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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13329-0.txt b/13329-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0893e1f --- /dev/null +++ b/13329-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6378 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13329 *** + +Pélléas and Mélisande + + +ALLADINE AND PALOMIDES + + +HOME + + +BY + +MAURICE MAETERLINCK + +_Translated by_ RICHARD HOVEY + + + +1911 + + + + +1896, BY + +STONE AND KIMBALL + + + + +Contents + + +PREFACE (by Maurice Maeterlinck) + +PÉLLÉAS AND MÉLISANDE + +ALLADINE AND PALOMIDES + +HOME + + + + +Préface. + + +On m'a demande plus d'une fois si mes drames, de _La Princesse +Maleine_ à _La Mort de Tintagiles_, avaient été réellement écrits pour +un théâtre de marionettes, ainsi que je l'avais affirmé dans l'edition +originale de cette sauvage petite légende des malheurs de Maleine. En +vérité, ils ne furent pas écrits pour des acteurs ordinaires. Il n'y +avait là nul désir ironique et pas la moindre humilité non plus. Je +croyais sincèrement et je crois encore aujourd'hui, que les poèmes +meurent lorsque des êtres vivants s'y introduisent. Un jour, dans un +écrit dont je ne retrouve plus que quelques fragments mutilés, j'ai +essayé d'expliquer ces choses qui dorment, sans doute, au fond de +notre instinct et qu'il est bien difficile de reveiller complètement. +J'y constatais d'abord, qu'une inquiètude nous attendait à tout +spectacle auquel nous assistions et qu'une déception à peu près +ineffable accompagnait toujours la chute du rideau. N'est-il pas +évident que le Macbeth ou l'Hamlet que nous voyons sur la scène ne +ressemble pas au Macbeth ou à l'Hamlet du livre? Qu'il a visiblement +retrogradé dans le sublime? Qu'une grande partie des efforts du poète +qui voulait créer avant tout une vie supérieure, une vie plus proche +de notre âme, a été annulée par une force ennemie qui ne peut se +manifester qu'en ramenant cette vie supérieure au niveau de la vie +ordinaire? Il y a peut-être, me disais-je, aux sources de ce malaise, +un très ancien malentendu, à la suite duquel le théâtre ne fut jamais +exactement ce qu'il est dans l'instinct de la foule, à savoir: _le +temple du Rêve_. Il faut admettre, ajoutai-je, que le théâtre, du +moins en ses tendances, est un art. Mais je n'y trouve pas la +marque des autres arts. L'art use toujours d'un détour et n'agit pas +directement. Il a pour mission suprême la révélation de i'infini et de +la grandeur ainsi que la beauté secrète, de l'homme. Mais montrer +au doigt à l'enfant qui nous accompagne, les étoiles d'une unit de +Juillet, ce n'est pas faire une oeuvre d'art. Il faut que l'art agisse +comme les abeilles. Elles n'apportent pas aux larves de la ruche les +fleurs des champs qui renferment leur avenir et leur vie. Les larves +mourraient sous ces fleurs sans se douter de rien. Il faut que les +abeilles nourricières apportent à ces nymphes aveugles l'âme même +de ces fleurs, et c'est alors seulement qu'elles trouveront sans le +savoir en ce miel mystérieux la substance des ailes qui un jour les +emporteront à leur tour dans l'espace. Or, le poème était une +oeuvre d'art et portait ces obliques et admirables marques. Mais la +représentation vient le contredire. Elle chasse vraiment les cygnes +du grand lac, et elle rejette les perles dans l'abîme. Elle remet les +choses exactement au point où elles étaient avant la venue du poète. +La densité mystique de l'oeuvre d'art a disparue. Elle verse dans +la même erreur que celui qui après avoir vanté à ses auditeurs +l'admirable _Annonciation_ de Vinci, par exemple, s'imaginerait +qu'il a fait pénétrer dans leurs âmes la beauté surnaturelle de cette +peinture en reproduisant, en un tableau vivant, tous les détails du +grand chef-d'oeuvre florentin. + +Qui sait si ce n'est pas pour ces raisons cachées que l'on est obligé +de s'avouer que la plupart des grands poèmes de l'humanité ne sont pas +scéniques? _Lear, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Antoine et Cléopâtre_, +ne peuvent être représentés, et il est dangereux de les voir sur +la scène. Quelque chose d'Hamlet est mort pour nous du jour où nous +l'avons vu mourir sous nos yeux. Le spectre d'un acteur l'a détrôné, +et nous ne pouvons plus écarter l'usurpateur de nos rêves. Ouvrez les +portes, ouvrez le livre, le prince antérieur ne revient plus. Il a +perdu la faculté de vivre selon la beauté la plus secrète de notre +âme. Parfois son ombre passe encore en tremblant sur le seuil, mais +désormais il n'ose plus, il ne peut plus entrer; et bien des voix sont +mortes qui l'acclamaient en nous. + +Je me souviens de cette mort de l'Hamlet de mes rêves. Un soir +j'ouvris la porte à l'usurpateur du poème. L'acteur était illustre. Il +entra. Un seul de ses regards me montra qu'il n'était pas Hamlet. +Il ne le fut pas un seul instant pour moi. Je le vis s'agiter durant +trois heures dans le mensonge. Je voyais clairement qu'il avait ses +propres destinées; et celles qu'il voulait représenter m'étaient +indiciblement indifférentes à côté des siennes. Je voyais sa santé +et ses habitudes, ses passions et ses tristesses, ses pensées et +ses oeuvres, et il essayait vainement de m'intéresser à une vie qui +n'était pas la sienne et que sa seule présence avait rendue factice. +Depuis je le revois lorsque j'ouvre le livre et Elsinore n'est plus le +palais d'autrefois.... + +"La vérité," dit quelque part Charles Lamb, "la vérité est que les +caractères de Shakespeare sont tellement des objets de méditation +plutôt que d'intérêt ou de curiosité relativement à leurs actes, +que, tandis que nous lisons l'un de ses grands caractères +criminels,--Macbeth, Richard, Iago même,--nous ne songeons pas +tant aux crimes qu'ils commettent, qu'à l'ambition, à l'esprit +d'aspiration, à l'activité intellectuelle qui les poussent à franchir +ces barrières morales. Les actions nous affectent si peu, que, tandis +que les impulsions, l'esprit intérieur en toute sa perverse grandeur, +paraissent seuls réels et appellent seuls l'attention, le crime n'est +comparativement rien. Mais lorsque nous voyons représenter ces choses, +les actes sont comparativement tout, et les mobiles ne sont plus rien. +L'émotion sublime où nous sommes entraînés par ces images de nuit +et d'horreur qu'exprime Macbeth; ce solennel prélude où il s'oublie +jusqu'à ce que l'horloge sonne l'heure qui doit l'appeler au meurtre +de Duncan; lorsque nous ne lisons plus cela dans un livre, lorsque +nous avons abandonné ce poste avantageux de l'abstraction d'où la +lecture domine la vision, et lorsque nous voyons sous nos yeux, un +homme en sa forme corporelle se préparer actuellement au meurtre; si +le jeu de l'acteur est vrai et puissant, la pénible anxiété au sujet +de l'acte, le naturel désir de le prévenir tout qu'il ne semble +pas accompli, la trop puissante apparence de réalité, provoquent un +malaise et une inquiétude qui détruisent totalement le plaisir que les +mots apportent dans le livre, où l'acte ne nous oppresse jamais de +la pénible sensation de sa présence, et semble plutôt appartenir à +l'histoire; à quelque chose de passé et d'inévitable." + +Charles Lamb a raison, et pour mille raisons bien plus profondes +encore que celles qu'il nous donne. Le théâtre est le lien où meurent +la plupart des chefs-d'oeuvre, parce que la représentation d'un +chef-d'oeuvre à l'aide d'éléments accidentels et humains est +antinomique. Tout chef-d'oeuvre est un symbole, et le symbole ne +supporte pas la présence active de l'homme. Il suffit que le coq +chante, dit Hamlet, pour que les spectres de la nuit s'évanouissent. +Et de même, le poème perd sa vie "de la seconde sphère" lorsqu'un être +de la sphère inférieure s'y introduit. L'accident ramène le symbole +à l'accident; et le chef-d'oeuvre, en son essence, est mort durant le +temps de cette présence et de ses traces. + +Les Grecs n'ignorèrent pas cette antinomie, et leurs masques que nous +ne comprenons plus ne servaient probablement qu'à atténuer la présence +de l'homme et à soulager le symbole. Aux époques où le théâtre eut une +vie véritable, il la dût peut-être uniquement à quelque circonstance +ou à quelque artifice qui venait en aide du poème dans sa lutte contre +l'homme. Ainsi, sous Elisabeth, par exemple, la déclamation était une +sorte de mélopée, le jeu était conventionnel, et la scène aussi. Il en +était à peu près de même sous Louis XIV. Le poème se retire à mesure +que l'homme s'avance. Le poème veut nous arracher du pouvoir de nos +sens et faire prédominer le passé et l'avenir; l'homme, au contraire, +n'agit que sur nos sens et n'existe que pour autant qu'il puisse +effacer cette prédomination. S'il entre en scène avec toutes ses +puissances, et libre comme s'il entrait dans une forêt; si sa voix, +ses gestes, et son attitude ne sont pas voilées par un grand nombre +de conventions synthétiques; si l'on aperçoit un seul instant l'être +vivant qu'il est et l'âme qu'il possède,--il n'y a pas de poème au +monde qui ne recule devant lui. A ce moment précis, le spectacle du +poème s'interrompt et nous assistons à une scène de la vie extérieure, +qui, de même qu'une scène de la rue, de la rivière, ou du champ de +bataille, a ses beautés éternelles et secrètes, mais qui est néanmoins +impuissante à nous arracher du présent, parce qu'en cet instant nous +n'avons pas la qualité pour apercevoir ces beautés invisibles, qui ne +sont que "des fleurs offertes aux vers aveugles." + +Et c'est pour ces raisons, et pour d'autres encore qu'on pourrait +rechercher dans les mêmes parages, que j'avais destiné mes petits +drames à des êtres indulgents aux poèmes, et que, faute de mieux, +j'appelle "Marionettes." + +MAURICE MAETERLINCK. + + + + +Pélléas and Mélisande. + + +_To Octave Mirbeau_. + + In witness of deep friendship, admiration, and gratitude. + +M.M. + + + + +PERSONS + + +ARKËL, _King of Allemonde._ + +GENEVIÈVE, _mother of Pélléas and Golaud_. + +PÉLLÉAS,} + }_grandsons of Arkël._ +GOLAUD, } + +MÉLISANDE. + +LITTLE YNIOLD, _son of Golaud (by a former marriage)._ + +A PHYSICIAN. + +THE PORTER. + +_Servants, Beggars, etc._ + + + + +Pélléas and Mélisande. + + * * * * * + + + + +ACT FIRST. + + + + +SCENE I.--_The gate of the castle._ + + +MAIDSERVANTS _(within)._ + +Open the gate! Open the gate! + +PORTER _(within)._ + +Who is there? Why do you come and wake me up? Go out by the little +gates; there are enough of them!... + +A MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +We have come to wash the threshold, the gate, and the steps; open, +then! open! + +ANOTHER MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +There are going to be great happenings! + +THIRD MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +There are going to be great fêtes! Open quickly!... + +THE MAIDSERVANTS. + +Open! open! + +PORTER. + +Wait! wait! I do not know whether I shall be able to open it;... it is +never opened.... Wait till it is light.... + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +It is light enough without; I see the sunlight through the chinks.... + +PORTER. + +Here are the great keys.... Oh! oh! how the bolts and the locks +grate!... Help me! help me!... + +MAIDSERVANTS. + +We are pulling; we are pulling.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +It will not open.... + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +Ah! ah! It is opening! it is opening slowly! + +PORTER. + +How it shrieks! how it shrieks! it will wake up everybody.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +_[Appearing on the threshold.]_ Oh, how light it is already +out-of-doors! + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +The sun is rising on the sea! + +PORTER. + +It is open.... It is wide open!... [_All the maidservants appear on +the threshold and pass over it._] + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +I am going to wash the sill first.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +We shall never be able to clean all this. + +OTHER MAIDSERVANTS. + +Fetch the water! fetch the water! + +PORTER. + +Yes, yes; pour on water; pour on water; pour on all the water of the +Flood! You will never come to the end of it.... + + + + +SCENE II.--_A forest._ MÉLISANDE _discovered at the brink of a +spring._ + + +_Enter_ GOLAUD. + +GOLAUD. + +I shall never be able to get out of this forest again.--God knows +where that beast has led me. And yet I thought I had wounded him to +death; and here are traces of blood. But now I have lost sight of him; +I believe I am lost myself--my dogs can no longer find me--I shall +retrace my steps....