FREDERICK. Make haste, and get a bed ready for this good woman.
LANDLORD [with a sneer]. A bed for this good woman! ha, ha ha! She slept last night in that pent-house; so she may to-night. [Exit, shutting door.
FREDERICK. You are an infamous--[goes back to his mother] Oh! my poor mother--[runs to the Cottage at a little distance, and knocks].
Ha! hallo! Who is there?
Enter COTTAGER.
COTTAGER. Good day, young soldier.--What is it you want?
FREDERICK. Good friend, look at that poor woman. She is perishing in the public road! It is my mother.--Will you give her a small corner in your hut? I beg for mercy"s sake--Heaven will reward you.
COTTAGER. Can"t you speak quietly? I understand you very well.
[Calls at the door of the hut.] Wife, shake up our bed--here"s a poor sick woman wants it. [Enter WIFE]. Why could not you say all this in fewer words? Why such a long preamble? Why for mercy"s sake, and heaven"s reward? Why talk about reward for such trifles as these?
Come, let us lead her in; and welcome she shall be to a bed, as good as I can give her; and our homely fare.
FREDERICK. Ten thousand thanks, and blessings on you!
WIFE. Thanks and blessings! here"s a piece of work indeed about nothing! Good sick lady, lean on my shoulder. [To Frederick] Thanks and reward indeed! Do you think husband and I have lived to these years, and don"t know our duty? Lean on my shoulder. [Exeunt into the Cottage.
END ACT I.
ACT II.
SCENE I. A room in the cottage.
AGATHA, COTTAGER, his WIFE, and FREDERICK discovered--AGATHA reclined upon a wooden bench, FREDERICK leaning over her.
FREDERICK. Good people have you nothing to give her? Nothing that"s nourishing.
WIFE. Run, husband, run, and fetch a bottle of wine from the landlord of the inn.
FREDERICK. No, no--his wine is as bad as his heart: she has drank some of it, which I am afraid has turned to poison.
COTTAGER. Suppose, wife, you look for a new-laid egg?
WIFE. Or a drop of brandy, husband--that mostly cures me.
FREDERICK. Do you hear, mother--will you, mother? [Agatha makes a sign with her hand as if she could not take any thing.] She will not.
Is there no doctor in this neighbourhood?
WIFE. At the end of the village there lives a horse-doctor. I have never heard of any other.
FREDERICK. What shall I do? She is dying. My mother is dying.--Pray for her, good people!
AGATHA. Make yourself easy, dear Frederick, I am well, only weak--Some wholesome nourishment--
FREDERICK. Yes, mother, directly--directly. [Aside] Oh where shall I--no money--not a farthing left.
WIFE. Oh, dear me! Had you not paid the rent yesterday, husband--
COTTAGER. I then, should know what to do. But as I hope for mercy, I have not a penny in my house.
FREDERICK. Then I must--[Apart, coming forward]--Yes, I will go, and beg.--But should I be refused--I will then--I leave my mother in your care, good people--Do all you can for her, I beseech you! I shall soon be with you again. [Goes off in haste and confusion.]
COTTAGER. If he should go to our parson, I am sure he would give him something.
[Agatha having revived by degrees during the scene, rises.]
AGATHA. Is that good old man still living, who was minister here some time ago?
WIFE. No--It pleased Providence to take that worthy man to heaven two years ago.--We have lost in him both a friend and a father. We shall never get such another.
COTTAGER. Wife, wife, our present rector is likewise a very good man.
WIFE. Yes! But he is so very young.
COTTAGER. Our late parson was once young too.
WIFE [to Agatha.] This young man being tutor in our Baron"s family, he was very much beloved by them all; and so the Baron gave him this living in consequence.
COTTAGER. And well he deserved it, for his pious instructions to our young lady: who is, in consequence, good, and friendly to every body.
AGATHA. What young lady do you mean?
COTTAGER. Our Baron"s daughter.
AGATHA. Is she here?
WIFE. Dear me! Don"t you know that? I thought every body had known that. It is almost five weeks since the Baron and all his family arrived at the castle.
AGATHA. Baron Wildenhaim?
WIFE. Yes, Baron Wildenhaim.
AGATHA. And his lady?
COTTAGER. His lady died in France many miles from hence, and her death, I suppose, was the cause of his coming to this estate--For the Baron has not been here till within these five weeks ever since he was married. We regretted his absence much, and his arrival has caused great joy.
WIFE [addressing her discourse to Agatha.] By all accounts the Baroness was very haughty; and very whimsical.
COTTAGER. Wife, wife, never speak ill of the dead. Say what you please against the living, but not a word against the dead.
WIFE. And yet, husband, I believe the dead care the least what is said against them--And so, if you please, I"ll tell my story. The late Baroness was, they say, haughty and proud; and they do say, the Baron was not so happy as he might have been; but he, bless him, our good Baron is still the same as when a boy. Soon after Madam had closed her eyes, he left France, and came to Waldenhaim, his native country.
COTTAGER. Many times has he joined in our village dances. Afterwards, when he became an officer, he was rather wild, as most young men are.