Fear
not, friends!
not, friends!
Friedrich Schiller
Father, forgive me!
'Twas not your child's fault that the dream was so heavenly--the waking
so terrible!
MILLER. Louisa! Louisa! O merciful heaven! she has lost her senses!
My daughter! My poor child! Curses upon thy seducer! Curses upon the
pandering mother who threw thee in his way!
MRS. MILLER (weeping on LOUISA'S neck). Daughter, do I deserve this
curse? God forgive you, major! What has this poor lamb done that you
bring this misery upon her?
FERDINAND (with resolution). I will unravel the meshes of these
intrigues. I will burst asunder these iron chains of prejudice. As a
free-born man will I make my choice, and crush these insect souls with
the colossal force of my love! [Going.
LOUISA (rises trembling from the sofa, and attempts to follow him).
Stay, oh, stay! Whither are you going? Father! Mother! He deserts us
in this fearful hour!
MRS. MILLER (hastens towards him, and detains him). The president is
coming hither? He will ill-use my child! He will ill-use us all,--and
yet, major, you are going to leave us.
MILLER (laughs hysterically). Leave us. Of course he is! What should
hinder him? The girl has given him all she had. (Grasping FERDINAND
with one hand, and LOUISA with the other. ) Listen to me, young
gentleman. The only way out of my house is over my daughter's body. If
you possess one single spark of honor await your father's coming; tell
him, deceiver, how you stole her young and inexperienced heart; or, by
the God who made me! (thrusting LOUISA towards him with violence and
passion) you shall crush before my eyes this trembling worm whom love for
you has brought to shame and infamy!
FERDINAND (returns, and walks to and fro in deep thought). 'Tis true,
the President's power is great--parental authority is a mighty word--even
crimes claim respect when concealed within its folds. He may push that
authority far--very far! But love goes beyond it. Hear me, Louisa; give
me thy hand! (clasping it firmly). As surely as I hope for Heaven's
mercy in my dying hour, I swear that the moment which separates these
hands shall also rend asunder the thread that binds me to existence!
LOUISA. You terrify me! Turn from me! Your lips tremble! Your eyes
roll fearfully!
FERDINAND. Nay, Louisa! fear nothing! It is not madness which prompts
my oath! 'tis the choicest gift of Heaven, decision, sent to my aid at
that critical moment, when an oppressed bosom can only find relief in
some desperate remedy. I love thee, Louisa! Thou shalt be mine! 'Tis
resolved! And now for my father!
[He rushes out, and is met by the PRESIDENT.
SCENE VI.
MILLER, MRS. MILLER, LOUISA, FERDINAND, PRESIDENT, with SERVANTS.
PRESIDENT (as he enters). So! here he is! (All start in terror. )
FERDINAND (retiring a few paces). In the house of innocence!
PRESIDENT. Where a son learns obedience to his father!
FERDINAND. Permit me to----
PRESIDENT (interrupting him, turns to MILLER). The father, I presume?
MILLER. I am Miller, the musician.
PRESIDENT (to MRS. MILLER). And you, the mother?
MRS. MILLER. Yes, alas! her unfortunate mother!
FERDINAND (to MILLER. ) Father, take Louisa to her chamber--she is
fainting.
PRESIDENT. An unnecessary precaution! I will soon arouse her. (To
LOUISA. ) How long have you been acquainted with the President's son?
LOUISA (with timidity). Of the President's son I have never thought.
Ferdinand von Walter has paid his addresses to me since November last.
FERDINAND. And he adores her!
PRESIDENT (to LOUISA). Has he given you any assurance of his love?
FERDINAND. But a few minutes since, the most solemn, and God was my
witness.
PRESIDENT (to his son angrily). Silence! You shall have opportunity
enough of confessing your folly. (To LOUISA. ) I await your answer.
LOUISA. He swore eternal love to me.
FERDINAND. And I will keep my oath.
PRESIDENT (to FERDINAND). Must I command your silence? (To LOUISA).
Did you accept his rash vows?
LOUISA (with tenderness). I did, and gave him mine in exchange.
