[Pause, during which she steps thoughtfully to the table and draws on her gloves.]
Count, I desire to interview Prince Homburg.
Will you escort me thither? In my coach
There is a place I put at your disposal.
REUSS. Madam, a great distinction, I assure you—
[He offers her his arm.]
NATALIE (to the ladies-in-waiting).
Follow, my friends!—It well may be that there
I shall decide about the note erelong.
[Exeunt omnes.]
SCENE III
The PRINCE'S cell. The PRINCE Of HOMBURG hangs his hat on the wall and sinks, carelessly reclining, on a mattress spread out on the floor.
THE PRINCE. The dervish calls all life a pilgrimage,
And that, a brief one. True!—Of two short spans
This side of earth to two short spans below.
I will recline upon the middle path.
The man who bears his head erect today
No later than tomorrow on his breast
Bows it, all tremulous. Another dawn,
And, lo, it lies a skull beside his heel!
Indeed, there is a sun, they say, that shines
On fields beyond e'en brighter than these fields.
I do believe it; only pity 'tis
The eye, that shall perceive the splendor, rots.