_Ab._ Fiend! coward! traitor! Who, to destroy Manfredi's evidence, sought his destruction;--who, by false statement and concurring circumstance, secur'd his triumph--who still comes forth to immolate more innocence! and Corbey's abbot is to share in the new sacrifice! No, though our order teaches resignation--yet teaching fortitude and love of virtue, my founder's spirit shall inspire my soul, and once more Charlemagne shall vanquish here! _Bern._ Audacious, impious slanderer! Compare ennobled and established worth with such confirm'd disgrace--(_flourish of drums and trumpets, and noise of walls falling_)--They force the outworks! Instant aid their entrance! and hail the downfall of such perjured arrogance! _St. Clair._ Come! _Ab._ (_getting between them and the gates._) St. Clair! Bernardo! who once call'd me friend! and who, on sudden impulse, have drawn forth what I so long and anxiously kept secret, will you desert me at this awful moment? or, to the last contending for our abbey's rights, implore these warriors from the holy land, not to take arms against a sacred cause! She's wrong'd, she's innocent. _Bern._ 'Tis false--most false! _Enter_ Ravensburg. _Rav._ My lord, all's lost! The savage and inveterate foe have storm'd the walls, and rush to glut their vengeance. _Ab._ (_to Ravensburg apart._) And from your father! None--no hope? _Rav._ None! He merely states, that dreading he might lose her, who'd supply a daughter's loss; and fearing to increase an orphan's grief, he cautiously concealed, how, one autumnal night some fourteen years ago, he saw upon the Danube's banks, an infant seemingly expiring. He snatch'd it--sav'd it! and what the mystery might solve, if now such mystery were worth solving--this scarf (_producing it_) encircled her.--(_Abbot takes the scarf with great eagerness._)--But all is past! and Agnes, dear lov'd Agnes, by the father saved, the son must instantly behold destroyed. _Ab._ (_after having gazed on the scarf with the greatest emotion._) Eternal Providence! Theresa! princess! Oh, great God of Nature!--(_rushing into the sanctuary._) _Rav._ Theresa!--Mighty heaven! [_Flourish. The gates are forced._ _Enter the_ prince Palatine, free knights, Crusaders, _and_ soldiers. _Prin._ First seize yon renegade! (_free knights seize Ravensburg_) next force the sanctuary!--(_free knights and soldiers enter the sanctuary by force_) and then no more on others shall her fate depend. This arm----(_knights and soldiers bring Agnes from the sanctuary to the front, all the characters following_)--Now, while all thoughts are deadened in my heated brain, but those of fury and revenge--thus treason falls, and the vile traitress dies. [_Seizing Agnes, and going to stab her with his sword._ _Ab._ (_behind the crowd._) Forbear! she is your rightful princess! _Prin._ Merciful powers! who dare e'n breathe--