FERDINAND (resolutely). The bond is irrevocable----
PRESIDENT (to FERDINAND). If you dare to interrupt me again I'll teach
you better manners. (To LOUISA, sneeringly. ) And he paid handsomely
every time, no doubt?
LOUISA. I do not understand your question.
PRESIDENT (with an insulting laugh). Oh, indeed! Well, I only meant to
hint that--as everything has its price--I hope you have been more
provident than to bestow your favors gratis--or perhaps you were
satisfied with merely participating in the pleasure? Eh? how was it?
FERDINAND (infuriated). Hell and confusion! What does this mean?
LOUISA (to FERDINAND, with dignity and emotion). Baron von Walter, now
you are free!
FERDINAND. Father! virtue though clothed in a beggar's garb commands
respect!
PRESIDENT (laughing aloud). A most excellent joke! The father is
commanded to honor his son's strumpet!
LOUISA. Oh! Heaven and earth! (Sinks down in a swoon. )
FERDINAND (drawing his sword). Father, you gave me life, and, till now,
I acknowledged your claim on it. That debt is cancelled. (Replaces his
sword in the scabbard, and points to LOUISA. ) There lies the bond of
filial duty torn to atoms!
MILLER (who has stood apart trembling, now comes forward, by turns
gnashing his teeth in rage, and shrinking back in terror). Your
excellency, the child is the father's second self. No offence, I hope!
Who strikes the child hits the father--blow for blow--that's our rule
here. No offence, I hope!
MRS. MILLER. God have mercy on us! Now the old man has begun--we shall
all catch it with a vengeance!
PRESIDENT (who has not understood what MILLER said). What? is the old
pander stirred up? We shall have something to settle together presently,
Mr. Pander!
MILLER. You mistake me, my lord. My name is Miller, at your service for
an adagio--but, as to ladybirds, I cannot serve you. As long as there is
such an assortment at court, we poor citizens can't afford to lay in
stock! No offence, I hope!
MRS. MILLER. For Heaven's sake, man, hold your tongue! would you ruin
both wife and child?
FERDINAND (to his father). You play but a sorry part here, my lord, and
might well have dispensed with these witnesses.
MILLER (coming nearer, with increasing confidence). To be plain and
above board--No offence, I hope--your excellency may have it all your own
way in the Cabinet--but this is my house. I'm your most obedient, very
humble servant when I wait upon you with a petition, but the rude,
unmannerly intruder I have the right to bundle out--no offence, I hope!
PRESIDENT (pale with anger, and approaching MILLER). What? What's that
you dare to utter?
MILLER (retreating a few steps). Only a little bit of my mind sir--no
offence, I hope!
PRESIDENT (furiously). Insolent villain! Your impertinence shall
procure you a lodging in prison. (To his servants). Call in the
officers of justice! Away! (Some of the attendants go out. The
PRESIDENT paces the stage with a furious air. ) The father shall to
prison; the mother and her strumpet daughter to the pillory! Justice
shall lend her sword to my rage! For this insult will I have ample
amends. Shall such contemptible creatures thwart my plans, and set
father and son against each other with impunity? Tremble, miscreants! I
will glut my hate in your destruction--the whole brood of you--father,
mother, and daughter shall be sacrificed to my vengeance!
FERDINAND (to MILLER, in a collected and firm manner). Oh! not so!
Fear
not, friends! I am your protector. (Turning to the PRESIDENT, with
deference). Be not so rash, father! For your own sake let me beg of you
no violence. There is a corner of my heart where the name of father has
never yet been heard. Oh! press not into that!
PRESIDENT. Silence, unworthy boy! Rouse not my anger to greater fury!
MILLER (recovering from a stupor). Wife, look you to your daughter! I
fly to the duke. His highness' tailor--God be praised for reminding me
of it at this moment--learns the flute of me--I cannot fail of success.
(Is hastening off. )
PRESIDENT. To the duke, will you? Have you forgotten that I am the
threshold over which you must pass, or failing, perish? To the duke, you
fool? Try to reach him with your lamentations, when, reduced to a living
skeleton, you lie buried in a dungeon five fathoms deep, where light and
sound never enter; where darkness goggles at hell with gloating eyes!
