GRIMM. "Tis not our fault, captain!
CHARLES (without looking at them). Who are ye?
GRIMM. You do not look at us! Your faithful followers.
CHARLES. Woe to ye, if ye are faithful to me!
GRIMM. The last farewell from your servant Schweitzer!--
CHARLES (starting). Then ye have not found him?
SCHWARZ. Found him dead.
CHARLES (leaping up with joy). Thanks, O Sovereign Ruler of all things!
--Embrace me, my children!--Mercy be henceforward our watchword!--Now, were that too surmounted,--all would be surmounted.
Enter ROBBERS with AMELIA.
ROBBERS. Hurrah! hurrah! A prize, a splendid prize!
AMELIA (with hair dishevelled). The dead, they cry, have arisen at his voice--My uncle alive--in this wood--Where is he? Charles? Uncle!--Ha?
(She rushes into the arms, of OLD MOOR.)
OLD MOOR. Amelia! my daughter! Amelia! (Holds her tightly grasped in his arms.)
CHARLES (starting back). Who brings this image before my eyes.
AMELIA (tearing herself away from the old man, rushes upon CHARLES, and embraces him in an ecstasy of delight). I have him, O ye stars! I have him!
CHARLES (tearing himself away, to the ROBBERS). Let us be gone, comrades! The arch fiend has betrayed me!
AMELIA. My bridegroom, my bridegroom! thou art raving! Ha! "Tis with delight! Why, then, am I so cold, so unfeeling, in the midst of this tumult of happiness?
OLD MOOR (rousing himself). Bridegroom? Daughter! my daughter! Thy bridegroom?*
*[Instead of this the stage edition has, "Come my children! Thy hand, Charles--and thine, Amelia. Oh! I never looked for such happiness on this side the grave. Here let me unite you forever."]
AMELIA. His forever! He forever, ever, mine! Oh! ye heavenly powers!
support me in this ecstasy of bliss, lest I sink beneath its weight!
CHARLES. Tear her from my neck! Kill her! Kill him! Kill me-- yourselves--everybody! Let the whole world perish! (About to rush of.)
AMELIA. Whither? what? Love! eternity! happiness! never-ending joys!
and thou wouldst fly?
CHARLES. Away, away! most unfortunate of brides! See with thine own eves; ask, and hear it with thine own ears! Most miserable of fathers!
Let me escape hence forever!
AMELIA. Support me! for heaven"s sake support me! It is growing dark before my eyes! He flies!
CHARLES. Too late! In vain! Your curse, father! Ask me no more!
I am--I have--your curse--your supposed curse! Who enticed me hither?
(Rushing upon the ROBBERS with drawn sword.) Which of you enticed me hither, ye demons of the abyss? Perish, then, Amelia! Die, father!
Die, for the third time, through me! These, thy deliverers, are Robbers and Murderers! Thy Charles is their Captain! (OLD MOOR expires.)
[AMELIA stands silent and transfixed like a statue.
The whole band are mute. A fearful pause.]
CHARLES (rushing against an oak). The souls of those I have strangled in the intoxication of love--of those whom I crushed to atoms in the sacredness of sleep--of those whom--Ha! ha! ha! do you hear the powder-magazine bursting over the heads of women in travail? Do you see the flames creeping round the cradles of sucklings? That is our nuptial torch; those shrieks our wedding music! Oh! he forgetteth none of these things!--he knoweth how to connect the--links in the chain of life.
Therefore do love"s delights elude my grasp; therefore is love given me for a torment! This is retribution!
AMELIA. "Tis all true! Thou Ruler in heaven! "Tis all true! What have I done, poor innocent lamb? I have loved this man!
CHARLES. This is more than a man can endure. Have I not heard death hissing at me from more thousands of barrels, and never yet moved a hair"s breadth out of its way. And shall I now be taught to tremble like a woman? tremble before a woman! No! a woman shall not conquer my manly courage! Blood! blood! "tis but a fit of womanish feeling. I must glut myself with blood; and this will pa.s.s away. (He is about to fly.)
