on) Is Pauline still alive?

Vernon (pointing to the General)
Here is my answer.

SCENE TENTH

The same persons and the General.

The General (to Vernon)
She is dying, my friend! If I lose her, I shall never survive it.

Vernon
My friend!

The General
It seems to me that there are a great many people here--What must be
done? Oh, try to save her! I wonder where Gertrude is.

(They give the General a seat.)

Gertrude (sinking at the feet of the General)
My friend! Poor father! I would this instant I might be killed without
a trial. (She rises.) No, Pauline has wrapped me in her shroud, I feel
her icy hands about my neck. And yet I was resigned. Yes, I would have
buried with me the secret of this terrible drama, which every woman
should understand! But I am weary of this struggle with a corpse that
holds me tight, and communicates to me the coldness and the stiffness
of death! I have made up my mind that my innocence of this crime shall
come forth victorious at the expense of somebody's honor; for never,
never could I become a vile and cowardly poisoner. Yes, I shall tell
the whole, dark tale.

The General (rising from his seat and coming forward)
Ah! so you are going to say in the face of justice all that for two
days you have concealed by such obstinate silence--vile and ungrateful
creature, fawning liar!--you have killed my daughter. Are you going to
kill me also?

Gertrude
Ought I to keep silence?--Ought I to speak?

Ramel
General, be kind enough to retire. The law commands.

The General
The law? You represent the justice of men, I represent the justice of
God, and am higher than you all! I am at once accuser, tribunal,
sentence and executioner--Come, madame, tell us what you have to say?

Gertrude (at the General's feet)
Forgive me, sir--Yes--I am--

Ramel
Oh, poor wretch!

Gertrude (aside)
I cannot say it! Oh! for his honor's sake, may he never know the
truth. (Aloud) I am guilty before all the world, but to you I say, and
will repeat it to my last breath, I am innocent! And some future day
the truth shall speak from out two tombs, the cruel truth, which will
show to you that you also are not free from reproach, but from the
very blindness of your hate are culpable in all.

The General
I? I? Am I losing my senses? Do you dare to accuse me? (Perceiving
Pauline.) Ah! Ah! My God!

SCENE ELEVENTH

The same persons, and P