--I hear weeping.... Oh! oh! what is there yonder +by the water's edge?... A little girl weeping by the water's edge? +[_He coughs._]--She does not hear me. I cannot see her face. [_He +approaches and touches_ MÉLISANDE _on the shoulder._] Why weepest +thou? [MÉLISANDE _trembles, starts up, and would flee._]--Do not be +afraid. You have nothing to fear. Why are you weeping here all alone? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Do not touch me! do not touch me! + +GOLAUD. + +Do not be afraid.... I will not do you any.... Oh, you are beautiful! + +MÉLISANDE. + +Do not touch me! do not touch me! or I throw myself in the water!... + +GOLAUD. + +I will not touch you.... See, I will stay here, against the tree. Do +not be afraid. Has any one hurt you? + +MÉLISANDE + +Oh! yes! yes! yes!... [_She sobs profoundly._] + +GOLAUD. + +Who has hurt you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Every one! every one! + +GOLAUD. What hurt have they done you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I will not tell! I cannot tell!... + +GOLAUD. + +Come; do not weep so. Whence come you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I have fled!... fled ... fled.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; but whence have you fled? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am lost!... lost!... Oh! oh! lost here.... I am not of this +place.... I was not born there.... + +GOLAUD. + +Whence are you? Where were you born? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! far away from here!... far away ... far away.... + +GOLAUD. + +What is it shining so at the bottom of the water? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where?--Ah! it is the crown he gave me. It fell as I was weeping.... + +GOLAUD. + +A crown?--Who was it gave you a crown?--I will try to get it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; I will have no more of it! I will have no more of it!... I had +rather die ... die at once.... + +GOLAUD. + +I could easily pull it out. The water is not very deep. + +MÉLISANDE. + +I will have no more of it! If you take it out, I throw myself in its +place!... + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I will leave it there. It could be reached without difficulty, +nevertheless. It seems very beautiful.--Is it long since you fled? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes!... Who are you? + +GOLAUD. + +I am Prince Golaud,--grandson of Arkël, the old King of Allemonde.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, you have gray hairs already.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; some, here, by the temples.... + +MÉLISANDE + +And in your beard, too.... Why do you look at me so? + +GOLAUD. + +I am looking at your eyes.--Do you never shut your eyes? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, yes; I shut them at night.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you look so astonished? + +MÉLISANDE. + +You are a giant? + +GOLAUD. + +I am a man like the rest.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why have you come here? + +GOLAUD. + +I do not know, myself. I was hunting in the forest, I was chasing a +wild boar. I mistook the road.--You look very young. How old are you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am beginning to be cold.... + +GOLAUD. + +Will you come with me! + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; I will stay here.... + +GOLAUD. + +You cannot stay here all alone. You cannot stay here all night +long.... What is your name? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Mélisande. + +GOLAUD. + +You cannot stay here, Mélisande. Come with me.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I will stay here.... + +GOLAUD. + +You will be afraid, all alone. We do not know what there may be here +... all night long ... all alone ... it is impossible. Mélisande, +come, give me your hand.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, do not touch me!... + +GOLAUD. + +Do not scream.... I will not touch you again. But come with me. The +night will be very dark and very cold. Come with me.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where are you going?... + +GOLAUD. + +I do not know.... I am lost too.... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE III.--_A hall in the castle_. ARKËL _and_ GENEVIÈVE +_discovered_. + + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Here is what he writes to his brother Pélléas: "I found her all in +tears one evening, beside a spring in the forest where I had lost +myself. I do not know her age, nor who she is, nor whence she comes, +and I dare not question her, for she must have had a sore fright; and +when you ask her what has happened to her, she falls at once a-weeping +like a child, and sobs so heavily you are afraid. Just as I found her +by the springs, a crown of gold had slipped from her hair and fallen +to the bottom of the water. She was clad, besides, like a princess, +though her garments had been torn by the briers. It is now six months +since I married her and I know no more about it than on the day of +our meeting. Meanwhile, dear Pélléas, thou whom I love more than a +brother, although we were not born of the same father; meanwhile make +ready for my return.... I know my mother will willingly forgive me. +But I am afraid of the King, our venerable grandsire, I am afraid of +Arkël, in spite of all his kindness, for I have undone by this strange +marriage all his plans of state, and I fear the beauty of Mélisande +will not excuse my folly to eyes so wise as his. If he consents +nevertheless to receive her as he would receive his own daughter, +the third night following this letter, light a lamp at the top of the +tower that overlooks the sea. I shall perceive it from the bridge +of our ship; otherwise I shall go far away again and come back no +more...." What say you of it? + +ARKËL. + +Nothing. He has done what he probably must have done. I am very old, +and nevertheless I have not yet seen clearly for one moment into +myself; how would you that I judge what others have done? I am not +far from the tomb and do not succeed in judging myself.... One always +mistakes when one does not close his eyes. That may seem strange to +us; but that is all. He is past the age to marry and he weds like a +child, a little girl he finds by a spring.... That may seem strange to +us, because we never see but the reverse of destinies ... the reverse +even of our own.... He has always followed my counsels hitherto; I had +thought to make him happy in sending him to ask the hand of Princess +Ursula.... He could not remain alone; since the death of his wife he +has been sad to be alone; and that marriage would have put an end to +long wars and old hatreds.... He would not have it so. Let it be as he +would have it; I have never put myself athwart a destiny; and he knows +better than I his future. There happen perhaps no useless events.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +He has always been so prudent, so grave and so firm.... If it were +Pélléas, I should understand.... But he ... at his age.... Who is it +he is going to introduce here?--An unknown found along the roads.... +Since his wife's death, he has no longer lived for aught but his son, +the little Yniold, and if he were about to marry again, it was because +you had wished it.... And now ... a little girl in the forest.... He +has forgotten everything....--What shall we do?... + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS. + +ARKËL. + +Who is coming in there? + +GENEVIÈVE. + +It is Pélléas. He has been weeping. + +ARKËL. + +Is it thou, Pélléas?--Come a little nearer, that I may see thee in the +light.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Grandfather, I received another letter at the same time as my +brother's; a letter from my friend Marcellus.... He is about to die +and calls for me. He would see me before dying.... + +ARKËL. + +Thou wouldst leave before thy brother's return?--Perhaps thy friend is +less ill than he thinks.... + +PÉLLÉAS + +His letter is so sad you can see death between the lines.... He says +he knows the very day when death must come.... He tells me I can +arrive before it if I will, but that there is no more time to lose. +The journey is very long, and if I await Golaud's return, it will be +perhaps too late.... + +ARKËL. + +Thou must wait a little while, nevertheless.... We do not know what +this return has in store for us. And besides, is not thy father here, +above us, more sick perhaps than thy friend.... Couldst thou choose +between the father and the friend?... [_Exit._ + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Have a care to keep the lamp lit from this evening, Pélléas.... + +[_Exeunt severally._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_Before the castle. Enter_ GENEVIÈVE _and_ MÉLISANDE. + + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is gloomy in the gardens. And what forests, what forests all about +the palaces!... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Yes; that astonished me too when I came hither; it astonishes +everybody. There are places where you never see the sun. But one gets +used to it so quickly.... It is long ago, it is long ago.... It is +nearly forty years that I have lived here.... Look toward the other +side, you will have the light of the sea.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I hear a noise below us.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Yes; it is some one coming up toward us.... Ah! it is Pélléas.... He +seems still tired from having waited so long for you.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He has not seen us. + +GENEVIÈVE. + +I think he has seen us but does not know what he should do.... +Pélléas, Pélléas, is it thou?... + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes!... I was coming toward the sea.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +So were we; we were seeking the light. It is a little lighter here +than elsewhere; and yet the sea is gloomy. + +PÉLLÉAS + +We shall have a storm to-night. There has been one every night for +some time, and yet it is so calm now.... One might embark unwittingly +and come back no more. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Something is leaving the port.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It must be a big ship.... The lights are very high, we shall see it in +a moment, when it enters the band of light.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +I do not know whether we shall be able to see it ... there is still a +fog on the sea.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +The fog seems to be rising slowly.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes; I see a little light down there, which I had not seen.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is a lighthouse; there are others we cannot see yet. + +MÉLISANDE. + +The ship is in the light.... It is already very far away.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is a foreign ship. It looks larger than ours.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is the ship that brought me here!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It flies away under full sail.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is the ship that brought me here. It has great sails.... I +recognized it by its sails. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There will be a rough sea to-night. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why does it go away to-night?... You can hardly see it any longer.... +Perhaps it will be wrecked.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +The sight falls very quickly.... [_A silence._ + +GENEVIÈVE. + +No one speaks any more?... You have nothing more to say to each +other?... It is time to go in. Pélléas, show Mélisande the way. I mast +go see little Yniold a moment. [_Exit._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Nothing can be seen any longer on the sea.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I see more lights. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is the other lighthouses.... Do you hear the sea?... It is the wind +rising.... Let us go down this way. Will you give me your hand? + +MÉLISANDE. + +See, see, my hands are full.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I will hold you by the arm, the road is steep and it is very gloomy +there.... I am going away perhaps to-morrow.