_Countess._ If he be Still here, then all goes well; for I know what [_Embracing THEKLA._ Will keep him here for ever. _Tertsky._ It can't be. His father has betrayed us, is gone over To the Emperor--the son could not have ventured 30 To stay behind. _Thekla (her eye fixed on the door)._ There he is! LINENOTES: [9] _he_ 1800. [After 22] [_All stand amazed._ 1800, 1828, 1829. SCENE VI _To these enter MAX PICCOLOMINI._ _Max._ Yes! here he is! I can endure no longer To creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurk In ambush for a favourable moment. This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers. [_Advancing to THEKLA._ Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me! 5 Confess it freely before all. Fear no one, Let who will hear that we both love each other. Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy Is for the happy--misery, hopeless misery, Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns 10 It dares act openly. [_He observes the COUNTESS looking on THEKLA with expressions of triumph._ No, Lady! No! Expect not, hope it not. I am not come To stay: to bid farewell, farewell for ever. For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee! Thekla, I must--must leave thee! Yet thy hatred 15 Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me One look of sympathy, only one look. Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla! [_Grasps her hand._ O God! I cannot leave this spot--I cannot! Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla! 20 That thou dost suffer with me, art convinced That I cannot act otherwise. [_THEKLA, avoiding his look, points with her hand to her father. MAX turns round to the DUKE, whom he had not till then perceived._ Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I sought. I trusted never more to have beheld thee. My business is with her alone. Here will I 25 Receive a full acquittal from this heart-- For any other I am no more concerned. _Wallenstein._ Think'st thou, that fool-like, I shall let thee go, And act the mock-magnanimous with thee? Thy father is become a villain to me; 30 I hold thee for his son, and nothing more: Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been given Into my power. Think not, that I will honour That ancient love, which so remorselessly He mangled. They are now past by, those hours 35 Of friendship and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance Succeed--'tis now their turn--I too can throw All feelings of the man aside--can prove Myself as much a monster as thy father!