There gnash thy teeth in anguish; there rattle thy chains in despair, and
groan, "Woe is me! This is beyond human endurance! "
SCENE VII.
Officers of Justice--the former.
FERDINAND (flies to LOUISA, who, overcome with fear, faints in his arms. )
Louisa! --Help, for God's sake! Terror overpowers her!
[MILLER, catching up his cane and putting on his hat,
prepares for defense. MRS. MILLER throws herself on her
knees before the PRESIDENT.
PRESIDENT (to the officers, showing his star). Arrest these offenders in
the duke's name. Boy, let go that strumpet! Fainting or not--when once
her neck is fitted with the iron collar the mob will pelt her till she
revives.
MRS. MILLER. Mercy, your excellency! Mercy! mercy!
MILLER (snatching her from the ground with violence). Kneel to God, you
howling fool, and not to villains--since I must to prison any way!
PRESIDENT (biting his lips. ) You may be out in your reckoning,
scoundrel! There are still gallows to spare! (To the officers. ) Must I
repeat my orders?
[They approach LOUISA--FERDINAND places himself before her.
FERDINAND (fiercely). Touch her who dare! (He draws his sword and
flourishes it. ) Let no one presume to lay a finger on her, whose life is
not well insured. (To the PRESIDENT. ) As you value your own safety,
father, urge me no further!
PRESIDENT (to the officers in a threatening voice). At your peril,
cowards! (They again attempt to seize LOUISA. )
FERDINAND. Hell and furies! Back, I say! (Driving them away. ) Once
more, father, I warn you--have some thought for your own safety! Drive
me not to extremity!
PRESIDENT (enraged to the officers). Scoundrels! Is this your
obedience? (The officers renew their efforts. )
FERDINAND. Well, if it must be so (attacking and wounding several of
them), Justice forgive me!
PRESIDENT (exasperated to the utmost). Let me see whether I, too, must
feel your weapon! (He seizes LOUISA and delivers her to an officer. )
FERDINAND (laughing bitterly). Father! father! Your conduct is a
galling satire upon Providence, who has so ill understood her people as
to make bad statesmen of excellent executioners!
PRESIDENT (to the officers). Away with her!
FERDINAND. Father, if I cannot prevent it, she must stand in the
pillory--but by her side will also stand the son of the president. Do
you still insist?
PRESIDENT. The more entertaining will be the exhibition. Away with her!
FERDINAND. I will pledge the honor of an officer's sword for her. Do
you still insist?
PRESIDENT. Your sword is already familiar with disgrace. Away! away!
You know my will.
FERDINAND (wrests LOUISA from the officer and holds her with one arm,
with the other points his sword at her bosom. ) Father, rather than
tamely see my wife branded with infamy I will plunge this sword into her
bosom. Do you still insist?
PRESIDENT. Do it, if the point be sharp enough!
FERDINAND (releases LOUISA, and looks wildly towards heaven). Be thou
witness, Almighty God, that I have left no human means untried to save
her! Forgive me now if I have recourse to hellish means. While you are
leading her to the pillory (speaking loudly in the PRESIDENT'S ear), I
will publish throughout the town a pleasant history of how a president's
chair may be gained! [Exit.
PRESIDENT (as if thunder-struck). How? What said he? Ferdinand!
Release her instantly! (Rushes after his son. )
ACT III.
SCENE I.
Room at the President's. Enter PRESIDENT and WORM.
PRESIDENT. That was an infernal piece of business!
WORM. Just what I feared, your excellency. Opposition may inflame the
enthusiast, but never converts him.
PRESIDENT. I had placed my whole reliance upon the success of this
attempt. I made no doubt but if the girl were once publicly disgraced,
he would be obliged as an officer and a gentleman to resign her.
WORM. An admirable idea! --had you but succeeded in disgracing her.
PRESIDENT. And yet--when I reflect on the matter coolly--I ought not to
have suffered myself to be overawed. It was a threat which he never
could have meant seriously.