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh!... why do you go away? [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT SECOND. + + + + +SCENE I.--_A fountain in the park. + + +Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +You do not know where I have brought you?--I often come to sit here, +toward noon, when it is too hot in the gardens. It is stifling to-day, +even in the shade of the trees. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, how clear the water is!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is as cool as winter. It is an old abandoned spring. It seems to +have been a miraculous spring,--it opened the eyes of the blind,--they +still call it "Blind Man's Spring." + +MÉLISANDE. + +It no longer opens the eyes of the blind? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Since the King has been nearly blind himself, no one comes any +more.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +How alone one is here!... There is no sound. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There is always a wonderful silence here.... One could hear the water +sleep.... Will you sit down on the edge of the marble basin? There is +one linden where the sun never comes.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am going to lie down on the marble.--I should like to see the bottom +of the water.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +No one has ever seen it.--It is as deep, perhaps, as the sea.--It is +not known whence it comes.--Perhaps it comes from the bottom of the +earth.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +If there were anything shining at the bottom, perhaps one could see +it.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Do not lean over so.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I would like to touch the water.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Have a care of slipping.... I will hold your hand.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no, I would plunge both hands in it.... You would say my hands +were sick to-day.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! take care! take care! Mélisande!... Mélisande!...--Oh! your +hair!... + +MÉLISANDE _(starting upright)._ I cannot,... I cannot reach it.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Your hair dipped in the water.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, it is longer than my arms.... It is longer than I.... [_A silence._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It was at the brink of a spring, too, that he found you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What did he say to you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Nothing;--I no longer remember.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Was he quite near you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes; he would have kissed me. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +And you would not? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why would you not? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! I saw something pass at the bottom of the water.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Take care! take care!--You will fall! What are you playing with? + +MÉLISANDE. + +With the ring he gave me.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Take care; you will lose it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; I am sure of my hands.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Do not play so, over so deep a water.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +My hands do not tremble. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +How it shines in the sunlight I--Do not throw it so high in the +air.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It has fallen? + +MÉLISANDE. + +It has fallen into the water!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where is it? where is it?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not see it sink?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I think I see it shine.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +My ring? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes; down yonder.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! It is so far away from us!... no, no, that is not it ... that +is not it.... It is lost ... lost.... There is nothing any more but +a great circle on the water.... What shall we do? What shall we do +now?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +You need not be so troubled for a ring. It is nothing.... We shall +find it again, perhaps. Or else we will find another.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; we shall never find it again; we shall never find any others +either.... And yet I thought I had it in my hands.... I had already +shut my hands, and it is fallen in spite of all.... I threw it too +high, toward the sun.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Come, come, we will come back another day;... come, it is time. They +will come to meet us. It was striking noon at the moment the ring +fell. + +MÉLISANDE. + +What shall we say to Golaud if he ask where it is? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +The truth, the truth, the truth.... [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ GOLAUD _discovered, stretched +upon his bed;_ MÉLISANDE, _by his bedside_. + + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah! all goes well; it will amount to nothing. But I cannot +understand how it came to pass. I was hunting quietly in the forest. +All at once my horse ran away, without cause. Did he see anything +unusual?... I had just heard the twelve strokes of noon. At the +twelfth stroke he suddenly took fright and ran like a blind madman +against a tree. I heard no more. I do not yet know what happened. I +fell, and he must have fallen on me. I thought I had the whole forest +on my breast; I thought my heart was crushed. But my heart is sound. +It is nothing, apparently.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Would you like a little water? + +GOLAUD. + +Thanks, thanks; I am not thirsty. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Would you like another pillow?... There is a little spot of blood on +this. + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; it is not worth while. I bled at the mouth just now. I shall +bleed again perhaps.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Are you quite sure?... You are not suffering too much? + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I have seen a good many more like this. I was made of iron +and blood.... These are not the little bones of a child; do not alarm +yourself.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Close your eyes and try to sleep. I shall stay here all night.... + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I do not wish you to tire yourself so. I do not need anything; +I shall sleep like a child.... What is the matter, Mélisande? Why do +you weep all at once?... + +MÉLISANDE _(bursting into tears)._ + +I am ... I am ill too.... + +GOLAUD. + +Thou art ill?... What ails thee, then; what ails thee, Mélisande?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not know.... I am ill here.... I had rather tell you to-day; my +lord, my lord, I am not happy here.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why, what has happened, Mélisande? What is it?... And I suspecting +nothing.... What has happened?... Some one has done thee harm?... Some +one has given thee offence? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; no one has done me the least harm.... It is not that.... It +is not that.... But I can live here no longer. I do not know why.... I +would go away, go away!... I shall die if I am left here.... + +GOLAUD. + +But something has happened? You must be hiding something from me?... +Tell me the whole truth, Mélisande.... Is it the King?... Is it my +mother?... Is it Pélléas?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; it is not Pélléas. It is not anybody.... You could not +understand me.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why should I not understand?... If you tell me nothing, what will you +have me do?... Tell me everything and I shall understand everything. + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not know myself what it is.... I do not know just what it is.... +If I could tell you, I would tell you.... It is something stronger +than I.... + +GOLAUD. + +Come; be reasonable, Mélisande.--What would you have me do?--You are +no longer a child.--Is it I whom you would leave? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! no, no; it is not that.... I would go away with you.... It is +here that I can live no longer.... I feel that I shall not live a long +while.... + +GOLAUD. + +But there must be a reason nevertheless. You will be thought mad. +It will be thought child's dreams.--Come, is it Pélléas, perhaps?--I +think he does not often speak to you. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; he speaks to me sometimes. I think he does not like me; I +have seen it in his eyes.... But he speaks to me when he meets me.... + +GOLAUD. + +You must not take it ill of him. He has always been so. He is a little +strange. And just now he is sad; he thinks of his friend Marcellus, +who is at the point of death, and whom he cannot go to see.... He will +change, he will change, you will see; he is young.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +But it is not that ... it is not that.... + +GOLAUD. + +What is it, then?--Can you not get used to the life one leads here? +Is it too gloomy here?--It is true the castle is very old and very +sombre.... It is very cold, and very deep. And all those who dwell in +it, are already old. And the country may seem gloomy too, with all +its forests, all its old forests without light. But that may all be +enlivened if we will. And then, joy, joy, one does not have it every +day; we must take things as they come. But tell me something; no +matter what; I will do everything you could wish.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; it is true.... You never see the sky here. I saw it for the +first time this morning.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is that, then, that makes you weep, my poor Mélisande?--It is only +that, then?--You weep, not to see the sky?--Come, come, you are no +longer at the age when one may weep for such things.... And then, is +not the summer yonder? You will see the sky every day.--And then, next +year.... Come, give me your hand; give me both your little hands. [_He +takes her hands._] Oh! oh! these little hands that I could crush like +flowers....--Hold! where is the ring I gave you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +The ring? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; our wedding-ring, where is it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I think.... I think it has fallen.... + +GOLAUD. + +Fallen?--Where has it fallen?--You have not lost it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; it fell ... it must have fallen.... But I know where it is.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where is it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +You know ... you know well ... the grotto by the seashore?... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Well then, it is there.... It must be it is there.... Yes, yes; I +remember.... I went there this morning to pick up shells for little +Yniold.... There were some very fine ones.... It slipped from my +finger ... then the sea came in; and I had to go out before I had +found it. + +GOLAUD. + +Are you sure it is there? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; quite sure.... I felt it slip ... then, all at once, the +noise of the waves.... + +GOLAUD. + +You must go look for it at once. + +MÉLISANDE. + +I must go look for it at once? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Now?--at once?--in the dark? + +GOLAUD. + +Now, at once, in the dark. You must go look for it at once. I had +rather have lost all I have than have lost that ring. You do not know +what it is. You do not know whence it came. The sea will be very high +to-night. The sea will come to take it before you.... Make haste. You +must go look for it at once.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I dare not.... I dare not go alone.... + +GOLAUD. + +Go, go with no matter whom. But you must go at once, do you +understand?