AMELIA (sinking into his arms). Murderer! devil! I cannot--angel-- leave thee!
CHARLES (thrusting her from him). Away! insidious serpent! Thou wouldst make a mockery of my frenzy; but I will bid defiance to my tyrant destiny. What! art thou weeping? O ye relentless, malicious stars! She pretends to weep, as if any soul could weep for me!
(AMELIA falls on his neck.) Ha! what means this? She shuns me not--she spurns me not. Amelia! hast thou then forgotten? Dost thou remember whom thou art embracing, Amelia?
AMELIA. My only one, mine, mine forever!
CHARLES (recovering himself in an ecstasy of joy). She forgives me, she loves me! Then am I pure as the ether of heaven, for she loves me!
With tears I thank thee, all-merciful Father! (He falls on his knees, and bursts into a violent fit of weeping.) The peace of my soul is restored; my sufferings are at an end. h.e.l.l is no more! Behold! oh behold! the child of light weeps on the neck of a repentant demon!
(Rising and turning to the ROBBERS). Why are ye not weeping also?
Weep, weep, ye are all so happy. O Amelia! Amelia! Amelia! (He hangs on her neck, they remain locked in a silent embrace.)
A ROBBER (stepping forward enraged). Hold, traitor! This instant come from her arms! or I will speak a word that shall make thy ears tingle, and thy teeth chatter with horror! (He holds his sword between them.)
AN AGED ROBBER. Remember the Bohemian forests! Dost thou hear? dost thou tremble? Remember the Bohemian forests, I tell thee! Faithless man! where are thy oaths? Are wounds so soon forgotten? Who staked fortune, honor, life itself for thee? Who stood by thee like walls, and like shields caught the blows which were aimed at thy life? Didst not thou then lift up thy hand and swear an iron oath never to forsake us, even as we forsook not thee? Base, perfidious wretch! and wouldst thou now desert us at the whining of a harlot?
A THIRD ROBBER. Shame on thy perjury! The spirit of the immolated Roller, whom thou didst summon from the realms of death to attest thy oath, will blush at thy cowardice, and rise from his grave full armed to chastise thee.
THE ROBBERS (all in disorder, tearing open their garments). See here!
and here! Dost thou know these scars? Thou art ours! With our heart"s blood we have bought thee, and thou art ours bodily, even though the Archangel Michael should seek to wrest thee out of the grasp of the fiery Moloch! Now! March with us! Sacrifice for sacrifice, Amelia for the band!
CHARLES (releasing her hand). It is past! I would arise and return to my father; but heaven has said, "It shall not be!" (Coldly.) Blind fool that I was! why should I wish it? Is it possible for a great sinner to return? A great sinner never can return. That ought I long since to have known. Be still! I pray thee be still! "Tis all as it should be.
When He sought me I would not; now that I seek him, He will not. What can be more just? Do not roll about thine eyes so wildly. He--has no need of me. Has He not creatures in abundance? One he can easily spare, and that one am I. Come along, comrades!
AMELIA (pulling him back). Stay, I beseech you! One blow! one deadly blow! Again forsaken! Draw thy sword, and have mercy upon me!
CHARLES. Mercy has taken refuge among bears. I will not kill thee!
AMELIA (embracing his knees). Oh, for heaven"s sake! by all that is merciful! I ask no longer for love. I know that our stars fly from each other in opposition. Death is all I ask. Forsaken, forsaken!
Take that word in all its dreadful import! Forsaken! I cannot survive it! Thou knowest well that no woman can survive that. All I ask is death. See, my hand trembles! I have not courage to strike the blow.
I shrink from the gleaming blade! To thee it is so easy, so very easy; thou art a master in murder--draw thy sword, and make me happy!
CHARLES. Wouldst thou alone be happy? Away with thee! I will kill no woman!