WORM. Be not too certain of that! There is no folly too gross for
excited passion! You say that the baron has always looked upon
government with an eye of disapprobation. I can readily believe it. The
principles which he brought with him from college are ill-suited to our
atmosphere. What have the fantastic visions of personal nobility and
greatness of soul to do in court, where 'tis the perfection of wisdom to
be great and little by turns, as occasion demands? The baron is too
young and too fiery to take pleasure in the slow and crooked paths of
intrigue. That alone can give impulse to his ambition which seems
glorious and romantic!
PRESIDENT (impatiently). But how will these sagacious remarks advance
our affairs?
WORM. They will point out to your excellency where the wound lies, and
so, perhaps, help you to find a remedy. Such a character--pardon the
observation--ought never to have been made a confidant, or should never
have been roused to enmity. He detests the means by which you have risen
to power! Perhaps it is only the son that has hitherto sealed the lips
of the betrayer! Give him but a fair opportunity for throwing off the
bonds imposed upon him by nature! only convince him, by unrelenting
opposition to his passion, that you are no longer an affectionate father,
and that moment the duties of a patriot will rush upon him with
irresistible force! Nay, the high-wrought idea of offering so
unparalleled a sacrifice at the shrine of justice might of itself alone
have charms sufficient to reconcile him to the ruin of a parent!
PRESIDENT. Worm! Worm! To what a horrible abyss do you lead me!
WORM. Never fear, my lord, I will lead you back in safety! May I speak
without restraint?
PRESIDENT (throwing himself into a seat). Freely, as felon with felon.
WORM. Forgive me, then. It seems to me that you have to ascribe all
your influence as president to the courtly art of intrigue; why not
resort to the same means for attaining your ends as a father? I well
remember with what seeming frankness you invited your predecessor to a
game at piquet, and caroused half the night with him over bumpers of
Burgundy; and yet it was the same night on which the great mine you had
planned to annihilate him was to explode. Why did you make a public
exhibition of enmity to the major? You should by no means have let it
appear that you knew anything of his love affair. You should have made
the girl the object of your attacks and have preserved the affection of
your son; like the prudent general who does not engage the prime of the
enemy's force but creates disaffection among the ranks?
PRESIDENT. How could this have been effected?
WORM. In the simplest manner--even now the game is not entirely lost!
Forget for a time that you are a father. Do not contend against a
passion which opposition only renders more formidable. Leave me to
hatch, from the heat of their own passions, the basilisk which shall
destroy them.
PRESIDENT. I am all attention.
WORM. Either my knowledge of human character is very small, or the major
is as impetuous in jealousy as in love. Make him suspect the girl's
constancy,--whether probable or not does not signify. One grain of
leaven will be enough to ferment the whole mass.
PRESIDENT. But where shall we find that grain?
WORM. Now, then, I come to the point. But first explain to me how much
depends upon the major's compliance. How far is it of consequence that
the romance with the music-master's daughter should be brought to a
conclusion and the marriage with Lady Milford effected?
PRESIDENT. How can you ask me, Worm? If the match with Lady Milford is
broken off I stand a fair chance of losing my whole influence; on the
other hand, if I force the major's consent, of losing my head.
WORM (with animation). Now have the kindness to listen to me. The major
must be entangled in a web. Your whole power must be employed against
his mistress. We must make her write a love-letter, address it to a
third party, and contrive to drop it cleverly in the way of the major.
PRESIDENT. Absurd proposal! As if she would consent to sign her own
death-warrant.
WORM. She must do so if you will but let me follow my own plan. I know
her gentle heart thoroughly; she has but two vulnerable sides by which
her conscience can be attacked; they are her father and the major. The
latter is entirely out of the question; we must, therefore, make the most
of the musician.
PRESIDENT. In what way?
WORM. From the description your excellency gave me of what passed in his
house nothing can be easier than to terrify the father with the threat of
a criminal process. The person of his favorite, and of the keeper of the
seals, is in some degree the representative of the duke himself, and he
who offends the former is guilty of treason towards the latter.
