Scene Tenth
The same persons and the General.
The General (to Vernon) She is dying, my friend! If I lose her, I shall never survive it.
Vernon
My friend!
The General It seems to me that there are a great many people here—What must be done? Oh, try to save her! I wonder where Gertrude is.
(They give the General a seat.)
Gertrude (sinking at the feet of the General) My friend! Poor father! I would this instant I might be killed without a trial. (She rises.) No, Pauline has wrapped me in her shroud, I feel her icy hands about my neck. And yet I was resigned. Yes, I would have buried with me the secret of this terrible drama, which every woman should understand! But I am weary of this struggle with a corpse that holds me tight, and communicates to me the coldness and the stiffness of death! I have made up my mind that my innocence of this crime shall come forth victorious at the expense of somebody’s honor; for never, never could I become a vile and cowardly poisoner. Yes, I shall tell the whole, dark tale.
The General (rising from his seat and coming forward) Ah! so you are going to say in the face of justice all that for two days you have concealed by such obstinate silence—vile and ungrateful creature, fawning liar!—you have killed my daughter. Are you going to kill me also?
Gertrude
Ought I to keep silence?—Ought I to speak?
Ramel
General, be kind enough to retire. The law commands.
The General The law? You represent the justice of men, I represent the justice of God, and am higher than you all! I am at once accuser, tribunal, sentence and executioner—Come, madame, tell us what you have to say?
Gertrude (at the General’s feet)
Forgive me, sir—Yes—I am—
Ramel
Oh, poor wretch!
Gertrude (aside) I cannot say it! Oh! for his honor’s sake, may he never know the truth. (Aloud) I am guilty before all the world, but to you I say, and will repeat it to my last breath, I am innocent! And some future day the truth shall speak from out two tombs, the cruel truth, which will show to you that you also are not free from reproach, but from the very blindness of your hate are culpable in all.
The General
I? I? Am I losing my senses? Do you dare to accuse me? (Perceiving
Pauline.) Ah! Ah! My God!