_Hans_. He is saved! If he were not, I'd spring in the very face of death for him,--I would spring down death's very throat; death and I, we know each other well. _Chancellor_. Thou who breathest out spume and fire as carelessly as though hell itself had brought thee forth, I ask thee who thou art, thou unclean spirit, who hast dared to raise this pious people to revolt by thy furious onslaught, and taught them to poison for themselves and the ensuing race the holy fount of justice? _Hans_. And I will answer thee: I myself am that justice. I bear it on my sword's point, I carry it here beneath my cap, I pour it forth in my master's name, who gave it for his glory and his happiness. [_Signs of anger._] If ye believe it not, then listen trembling to the thousand toned joy that peals from far away like spring thunder quivering in the air, and sweeps throughout the land the joyous message of deliverance: we are free! _Chancellor_. Speak, O Queen! Thy soldiers wait below. Methinks this servant of the defeated one has too much confidence,--he speaks as though he were instead our lord and victor. _Queen_. Let him speak! He has the right! And even were he a thousand times defeated, this man who lies before us bleeding, if he recover and seek it from me, shall be our lord and conqueror. [_Great confusion and excitement._] _Prince Witte_ [_rousing from his unconsciousness and looking about him painfully_]. There lies the heron! I have wrung his neck, I snatch my prize, my salvation ... [_feeling on his head and in his breast with anxious dismay_] where are the feathers? _Queen_. What seekest thou, dear one? _Hans_. Thou seest, O Queen, he speaks in fever. Do not listen, do not heed his words. _Prince_. Hans, Hans! _Hans_ [_close by him_]. Take care what thou sayest. _Prince_ [_whispers earnestly_]. I will away from here ... [_with a glance at the_ Queen _half complainingly_] I must away! _Hans_. When thou canst. ACT III. _A chamber in the castle. The two farther corners slope away from the front. In the left corner is a bay-window with a platform, to which steps lead up. Burning torches are stuck in the branches of the pillars which flank the steps. In the right corner is a fireplace. One can look beyond into an ante-chamber, and farther on, through a wide door-way whose curtains are drawn back, into a thickly planted garden, which at the end of its middle path shows a little of the surrounding wall. In the middle of the room is a table with seats about it. At the left in front is a couch with furs and cushions on it. At the right is the door to the sleeping apartments._ Scene I.