'Twas not your child's fault that the dream was so heavenly--the waking
so terrible!
MILLER. Louisa! Louisa! O merciful heaven! she has lost her senses!
My daughter! My poor child! Curses upon thy seducer! Curses upon the
pandering mother who threw thee in his way!
MRS. MILLER (weeping on LOUISA'S neck). Daughter, do I deserve this
curse? God forgive you, major! What has this poor lamb done that you
bring this misery upon her?
FERDINAND (with resolution). I will unravel the meshes of these
intrigues. I will burst asunder these iron chains of prejudice. As a
free-born man will I make my choice, and crush these insect souls with
the colossal force of my love! [Going.
LOUISA (rises trembling from the sofa, and attempts to follow him).
Stay, oh, stay! Whither are you going? Father! Mother! He deserts us
in this fearful hour!
MRS. MILLER (hastens towards him, and detains him). The president is
coming hither? He will ill-use my child! He will ill-use us all,--and
yet, major, you are going to leave us.
MILLER (laughs hysterically). Leave us. Of course he is! What should
hinder him? The girl has given him all she had. (Grasping FERDINAND
with one hand, and LOUISA with the other. ) Listen to me, young
gentleman. The only way out of my house is over my daughter's body. If
you possess one single spark of honor await your father's coming; tell
him, deceiver, how you stole her young and inexperienced heart; or, by
the God who made me! (thrusting LOUISA towards him with violence and
passion) you shall crush before my eyes this trembling worm whom love for
you has brought to shame and infamy!
FERDINAND (returns, and walks to and fro in deep thought). 'Tis true,
the President's power is great--parental authority is a mighty word--even
crimes claim respect when concealed within its folds. He may push that
authority far--very far! But love goes beyond it. Hear me, Louisa; give
me thy hand! (clasping it firmly). As surely as I hope for Heaven's
mercy in my dying hour, I swear that the moment which separates these
hands shall also rend asunder the thread that binds me to existence!
LOUISA. You terrify me! Turn from me! Your lips tremble! Your eyes
roll fearfully!
FERDINAND. Nay, Louisa! fear nothing! It is not madness which prompts
my oath! 'tis the choicest gift of Heaven, decision, sent to my aid at
that critical moment, when an oppressed bosom can only find relief in
some desperate remedy. I love thee, Louisa! Thou shalt be mine! 'Tis
resolved! And now for my father!
[He rushes out, and is met by the PRESIDENT.
SCENE VI.
MILLER, MRS. MILLER, LOUISA, FERDINAND, PRESIDENT, with SERVANTS.
PRESIDENT (as he enters). So! here he is! (All start in terror. )
FERDINAND (retiring a few paces). In the house of innocence!
PRESIDENT. Where a son learns obedience to his father!
FERDINAND. Permit me to----
PRESIDENT (interrupting him, turns to MILLER). The father, I presume?
MILLER. I am Miller, the musician.
PRESIDENT (to MRS. MILLER). And you, the mother?
MRS. MILLER. Yes, alas! her unfortunate mother!
FERDINAND (to MILLER. ) Father, take Louisa to her chamber--she is
fainting.
PRESIDENT. An unnecessary precaution! I will soon arouse her. (To
LOUISA. ) How long have you been acquainted with the President's son?
LOUISA (with timidity). Of the President's son I have never thought.
Ferdinand von Walter has paid his addresses to me since November last.
FERDINAND. And he adores her!
PRESIDENT (to LOUISA). Has he given you any assurance of his love?
FERDINAND. But a few minutes since, the most solemn, and God was my
witness.
PRESIDENT (to his son angrily). Silence! You shall have opportunity
enough of confessing your folly. (To LOUISA. ) I await your answer.
LOUISA. He swore eternal love to me.
FERDINAND. And I will keep my oath.
PRESIDENT (to FERDINAND). Must I command your silence? (To LOUISA).
Did you accept his rash vows?
LOUISA (with tenderness). I did, and gave him mine in exchange.
