[Looking up, then shrinking together, as with dazzled eyes.

Ha! was not that his lightning?-Fare thee well!

I hear the footstep of the Dreaded! - Firm-
Remember me, remember this stern midnight!

ADALBERT (alone).

Yes, Grayhead, whom the beckoning of the Lord
Sent hither to awake me out of craven sleep,
I will remember thee and this stern midnight,
And my Agnes' spirit shall have vengeance!

[Retires hastily.

Enter an ARMED MAN. He is mailed from head to foot in black harness; his

visor is closed.

ARMED MAN.

Pray! [ADALBERT kneels.

Bare thyself!

[He strips him to the girdle and raises him.

Look on the ground, and follow!

[He leads him into the background to a trap-door, on the right. He descends first himself; and when ADALBERT has followed him, it closes.

SECOND SCENE.

Cemetery of the Templars, under the Church. The scene is lighted only by a Lamp which hangs down from the vault. Around are Tombstones of deceased Knights, marked with Crosses and sculptured Bones. In the background, two colossal Skeletons holding between them a large white Book, marked with a red Cross; from the under end of the Book hangs a long black curtain. The Book, of which only the cover is visible, has an inscription in black ciphers. The Skeleton on the right holds in its right hand a naked drawn Sword; that on the left holds in its left hand a Palm turned downwards. On the right side of the foreground stands a black Coffin open; on the left, a similar one with the body of a Templar in the full dress of his Order; on both Coffins are inscriptions in white ciphers. On each side, nearer the background, are seen the lowest steps of the stairs which lead up into the Temple Church above the vault. ARMED MAN (not yet visible; above on the right-hand stairs).

Dreaded! Is the grave laid open?

CONCEALED VOICES.

Yea!

ARMED MAN (who after a pause shows himself on the stairs). Shall he behold the Tombs o' th' fathers?

CONCEALED VOICES.

Yea!

[ARMED MAN with drawn sword leads ADALBERT carefully down the steps on the right hand.

Hear it, then: 'Thy wages, Sin, is Death.'

[Leads him to the opposite Coffin where the Body is lying. Look down! 'Tis on thy life! What seest thou? [Shows the Coffin.

A Coffin with a Corpse.

ADALBERT.

ARMED MAN.

He is thy Brother;

One day thou art as he. - Canst read th' inscription?

ADALBERT.

No.

ARMED MAN.

Hear: Corruption is the name of Life.'

Now look around; go forward, move, and act!

[He pushes him towards the background of the stage.

ADALBERT (observing the Book).

Ha! Here the Book of Ordination! - Seems

As if th' inscription on it might be read.

[Approaching. [He reads it.

• Knock four times on the ground,

Thou shalt behold thy loved one.'

O Heavens! And may I see thee, sainted Agnes?
My bosom yearns for thee!

[Hastening close to the Book. [With the following words, he stamps four times on the ground. One, Two, Three, Four!

[The Curtain hanging from the Book rolls rapidly up, and covers it. A colossal Devil's-head appears between the two Skeletons; its form is horrible; it is gilt; has a huge golden Crown, a Heart of the same on its Brow; rolling flaming Eyes; Serpents instead of Hair; golden

Chains round its neck, which is visible to the breast; and a golden
Cross, yet not a Crucifix, which rises over its right shoulder, as if
crushing it down. The whole Bust rests on four gilt Dragon's-feet.
At sight of it, ADALBERT starts back in horror, and exclaims:

Defend us!

ARMED MAN.

Dreaded! may he hear it?

CONCEALED VOICES.

Yea!

ARMED MAN (touches the Curtain with his sword; it rolls down over the Devil's-head, concealing it again; and above, as before, appears the Book, but now opened, with white colossal leaves and red characters. The ARMED MAN, pointing constantly to the Book with his Sword, and therewith turning the leaves, addresses ADALBERT, who stands on the other side of the Book, and nearer the foreground).

List to the Story of the Fallen Master.

[He reads the following from the Book; yet not standing before it, but on one side, at some paces distance, and whilst he reads, turning the leaves with his sword.

'So now when the foundation-stone was laid,

The Lord called forth the Master, Baffometus,
And said to him: Go and complete my Temple!

But in his heart the Master thought: What boots it
Building thee a temple? and took the stones,
And built himself a dwelling, and what stones
Were left he gave for filthy gold and silver.
Now after forty moons the Lord returned,
And spake: Where is my Temple, Baffometus?
The Master said: I had to build myself
A dwelling; grant me other forty weeks.

And after forty weeks, the Lord returns,

And asks: Where is my Temple, Baffometus ?

He said: There were no stones (but he had sold them

For filthy gold); so wait yet forty days.

In forty days thereafter came the Lord,
And cried: Where is my Temple, Baffometus ?
Then like a millstone fell it on his soul

How he for lucre had betrayed his Lord;
But yet to other sin the Fiend did tempt him,
And he answered, saying: Give me forty hours!
And when the forty hours were gone, the Lord
Came down in wrath: My Temple, Baffometus?
Then fell he quaking on his face, and cried
For mercy; but the Lord was wroth, and said:
Since thou hast cozened me with empty lies,
And those the stones I lent thee for my Temple

Hast sold them for a purse of filthy gold,

Lo, I will cast thee forth, and with the Mammon
Will chastise thee, until a Saviour rise

Of thy own seed, who shall redeem thy trespass.
Then did the Lord lift up the purse of Gold;
And shook the gold into a melting-pot,
And set the melting-pot upon the Sun,

So that the metal fused into a fluid mass.

And then he dipt a finger in the same,

And, straightway touching Baffometus,

Anoints him on the chin and brow and cheeks.
Then was the face of Baffometus changed:
His eyeballs rolled like fire-flames,

His nose became a crooked vulture's bill,
The tongue hung bloody from his throat; the flesh
Went from his hollow cheeks; and of his hair
Grew snakes, and of the snakes grew Devil's-horns.
Again the Lord put forth his finger with the gold,
And pressed it upon Baffometus' heart;
Whereby the heart did bleed and wither up,
And all his members bled and withered up,
And fell away, the one and then the other.
At last his back itself sunk into ashes:
The head alone continued gilt and living;
And instead of back, grew dragon's-talons,
Which destroyed all life from off the Earth.

Then from the ground the Lord took up the heart,
Which, as he touched it, also grew of gold,
And placed it on the brow of Baffometus;
And of the other metal in the pot

He made for him a burning crown of gold,

And crushed it on his serpent-hair, so that

Even to the bone and brain the circlet scorched him.
And round the neck he twisted golden chains,
Which strangled him and pressed his breath together.
What in the pot remained he poured upon the ground,
Athwart, along, and there it formed a cross;
The which he lifted and laid upon his neck,

And bent him that he could not raise his head.

Two Deaths moreover he appointed warders

To guard him: Death of Life, and Death of Hope.

The Sword of the first he sees not, but it smites him;
The other's Palm he sees, but it escapes him.

So languishes the outcast Baffometus
Four thousand years and four-and-forty moons,
Till once a Saviour rise from his own seed,
Redeem his trespass and deliver him.'
This is the Story of the Fallen Master.

[TO ADALBERT.

[With his sword he touches the Curtain, which now as before rolls up over the Book; so that the HEAD under it again becomes visible, in its former shape.

ADALBERT (taking off the Crown, and casting it, as he did the chains, on