THEKLA (_her eyes fixed on the door_). There he is! SCENE XVIII _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 favorable moment: This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers. [_Advancing to_ THEKLA, _who has thrown herself into her mother's arms_.] Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me! 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 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 forever. For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee! Thekla, I must--_must_ leave thee! Yet thy hatred 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! 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 Receive a full acquittal from this heart-- For any other I am no more concern'd. WALLENST. 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; 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 honor That ancient love, which so remorselessly He mangled. They are now past by, those hours 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! MAX. (_calmly_). Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power. Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage. What has detain'd me here, that too thou know'st. [_Taking_ THEKLA _by the hand_.] See, Duke! All--all would I have owed to thee, Would have received from thy paternal hand The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou Laid waste forever--that concerns not thee; Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust Their happiness who most are thine. The god Whom thou dost serve is no benignant deity Like as the blind, irreconcilable, Fierce element, incapable of compact, Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.[28] WALLENST.