No More Learning

_Gab. _ (_ironically_). Right easily, methinks.
What is the spell in his asseveration 250
More than in mine?

_Stral. _ I merely said that _I_
Was satisfied--not that you are absolved.

_Gab. _ Again! Am I accused or no?

_Stral. _ Go to!
You wax too insolent. If circumstance
And general suspicion be against you,
Is the fault mine? Is't not enough that I
Decline all question of your guilt or innocence?

_Gab. _ My Lord, my Lord, this is mere cozenage[183],
A vile equivocation; you well know
Your doubts are certainties to all around you-- 260
Your looks a voice--your frowns a sentence; you
Are practising your power on me--because
You have it; but beware! you know not whom
You strive to tread on.

_Stral. _ Threat'st thou?

_Gab. _ Not so much
As you accuse. You hint the basest injury,
And I retort it with an open warning.

_Stral. _ As you have said, 'tis true I owe you something,
For which you seem disposed to pay yourself.

_Gab. _ Not with your gold.

_Stral. _ With bootless insolence.
[_To his Attendants and_ IDENSTEIN.
You need not further to molest this man, 270
But let him go his way. Ulric, good morrow!
[_Exit_ STRALENHEIM, IDENSTEIN, _and Attendants_.

_Gab. _ (_following_). I'll after him and----

_Ulr. _ (_stopping him_). Not a step.

_Gab. _ Who shall
Oppose me?

_Ulr. _ Your own reason, with a moment's
Thought.

_Gab. _ Must I bear this?

_Ulr. _ Pshaw! we all must bear
The arrogance of something higher than
Ourselves--the highest cannot temper Satan,
Nor the lowest his vicegerents upon earth.
I've seen you brave the elements, and bear
Things which had made this silkworm[184] cast his skin--
And shrink you from a few sharp sneers and words? 280

_Gab. _ Must I bear to be deemed a thief? If 'twere
A bandit of the woods, I could have borne it--
There's something daring in it:--but to steal
The moneys of a slumbering man! --

_Ulr. _ It seems, then,
You are _not_ guilty.

_Gab. _ Do I hear aright?
_You_ too!

_Ulr. _ I merely asked a simple question.

_Gab. _ If the judge asked me, I would answer "No"--
To you I answer _thus_. [_He draws_.

_Ulr. _ (_drawing_). With all my heart!

_Jos. _ Without there! Ho! help! help! --Oh, God!
here's murder! [_Exit_ JOSEPHINE, _shrieking_.

GABOR _and_ ULRIC _fight_. GABOR _is disarmed just as_
STRALENHEIM, JOSEPHINE, IDENSTEIN, _etc. , re-enter_.

_Jos. _ Oh! glorious Heaven! He's safe!

_Stral. _ (_to_ JOSEPHINE). _Who's_ safe!

_Jos. _ My----

_Ulr. _ (_interrupting her with a stern look, and turning
afterwards to_ STRALENHEIM). Both! 290
Here's no great harm done.

_Stral. _ What hath caused all this?

_Ulr. _ _You_, Baron, I believe; but as the effect
Is harmless, let it not disturb you. --Gabor!
There is your sword; and when you bare it next,
Let it not be against your _friends_.

[ULRIC _pronounces the last words slowly and emphatically
in a low voice to_ GABOR.

_Gab. _ I thank you
Less for my life than for your counsel.

_Stral. _ These
Brawls must end here.

_Gab. _ (_taking his sword_). They _shall_. You've wronged me, Ulric,
More with your unkind thoughts than sword: I would
The last were in my bosom rather than
The first in yours. I could have borne yon noble's 300
Absurd insinuations--ignorance
And dull suspicion are a part of his
Entail will last him longer than his lands--
But I may fit _him_ yet:--you have vanquished me.
I was the fool of passion to conceive
That I could cope with you, whom I had seen
Already proved by greater perils than
Rest in this arm. We may meet by and by,
However--but in friendship. [_Exit_ GABOR.

_Stral. _ I will brook
No more! This outrage following upon his insults, 310
Perhaps his guilt, has cancelled all the little
I owed him heretofore for the so-vaunted
Aid which he added to your abler succour.
Ulric, you are not hurt? --

_Ulr. _ Not even by a scratch.

