SS _look at the_ ARCHDUCHESS.]

THE DUKE.

[_To the_ ARCHDUCHESS.]

You?

THE ARCHDUCHESS.

Myself.

THE DUKE.

Why so much thoughtfulness?

THE ARCHDUCHESS.

Because I love you.

THE DUKE.

Women have loved me as they love a child--

[_The_ THREE WOMEN _make a gesture of protest._]

Ah, yes! The child they pity, spoil, and shelter--
And with maternal fingers, on my brow
Still sought the golden curls which Lawrence painted.

THE COUNTESS.

No, no! We knew the struggles of your soul!

THE DUKE.

And history itself will not record
The Prince whose soul was seared with all ambitions,
But see the solemn, rosy, fair-haired child
Tricked out in laces in his little goat-cart,
Holding the globe as 'twere an air-balloon.

MARIA LOUISA.

Speak to me! I am here! Give me a word
To soothe remorse, for through no fault of mine
I was too small beside your mighty dreams.
I have the thriftless conscience of a bird!
The tinkling bells that jangle in my brain
Have never ceased till now. Look at me now!
Speak to me now! Forgive me now!

THE DUKE.

O God!
Inspire me with the deep, yet tender word
With which a son forgives his mother.

MARIA LOUISA.

Franz,
The cradle which you asked them for last night--

A LACKEY.

'Tis here.

[_He goes out to fetch it._]

THE DUKE.

[_Looking at_ METTERNICH.]

Ah, my Lord Chancellor, I die
Too soon for you; and you should weep.

METTERNICH.

My Lord--!

THE DUKE.

I was your weapon and my death disarms you!
Europe, which never dared to say you nay,
When you were he who could unchain the Eaglet,
Listening to-morrow, will take heart, and say
"I do not hear it stirring in its cage!"

METTERNICH.

My Lord! My Lord!

[_The great enamelled cradle is brought in._]

THE DUKE.

The cradle Paris gave me!
My splendid cradle, Prudhon's masterpiece!
Amidst its gold and mother-o'-pearl I slept,
A babe, whose christening was a coronation.
Place it beside this little bed, whereon
My Father slept when victory fanned his slumbers.
Closer! until its laces graze the sheets.
Alas! how near my cradle to my death-bed!

[ _He points to the gap between the cradle and the
bed._]

And all my life lies