she also was silent. Only with her
eyes she spoke to him, and the tears which flowed from her eyes gave
eloquent reply to his. Thus they looked at one another, at once full of
bliss and pain. The child, which until now had sat quiet upon its mother's
arm, silent and as if in deep thought, suddenly began to move. Its large
eyes were fixed upon the man who lay there on his knees, and, whether it
were the result of an involuntary movement or the instinct of love, it
spread out its arms and smiled.

"My child, my darling child!" screamed Gabriel Nietzel, springing from his
knees and rushing forward with outstretched arms. But the frame with its
living picture hung too high--his arms could not reach it, his lips could
not touch that smiling, childish mouth to press upon it a father's kiss of
blessing and seal of love. "My child!" he cried again, and now, since love
had once opened his lips, silence could no longer be maintained.

"Rebecca, my beloved," he cried.

"Gabriel, my beloved," sounded down.

"You have broken your word!" cried Count Schwarzenberg angrily, and he
vehemently drew the string, so that the green curtain hastily rustled
together. But it was in vain. A rounded, powerful female arm thrust it
back, and now it was no more a Madonna with her Child who looked forth
from the green curtain, but a glowing creature, a wife flaming with
indignation and love, with defiance and grief.

"Nobody shall hinder me from looking at you, from speaking to you!" she
cried. "I _will_ see you, Gabriel. I _will_ tell you, that I love you and
am true to you. I _will_ tell you that I would rather go barefoot through
the world, begging with you and the child, than to live longer in this
count's grand castle, amid splendor, without you. Gabriel, rescue me from
this place; do all that they require of you, only take me away from here."

"Rebecca, I will rescue you, for I can not live without you--without you
the world is a desert to me. You are my sun and the light of my life."

"Gabriel, release me, while yet there is time. They will make a Christian
of me, and I shall renounce my faith and my salvation, in order to be with
you again, but afterward I shall die of repentance."

"Rebecca, I shall release you, and I too am ready to renounce my salvation
in order to be with you. But I will not die of repentance, for I shall
have you again, and when I look upon you and the child I shall feel no
repentance."

"Gabriel, release me, gi