ny more!

FAUST (_kneels beside her_). He that loves thee kneels
before thee.

GRETCHEN. O let us kneel and call upon the saints. But ...
ah!... Look!... Under those steps, under the threshold, hell
is flaming. The Evil One is raging there so furiously.
Listen, how he roars and thunders!

FAUST. Gretchen! Gretchen!

GRETCHEN (_listening_). That was the voice of my friend!
Where is he? I heard him call.... Right through the howling
and uproar of hell, through the horrid laughter of the
devils, I recognized that sweet loving tone.

FAUST. It is I.

GRETCHEN. Thou!... O say it once more! (_Clasping him._) It
is! it is he! Where is now all my pain? Where is the anguish
of the dungeon and the chain?

FAUST. Come! Come with me!

GRETCHEN. O stay!... I am so happy at thy side.... What! not
one kiss!... Ah, woe, thy lips are cold. Where is all thy
love? Who has stolen it from me?

FAUST. Come! Follow!... Be courageous, loved one! Come with
me!

GRETCHEN. Thou art loosening my chain.... Know'st thou, my
friend, _whom_ thou art releasing?

FAUST. Come, come! Night is already on the wane.

GRETCHEN. My mother I have killed. I have drowned my child.
Was it not given to thee and to me? Yes, to thee too.... And
thou art really here! Thou! I can scarce believe it. Give me
thy hand--thy dear hand! _Ah_, but it is wet. Wipe it, wipe
it! It looks like blood upon it. O God, what hast thou done!
Put up thy sword, I beg thee! Put it away!

FAUST. Let the past be past. Thou art killing me.

GRETCHEN. No--_thou_ must live!... I will tell thee about
the graves that thou must provide to-morrow. Give mother
the best place, and brother close to her--and me a little on
one side ... only not too far away. And lay the little one
in my bosom.... No one else shall lie with me. To cling to
thy side, that was once such sweet blissful joy ... but I
seem no longer able ... as if I had to force myself, and as
if thou didst thrust me back.... And yet it _is_ thou, and
thou look'st so kind and good.

FAUST. If thou feel'st that it is I, then come!

GRETCHEN. Out _there_?

FAUST. To freedom!

GRETCHEN. I dare not. For me there is no hope more. What is
the use to flee? They are lurking after me.... It's so
w