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Midnight. ELSIE standing by their bedside, weeping.
GOTTLIEB. THE WIND is roaring; the rushing rain | |
| Is loud upon roof and window-pane, | |
| As if the Wild Huntsman of Rodenstein, | |
| Boding evil to me and mine, | |
| Were abroad to-night with his ghostly train! | 5 |
| In the brief lulls of the tempest wild, | |
| The dogs howl in the yard; and hark! | |
| Some one is sobbing in the dark, | |
Here in the chamber!
ELSIE. It is I. | |
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URSULA. Elsie! what ails thee, my poor child? | 10 |
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ELSIE. I am disturbed and much distressed, | |
| In thinking our dear Prince must die; | |
| I cannot close mine eyes, nor rest. | |
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GOTTLIEB. What wouldst thou? In the Power Divine | |
| His healing lies, not in our own; | 15 |
| It is in the hand of God alone. | |
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ELSIE. Nay, He has put it into mine, | |
And into my heart!
GOTTLIEB. Thy words are wild! | |
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URSULA. What dost thou mean? my child! my child! | |
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ELSIE. That for our dear Prince Henry’s sake | 20 |
| I will myself the offering make, | |
| And give my life to purchase his. | |
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URSULA. Am I still dreaming, or awake? | |
| Thou speakest carelessly of death, | |
| And yet thou knowest not what it is. | 25 |
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ELSIE. ’T is the cessation of our breath. | |
| Silent and motionless we lie; | |
| And no one knoweth more than this. | |
| I saw our little Gertrude die; | |
| She left off breathing, and no more | 30 |
| I smoothed the pillow beneath her head. | |
| She was more beautiful than before. | |
| Like violets faded were her eyes; | |
| By this we knew that she was dead. | |
| Through the open window looked the skies | 35 |
| Into the chamber where she lay, | |
| And the wind was like the sound of wings, | |
| As if angels came to bear her away. | |
| Ah! when I saw and felt these things, | |
| I found it difficult to stay; | 40 |
| I longed to die, as she had died, | |
| And go forth with her, side by side. | |
| The Saints are dead, the Martyrs dead, | |
| And Mary, and our Lord; and I | |
| Would follow in humility | 45 |
| The way by them illuminèd! | |
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URSULA. My child! my child! thou must not die! | |
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ELSIE. Why should I live? Do I not know | |
| The life of woman is full of woe? | |
| Toiling on and on and on, | 50 |
| With breaking heart, and tearful eyes, | |
| And silent lips, and in the soul | |
| The secret longings that arise, | |
| Which this world never satisfies! | |
| Some more, some less, but of the whole | 55 |
| Not one quite happy, no, not one! | |
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URSULA. It is the malediction of Eve! | |
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ELSIE. In place of it, let me receive | |
| The benediction of Mary, then. | |
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GOTTLIEB. Ah, woe is me! Ah, woe is me! | 60 |
| Most wretched am I among men! | |
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URSULA. Alas! that I should live to see | |
| Thy death, beloved, and to stand | |
| Above thy grave! Ah, woe the day! | |
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ELSIE. Thou wilt not see it. I shall lie | 65 |
| Beneath the flowers of another land, | |
| For at Salerno, far away | |
| Over the mountains, over the sea, | |
| It is appointed me to die! | |
| And it will seem no more to thee | 70 |
| Than if at the village on market-day | |
| I should a little longer stay | |
Than I am wont.
URSULA. Even as thou sayest! | |
| And how my heart beats, when thou stayest! | |
| I cannot rest until my sight | 75 |
| Is satisfied with seeing thee. | |
What then, if thou wert dead?
GOTTLIEB. Ah me! | |
| Of our old eyes thou art the light! | |
| The joy of our old hearts art thou! | |
And wilt thou die?
URSULA. Not now! not now! | 80 |
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ELSIE. Christ died for me, and shall not I | |
| Be willing for my Prince to die? | |
| You both are silent; you cannot speak. | |
| This said I at our Saviour’s feast | |
| After confession, to the priest, | 85 |
| And even he made no reply. | |
| Does he not warn us all to seek | |
| The happier, better land on high, | |
| Where flowers immortal never wither; | |
| And could he forbid me to go thither? | 90 |
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GOTTLIEB. In God’s own time, my heart’s delight! | |
| When He shall call thee, not before! | |
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ELSIE. I heard Him call. When Christ ascended | |
| Triumphantly, from star to star, | |
| He left the gates of heaven ajar. | 95 |
| I had a vision in the night, | |
| And saw Him standing at the door | |
| Of his Father’s mansion, vast and splendid, | |
| And beckoning to me from afar. | |
I cannot stay!
GOTTLIEB. She speaks almost | 100 |
| As if it were the Holy Ghost | |
| Spake through her lips, and in her stead! | |
What if this were of God?
URSULA. Ah, then | |
Gainsay it dare we not.
GOTTLIEB. Amen! | |
| Elsie! the words that thou hast said | 105 |
| Are strange and new for us to hear, | |
| And fill our hearts with doubt and fear. | |
| Whether it be a dark temptation | |
| Of the Evil One, or God’s inspiration, | |
| We in our blindness cannot say. | 110 |
| We must think upon it, and pray; | |
| For evil and good it both resembles. | |
| If it be of God, his will be done! | |
| May He guard us from the Evil One! | |
| How hot thy hand is! how it trembles! | 115 |
| Go to thy bed, and try to sleep. | |
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URSULA. Kiss me. Good night; and do not weep!ELSIE goes out. | |
| Ah, what an awful thing is this! | |
| I almost shuddered at her kiss, | |
| As if a ghost had touched my cheek, | 120 |
| I am so childish and so weak! | |
| As soon as I see the earliest gray | |
| Of morning glimmer in the east, | |
| I will go over to the priest, | |
| And hear what the good man has to say! | 125 |
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