Page:Wallenstein, a drama in 2 parts - Schiller (tr. Coleridge) (1800).djvu/147

'Tis true, indeed, I saw thy signature.
What thou hast sanction'd, should not, it might seem,
Have come amiss to me. But—'tis my nature—
Thou know'st that in such matters I must follow
My own light, not another's.

OCTAVIO. (goes up to him and embraces him.)

⁠Follow it,

O follow it still further, my best son!
To night, dear boy! it hath more faithfully
Guided thee than th' example of thy father.

MAX.

Declare thyself less darkly.

OCTAVIO.

⁠I will do so.

For after what has taken place this night,
There must remain no secrets 'twixt us two.
⁠(Both seat themselves.)
Max. Piccolomini! what think'st thou of
The oath that was sent round for signatures?

MAX.

I hold it for a thing of harmless import,

Altho' I love not these set declarations.

OCTAVIO.

And on no other ground hadst thou refus'd

The signature they fain had wrested from thee?

MAX.

It was a serious business———I was absent—

The affair itself seem'd not so urgent to me.

OCTAVIO.

Be open, Max. Thou hadst then no suspicion?

MAX.