[The Princess Thekla appears at the door, and remains standing, observed by the Countess, but not by Piccolomini.
With instant boldness [90]
I caught her in my arms, my mouth touched hers;
There was a rustling in the room close by;
It parted us—'Twas you. What since has happened,
You know.
Countess. And is it your excess of modesty;
Or are you so incurious, that you do not [95]
Ask me too of my secret?
Max. Of your secret?
Countess. Why, yes! When in the instant after you
I stepped into the room, and found my niece there,
What she in this first moment of the heart
Ta'en with surprise—
Max. Well? [100]
FOOTNOTES:
[642:1] All this is terribly childish, at least appears so to an English lover. Besides it is modern French Comedy—for which, by the by, we want a word to distinguish it from the toto caelo different Comedy which Shakespere and his contemporaries worked up into their Tragedy with such felicity of action and reaction. MS. R.
[644:1] I am doubtful whether this be the dedication of the cloister or the name of one of the city gates, near which it stood. I have translated it in the former sense; but fearful of having made some blunder, I add the original—Es ist ein Kloster hier zur Himmelspforte.