_Elizabeth to Count Oswald_ In vain do I strive to turn my thoughts from Montfort; the reflection “what is to become of him” occupies my mind incessantly. Alas! there was a time, when I loved him with such passion! when there was nothing which I would not have given to purchase for him one moment’s happiness! and _now_, oh! what a change! _she_, who once was ready to sacrifice for this Montfort every thing, even the affection of a warning brother, who saw deeper into the deceiver’s heart than herself; _she_ now hesitates, by giving up a few superfluous miles of territory and some high-sounding empty titles, to rescue him from the very abyss of misery and ruin!—and all this change in her heart is produced by the sole reflection, that Montfort’s prosperity would now be shared no longer with herself. Oh! Elizabeth! Elizabeth! thou hast a groveling soul! thy passion for Henry, so falsely called heroic, was nothing better than mere self-love! Chide me not, dear brother, for this want of resolution; I am conscious the expression of such feelings must be little expected by you after the temper of mind, in which you saw me when we parted: but you know not the dreadful contest between affection and duty, which has but lately been excited in my bosom—what! Henry imprisoned by his uncle, as a punishment for having bestowed his heart on the portionless Ida? Henry, commanded by the incensed Count de Montfort to purchase liberty by offering me his hand? What then, do I live to see my nuptial bed made the alternative of a dungeon? Oswald! Oswald! oh! what a humiliation for the proud Elizabeth, let what is required of him be refused or accepted by Henry!—as for myself, my resolution is fixed; but yet, through respect for you and your counsels, it has not been fixed till after mature deliberation. I will not have the appearance of acting either from an impulse of extravagant generosity, or from that spirit of refined vengeance, which induces us to crush our enemies under the load of obligations: no; I will do nothing but my _duty_. I have submitted the whole affair to the decision of an impartial judge: I will ascertain how much I _ought_ to do for the Damsels of Werdenberg, and exactly that much will I do, without desiring to be thanked by any one. What would be my feelings, Oswald.... Heaven and Earth! what would be my feelings, were I to hear Montfort thank me for having _kindly_ facilitated his union with his beloved Ida! _Elizabeth to Oswald._