SCENE I.--_A room at Jaxthausen_. Marie _and_ Weislingen.

MARIE: You say you love me. I willingly believe it, and hope to be happy with you and to make you happy.

WEISLINGEN: Blessed be your brother and the day he rode out to capture me! [_Enter_ Goetz.

GOETZ: Your page is back. Whatever his news, Adelbert, you are free! All I ask is your word that you will not aid and abet my enemies.

WEISLINGEN: I take your hand. And may I at the same time take the hand of this noblest of all women?

GOETZ: May I say "yes" for you, Marie? You need not blush--your eyes have answered clearly. Well, then, Weislingen, take her hand, and I say Amen, friend and brother! I must call my wife. Elizabeth! (_Enter_ ELIZABETH.) Join your hand in theirs and say "God bless you!" They are a pair. Adelbert is going back to Bamberg to detach himself openly from the bishop, and then to his estates to settle his affairs. And now we'll leave him undisturbed to hear his boy's report. [_Exit with_ Marie _and_ Elizabeth.

WEISLINGEN: Such bliss for one so unworthy! [_Enter_ Franz.

FRANZ: God save you, noble sir! I bring you greetings from everybody in Bamberg--from the bishop down to the jester. How they are distressed at your mishap! I am to tell you to be patient--they will think the more impatiently of your deliverance; for they cannot spare you.

WEISLINGEN: They will have to. I'll return, but not to stay long.

FRANZ: Not to stay? My lord, if you but knew what I know! If you had but seen her--the angel in the shape of woman, who makes Bamberg a forecourt of heaven--Adelheid von Walldorf!

WEISLINGEN: I have heard much of her beauty. Is her husband at court?

FRANZ: She has been widowed for four months, and is at Bamberg for amusement. If she looks upon you, it is as though you were basking in spring sunshine.

WEISLINGEN: Her charms would be lost on me. I am betrothed. Marie will be the happiness of my life. And now pack up. First to Bamberg, and then to my castle. [_Exeunt._