retched to have to beg, and that too with a bad conscience.
It's so wretched to wander about in strange lands ... and
they'll catch me all the same.

FAUST. I shall be with thee.

GRETCHEN. _Quick! Quick!_ Save it! Save my child!... Onward!
Right up that path alongside the stream ... over the bridge
... there!... into the wood.... There! to the left! there,
where the plank lies--in the pond! Catch hold of it! Catch
it! It's rising!... It's struggling! Save it! save it!

FAUST. Bethink thyself! One step and thou art free!

GRETCHEN. If only we were over that hill!... There's mother
sitting there on a stone. (Ah! what was that, like an icy
hand, grasping my hair?) ... She sits and wags with her
head--she does not beckon or nod to us ... her head droops
so heavily. Yes, she slept so long, and she will wake no
more. She slept that we might have joy. Ah, those were happy
times!

FAUST. No entreaty avails--no words are of use. I shall have
to carry thee away. [_Seizes hold of her._

GRETCHEN. _Let me go!_ I will not suffer violence. Seize not
hold of me so murderously. All _else_ I did for _love_ of
thee.

FAUST. The day is dawning! Dearest! dearest!

GRETCHEN. _Day?_ Yes--the day is coming! The last day is
dawning! It was to have been my wedding day. Woe to my
wreath! But what is, must be! We shall see each other again
... but not at the dance! The crowd is thronging.... One
hears no word.... The square, the streets, cannot contain
them.... The bell is tolling--the staff is broken.... They
seize me! They bind me fast! I am being dragged already to
the block! Each feels the axe at his own neck as its keen
blade flashes down on _mine_ ... and the world lies dark and
silent as the grave.

FAUST. O that I never had been born!

MEPH. (_appears at the door_). Come! or you are lost!...
Foolish, useless hesitation--delaying and gossiping! My
horses are shuddering and the morning twilight breaks.

GRETCHEN (_seeing MEPHISTOPHELES_). What is this that rises
from the ground? He! _He!_ Send him away! What does _he_
want at this holy spot?

MEPH. (_to FAUST_). Come! come! or I shall leave you in the
lurch.

GRETCHEN. I am thine, Father--save me! Ye angels, holy
cohorts, encamp around me and defend me! (_To F