Scene IV

Thekla (hurries forward), Countess, Max Piccolomini.

Thekla (to the Countess). Spare yourself the trouble:
That hears he better from myself.

Max. My Princess!
What have you let her hear me say, aunt Tertsky?

Thekla (to the Countess). Has he been here long?

Countess. Yes; and soon must go.
Where have you stayed so long?

Thekla. Alas! my mother [5]
Wept so again! and I—I see her suffer,
Yet cannot keep myself from being happy.

Max. Now once again I have courage to look on you.
To-day at noon I could not.
The dazzle of the jewels that play'd round you 10
Hid the beloved from me.

Thekla. Then you saw me
[[646]] With your eye only—and not with your heart?