let peace and happiness dwell in this house henceforward; the good intelligence which I intended to bring about between father and son, between brother and sister, and friend, has taken place Without any interference;--so much the better!

_Clar._ Ay, I see that your good intentions were in my favour. They were good I see,--I thank you for them. Give me your hand, sweet creature! (shaking her good naturedly by the hand.) Blessed is the man who is doomed to have you for his wife.

_Soph._ Happy is that son who has such a father! (She leads the son up to the father, and they embrace.)

_P. Coun._ Behold the father of us both, Sophia!

_Soph._ O heaven!

_P. Coun._ How!

_Soph._ That is the grand question that must give us pause! (Clarenbach makes a sign to Frederica and Gernau, and they retire with him.)

SCENE IX.

SOPHIA, Privy Counsellor CLARENBACH.

_P. Conn._ I have fulfilled one of your conditions. The other--

_Soph._ You have lost all your influence over my father.

_P. Coun._ Yes!

_Soph._ Then my condition is too hard,--I cancel it.

_P. Coun._ Heaven bless you!

_Soph._ I will subst.i.tute an other in its place, which depends entirely on yourself.

_P. Coun._ Then it is already accomplished.

_Soph._ Am I your choice even without any inheritance?

_P. Coun._ Without any inheritance whatever!

_Soph._ Your hand and heart are all I crave. To be candid, I expected nothing less from you. Now for the arduous question; hear me! The disposition in which I find you to day is charming, but not meritorious. You have not been moulded to it by virtue, but frightened into it by vice. You are irritable, you are weak, you are ambitious. A time may come, when neither your father, nor the woman you love will be able to influence you, as they luckily do at present.

_P. Coun._ You wrong me.

_Soph._ No, my friend. Give me time to proceed. You are irritable, weak, and ambitious! Do you think, that, on the summit which you now stand, you can render yourself useful to your fellow subjects with these three--I had almost called them vices.

_P. Coun._ Not if I remain as I am.

_Soph._ You have hitherto been the instrument of strangers, and, in proportion as you rose in extrinsic pomp, you sunk in intrinsic merit.

_P. Coun._ True, it is too true.

_Soph._ You are not possessed of sufficient resolution to stand at the helm of a government; but you have genius, a good heart, and learning enough, sufficient to secure a tranquil pa.s.sage through life. Let my love supply the whole of my father's considerable fortune; I cannot muster the requisite resolution. Can your esteem for me induce you to renounce the gilded splendor of state and office, and to spend the remainder of your days in the calm retirement of obscurity? (Eagerly.) Have you the resolution, Clarenbach, to resign the Privy Counsellorship?--I do not want an immediate answer.