FERDINAND (resolutely). The bond is irrevocable----
PRESIDENT (to FERDINAND). If you dare to interrupt me again I'll teach
you better manners. (To LOUISA, sneeringly. ) And he paid handsomely
every time, no doubt?
LOUISA. I do not understand your question.
PRESIDENT (with an insulting laugh). Oh, indeed! Well, I only meant to
hint that--as everything has its price--I hope you have been more
provident than to bestow your favors gratis--or perhaps you were
satisfied with merely participating in the pleasure? Eh? how was it?
FERDINAND (infuriated). Hell and confusion! What does this mean?
LOUISA (to FERDINAND, with dignity and emotion). Baron von Walter, now
you are free!
FERDINAND. Father! virtue though clothed in a beggar's garb commands
respect!
PRESIDENT (laughing aloud). A most excellent joke! The father is
commanded to honor his son's strumpet!
LOUISA. Oh! Heaven and earth! (Sinks down in a swoon. )
FERDINAND (drawing his sword). Father, you gave me life, and, till now,
I acknowledged your claim on it. That debt is cancelled. (Replaces his
sword in the scabbard, and points to LOUISA. ) There lies the bond of
filial duty torn to atoms!
MILLER (who has stood apart trembling, now comes forward, by turns
gnashing his teeth in rage, and shrinking back in terror). Your
excellency, the child is the father's second self. No offence, I hope!
Who strikes the child hits the father--blow for blow--that's our rule
here. No offence, I hope!
MRS. MILLER. God have mercy on us! Now the old man has begun--we shall
all catch it with a vengeance!
PRESIDENT (who has not understood what MILLER said). What? is the old
pander stirred up? We shall have something to settle together presently,
Mr. Pander!
MILLER. You mistake me, my lord. My name is Miller, at your service for
an adagio--but, as to ladybirds, I cannot serve you. As long as there is
such an assortment at court, we poor citizens can't afford to lay in
stock! No offence, I hope!
MRS. MILLER. For Heaven's sake, man, hold your tongue! would you ruin
both wife and child?
FERDINAND (to his father). You play but a sorry part here, my lord, and
might well have dispensed with these witnesses.
MILLER (coming nearer, with increasing confidence). To be plain and
above board--No offence, I hope--your excellency may have it all your own
way in the Cabinet--but this is my house. I'm your most obedient, very
humble servant when I wait upon you with a petition, but the rude,
unmannerly intruder I have the right to bundle out--no offence, I hope!
PRESIDENT (pale with anger, and approaching MILLER). What? What's that
you dare to utter?
MILLER (retreating a few steps). Only a little bit of my mind sir--no
offence, I hope!
PRESIDENT (furiously). Insolent villain! Your impertinence shall
procure you a lodging in prison. (To his servants). Call in the
officers of justice! Away! (Some of the attendants go out. The
PRESIDENT paces the stage with a furious air. ) The father shall to
prison; the mother and her strumpet daughter to the pillory! Justice
shall lend her sword to my rage! For this insult will I have ample
amends. Shall such contemptible creatures thwart my plans, and set
father and son against each other with impunity? Tremble, miscreants! I
will glut my hate in your destruction--the whole brood of you--father,
mother, and daughter shall be sacrificed to my vengeance!
FERDINAND (to MILLER, in a collected and firm manner). Oh! not so!
Fear
not, friends! I am your protector. (Turning to the PRESIDENT, with
deference). Be not so rash, father! For your own sake let me beg of you
no violence. There is a corner of my heart where the name of father has
never yet been heard. Oh! press not into that!
PRESIDENT. Silence, unworthy boy! Rouse not my anger to greater fury!
MILLER (recovering from a stupor). Wife, look you to your daughter! I
fly to the duke. His highness' tailor--God be praised for reminding me
of it at this moment--learns the flute of me--I cannot fail of success.
(Is hastening off. )
PRESIDENT. To the duke, will you? Have you forgotten that I am the
threshold over which you must pass, or failing, perish? To the duke, you
fool? Try to reach him with your lamentations, when, reduced to a living
skeleton, you lie buried in a dungeon five fathoms deep, where light and
sound never enter; where darkness goggles at hell with gloating eyes!
