sight, and out of the darkness there arose before me a scaffold, black, spacious, and lofty!  The sight filled me with horror.  Several persons were employed in covering with black cloth such portions of the wood-work as yet remained white and visible.  The steps were covered last, also with black;—­I saw it all.  They seemed preparing for the celebration of some horrible sacrifice.  A white crucifix, that shone like silver through the night, was raised on one side.  As I gazed the terrible conviction strengthened in my mind.  Scattered torches still gleamed here and there; gradually they flickered and went out.  Suddenly the hideous birth of night returned into its Mother’s womb.

Clara.  Hush, Brackenburg!  Be still!  Let this veil rest upon my soul.  The spectres are vanished; and thou, gentle night, lend thy mantle to the inwardly fermenting earth, she will no longer endure the loathsome burden, shuddering, she rends open her yawning chasms, and with a crash swallows the murderous scaffold.  And that God, whom in their rage they have insulted, sends down His angel from on high; at the hallowed touch of the messenger bolts and bars fly back; he pours around our friend a mild radiance, and leads him gently through the night to liberty.  My path leads also through the darkness to meet him.

Brackenburg (detaining her).  My child, whither wouldst thou go?  What wouldst thou do?

Clara.  Softly, my friend, lest some one should awake!  Lest we should awake ourselves!  Know’st thou this phial, Brackenburg?  I took it from thee once in jest, when thou, as was thy wont, didst threaten, in thy impatience, to end thy days.—­And now my friend—­

Brackenburg.  In the name of all the saints!

Clara.  Thou canst not hinder me.  Death is my portion!  Grudge me not the quiet and easy death which thou hadst prepared for thyself.  Give me thine hand!—­At the moment when I unclose that dismal portal through which there is no return, I may tell thee, with this pressure of the hand, how sincerely I have loved, how deeply I have pitied thee.  My brother died young; I chose thee to fill his place; thy heart rebelled, thou didst torment thyself and me, demanding with ever increasing fervour that which fate had not destined for thee.  Forgive me and farewell!  Let me call thee brother!  ’Tis a name that embraces many names.  Receive, with a true heart, the last fair token of the departing spirit —­take this kiss.  Death unites all, Brackenburg—­us too it will unite!

Brackenburg.  Let me then die with thee!  Share it! oh, share it!  There is enough to extinguish two lives.

Clara.  Hold!  Thou must live, thou canst live.—­Support my Mother, who, without thee, would be a prey to want.  Be to her what I can no longer be, live together, and weep for me.  Weep for our fatherland, and for him who could alone have upheld it.  The present generation must still endure this bitter woe; vengeance itself could not obliterate it.  Poor souls, live on, through this gap in time, which is time no longer.  To-day the world suddenly stands still, its course is arrested, and my pulse will beat but for a few minutes longer.  Farewell.