50
THE DEATH OF
Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me!
Confess it freely before all. Fear no one.
Let who will hear that we both love each other.
Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy
Is for the happy—misery, hopeless misery,
Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns
It dares act openly.
(he observes the Countess looking on Thekla with
expressions of triumph.)
No, Lady! No!
Expect not, hope it not. I am not come
To stay: to bid farewel, farewel for ever,
For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!
Thekla, I must—must leave thee! Yet thy hatred
Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me
One look of sympathy, only one look.
Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!
(grasps her hand.)
O God! I cannot leave this spot—I cannot!
Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!
That thou dost suffer with me, art convinc'd
That I can not ac otherwise.
(Thekla, avoiding his look, points with her hand
to her father. Max. turns round to the Duke,
whom he had not till then perceived.)
Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I fought.
I trusted never more to have beheld thee.
My business is with her alone. Here will I
Receive a full acquittal from this heart—
For any other I am no more concern'd.
Confess it freely before all. Fear no one.
Let who will hear that we both love each other.
Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy
Is for the happy—misery, hopeless misery,
Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns
It dares act openly.
(he observes the Countess looking on Thekla with
expressions of triumph.)
No, Lady! No!
Expect not, hope it not. I am not come
To stay: to bid farewel, farewel for ever,
For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!
Thekla, I must—must leave thee! Yet thy hatred
Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me
One look of sympathy, only one look.
Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!
(grasps her hand.)
O God! I cannot leave this spot—I cannot!
Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!
That thou dost suffer with me, art convinc'd
That I can not ac otherwise.
(Thekla, avoiding his look, points with her hand
to her father. Max. turns round to the Duke,
whom he had not till then perceived.)
Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I fought.
I trusted never more to have beheld thee.
My business is with her alone. Here will I
Receive a full acquittal from this heart—
For any other I am no more concern'd.
Wal-