There gnash thy teeth in anguish; there rattle thy chains in despair, and
groan, "Woe is me! This is beyond human endurance! "
SCENE VII.
Officers of Justice--the former.
FERDINAND (flies to LOUISA, who, overcome with fear, faints in his arms. )
Louisa! --Help, for God's sake! Terror overpowers her!
[MILLER, catching up his cane and putting on his hat,
prepares for defense. MRS. MILLER throws herself on her
knees before the PRESIDENT.
PRESIDENT (to the officers, showing his star). Arrest these offenders in
the duke's name. Boy, let go that strumpet! Fainting or not--when once
her neck is fitted with the iron collar the mob will pelt her till she
revives.
MRS. MILLER. Mercy, your excellency! Mercy! mercy!
MILLER (snatching her from the ground with violence). Kneel to God, you
howling fool, and not to villains--since I must to prison any way!
PRESIDENT (biting his lips. ) You may be out in your reckoning,
scoundrel! There are still gallows to spare! (To the officers. ) Must I
repeat my orders?
[They approach LOUISA--FERDINAND places himself before her.
FERDINAND (fiercely). Touch her who dare! (He draws his sword and
flourishes it. ) Let no one presume to lay a finger on her, whose life is
not well insured. (To the PRESIDENT. ) As you value your own safety,
father, urge me no further!
PRESIDENT (to the officers in a threatening voice). At your peril,
cowards! (They again attempt to seize LOUISA. )
FERDINAND. Hell and furies! Back, I say! (Driving them away. ) Once
more, father, I warn you--have some thought for your own safety! Drive
me not to extremity!
PRESIDENT (enraged to the officers). Scoundrels! Is this your
obedience? (The officers renew their efforts. )
FERDINAND. Well, if it must be so (attacking and wounding several of
them), Justice forgive me!
PRESIDENT (exasperated to the utmost). Let me see whether I, too, must
feel your weapon! (He seizes LOUISA and delivers her to an officer. )
FERDINAND (laughing bitterly). Father! father! Your conduct is a
galling satire upon Providence, who has so ill understood her people as
to make bad statesmen of excellent executioners!
PRESIDENT (to the officers). Away with her!
FERDINAND. Father, if I cannot prevent it, she must stand in the
pillory--but by her side will also stand the son of the president. Do
you still insist?
PRESIDENT. The more entertaining will be the exhibition. Away with her!
FERDINAND. I will pledge the honor of an officer's sword for her. Do
you still insist?
PRESIDENT. Your sword is already familiar with disgrace. Away! away!
You know my will.
FERDINAND (wrests LOUISA from the officer and holds her with one arm,
with the other points his sword at her bosom. ) Father, rather than
tamely see my wife branded with infamy I will plunge this sword into her
bosom. Do you still insist?
PRESIDENT. Do it, if the point be sharp enough!
FERDINAND (releases LOUISA, and looks wildly towards heaven). Be thou
witness, Almighty God, that I have left no human means untried to save
her! Forgive me now if I have recourse to hellish means. While you are
leading her to the pillory (speaking loudly in the PRESIDENT'S ear), I
will publish throughout the town a pleasant history of how a president's
chair may be gained! [Exit.
PRESIDENT (as if thunder-struck). How? What said he? Ferdinand!
Release her instantly! (Rushes after his son. )
ACT III.
SCENE I.
Room at the President's. Enter PRESIDENT and WORM.
PRESIDENT. That was an infernal piece of business!
WORM. Just what I feared, your excellency. Opposition may inflame the
enthusiast, but never converts him.
PRESIDENT. I had placed my whole reliance upon the success of this
attempt. I made no doubt but if the girl were once publicly disgraced,
he would be obliged as an officer and a gentleman to resign her.
WORM. An admirable idea! --had you but succeeded in disgracing her.
PRESIDENT. And yet--when I reflect on the matter coolly--I ought not to
have suffered myself to be overawed. It was a threat which he never
could have meant seriously.
