Chapter CLXX: Act III: Switzerland. Loris and Fedora are married. Loris's

footsteps, however, are followed by a spy. _Fedora_ learns that because of _Loris's_ act his brother has been thrown into prison and has died there. _Loris's_ mother has died of shock. He discovers that it was _Fedora_ who set the secret service on his track. He is about to kill her when, in despair, she swallows poison. _Loris_ now pleads with her to live, but it is too late. She dies in his arms.

GERMANIA

Opera in a prologue, two acts and an epilogue, by Alberto
Franchetti; text by Luigi Illica. Produced, Milan, March 11,
1902; in this country, January 22, 1910.

CHARACTERS

FREDERICK LOEWE, member of the brotherhood _Tenor_
CARL WORMS, member of the brotherhood _Baritone_
GIOVANNI PALM, member of the brotherhood _Bass_
CRISOGONO, member of the brotherhood _Baritone_
STAPPS, Protestant priest _Bass_
RICKE, a Nuremberg maiden _Soprano_
JANE, her sister _Mezzo-Soprano_
LENA ARMUTH, a peasant woman _Mezzo-Soprano_
JEBBEL, her nephew _Soprano_
LUIGI LÜTZOW, an officer _Bass_
CARLO KÖRNER, an officer _Tenor_
PETERS, a herdsman _Bass_
SIGNORA HEDVIGE _Mezzo-Soprano_
CHIEF OF POLICE _Bass_

_Time_--Napoleonic Wars.

_Place_--Germany.

Prologue. An Old Mill near Nuremberg. Students under _Palm_ are shipping out in grain-bags literature directed against the invader--Napoleon. _Ricke_ tells _Worms_, whose mistress she has been, that her sweetheart, the poet _Loewe_, will soon return, and that she must confess to him her guilty secret. _Worms_ dissuades her. _Loewe_ arrives and is joyously welcomed by his comrades. The police break in, arrest _Palm_, and take him off to be executed.

Act I. A Hut in the Black Forest. Seven years are supposed to have passed. _Loewe_, his aged mother, and _Ricke_ and _Jane_ have found refuge here from the victorious troops of Napoleon. _Worms_ is thought to be dead. _Loewe_ is to be married to _Ricke_. But suddenly the voice of _Worms_ is heard in the forest. _Loewe_ joyously meets his old friend, who, however, is much disconcerted at the sight of _Ricke_, and goes away. _Ricke_ flees from her husband, who concludes that she has fled with _Worms_.