_Stral. _ (_to_ IDENSTEIN). Intendant! take your measures to secure
Yon fellow: I revoke my former lenity.
He shall be sent to Frankfort with an escort,
The instant that the waters have abated.

_Iden. _ Secure him! He hath got his sword again----
And seems to know the use on't; 'tis his trade, 320
Belike;--_I'm_ a civilian.

_Stral. _ Fool! are not
Yon score of vassals dogging at your heels
Enough to seize a dozen such? Hence! after him!

_Ulr. _ Baron, I do beseech you!

_Stral. _ I must be
Obeyed. No words!

_Iden. _ Well, if it must be so--
March, vassals! I'm your leader, and will bring
The rear up: a wise general never should
Expose his precious life--on which all rests.
I like that article of war.
[_Exit_ IDENSTEIN _and Attendants_.

_Stral. _ Come hither,
Ulric; what does that woman here? Oh! now 330
I recognise her, 'tis the stranger's wife
Whom they _name_ "Werner. "

_Ulr. _ 'Tis his name.

_Stral. _ Indeed!
Is not your husband visible, fair dame? --

_Jos. _ Who seeks him?

_Stral. _ No one--for the present: but
I fain would parley, Ulric, with yourself
Alone.

_Ulr. _ I will retire with you.

_Jos. _ Not so:
You are the latest stranger, and command
All places here.
(_Aside to_ ULRIC, _as she goes out_. ) O Ulric! have a care--
Remember what depends on a rash word!

_Ulr. _ (_to_ JOSEPHINE). Fear not! --
[_Exit_ JOSEPHINE.

_Stral. _ Ulric, I think that I may trust you; 340
You saved my life--and acts like these beget
Unbounded confidence.

_Ulr. _ Say on.

_Stral. _ Mysterious
And long-engendered circumstances (not
To be now fully entered on) have made
This man obnoxious--perhaps fatal to me.

_Ulr. _ Who? Gabor, the Hungarian?

_Stral. _ No--this "Werner"--
With the false name and habit.

_Ulr. _ How can this be?
He is the poorest of the poor--and yellow
Sickness sits caverned in his hollow eye[cs]:
The man is helpless.

_Stral. _ He is--'tis no matter;-- 350
But if he be the man I deem (and that
He is so, all around us here--and much
That is not here--confirm my apprehension)
He must be made secure ere twelve hours further.

_Ulr. _ And what have I to do with this?

_Stral. _ I have sent
To Frankfort, to the Governor, my friend,
(I have the authority to do so by
An order of the house of Brandenburgh),
For a fit escort--but this cursed flood
Bars all access, and may do for some hours. 360

_Ulr. _ It is abating.

_Stral. _ That is well.

_Ulr. _ But how
Am I concerned?

_Stral. _ As one who did so much
For me, you cannot be indifferent to
That which is of more import to me than
The life you rescued. --Keep your eye on _him_!
The man avoids me, knows that I now know him. --
Watch him! --as you would watch the wild boar when
He makes against you in the hunter's gap--
Like him he must be speared.

_Ulr. _ Why so?

_Stral. _ He stands
Between me and a brave inheritance! 370
Oh! could you see it! But you shall.

_Ulr. _ I hope so.

_Stral.
_ It is the richest of the rich Bohemia,
Unscathed by scorching war. It lies so near
The strongest city, Prague, that fire and sword
Have skimmed it lightly: so that now, besides
Its own exuberance, it bears double value
Confronted with whole realms far and near
Made deserts.

_Ulr. _ You describe it faithfully.

_Stral. _ Aye--could you see it, you would say so--but,
As I have said, you shall.

_Ulr. _ I accept the omen. 380

_Stral. _ Then claim a recompense from it and me,
Such as _both_ may make worthy your acceptance
And services to me and mine for ever.

_Ulr. _ And this sole, sick, and miserable wretch--
This way-worn stranger--stands between you and
This Paradise? --(As Adam did between
The devil and his)--[_Aside_].