WORM. Be not too certain of that! There is no folly too gross for
excited passion! You say that the baron has always looked upon
government with an eye of disapprobation. I can readily believe it. The
principles which he brought with him from college are ill-suited to our
atmosphere. What have the fantastic visions of personal nobility and
greatness of soul to do in court, where 'tis the perfection of wisdom to
be great and little by turns, as occasion demands? The baron is too
young and too fiery to take pleasure in the slow and crooked paths of
intrigue. That alone can give impulse to his ambition which seems
glorious and romantic!
PRESIDENT (impatiently). But how will these sagacious remarks advance
our affairs?
WORM. They will point out to your excellency where the wound lies, and
so, perhaps, help you to find a remedy. Such a character--pardon the
observation--ought never to have been made a confidant, or should never
have been roused to enmity. He detests the means by which you have risen
to power! Perhaps it is only the son that has hitherto sealed the lips
of the betrayer! Give him but a fair opportunity for throwing off the
bonds imposed upon him by nature! only convince him, by unrelenting
opposition to his passion, that you are no longer an affectionate father,
and that moment the duties of a patriot will rush upon him with
irresistible force! Nay, the high-wrought idea of offering so
unparalleled a sacrifice at the shrine of justice might of itself alone
have charms sufficient to reconcile him to the ruin of a parent!
PRESIDENT. Worm! Worm! To what a horrible abyss do you lead me!
WORM. Never fear, my lord, I will lead you back in safety! May I speak
without restraint?
PRESIDENT (throwing himself into a seat). Freely, as felon with felon.
WORM. Forgive me, then. It seems to me that you have to ascribe all
your influence as president to the courtly art of intrigue; why not
resort to the same means for attaining your ends as a father? I well
remember with what seeming frankness you invited your predecessor to a
game at piquet, and caroused half the night with him over bumpers of
Burgundy; and yet it was the same night on which the great mine you had
planned to annihilate him was to explode. Why did you make a public
exhibition of enmity to the major? You should by no means have let it
appear that you knew anything of his love affair. You should have made
the girl the object of your attacks and have preserved the affection of
your son; like the prudent general who does not engage the prime of the
enemy's force but creates disaffection among the ranks?
PRESIDENT. How could this have been effected?
WORM. In the simplest manner--even now the game is not entirely lost!
Forget for a time that you are a father. Do not contend against a
passion which opposition only renders more formidable. Leave me to
hatch, from the heat of their own passions, the basilisk which shall
destroy them.
PRESIDENT. I am all attention.
WORM. Either my knowledge of human character is very small, or the major
is as impetuous in jealousy as in love. Make him suspect the girl's
constancy,--whether probable or not does not signify. One grain of
leaven will be enough to ferment the whole mass.
PRESIDENT. But where shall we find that grain?
WORM. Now, then, I come to the point. But first explain to me how much
depends upon the major's compliance. How far is it of consequence that
the romance with the music-master's daughter should be brought to a
conclusion and the marriage with Lady Milford effected?
PRESIDENT. How can you ask me, Worm? If the match with Lady Milford is
broken off I stand a fair chance of losing my whole influence; on the
other hand, if I force the major's consent, of losing my head.
WORM (with animation). Now have the kindness to listen to me. The major
must be entangled in a web. Your whole power must be employed against
his mistress. We must make her write a love-letter, address it to a
third party, and contrive to drop it cleverly in the way of the major.
PRESIDENT. Absurd proposal! As if she would consent to sign her own
death-warrant.
WORM. She must do so if you will but let me follow my own plan. I know
her gentle heart thoroughly; she has but two vulnerable sides by which
her conscience can be attacked; they are her father and the major. The
latter is entirely out of the question; we must, therefore, make the most
of the musician.
PRESIDENT. In what way?
WORM. From the description your excellency gave me of what passed in his
house nothing can be easier than to terrify the father with the threat of
a criminal process. The person of his favorite, and of the keeper of the
seals, is in some degree the representative of the duke himself, and he
who offends the former is guilty of treason towards the latter.
