Part 74 (2/2)

Uproar of the PEOPLE, rus.h.i.+ng in.

PEOPLE. Robbers! murderers! Who makes such a dreadful noise at this midnight hour!

SCHWEIT (still in the street). Beat them back, comrades! 'Tis the devil, come to fetch your master. Where is Schwarz with his troop?

Surround the castle, Grimm! Scale the walls!

GRIMM. Bring the firebrands. Either we must up or he must down. I will throw fire into his halls.

FRANCIS (praying). Oh Lord! I have been no common murderer--I have been guilty of no petty crimes, gracious Lord--

DANIEL. Heaven be merciful to us! His very prayers are turned to sins.

(Stones and firebrands are hurled up from below; the windows fall in with a crash; the castle takes fire.)

FRANCIS. I cannot pray. Here! and here! (striking his breast and his forehead) All is so void--so barren! (Rises from his knees.) No, I will not pray. Heaven shall not have that triumph, nor h.e.l.l that pastime.

DANIEL. O holy Virgin! Help! save! The whole castle is in flames!

FRANCIS. There, take this sword! Quick! Run it right through my body, that these fiends may not be in time to make holiday sport of me. (The fire increases.)

DANIEL. Heaven forbid? Heaven forbid! I would send no one before his time to heaven, much less to--(He runs away).

FRANCIS (following him with a ghastly stare, after a pause).

To h.e.l.l, thou wouldst say. Indeed! I scent something of the kind.

(In delirium.) Are these their triumphant yells? Do I hear you hissing, ye serpents of the abyss? They force their way up--they besiege the door! Why do I shrink from this biting steel? The door cracks--it yields--there is no escape! Ha! then do thou have mercy upon me! (He tears away the golden cord from his hat, and strangles himself.)*

*[In the acting edition, Francis attempts to throw himself into the flames, but is prevented by the robbers, and taken alive. He is then brought before his brother, in chains, for sentence.

SCHWEITZER says, ”I have fulfilled my word, and brought him alive.”

GRIMM. ”We tore him out of the flames and the castle is in ashes.”

After confronting Francis with his father, and a reproachful interview between the brothers, Charles delegates the judgment on Francis to Schweitzer and Kosinsky, but for himself forgives him in these words: ”Thou hast robbed me of heaven's bliss! Be that sin blotted out! Thy doom is sealed--perdition is thy lot! But I forgive thee, brother.” Upon this CHARLES embraces and leaves him; the ROBBERS however, thrust FRANCIS into the dungeon where he had immured his father, laughing in a savage manner. Beyond this the fate of Francis is left undetermined. Schweitzer, instead of killing himself, is made partaker, with Kosinsky, of Moor's estate.]

Enter SCHWEITZER and his band.

SCHWEITZER. Murderous wretch, where art thou? Did you see how they fled? Has he so few friends? Where has the beast crawled to?

GRIMM (stumbles over the corpse). Stay! what is this lying in the way?

Lights here.

SCHWARZ. He has been beforehand with us. Put up your swords. There he lies sprawling like a dead dog.

SCHWEITZER. Dead! What! dead? Dead without me? 'Tis a lie, I say.

Mark how quickly he will spring upon his feet! (Shakes him). Hollo!

up with you? There is a father to be murdered.

GRIMM. Spare your pains. He is as dead as a log.

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