Act III.

Scene I.—A Splindid Saloon in the Castle of Count Arnheim, Enter Arline, elegantly dressed for a ball.

[Count Arnheim enters with Floresten. Count Every moment you leave me is a moment of unhappiness; I am Jealous of whatever divides us, short as the interval. On a night of so much joy, when so many friends are to assemble and participate in your father's delight, let me intercede for one you have too much cause to be angry with.

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What the devil do you want in such a critical part of one's conversation.

[Devilshoof springs into the appartment

[Thaddeus enters the room.

When other lips and other hearts
Their tales of love shall tell,
In language whose excess imparts
The power they feel so well.
There may, perhaps, in such a scene,
Some recollection be
Of days that have so happy been.
Then you'll remember me.
When coldness and deceit shall slight
The beauty now they prize.
And deem it but a faded light.
page 19 Which beams within your eyes;
When hollow hearts shall wear a mask
'Twill break your own to see;
In such a moment I but ask
That you'll remember me.

Trio

Through the world wilt thou fly
From the world with me?
Wilt thou fortune's frowns defy,
As I will for thee ?

Arl.

Through the world I will fly
From the would with thee;
Could I hush a father's sigh
That would heave for me.

Dev.

Ml the world hither fly,
Come away with me;
Never let a lover's sigh
Ruin bring on thee !
Hasten, hasten, thy safety calls;
See where they throng the halls !
This way.

Arl.

Stop ! do not snap the string
Of the fondest tie
In my memory
To which the heart can cling.

Tha.

I am chained to the spot.

Dev.

Nearer they come.

Arl.

Oh, leave me not !

Tha.

Oh, where should affections feelings rest,
If they may repose on affection's breast ?
Better to die than live to grieve
Over the pangs such partings leave !

Dev.

A moment more your doom is cast !

Arl.

The hopes that were brightest, the dreams of the
In the fullness of promise recede, [past
And render the prospect dark indeed.

Dev.

Escape is hopeless

Arl.

Enter here,
Where detection we need not fear.

Tha.

If it were not for thee, I would here await
The venomed shafts of their deadliest hate.
Though here you may linger I will not await
The certain blow of their power and hate.
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Arl.

Oh, if only for me, no longer await
The venomed shafts of their deadliest hate.

[Thaddeus takes refuge in the cabinet. A brilliant assemblage enters, led by Count Arnheim.

Count Welcome, welcome, all—share with me all the joy I feel while I present my loved and long-lost daughter.

Welcome the present, oh, ponder not
On the days departed now;
Let the cares that were theirs be forgot,
And raised from pleasure's brow :
Never mind time, nor what he has done,
If he only the present will smile upon.

Flo.

This is not an ornament fit to grace,
At such a moment such stately place;
And perchance 'twere best to hide the prize,
In this recess, from his lordship's eyes.

Arl.

That room and its treasures belong to me,
And from all intrusion must sacred be.

Cho.

Never mind time, nor what he has done,
If he only the present will smile upon !
Welcome the present, oh, ponder not
On the days departed now;
Let the cares that were the is be forgot,
And raised from pleasure's brow:
What sounds break on the ear,
Checking young joy's career?

[A female closely veiled, enters apartment and goes up to Count Arnheim.

Heed the warning voice !
Wail, and not rejoice !
The foe to the rest
Is one thou lov'st best.

Count

Who and what art thou?
Whom dost thou deem my foe?

Queen

Think not my warning wild !
'Tis thy re-found child!
She loves a youth of the tribe I sway,
And braves the world's reproof;
List to the words I say—
He is now concealed under thy roof !

Count

Base wretch, thou liest!

Queen

Thy faith I begrudge—

[Count rushing to the door of the cabinet, which Arline in vain opposes.

Stand not across my path,
Brave not a father's wrath.

Thrown thus across thy path.
Let me abide thy wrath.

[The Count pushes Arline aside, opens the door, and Thaddeus appears.]

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Quintette and Chorus.

To shame and feeling dead,
Now hopeless to deplore,
The thunder bursting on thy head,
Had not surprised me more.

Flo.

And this is why she said,
I must not touch the door:
It clearly would have been ill-bred,
For rivals are a bore.

Tha.

Though every hope be fled.
Which seemed so bright before,
The vengeance I scorn to dread
Which they can on me pour.

Arl.

To all but vengeance dead,
She stands mine eyes before;
Its thunders waiting on my head,
In all her hate to pour.

