When Else heard the scandalous tale, she was deeply hurt, for she knew
her husband’s noble nature. She longed for the power of justifying him,
and of making the scandal-mongers eat their words, and reverence her
hero. So full did she become of these thoughts that she forgot her
husband’s warning, and, going to him one day, told him of her trouble,
and asked him whose son he was, and whence he came.
“Dear wife,” he said, in quiet sorrow, “I will now tell you, and the
king and all the princes, what was hidden and ought to have remained
hidden for ever; but remember, the hour of our parting approaches.”
The hero led his trembling wife before the king and his nobles, who
were assembled on the banks of the Rhine. He told them of his great
father, Percival, and of his own coming to Cologne in obedience to the
Divine order conveyed to him by the holy Grail.
“I would fain have fought the barbarians with you, noble king,” he
continued, “but destiny calls me hence. Be of good cheer—you will
conquer the robbers, rule over the heathen, and win imperishable glory.”
The hero spoke with the enthusiasm of an inspired seer, as he added a
prophecy of the wonders time should unfold regarding the future of the
empire. When he ceased, all present heard the same strange wild melody
that had attended his coming, but this time sad and slow as a dirge. It
came nigher, and then they spied also the crowned swan and the boat.
“Farewell, beloved,” said Lohengrin, clasping his weeping wife in his
arms. “I had grown to love you, and life in this world of yours,
passing well; but now a higher will than mine tells me to go.”
He tore himself away with tears in his eyes, and entering the boat,
which the swan had brought close to the bank, was borne away from their
sight.
She did not long survive the parting from her husband, and when she
died, she died in the firm conviction that she was about to join her
husband and see the holy Grail.
Whether she was right or wrong, none of those about her could ever
agree.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: TRISTRAM TEACHES ISOLDE TO PLAY THE GUITAR.]