Chapter 52

Enter Lawyer WELLENBERG.

_Well._ Are you all here?--thank God!

_Clar._ You are welcome, Mr. Wellenberg.

_Well._ A chair, a chair. (P. Counsellor reaches a chair.)

_Clar._ What is the matter with you, pray?

_Well._ O Heaven! oh!

_Fred._ What ails you, Sir?

_Gern._ You make me uneasy.

_Soph._ Have you spoken with my father?

_Well._ Yes, yes, yes.

_P. Coun._ Dear Wellenberg, pray speak plain.

_Well._ _Est necesse, ut remotis testibus loquar._

_P. Coun._ _Dicam ergo aliis ut abeant._

_Well._ _Imo, jubeas, quæso! sunt enim res summi momenti._

_P. Coun._ _Nunquid sane de sponsæ meæ parente?_

_Well._ _Quin ita! agitur enim vitæ et animæ salus._

_P. Coun._ Good folks, leave me a minute alone with this good gentleman.

_Clar._ Good God!

_Soph._ It concerns my father.--O Clarenbach!

_P. Coun._ We will manage all for the best.

_Soph._ To your compassion, to your filial compassion,--to your duty as a son, to your heart, to every thing I appeal, Clarenbach! You must bring him back to the path of virtue, even against his will. You must, and my gratitude shall be eternal.