Page:Poet Lore, volume 26, 1915.djvu/356

 Dvořák.—What ominous kite croaks here seeking to spoil a scarcely born plan!

The Women (Except ).—All of us, all of us. We’ll not allow the uprising!

Lhotská (To ).—It is we, the women who live here and we’ll spoil your foreign foolishness. (To .) Speak, Výrava, turn things towards the good before it will be too late.

Kyral (To the women).—Don’t fear!—Výrava will not harm anyone any more. He is not going into the battle!

Moravcová.—What do I hear?

Dvořák.—Be silent, malicious man.

Moravcová (To ).—What! You would betray your own plan—you would refuse to go into the struggle to which God himself calls you!

Výrava.—Upon me God has laid a heavy hand—he has maimed my arm—he has maimed my soul.

Dvořák.—If the loss of your son for the moment has overwhelmed you—I ask you—should not his very death double your strength?

Výrava.—His death? Don’t remind me of it again.

Dvořák.—Yes, his death. You have lost your son whom you loved. But who was and is the cause of your loss?

Králíček and Others.—The lords! The lords!

Dvořák.—Yes, the lords for whose sake your son betrayed you. It is they who enticed him away from you.

Výrava (Roused).—Stop, stop—I will revenge—yes, revenge myself on them, I will have a terrible revenge. Whether he be dead or alive, they must be punished because they turned him against me. And not only Karmín—but the nobility—all of them.

Dvořák.—Well, then, arm yourself with vengeance, vengeance for your people and for your own son and lead us against his murderers!

Výrava.—I will lead you to vengeance, I will! All weakness has fallen away from me as the darkness of night falls away from the earth. Brothers, do you still believe in my power, do you still believe I have strength enough for a deed so great?

Řehák and People.—We believe, we believe!

Výrava.—Well, I will lead you to the castle!

The Men (Shouting joyously).—To the castle! To the castle!

Výrava.—But I need support now more than ever before.