_Stral. _ He doth.

_Ulr. _ Hath he no right?

_Stral. _ Right! none. A disinherited prodigal,
Who for these twenty years disgraced his lineage
In all his acts--but chiefly by his marriage, 390
And living amidst commerce-fetching burghers,
And dabbling merchants, in a mart of Jews.

_Ulr. _ He has a wife, then?

_Stral. _ You'd be sorry to
Call such your mother. You have seen the woman
He _calls_ his wife.

_Ulr. _ Is she not so?

_Stral. _ No more
Than he's your father:--an Italian girl,
The daughter of a banished man, who lives
On love and poverty with this same Werner.

_Ulr. _ They are childless, then?

_Stral. _ There is or was a bastard,
Whom the old man--the grandsire (as old age 400
Is ever doting) took to warm his bosom,
As it went chilly downward to the grave:
But the imp stands not in my path--he has fled,
No one knows whither; and if he had not,
His claims alone were too contemptible
To stand. --Why do you smile?

_Ulr. _ At your vain fears:
A poor man almost in his grasp--a child
Of doubtful birth--can startle a grandee!

_Stral. _ All's to be feared, where all is to be gained.

_Ulr. _ True; and aught done to save or to obtain it. 410

_Stral. _ You have harped the very string next to my heart[185].
I may depend upon you?

_Ulr. _ 'Twere too late
To doubt it.

_Stral. _ Let no foolish pity shake
Your bosom (for the appearance of the man
Is pitiful)--he is a wretch, as likely
To have robbed me as the fellow more suspected,
Except that circumstance is less against him;
He being lodged far off, and in a chamber
Without approach to mine; and, to say truth,
I think too well of blood allied to mine, 420
To deem he would descend to such an act:
Besides, he was a soldier, and a brave one
Once--though too rash.

_Ulr. _ And they, my Lord, we know
By our experience, never plunder till
They knock the brains out first--which makes them heirs,
Not thieves. The dead, who feel nought, can lose nothing,
Nor e'er be robbed: their spoils are a bequest--
No more.

_Stral. _ Go to! you are a wag. But say
I may be sure you'll keep an eye on this man,
And let me know his slightest movement towards 430
Concealment or escape.

_Ulr. _ You may be sure
You yourself could not watch him more than I
Will be his sentinel.

_Stral. _ By this you make me
Yours, and for ever.

_Ulr. _ Such is my intention. [_Exeunt_.




ACT III.

SCENE I. --_A Hall in the same Palace, from whence the
secret Passage leads_.

_Enter_ WERNER _and_ GABOR.

_Gab. _ Sir, I have told my tale: if it so please you
To give me refuge for a few hours, well--
If not, I'll try my fortune elsewhere.

_Wer. _ How
Can I, so wretched, give to Misery
A shelter? --wanting such myself as much
As e'er the hunted deer a covert----

_Gab. _ Or
The wounded lion his cool cave. Methinks
You rather look like one would turn at bay,
And rip the hunter's entrails.

_Wer. _ Ah!

_Gab. _ I care not
If it be so, being much disposed to do 10
The same myself. But will you shelter me?
I am oppressed like you--and poor like you--
Disgraced----

_Wer. _ (_abruptly_). Who told you that I was disgraced?

_Gab. _ No one; nor did I say _you_ were so: with
Your poverty my likeness ended; but
I said _I_ was so--and would add, with truth,
As undeservedly as _you_.

_Wer. _ Again!
As _I_?

_Gab. _ Or any other honest man.
What the devil would you have? You don't believe me
Guilty of this base theft?

_Wer. _ No, no--I cannot. 20

_Gab. _ Why that's my heart of honour! yon young gallant--
Your miserly Intendant and dense noble--
All--all suspected me; and why? because
I am the worst clothed, and least named amongst them;
Although, were Momus'[186] lattice in your breasts,
My soul might brook to open it more widely
Than theirs: but thus it is--you poor and helpless--
Both still more than myself.

_Wer. _ How know you that?