--Make haste; ask Pélléas to go with you. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Pélléas?--With Pélléas?--But Pélléas would not.... + +GOLAUD. + +Pélléas will do all you ask of him. I know Pélléas better than you do. +Go, go; hurry! I shall not sleep until I have the ring. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! I am not happy!... I am not happy!... + [_Exit, weeping._ + + + + +SCENE III.--_Before a grotto._ + + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE. + +[_Speaking with great agitation._] Yes; it is here; we are there. It +is so dark you cannot tell the entrance of the grotto from the rest +of the night.... There are no stars on this side. Let us wait till +the moon has torn through that great cloud; it will light up the whole +grotto, and then we can enter without danger. There are dangerous +places, and the path is very narrow between two lakes whose bottom has +not yet been found. I did not think to bring a torch or a lantern, but +I think the light of the sky will be enough for us.--You have never +gone into this grotto? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Let us go in; let us go in.... You must be able to describe the place +where you lost the ring, if he questions you.... It is very big and +very beautiful. There are stalactites that look like plants and men. +It is full of blue darks. It has not yet been explored to the end. +There are great treasures hidden there, it seems. You will see the +remains of ancient shipwrecks there. But you must not go far in it +without a guide. There have been some who never have come back. I +myself dare not go forward too far. We will stop the moment we no +longer see the light of the sea or the sky. When you strike a little +light there, you would say the vault was covered with stars like the +sky. It is bits of crystal or salt, they say, that shine so in the +rock.--Look, look, I think the sky is going to clear.... Give me your +hand; do not tremble, do not tremble so. There is no danger; we will +stop the moment we no longer see the light of the sea.... Is it the +noise of the grotto that frightens you? It is the noise of night or +the noise of silence.... Do you hear the sea behind us?--It does not +seem happy to-night.... Ah! look, the light!... + + [The moon lights up abundantly the entrance and part of the + darkness of the grotto; and at a certain depth are seen three + old beggars with white hair, seated side by side, leaning upon + each other and asleep against a bowlder.] + +MÉLISANDE. + +Ah! + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What is it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +There are ... there are.... + [_She points out the three Beggars._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes; I have seen them too.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let us go!... Let us go!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes ... it is three old poor men fallen asleep.... There is a famine in +the country.... Why have they come to sleep here.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let us go!... Come, come.... Let us go!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Take care; do not speak so loud.... Let us not wake them.... They are +still sleeping heavily.... Come. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Leave me, leave me; I prefer to walk alone.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +We will come back another day.... [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_An apartment in the castle,_ ARKËL _and_ PÉLLÉAS +_discovered._ + + +ARKËL. + +You see that everything retains you here just now and forbids you this +useless journey. We have concealed your father's condition from you +until now; but it is perhaps hopeless; and that alone should suffice +to stop you on the threshold. But there are so many other reasons.... +And it is not in the day when our enemies awake, and when the people +are dying of hunger and murmur about us, that you have the right +to desert us. And why this journey? Marcellus is dead; and life has +graver duties than the visit to a tomb. You are weary, you say, +of your inactive life; but activity and duty are not found on the +highways. They must be waited for upon the threshold, and let in as +they go by; and they go by every day. You have never seen them? I +hardly see them any more myself; but I will teach you to see them, and +I will point them out to you the day when you would make them a sign. +Nevertheless, listen to me; if you believe it is from the depths of +your life this journey is exacted, I do not forbid your undertaking +it, for you must know better than I the events you must offer to your +being or your fate. I shall ask you only to wait until we know what +must take place ere long.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +How long must I wait? + +ARKËL. + +A few weeks; perhaps a few days.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I will wait.... + + + + +ACT THIRD + + + + +SCENE I.--_An apartment in the castle._ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE +_discovered_, MÉLISANDE _plies her distaff at the back of the room._ + + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yniold does not come back; where has he gone? + +MÉLISANDE + +He had heard something in the corridor; he has gone to see what it is. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Mélisande.... + +MÉLISANDE + +What is it? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +... Can you see still to work there?... + +MÉLISANDE + +I work as well in the dark.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I think everybody is already asleep in the castle. Golaud does not +come back from the chase. It is late, nevertheless.... He no longer +suffers from his fall?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He said he no longer suffered from it. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He must be more prudent; his body is no longer as supple as at twenty +years.... I see the stars through the window and the light of the moon +on the trees. It is late; he will not come back now. [_Knocking at the +door._] Who is there?... Come in!... + +_Little_ YNIOLD _opens the door and enters the room._ + +It was you knocking so?... That is not the way to knock at doors. It +is as if a misfortune had arrived; look, you have frightened little +mother. + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I only knocked a tiny little bit. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is late; little father will not come back to-night; it is time for +you to go to bed. + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I shall not go to bed before you do. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What?... What is that you are saying? + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I say ... not before you ... not before you.... + +[_Bursts into sobs and takes refuge by_ MÉLISANDE.] + +MÉLISANDE. + +What is it, Yniold?... What is it?... why do you weep all at once? + +YNIOLD _(sobbing)._ + +Because ... oh! oh! because ... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Because what?... Because what?... Tell me ... + +YNIOLD. + +Little mother ... little mother ... you are going away.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +But what has taken hold of you, Yniold?... I have never dreamed of +going away.... + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, you have; yes, you have; little father has gone away.... Little +father does not come back, and you are going to go away too.... I have +seen it ... I have seen it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +But there has never been any idea of that, Yniold.... Why, what makes +you think that I would go away?... + +YNIOLD. + +I have seen it ... I have seen it.... You have said things to uncle +that I could not hear.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He is sleepy.... He has been dreaming.... Come here, Yniold; asleep +already?... Come and look out at the window; the swans are fighting +with the dogs.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Oh! oh! they are chasing the dogs!... They are chasing them!... Oh! +oh! the water!... the wings!... the wings!... they are afraid.... + +PÉLLÉAS. _(coming back by_ MÉLISANDE_)._ + +He is sleepy; he is struggling against sleep; his eyes were +closing.... + +MÉLISANDE _(singing softly as she spins)._ + + Saint Daniel and Saint Michaël.... + Saint Michaël and Saint Raphaël.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Oh! oh! little mother!... + +MÉLISANDE _(rising abruptly)._ + +What is it, Yniold?... What is it?... + +YNIOLD. + +I saw something at the window?... + [PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE _run to the window._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What is there at the window?... What have you seen?... + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! I saw something!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +But there is nothing. I see nothing.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Nor I.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where did you see something? Which way?... + +YNIOLD. + +Down there, down there!... It is no longer there.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He does not know what he is saying. He must have seen the light of the +moon on the forest. There are often strange reflections,... or else +something must have passed on the highway ... or in his sleep. For +see, see, I believe he is quite asleep.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Little father is there! little father is there! + +PÉLLÉAS _(going to the window)._ + +He is right; Golaud is coming into the courtyard.... + +YNIOLD. + +Little father!... little father!... I am going to meet him!... + [_Exit, running,--A silence._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +They are coming up the stair.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD _and little_ YNIOLD _with a lamp._ + +GOLAUD. + +You are still waiting in the dark? + +YNIOLD. + +I have brought a light, little mother, a big light!... [_He lifts +the lamp and looks at_ MÉLISANDE.] You have been weeping, little +mother?... You have been, weeping?... [_He lifts the lamp toward_ +PÉLLÉAS _and looks in turn at him._] You too, you too, you have been +weeping?... Little father, look, little father; they have both been +weeping.... + +GOLAUD. + +Do not hold the light under their eyes so.... + + + +SCENE II.--_One of the towers of the castle.--watchman's round passes +under a window in the tower._ + + +MÉLISANDE _(at the window, combing her unbound hair)._ + + My long locks fall foaming + To the threshold of the tower,-- + My locks await your coming + All along the tower, + And all the long, long hour, + And all the long, long hour. + + _Saint Daniel and Saint Michaël,_ + _Saint Michaël and Saint Raphaël._ + + I was born on a Sunday, + A Sunday at high noon.... + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _by the watchman's round._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Holà ! Holà ! ho!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is there? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I, I, and I!... What art thou doing there at the window, singing like +a bird that is not native here? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am doing my hair for the night... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Is it that I see upon the wall?... I thought you had some light.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I have opened the window; it is too hot in the tower.... It is +beautiful to-night.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There are innumerable stars; I have never seen so many as to-night;... +but the moon is still upon the sea.... Do not stay in the shadow, +Mélisande; lean forward a little till I see your unbound hair.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am frightful so.... + [_She learn out at the window._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! Mélisande!... oh, thou art beautiful!... thou art beautiful +so!... Lean out! lean out!... Let me come nearer thee.... + +MÉLISANDE + +I cannot come nearer thee.... I am leaning out as far as I can.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I cannot come up higher;... give me at least thy hand to-night ... +before I go away.... I leave to-morrow.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no, no!