ATALIE. Himself?

ELECTRESS. Is he not prisoner?

LADY-IN-WAITING.
He stands without, in plumed hat and cloak,
And begs in urgent terror to be heard.

ELECTRESS (_distressed_).
Impulsive boy! To go and break his word!

NATALIE. Who knows what may torment him?

ELECTRESS (_after a moment in thought_). Let him come!

[_She seats herself._]

SCENE V

_The_ PRINCE OF HOMBURG _enters. The others as before._

THE PRINCE (_throwing himself at the feet of the_ ELECTRESS).
Oh, mother!

ELECTRESS. Prince! What are you doing here?

THE PRINCE. Oh, let me clasp your knees, oh, mother mine!

ELECTRESS (_with suppressed emotion_).
You are a prisoner, Prince, and you come hither?
Why will you heap new guilt upon the old?

THE PRINCE (_urgently_).
Oh, do you know what they have done?

ELECTRESS. Yes, all.
But what can I do, helpless I, for you?

THE PRINCE. You would not speak thus, mother mine, if death
Had ever terribly encompassed you
As it doth me. With potencies of heaven,
You and my lady, these who serve you, all
The world that rings me round, seem blest to save.
The very stable-boy, the meanest, least,
That tends your horses, pleading I could hang
About his neck, crying: Oh, save me, thou!
I, only I, alone on God's wide earth
Am helpless, desolate, and impotent.

ELECTRESS. You are beside yourself! What has occurred?

THE PRINCE. Oh, on the way that led me to your side,
I saw in torchlight where they dug the grave
That on the morrow shall receive my bones!
Look, Aunt, these eyes that gaze upon you now,
These eyes they would eclipse with night, this breast
Pierce and transpierce with murderous musketry.
The windows on the Market that shall close
Upon the weary show are all reserved;
And one who, standing on life's pinnacle,
Today beholds the future like a realm
Of faery spread afar, tomorrow lies
Stinking within the compass of two boards,
And over him a stone recounts: _He was_.

[_The_ PRINCESS, _who until now has stood in the background supporting
herself on the shoulder of one of the ladies-in-waiting, sinks into a
chair, deeply moved at his words, and begins to weep._]

ELECTRESS. My son, if such should be the will of heaven,
You will go forth with courage and calm soul.

THE PRINCE. God's world, O mother, is so beautiful