_Gab. _ You're right: I ask for shelter at the hand
Which I call helpless; if you now deny it, 30
I were well paid. But you, who seem to have proved
The wholesome bitterness of life, know well,
By sympathy, that all the outspread gold
Of the New World the Spaniard boasts about
Could never tempt the man who knows its worth,
Weighed at its proper value in the balance,
Save in such guise (and there I grant its power,
Because I feel it,) as may leave no nightmare
Upon his heart o' nights.

_Wer. _ What do you mean?

_Gab. _ Just what I say; I thought my speech was plain: 40
You are no thief--nor I--and, as true men,
Should aid each other.

_Wer. _ It is a damned world, sir.

_Gab. _ So is the nearest of the two next, as
The priests say (and no doubt they should know best),
Therefore I'll stick by this--as being both
To suffer martyrdom, at least with such
An epitaph as larceny upon my tomb.
It is but a night's lodging which I crave;
To-morrow I will try the waters, as
The dove did--trusting that they have abated. 50

_Wer. _ Abated? Is there hope of that?

_Gab. _ There was
At noontide.

_Wer. _ Then we may be safe.

_Gab. _ Are _you_
In peril?

_Wer. _ Poverty is ever so.

_Gab. _ That I know by long practice. Will you not
Promise to make mine less?

_Wer. _ Your poverty?

_Gab. _ No--you don't look a leech for that disorder;
I meant my peril only: you've a roof,
And I have none; I merely seek a covert.

_Wer. _ Rightly; for how should such a wretch as I
Have gold?

_Gab. _ Scarce honestly, to say the truth on't, 60
Although I almost wish you had the Baron's.

_Wer. _ Dare you insinuate?

_Gab. _ What?

_Wer. _ Are you aware
To whom you speak?

_Gab. _ No; and I am not used
Greatly to care. (_A noise heard without_. ) But hark! they come!

_Wer. _ Who come?

_Gab. _ The Intendant and his man-hounds after me:
I'd face them--but it were in vain to expect
Justice at hands like theirs. Where shall I go?
But show me any place. I do assure you,
If there be faith in man, I am most guiltless:
Think if it were your own case!

_Wer. _ (_aside_). Oh, just God! 70
Thy hell is not hereafter! Am I dust still?

_Gab. _ I see you're moved; and it shows well in you:
I may live to requite it.

_Wer. _ Are you not
A spy of Stralenheim's?

_Gab. _ Not I! and if
I were, what is there to espy in you?
Although, I recollect, his frequent question
About you and your spouse might lead to some
Suspicion; but you best know--what--and why.
I am his deadliest foe.

_Wer. _ _You? _

_Gab. _ After such
A treatment for the service which in part 80
I rendered him, I am his enemy:
If you are not his friend you will assist me.

_Wer. _ I will.

_Gab. _ But how?

_Wer. _ (_showing the panel_). There is a secret spring:
Remember, I discovered it by chance,
And used it but for safety.

_Gab. _ Open it,
And I will use it for the same.

_Wer. _ I found it,
As I have said: it leads through winding walls,
(So thick as to bear paths within their ribs,
Yet lose no jot of strength or stateliness,)
And hollow cells, and obscure niches, to 90
I know not whither; you must not advance:
Give me your word.

_Gab. _ It is unecessary:
How should I make my way in darkness through
A Gothic labyrinth of unknown windings?

_Wer. _ Yes, but who knows to what place it may lead?
_I_ know not--(mark you! )--but who knows it might not
Lead even into the chamber of your foe?
So strangely were contrived these galleries
By our Teutonic fathers in old days,
When man built less against the elements 100
Than his next neighbour. You must not advance
Beyond the two first windings; if you do
(Albeit I never passed them,) I'll not answer
For what you may be led to.

_Gab. _ But I will.
A thousand thanks!

_Wer. _ You'll find the spring more obvious
On the other side; and, when you would return,
It yields to the least touch.

_Gab. _ I'll in--farewell!
[GABOR _goes in by the secret panel_.

_Wer. _ (_solus_). What have I done? Alas! what _had_ I done
Before to make this fearful? Let it be
Still some atonement that I save the man, 110
Whose sacrifice had saved perhaps my own--
They come!