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes, yes; I leave, I shall leave to-morrow.... Give me thy hand, +thy hand, thy little hand upon my lips.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I give thee not my hand if thou wilt leave.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Give, give, give!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Thou wilt not leave?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I will wait; I will wait.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I see a rose in the shadows.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where?... I see only the boughs of the willow hanging over the +wall.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Further down, further down, in the garden; further down, in the sombre +green.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is not a rose.... I will go see by and by, but give me thy hand +first; first thy hand.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +There, there;... I cannot lean out further.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I cannot reach thy hand with my lips.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I cannot lean out further.... I am on the point of falling....--Oh! +oh! my hair is falling down the tower!... + +[_Her tresses fall suddenly over her head, as she is leaning out so, +and stream over_ PÉLLÉAS] + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! what is it?... Thy hair, thy hair is falling down to me!... +All thy locks, Mélisande, all thy locks have fallen down the tower!... +I hold them in my hands; I hold them in my mouth.... I hold them in +my arms; I put them about my neck.... I will not open my hands again +to-night.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let me go! let me go!... Thou wilt make me fall!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +No, no, no;... I have never seen such hair as thine, Mélisande!... +See, see, see; it comes from so high and yet it floods me to the +heart!... And yet it floods me to the knees!... And it is sweet, sweet +as if it fell from heaven!... I see the sky no longer through thy +locks. Thou seest, thou seest?... I can no longer hold them with both +hands; there are some on the boughs of the willow.... They are alive +like birds in my hands,... and they love me, they love me more than +thou!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let me go; let me go!... Some one might come.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +No, no, no; I shall not set thee free to-night.... Thou art my +prisoner to-night; all night, all night!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Pélléas! Pélléas!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I tie them, I tie them to the willow boughs.... Thou shalt not go away +now;... thou shalt not go away now.... Look, look, I am kissing thy +hair.... I suffer no more in the midst of thy hair.... Hearest thou my +kisses along thy hair?... They mount along thy hair.... Each hair must +bring thee some.... Thou seest, thou seest, I can open my hands.... My +hands are free, and thou canst not leave me now.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! thou hurtest me.... [_Doves come out of the tower and fly +about them in the night._]--What is that, Pélléas?--What is it flying +about me? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is the doves coming oat of the tower.... I have frightened them; +they are flying away.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is my doves, Pélléas.--Let us go away, let me go; they will not +come back again.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why will they not come back again? + +MÉLISANDE + +They will be lost in the dark.... Let me go; let me lift my head.... +I hear a noise of footsteps.... Let me go!--It is Golaud!... I believe +it is Golaud!... He has heard us.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Wait! Wait!... Thy hair is about the boughs.... It is caught there in +the darkness.... Wait, wait!... It is dark.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD, _by the watchman's round._ + +GOLAUD. + +What do you here? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What do I here?... I.... + +GOLAUD. + +You are children.... Mélisande, do not lean out so at the window; you +will fall.... Do you not know it is late?--It is nearly midnight.--Do +not play so in the darkness.--You are children.... [_Laughing +nervously._] What children!... What children!... + [_Exit, with_ PÉLLÉAS. + + + + +SCENE III.--_The-vaults of the castle. + + +Enter_ GOLAUD _and_ PÉLLÉAS. + +GOLAUD. + +Take care; this way, this way.--You have never penetrated into these +vaults? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes; once, of old; but it was long ago.... + +GOLAUD. + +They are prodigious great; it is a succession of enormous crypts that +end, God knows where. The whole castle is builded on these crypts. Do +you smell the deathly odor that reigns here?--That is what I wished, +to show you. In my opinion, it comes from the little underground lake +I am going to have you see. Take care; walk before me, in the light of +my lantern. I will warn you when we are there, [_They continue to walk +in silence._] Hey! hey! Pélléas! stop! stop!--[_He seizes him by the +arm._] For God's sake!... Do you not see?--One step more, and you had +been in the gulf!... + +PÉLLÉAS + +But I did not see it!... The lantern no longer lighted me.... + +GOLAUD. + +I made a misstep.... but if I had not held you by the arm.... Well, +this is the stagnant water that I spoke of to you.... Do you +perceive the smell of death that rises?--Let us go to the end of this +overhanging rock, and do you lean over a little. It will strike you in +the face. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I smell it already;... you would say a smell of the tomb. + +GOLAUD. + +Further, further.... It is this that on certain days has poisoned +the castle. The King will not believe it comes from here.--The crypt +should be walled up in which this standing water is found. It is time, +besides, to examine these vaults a little. Have you noticed those +lizards on the walls and pillars of the vaults?--There is a labor +hidden here you would not suspect; and the whole castle will be +swallowed up one of these nights, if it is not looked out for. But +what will you have? nobody likes to come down this far.... There are +strange lizards in many of the walls.... Oh! here ... do you perceive +the smell of death that rises? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes; there is a smell of death rising about us.... + +GOLAUD. + +Lean over; have no fear.... I will hold you ... give me ... no, no, +not your hand ... it might slip ... your arm, your arm!... Do you see +the gulf? [_Moved._]--Pélléas? Pélléas?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes; I think I see the bottom of the gulf.... Is it the light that +trembles so?... You ... [_He straightens up, turns, and looks at_ +GOLAUD.] + +GOLAUD (_with a trembling voice_). + +Yes; it is the lantern.... See, I shook it to lighten the walls.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I stifle here;... let us go out.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; let us go out.... + [_Exeunt in silence._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_A terrace at the exit of the vaults. Enter_ GOLAUD _and_ +PÉLLÉAS. + + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Ah! I breathe at last!... I thought, one moment, I was going to be ill +in those enormous crypts; I was on the point of falling.... There is +a damp air there, heavy as a leaden dew, and darkness thick as a +poisoned paste.... And now, all the air of all the sea!... There is a +fresh wind, see; fresh as a leaf that has just opened, over the little +green waves.... Hold! the flowers have just been watered at the foot +of the terrace, and the smell of the verdure and the wet roses comes +up to us.... It must be nearly noon; they are already in the shadow of +the tower.... It is noon; I hear the bells ringing, and the children +are going down to the beach to bathe.... I did not know that we had +stayed so long in the caverns.... + +GOLAUD. + +We went down towards eleven o'clock.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Earlier; it must have been earlier; I heard it strike half-past ten. + +GOLAUD. + +Half-past ten or a quarter to eleven.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +They have opened all the windows of the castle. It will be unusually +hot this afternoon.... Look, there is mother with Mélisande at a +window of the tower.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; they have taken refuge on the shady side.--Speaking of Mélisande, +I heard what passed and what was said last night. I am quite aware all +that is but child's play; but it need not be repeated. Mélisande is +very young and very impressionable; and she must be treated the more +circumspectly that she is perhaps with child at this moment.... She +is very delicate, hardly woman; and the least emotion might bring on +a mishap. It is not the first time I have noticed there might be +something between you.... You are older than she; it will suffice to +have told you.... Avoid her as much as possible; without affectation +moreover; without affectation....--What is it I see yonder on the +highway toward the forest?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Some herds they are leading to the city.... + +GOLAUD. + +They cry like lost children; you would say they smelt the butcher +already.--It will be time for dinner.--What a fine day! What a capital +day for the harvest!... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE V.--_Before the castle._ + + +_Enter_ GOLAUD _and little_ YNIOLD. + +GOLAUD. + +Come, we are going to sit down here, Yniold; sit on my knee; we shall +see from here what passes in the forest. I do not see you any more +at all now. You abandon me too; you are always at little mother's.... +Why, we are sitting just under little mother's windows.--Perhaps she +is saying her evening prayer at this moment.... But tell me, Yniold, +she is often with your uncle Pélléas, isn't she? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; always, little father; when you are not there, little +father.... + +GOLAUD. + +Ah!--look; some one is going by with a lantern in the garden.--But I +have been told they did not like each other.... It seems they often +quarrel;... no? Is it true? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; it is true. + +GOLAUD. + +Yes?--Ah! ah!--But what do they quarrel about? + +YNIOLD. + +About the door. + +GOLAUD. + +What? about the door?--What are you talking about?--No, come, explain +yourself; why do they quarrel about the door? + +YNIOLD. + +Because it won't stay open. + +GOLAUD. + +Who wants it to stay open?--Come, why do they quarrel? + +YNIOLD. + +I don't know, little father; about the light. + +GOLAUD. + +I am not talking to you about the light; we will talk of that by and +by. I am talking to you about the door. Answer what I ask you; you +must learn to talk; it is time.... Do not put your hand in your mouth +so;... come.... + +YNIOLD. + +Little father! little father!... I won't do it any more.... [_He +cries._] + +GOLAUD. + +Come; what are you crying for now? What has happened? + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! little father, you hurt me.... + +GOLAUD. + +I hurt you?--Where did I hurt you? I did not mean to.... + +YNIOLD. + +Here, here; on my little arm.... + +GOLAUD. + +I did not mean to; come, don't cry any more, and I will give you +something to-morrow. + +YNIOLD. + +What, little father? + +GOLAUD. + +A quiver and some arrows; but tell me what you know about the door. + +YNIOLD. + +Big arrows? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes, yes; very big arrows.--But why don't they want the door to be +open?--Come, answer me sometime!--no, no; do not open your mouth to +cry. I am not angry. We are going to have a quiet talk, like Pélléas +and little mother when they are together. What do they talk about when +they are together? + +YNIOLD. + +Pélléas and little mother? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; what do they talk about? + +YNIOLD. + +About me; always about me. + +GOLAUD. + +And what do they say about you? + +YNIOLD. + +They say I am going to be very big. + +GOLAUD. + +Oh, plague of my life!... I am here like a blind man searching for +his treasure at the bottom of the ocean!... I am here like a new-born +child lost in the forest, and you ... Come, come, Yniold, I was +wandering; we are going to talk seriously. Do Pélléas and little +mother never speak of me when I am not there?... + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, little father; they are always speaking of you. