nging Robert's letter
and the latter instantly follows to crave his mistress' {297} pardon.
She presents him with a new suit of armor, and he consents to meet the
Prince of Granada in mortal combat. But Bertram lures him away by
deceiving him with a phantom. Robert vainly seeks the Prince in the
forest, and the Prince of Granada is in his absence victorious in the
tournament and obtains Isabella's hand.

The third act opens with a view of the rocks of St. Irene, where Alice
hopes to be united with Raimbaut. The peasant expects his bride, but
meets Bertram instead, who makes him forget Alice, by giving him gold
and dangerous advice. Raimbaut goes away to spend the money, while
Bertram descends to the evil spirits in the deep. When Alice comes,
Raimbaut is gone, and she hears the demons calling for Bertram.
Bertram extracts a promise from her not to betray the dreadful secret
of the cavern. She clings to the Saviour's cross for protection, and
is about to be destroyed by Bertram, when Robert approaches, to whom
she decides to reveal all. But Bertram's renewed threats at last
oblige her to leave them.

Bertram now profits by Robert's rage and despair at the loss of his
bride, his wealth and his honor, to draw him on to entire destruction.
He tells Robert that his rival used magic arts, and suggests that he
should try the same expedient. Then he leads him to a ruined cloister,
where he resuscitates the guilty nuns. They try to seduce Robert first
by drink, then by gambling, and last of all by love. In the last,
Helena, the most {298} beautiful of the nuns, succeeds and makes him
remove the cypress-branch, a talisman, by which in the fourth act he
enters Isabella's apartment unseen. He awakes his bride out of her
magic sleep, to carry her off, but overcome by her tears and her appeal
to his honor, he breaks the talisman, and is seized by the now awakened
soldiers; but Bertram appears, and takes him under his protection.

The fifth act opens with a chorus sung by monks, which is followed by a
prayer for mercy. Robert, concealed in the vestibule of the cathedral,
hears it full of contrition. But Bertram is with him, and, his term on
earth being short, he confides to Robert the secret of his birth and
appeals to him as his father.

He almost succeeds, when Alice comes up, bringing the news that the
Prince of Granada renounces Isabella's hand, being unable to pass the
threshold of the church. Bertram urges Robe