HEDWIG.
Alas! What is it? Come!
[Exit with the children.
TELL (to the MONK).
Thou art the Duke
Of Austria—I know it. Thou hast slain
The emperor, thy uncle, and liege lord.
DUKE JOHN.
He robbed me of my patrimony.
TELL.
How!
Slain him—thy king, thy uncle! And the earth
Still bears thee! And the sun still shines on thee!
DUKE JOHN.
Tell, hear me, ere you——
TELL.
Reeking with the blood
Of him that was thy emperor and kinsman,
Durst thou set foot within my spotless house?
Show thy fell visage to a virtuous man,
And claim the rites of hospitality?
DUKE JOHN.
I hoped to find compassion at your hands.
You also took revenge upon your foe!
TELL.
Unhappy man! And dar'st thou thus confound
Ambition's bloody crime with the dread act
To which a father's direful need impelled him?
Hadst thou to shield thy children's darling heads?
To guard thy fireside's sanctuary—ward off
The last, worst doom from all that thou didst love?
To heaven I raise my unpolluted hands,
To curse thine act and thee! I have avenged
That holy nature which thou hast profaned.
I have no part with thee. Thou art a murderer;
I've shielded all that was most dear to me.
DUKE JOHN.
You cast me off to comfortless despair!