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah!... And what do they say of me? + +YNIOLD. + +They say I shall grow as big as you are. + +GOLAUD. + +You are always by them? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, always, always, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +They never tell you to go play somewhere else? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they are afraid when I am not there. + +GOLAUD. + +They are afraid?... What makes you think they are afraid? + +YNIOLD. + +Little mother always says, "Don't go away; don't go away!"... They are +unhappy, but they laugh.... + +GOLAUD. + +But that does not prove they are afraid. + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, little father; she is afraid.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you say she is afraid? + +YNIOLD. + +They always weep in the dark. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah!... + +YNIOLD. + +That makes one weep too. + +GOLAUD. + +Yes, yes!... + +YNIOLD. + +She is pale, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah!... patience, my God, patience!... + +YNIOLD. + +What, little father? + +GOLAUD. + +Nothing, nothing, my child.--I saw a wolf go by in the forest.--Then +they get on well together?--I am glad to learn they are on good +terms.--They kiss each other sometimes--No?... + +YNIOLD. + +Kiss each other, little father?--No, no,--ah! yes, little father, yes; +yes; once ... once when it rained.... + +GOLAUD. + +They kissed?--But how, how did they kiss? + +YNIOLD. + +So, little father, so!... [_He gives him a kiss on the mouth, +laughing._] Ah! ah! your beard, little father!... It pricks! it +pricks! it pricks! It is getting all gray, little father, and your +hair, too; all gray, all gray, all gray.... [_The window under which +they are sitting is lighted up at this moment, and the light falls +upon them._] Ah! ah! little mother has lit her lamp. It is light, +little father; it is light.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; it is beginning to be light.... + +YNIOLD. + +Let us go there too, little father; let us go there too.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where do you want to go? + +YNIOLD. + +Where it is light, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +No, no, my child; let us stay in the dark a little longer.... One +cannot tell, one cannot tell yet.... Do you see those poor people down +there trying to kindle a little fire in the forest?--It has rained. +And over there, do you see the old gardener trying to lift that tree +the wind has blown down across the road?--He cannot; the tree is too +big; the tree is too heavy, and it will lie where it fell. All that +cannot be helped.... I think Pélléas is mad.... + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father, he is not mad; he is very good. + +GOLAUD. + +Do you want to see little mother? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; I want to see her! + +GOLAUD. + +Don't make any noise; I am going to hoist you up to the window. It is +too high for me, for all I am so big.... [_He lifts the child._] Do +not make the least noise; little mother would be terribly afraid.... +Do you see her?--Is she in the room? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes.... Oh, how light it is! + +GOLAUD. + +She is alone? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes;... no, no; Uncle Pélléas Is there, too. + +GOLAUD. + +He--...! + +YNIOLD. + +Ah! ah! little father! you have hurt me!... + +GOLAUD. + +It is nothing; be still; I will not do it any more; look, look, +Yniold!... I stumbled; speak lower. What are they doing?-- + +YNIOLD. + +They are not doing anything, little father; they are waiting for +something. + +GOLAUD. + +Are they near each other? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +And ... and the bed? are they near the bed? + +YNIOLD. + +The bed, little father?--I can't see the bed. + +GOLAUD. + +Lower, lower; they will hear you. Are they speaking? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not speak. + +GOLAUD. + +But what are they doing?--They must be doing something.... + +YNIOLD. + +They are looking at the light. + +GOLAUD. + +Both? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +They do not say anything? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not close their eyes. + +GOLAUD. + +They do not come near each other? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not stir. + +GOLAUD. + +They are sitting down? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they are standing upright against the wall. + +GOLAUD. + +They make no gestures?--They do not look at each other?--They make no +signs?... + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father.--Oh! oh! little father; they never close their +eyes.... I am terribly afraid.... + +GOLAUD. + +Be still. They do not stir yet? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father.--I am afraid, little father; let me come down!... + +GOLAUD. + +Why, what are you afraid of?--Look! look!... + +YNIOLD. + +I dare not look any more, little father!... Let me come down!... + +GOLAUD. + +Look! look!... + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! I am going to cry, little father!--Let me come down! let me +come down!,.. + +GOLAUD. + +Come; we will go see what has happened. + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT FOURTH + + + + +SCENE I.--_A corridor in the castle._ + + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE, _meeting_. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where goest thou? I must speak to thee to-night. Shall I see thee? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I have just left my father's room. He is getting better. The physician +has told us he is saved.... And yet this morning I had a presentiment +this day would end ill. I have had a rumor of misfortune in my ears +for some time.... Then, all at once there was a great change; to-day +it is no longer anything but a question of time. All the windows in +his room have been thrown open. He speaks; he seems happy. He does not +speak yet like an ordinary man, but already his ideas no longer all +come from the other world.... He recognized me. He took my hand and +said with that strange air he has had since he fell sick: "Is it thou, +Pélléas? Why, why, I had not noticed it before, but thou hast the +grave and friendly look of those who will not live long.... You must +travel; you must travel...." It is strange; I shall obey him.... My +mother listened to him and wept for joy.--Hast thou not been aware of +it?--The whole house seems already to revive, you hear breathing, you +hear speaking, you hear walking.... Listen; I hear some one speaking +behind that door. Quick, quick! answer quickly! where shall I see +thee? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where wouldst thou? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +In the park; near "Blind Man's Spring."--Wilt thou?--Wilt thou come? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It will be the last night;--I am going to travel, as my father said. +Thou wilt not see me more.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Do not say that, Pélléas.... I shall see thee always; I shall look +upon thee always.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou wilt look in vain.... I shall be so far away thou couldst no +longer see me.... I shall try to go very far away.... I am full of +joy, and you would say I had all the weight of heaven and earth on my +body to-day.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +What has happened, Pélléas?--I no longer understand what you say.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Go, go; let us separate. I hear some one speaking behind that door.... +It is the strangers who came to the castle this morning.... They are +going out.... Let us go; it is the strangers.... [_Exeunt severally._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ ARKËL _and_ MÉLISANDE +_discovered._ + + +ARKËL. + +Now that Pélléas's father is saved, and sickness, the old handmaid of +Death, has left the castle, a little joy and a little sunlight will +at last come into the house again.... It was time!--For, since thy +coming, we have only lived here whispering about a closed room.... And +truly I have pitied thee, Mélisande.... Thou camest here all joyous, +like a child seeking a gala-day, and at the moment thou enteredst in +the vestibule I saw thy face change, and probably thy soul, as the +face changes in spite of us when we enter at noon into a grotto too +gloomy and too cold.... And since,--since, on account of all that, I +have often no longer understood thee.... I observed thee, thou went +there, listless perhaps, but with the strange, astray look of one +awaiting ever a great trouble, in the sunlight, in a beautiful +garden.... I cannot explain.... But I was sad to see thee so; for thou +art too young and too beautiful to live already day and night under +the breath of death.... But now all that will change. At my age,--and +there perhaps is the surest fruit of my life,--at my age I have gained +I know not what faith in the fidelity of events, and I have always +seen that every young and beautiful being creates about itself young, +beautiful, and happy events.... And it is thou who wilt now open the +door for the new era I have glimpses of.... Come here; why dost thou +stay there without answering and without lifting thine eyes?--I have +kissed thee but once only hitherto,--the day of thy coming; and yet +old men need sometimes to touch with their lips a woman's forehead or +a child's cheek, to believe still in the freshness of life and avert +awhile the menaces.... Art thou afraid of my old lips? How I have +pitied thee these months!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Grandfather, I have not been unhappy.... + +ARKËL. + +Perhaps you were of those who are unhappy without knowing it,... and +they are the most unhappy.... Let me look at thee, so, quite near, a +moment;... we have such need of beauty beside Death.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD. + +GOLAUD. + +Pélléas leaves to-night. + +ARKËL. + +Thou hast blood on thy forehead.--What hast thou done? + +GOLAUD. + +Nothing, nothing.... I have passed through a hedge of thorns. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Bend down your head a little, my lord.... I will wipe your +forehead.... + +GOLAUD (_repulsing her_). + +I will not that you touch me, do you understand? Go, go!--I am not +speaking to you.--Where is my sword?--I came to seek my sword.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Here; on the praying-stool. + +GOLAUD. + +Bring it. [_To_ ARKËL.]--They have just found another peasant dead of +hunger, along by the sea. You would say they all meant to die under +our eyes.--[_To_ MÉLISANDE.] Well, my sword?--Why do you tremble +so?--I am not going to kill you. I would simply examine the blade. I +do not employ the sword for these uses. Why do you examine me like a +beggar?--I do not come to ask alms of you. You hope to see something +in my eyes without my seeing anything in yours?--Do you think I may +know something?--[_To_ ARKËL.]--Do you see those great eyes?--It is as +if they were proud of their richness.... + +ARKËL. + +I see there only a great innocence.... + +GOLAUD. + +A great innocence!... They are greater than innocence!... They are +purer than the eyes of a lamb.... They would give God lessons in +innocence! A great innocence! Listen: I am so near them I feel the +freshness of their lashes when they wink; and yet I am less far away +from the great secrets of the other world than from the smallest +secret of those eyes!... A great innocence!... More than innocence! +You would say the angels of heaven celebrated there an eternal +baptism!... I know those eyes! I have seen them at their work! Close +them! close them! or I shall close them for a long while!...--Do +not put your right hand to your throat so; I am saying a very simple +thing.... I have no under-thought.... If I had an under-thought, why +should I not say it? Ah! ah!--do not attempt to flee!--Here!--Give +me that hand!--Ah! your hands are too hot.... Go away! Your flesh +disgusts me!... Here!