Queen

All other feeling dead.
Revenge can hope restore;
Its thunders on her daring head,
I only live to pour.

Cho.

Although to feeling dead,
This sorrow we deplore:
The thunder bursting o'er our head,
Had not surprised us more.

Leave the place thy polluting step hath cross'd—
Depart, or thou art lost.

Tha.

(casting a sorrowful look on Arline.)
To threats I should contemn.
For thy dear sake I yield.

Arl.

The bursting torrent I will stem,
And him I live to shield.
Break not the only tie,
That bids my heart rejoice,
For whom contented I would die,
The husband of my choice.

Count

Depart, ere my thirsty weapon stains
These halls with the Wood of thy recreant veins.

(to Arl.)

False thing, beloved too long, too well,
Brave not the madness thou canst not quell.

Queen

List to the warning voice that calls thee !
Fly from the peril which enthralls thee !
Weep rivers—for ages pine !
He shall never be thine.

Arl.

Your pardon, if I seek
With my father alone to speak.

[Exeunt everyone at the large doors on each side of the windows, which close upon them; the Queen is seen to pass out of the window.

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(falling at the Count's feet)
See at your feet a suppliant—one
Whose place should be your heart;
Behold the only living thing
To which she had to cling;
Who saved her life, watched o'er her years,
With all the fondness faith endears,
And her affections won—
Rend not such ties apart,

Count

Child, Arline, wilt thou—darcst thou heap
A stain thine after life will weep
On these hairs by thee and sorrow bleached ?
On this heart dishonour never reached ?

Arl.

(rising and seeking refuge in the arms of Thaddeus.
Whatever the danger, the ruin, the strife,
It must fail, united we are for life.

Cooat

(with rage)
United, and would'st thou link my name
In a chain of such deep disgrace?
My rank, my very blood defame,
With a blot no time can efface!
The child of my heart, of my house the pride
An outcast Gipsy's bride.

Tha.

Proud lord, although this head proscribed,
Should fall by the weapons thy wealth hath bribed;
Although in revealing the name I bear,
The home I shall see no more;
The land which to thee in its deepest despair
The deadliest hatred bore.
I may fall as have fallen the bravest of foes—
'Twere better like them to die,
And in dishonored earth to lie,
Than bear unresented reproaches like those.
Start not, but listen—
When the fair land of Poland was ploughed by the [unclear: hoo]
Of the ruthless invader; when might
With steel to the bosom and flame to the roof,
Completed her triumph o'er right:
In the moment of danger when freedom invoked
All fatherless sons of her pride,
In a phalanx as dauntless as freedom e'er yoked
I fought and fell by her side.
My birth is noble, unstained my crest
As is thine own—let this attest.

[Takes his commission, as seen in Act I, from him bosom, and gives it to the Count, who stands fixed and bewildered.

Pity for one in childhood torn
From kindred with whom she dwelt,
Ripened in after years to love.
Has made me thus far faith renew
With outlaw's chance first linked me too;
page 23 As a foe on this head let your hatred be piled,
But despise not one who has so loved your child.

The feuds of a nation's strife,
The parly storms of life,
Should never their sorrows impart,
To the calmer scenes of the heart.
By this hand let thine hold,
Till the blood of its vein be cold.

[Thaddeus is about to fall at the Count's feet.

Not at mine—be that homage paid at hers
Who the fond one of feeling on her confers.

Trio.

Let not the soul over sorrows grieve,
With which the bosom hath ceased to heave;
Let us not think of the tempest past
If we reach the haven at last.

Arl.

Ne'er should the soul over sorrows grieve,
With which the bosom hath ceased to heave;
Nor should we think of the tempest past
If we reach the haven at last.

Tha.

Why should thy soul over sorrows grieve,
With which the bosom hath ceased to heave;
Why should we think of the tempest past
If we reach the haven at last?

[During the trio the Queen has been seen at the window in the back; and at the end of it, as Thaddeus is about to embrace Arline, the Queen points him out to a Gipsy by her side, who is in the act of firing at him, when Devilshoof averts the gipsy's aim, and turns the musket towards the Queen—it goes off and she falls.]

Guard every portal—summon each guest and friend,
And this festive scene.

Arline and Chorus.
Oh! what full delight
Through my bosom thrills
And a wilder glow
In my heart instils !
Bliss, unfelt before,
Hope without alloy
Speak with raptured tone
Of that heart the joy.

[As the curtain descends, is heard under the window at back

The Gipsies' Chorus,
In the Gipsy's life you may read
The life that all would like to lead.

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