We too have been in action—he but grasps
His evil fate, most evil, most mysterious!
MAX.
Let me invoke thee-—no precipitation!
OCTAVIO.
And light of tread hath Vengeance stole on after him.
Unseen she stands already, dark behind him—
But one step more—he shudders in her grasp!
—Thou hast seen Questenberg with me. As yet
Thou know'st but his ostensible commission—
He brought with him a private one, my son!
And that was for me only.
MAX.
OCTAVIO. (seizes the patent.)
(A pause.)
In this disclosure place I in thy hands
The Empire's welfare and thy father's life.
Dear to thy inmost heart is Wallenstein:
A powerful tie of love, of veneration,
Hath knit thee to him from thy earliest youth.
Thou nourishest the wish—O let me still
Anticipate thy loitering confidence!
The hope thou nourishest to knit thyself
Yet closer to him