--There is no more question of fleeing now!--[_He +seizes her by the hair._]--You shall follow me on your knees!--On your +knees!--On your knees before me!--Ah! ah! your long hair serves +some purpose at last!... Right,... left!--Left,... right!--Absalom! +Absalom.--Forward! back! To the ground! to the ground!... You see, you +see; I laugh already like an old man.... + +ARKËL (_running up_). + +Golaud!... + +GOLAUD (_affecting a sudden calm_). + +You will do as you may please, look you.--I attach no importance +to that.--I am too old; and, besides, I am not a spy. I shall await +chance; and then ... Oh! then!... simply because it is the custom; +simply because it is the custom.... [_Exit._ + +ARKËL. + +What ails him?--He is drunk? + +MÉLISANDE (_in tears_). + +No, no; he does not love me any more.... I am not happy!... I am not +happy!... + +ARKËL. + +If I were God, I would have pity on men's hearts.... + + + + +SCENE III.--_A terrace of the castle. Little_ YNIOLD _discovered, +trying to lift a bowlder._ + + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +Oh, this stone is heavy!... It is heavier than I am.... It is +heavier than everybody.... It is heavier than everything that ever +happened.... I can see my golden ball between the rock and this +naughty stone, and I cannot reach it.... My little arm is not long +enough,... and this stone won't be lifted.... I can't lift it,... and +nobody could lift it.... It is heavier than the whole house;... you +would think it had roots in the earth.... [_The Bleatings of a flock +heard far away._]--Oh! oh! I hear the sheep crying.... [_He goes to +look, at the edge of the terrace._] Why! there is no more sun.... They +are coming ... the little sheep ... they are coming.... There is a lot +of them!... There is a lot of them!... They are afraid of the dark.... +They crowd together! they crowd together!... They can hardly walk any +more.... They are crying! they are crying! and they go quick!... They +go quick!... They are already at the great crossroads. Ah! ah! They +don't know where they ought to go any more.... They don't cry any +more.... They wait.... Some of them want to go to the right.... +They all want to go to the right.... They cannot!... The shepherd is +throwing earth at them.... Ah! ah! They are going to pass by here.... +They obey! They obey! They are going to pass under the terrace.... +They are going to pass under the rocks.... I am going to see them near +by.... Oh! oh! what a lot of them!... What a lot of them!... The +whole road is full of them.... They all keep still now ... Shepherd! +shepherd! why don't they speak any more? + +THE SHEPHERD (_who is out of sight_). + +Because it is no longer the road to the stable.... + +YNIOLD. + +Where are they going?--Shepherd! shepherd!--where are they going?--He +doesn't hear me any more. They are too far away already.... They go +quick.... They are not making a noise any more.... It is no longer the +road to the stable.... Where are they going to sleep to-night?--Oh! +oh!--It is too dark.... I am going to tell something to somebody.... + [_Exit._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_A fountain in the park._ + + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is the last evening ... the last evening. It must all end. I have +played like a child about a thing I did not guess.... I have played +a-dream about the snares of fate.... Who has awakened me all at once? +I shall flee, crying out for joy and woe like a blind man fleeing +from his burning house.... I am going to tell her I shall flee.... +My father is out of danger; and I have no more reason to lie to +myself.... It is late; she does not come.... I should do better to +go away without seeing her again.... I must look well at her this +time.... There are some things that I no longer recall.... It seems at +times as if I had not seen her for a hundred years.... And I have not +yet looked upon her look.... There remains nought to me if I go away +thus. And all those memories ... it is as if I were to take away a +little water in a muslin bag.... I must see her one last time, to the +bottom of her heart.... I must tell her all that I have never told +her. + +_Enter_ MÉLISANDE. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Pélléas! + +Mélisande!--Is it thou, Mélisande? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Come hither; do not stay at the edge of the moonlight.--Come hither. +We have so many things to tell each other.... Come hither in the +shadow of the linden. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let me stay in the light.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +We might be seen from the windows of the tower. Come hither; here, we +have nothing to fear.--Take care; we might be seen.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I wish to be seen.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why, what doth ail thee?--Thou wert able to come out without being +seen? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes; your brother slept.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is late.--In an hour they will close the gates. We must be careful. +Why art thou come so late? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Your brother had a bad dream. And then my gown was caught on the nails +of the gate. See, it is torn. I lost all this time, and ran.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +My poor Mélisande!... I should almost be afraid to touch thee.... Thou +art still out of breath, like a hunted bird.... It is for me, for me, +thou doest all that?... I hear thy heart beat as if it were mine.... +Come hither ... nearer, nearer me.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why do you laugh? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I do not laugh;--or else I laugh for joy, unwittingly.... It were a +weeping matter, rather.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +We have come here before.... I recollect.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes ... yes.... Long months ago.--I knew not then.... Knowest thou why +I asked thee to come here to-night? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is perhaps the last time I shall see thee.... I must go away +forever.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why sayest thou always thou wilt go away?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I must tell thee what thou knowest already?--Thou knowest not what I +am going to tell thee? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why, no; why, no; I know nothing--... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou knowest not why I must go afar.... Thou knowest not it is +because ... [_He kisses her abruptly._] I love thee.... + +MÉLISANDE (_in a low voice_). + +I love thee too.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! What saidst thou, Mélisande?... I hardly heard it!... Thou +sayest that in a voice coming from the end of the world!... I hardly +heard thee.... Thou lovest me?--Thou lovest me too?... Since when +lovest thou me?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Since always.... Since I saw thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh, how thou sayest that!... Thy voice seems to have blown across the +sea in spring!... I have never heard it until now;... one would say +it had rained on my heart!... Thou sayest that so frankly!... Like an +angel questioned!... I cannot believe it, Mélisande!... Why shouldst +thou love me?--Nay, why dost thou love me?--Is what thou sayest +true?--Thou dost not mock me?--Thou dost not lie a little, to make me +smile?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No; I never lie; I lie but to thy brother.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh, how thou sayest that!... Thy voice! thy voice!... It is cooler and +more frank than the water is!... It is like pure water on my lips!... +It is like pure water on my hands.... Give me, give me thy hands!... +Oh, how small thy hands are!... I did not know thou wert so +beautiful!... I have never seen anything so beautiful before thee.... +I was fall of unrest; I sought throughout the house.... I sought +throughout the country.... And I found not beauty.... And now I have +found thee!... I have found thee!.,. I do not think there could be on +the earth a fairer woman!... Where art thou?--I no longer hear thee +breathe.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Because I look on thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why dost thou look so gravely on me?--We are already in the +shadow.--It is too dark under this tree. Come into the light. We +cannot see how happy we are. Come, come; so little time remains to +us.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; let us stay here.... I am nearer thee in the dark.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where are thine eyes?--Thou art not going to fly me?--Thou dost not +think of me just now. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, yes; oh, yes; I only think of thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou wert looking elsewhere.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I saw thee elsewhere.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thy soul is far away.... What ails thee, then?--Meseems thou art not +happy.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; I am happy, but I am sad.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +One is sad often when one loves.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I weep always when I think of thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I too.... I too, Mélisande.... I am quite near thee; I weep for joy, +and yet ...[_He kisses her again._]--Thou art strange when I kiss thee +so.... Thou art so beautiful that one would think thou wert about to +die.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Thou too.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There, there.... We do not what we will.... I did not love thee the +first time I saw thee.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Nor I ... nor I.... I was afraid.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I could not admit thine eyes.... I would have gone away at once ... +and then.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +And I,--I would not have come.... I do not yet know why,--I was afraid +to come.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There are so many things one never knows. We are ever waiting; and +then.... What is that noise?--They are closing the gates!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, they have closed the gates.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +We cannot go back now?--Hearest thou the bolts?--Listen! listen!... +the great chains!... the great chains!... It is too late; it is too +late!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +All the better! all the better! all the better!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou--...? Behold, behold!... It is no longer we who will it so!... +All's lost, all's saved! all is saved to-night!--Come, come.... My +heart beats like a madman,--up to my very throat.... [_They embrace._] +Listen! listen! my heart is almost strangling me.... Come! come!... +Ah, how beautiful it is in the shadows!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +There is some one behind us!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I see no one.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I heard a noise.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I hear only thy heart in the dark.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I heard the crackling of dead leaves.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Because the wind is silent all at once.... It fell as we were +kissing.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +How long our shadows are to-night!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +They embrace to the very end of the garden. Oh, how they kiss far away +from us!... Look! look!... + +MÉLISANDE.(_a stifled voice_). + +A-a-h!--He is behind a tree! + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Who? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Golaud! + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Golaud!--where?--I see nothing.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +There ... at the end of our shadows. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes; I saw him.... Let us not turn abruptly.