FERDINAND (in violent agitation). No! no! That revenge were too satanic! No! God forbid! I will not extend my anger beyond the grave! Louisa, didst thou love the marshal? Thou wilt leave this room no more! LOUISA (sitting down). Ask what you will. I shall give no answer. FERDINAND (in a solemn voice). Take heed for thy immortal soul! Louisa! Didst thou love the marshal? Thou wilt leave this room no more! LOUISA. I shall give no answer. FERDINAND (throwing himself on his knees before her in the deepest emotion). Louisa! Didst thou love the marshal? Before this light burns out--thou wilt stand--before the throne of God! LOUISA (starting from her seat in terror). Merciful Jesus! what was that? And I feel so ill! (She falls back into her chair.) FERDINAND. Already? Oh, woman, thou eternal paradox! thy delicate nerves can sport with crimes at which manhood trembles; yet one poor grain of arsenic destroys them utterly! LOUISA. Poison! poison! Oh! Almighty God! FERDINAND. I fear it is so! Thy lemonade was seasoned in hell! Thou hast pledged death in the draught! LOUISA. To die! To die! All-merciful God! Poison in my drink! And to die! Oh! have mercy on my soul, thou Father in heaven! FERDINAND. Ay, be that thy chief concern: I will join thee in that prayer. LOUISA. And my mother! My father, too! Saviour of the world! My poor forlorn father! Is there then no hope? And I so young, and yet no hope? And must I die so soon? FERDINAND. There is no hope! None!--you are already doomed! But be calm. We shall journey together. LOUISA. Thou too, Ferdinand? Poison, Ferdinand! From thee! Oh! God forgive him! God of mercy, lay not this crime on him! FERDINAND. Look to your own account. I fear it stands but ill. LOUISA. Ferdinand! Ferdinand! Oh! I can be no longer silent. Death-- death absolves all oaths. Ferdinand! Heaven and earth contain nothing more unfortunate than thou! I die innocent, Ferdinand! FERDINAND (terrified). Ah! What do I hear? Would she rush into the presence of her Maker with a lie on her lips? LOUISA. I lie not! I do not lie! In my whole life I never lied but once! Ugh! what an icy shivering creeps through my veins! When I wrote that letter to the marshal. FERDINAND. Ha! That letter! Blessed be to God! Now I am myself again! LOUISA (her voice every moment becomes more indistinct. Her fingers tremble with a convulsive motion). That letter. Prepare yourself for a terrible disclosure! My hand wrote what my heart abhorred. It was dictated by your father! (Ferdinand stands like a statue petrified with horror. After a long silence, he falls upon the floor as if struck by lightning.) Oh! that sorrowful act!----Ferdinand--I was compelled-- forgive me--thy Louisa would have preferred death--but my father--his life in danger! They were so crafty in their villany. FERDINAND (starting furiously from the ground). God be thanked! The poison spares me yet! (He seizes his sword.)