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He has his sword.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I have not mine.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He saw us kiss.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He does not know we have seen him.... Do not stir; do not turn your +head.... He would rush headlong on us.... He will remain there while +he thinks we do not know. He watches us.... He is still motionless.... +Go, go at once this way.... I will wait for him.... I will stop +him.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no, no!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Go! go! he has seen all!... He will kill us!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +All the better! all the better! all the better!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He comes! he comes!... Thy mouth!... Thy mouth!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes!... yes! yes!... + [_They kiss desperately._ + +PÉLLÉAS + +Oh! oh! All the stars are falling!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Upon me too! upon me too!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Again! Again!... Give! give!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +All! all! all!... + + [Golaud rushes upon them, sword in hand, and strikes Pélléas, who + falls at the brink of the fountain. Mélisande flees terrified.] + +MÉLISANDE. (_fleeing_). + +Oh! oh! I have no courage I ... I have no courage!... + + [GOLAUD _pursues her through the wood in silence._ + + + + +ACT FIFTH. + + + + +SCENE I.--_A lower hall in the castle. The women servants discovered, +gathered together, while without children are playing before one of +the ventilators of the hall._ + + +AN OLD SERVANT. + +You will see, you will see, my daughters; it will be to-night.--Some +one will come to tell us by and by.... + +ANOTHER SERVANT. + +They will not come to tell us.... They don't know what they are doing +any longer.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Let us wait here.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +We shall know well enough when we must go up.... + +FIFTH SERVANT. + +When the time is come, we shall go up of ourselves.... + +SIXTH SERVANT. + +There is no longer a sound heard in the house.... + +SEVENTH SERVANT. + +We ought to make the children keep still, who are playing before the +ventilator. + +EIGHTH SERVANT. + +They will be still of themselves by and by. + +NINTH SERVANT. + +The time has not yet come.... + +_Enter an old Servant._ + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +No one can go in the room any longer. I have listened more than +an hour.... You could hear the flies walk on the doors.... I heard +nothing.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Has she been left alone in the room? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +No, no; I think the room is full of people. + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They will come, they will come, by and by.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Lord! Lord! It is not happiness that has come into the house.... One +may not speak, but if I could say what I know... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +It was you who found them before the gate? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Why, yes! why, yes! it was I who found them. The porter says it was +he who saw them first; but it was I who waked them. He was sleeping on +his face and would not get up.--And now he comes saying, "It was I who +saw them first." Is that just?--See, I burned myself lighting a lamp +to go down cellar.--Now what was I going to do down cellar?--I can't +remember any more what I was going to do down cellar.--At any rate I +got up very early; it was not yet very light; I said to myself, I will +go across the courtyard, and then I will open the gate. Good; I +go down the stairs on tiptoe, and I open the gate as if it were an +ordinary gate.... My God! My God! What do I see? Divine a little what +I see!... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They were before the gate? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +They were both stretched out before the gate!... Exactly like poor +folk that are too hungry.... They were huddled together like little +children who are afraid.... The little princess was nearly dead, and +the great Golaud had still his sword in his side.... There was blood +on the sill.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +We ought to make the children keep still.... They are screaming with +all their might before the ventilator.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +You can't hear yourself speak.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +There is nothing to be done: I have tried already; they won't keep +still.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +It seems he is nearly cured? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Who? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +The great Golaud. + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; they have taken him to his wife's room. I met them just +now, in the corridor. They were holding him up as if he were drunk. He +cannot yet walk alone. + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +He could not kill himself; he is too big. But she is hardly wounded, +and it is she who is going to die.... Can you understand that? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +You have seen the wound? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +As I see you, my daughter.--I saw everything, you understand.... I saw +it before all the others.... A tiny little wound under her little left +breast,--a little wound that wouldn't kill a pigeon. Is it natural? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; there is something underneath.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +Yes; but she was delivered of her babe three days ago.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Exactly!... She was delivered on her death-bed; is that a little +sign?--And what a child! Have you seen it?--A wee little girl a beggar +would not bring into the world.... A little wax figure that came much +too soon;... a little wax figure that must live in lambs' wool.... +Yes, yes; it is not happiness that has come into the house.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; it Is the hand of God that has been stirring.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; all that did not happen without reason.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +It is as good lord Pélléas ... where is he?--No one knows.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; everybody knows.... But nobody dare speak of it.... One does +not speak of this;... one does not speak of that;... one speaks no +more of anything;... one no longer speaks truth.... But _I_ know he +was found at the bottom of Blind Man's Spring;... but no one, no one +could see him.... Well, well, we shall only know all that at the last +day.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +I dare not sleep here any longer.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; once ill-fortune is in the house, one keeps silence in +vain.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Yes; it finds you all the same.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; but we do not go where we would.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; we do not do what we would.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They are afraid of us now.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +They all keep silence.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +They cast down their eyes in the corridors. + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +They do not speak any more except in a low voice. + +FIFTH SERVANT. + +You would think they had all done it together. + +SIXTH SERVANT. + +One doesn't know what they have done.... + +SEVENTH SERVANT. + +What is to be done when the masters are afraid?... [_A silence_. + +FIRST SERVANT. + +I no longer hear the children screaming. + +SECOND SERVANT. + +They are sitting down before the ventilator. + +THIRD SERVANT. + +They are huddled against each other. + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +I no longer hear anything in the house.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +You no longer even hear the children breathe.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Come, come; it is time to go up.... + [_Exeunt in silence._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ + + +ARKËL, GOLAUD, _and the_ PHYSICIAN _discovered in one corner of the +room._ MÉLISANDE _is stretched upon her bed._ + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It cannot be of that little wound she is dying; a bird would not have +died of it.... It is not you, then, who have killed her, good my lord; +do not be so disconsolate.... She could not have lived.... She was +born without reason ... to die; and she dies without reason.... And +then, it is not sure we shall not save her.... + +ARKËL. + +No, no; it seems to me we keep too silent, in spite of ourselves, in +her room.... It is not a good sign.... Look how she sleeps ... slowly, +slowly;... it is as if her soul was cold forever.... + +GOLAUD. + +I have killed her without cause! I have killed her without cause!... +Is it not enough to make the stones weep?... They had kissed like +little children.... They had simply kissed.... They were brother and +sister.... And I, and I at once!... I did it in spite of myself, look +you.... I did it in spite of myself.... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Stop; I think she is waking.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Open the window;... open the window.... + +ARKËL + +Shall I open this one, Mélisande? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; the great window ... the great window.... It is to see.... + +ARKËL. + +Is not the sea air too cold to-night? Do it; do it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Thanks.... Is it sunset? + +ARKËL. + +Yes; it is sunset on the sea; it is late.--How are you, Mélisande? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Well, well.--Why do you ask that? I have never been better.--And yet +it seems to me I know something.... + +ARKËL. + +What sayest thou?--I do not understand thee.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Neither do I understand all I say, you see.... I do not know what I +am saying.... I do not know what I know.... I no longer say what I +would.... + +ARKËL. + +Why, yes! why, yes!... I am quite happy to hear thee speak so; thou +hast raved a little these last days, and one no longer understood +thee.... But now all that is far away.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not know....--Are you all alone in the room, grandfather? + +ARKËL. + +No; there is the physician, besides, who cured thee.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Ah!... + +ARKËL. + +And then there is still some one else.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is it? + +ARKËL. + +It is ... thou must not be frightened.... He does not wish thee the +least harm, be sure.... If thou'rt afraid, he will go away.... He is +very unhappy.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is it? + +ARKËL. + +It is thy ... thy husband.... It is Golaud.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Golaud is here? Why does he not come by me? + +GOLAUD (_dragging himself toward the bed._) + +Mélisande ... Mélisande.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Is it you, Golaud? I should hardly recognize you any more.... It is +the evening sunlight in my eyes.... Why look you on the walls? You +have grown thin and old.... Is it a long while since we saw each +other? + +GOLAUD (_to_ ARKËL _and the_ PHYSICIAN). + +Will you withdraw a moment, if you please, if you please?... I will +leave the door wide open.... One moment only.... I would say something +to her; else I could not die.... Will you?--Go clear to the end of +the corridor; you can come back at once, at once.... Do not refuse +me this.... I am a wretch.... [_Exit_ ARKËL _and the_ +PHYSICIAN.]--Mélisande, hast thou pity on me, as I have pity on +thee?... Mélisande?... Dost thou forgive me, Mélisande?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes, I do forgive thee.... What must I forgive?... + +GOLAUD. + +I have wrought thee so much ill, Mélisande.... I cannot tell thee the +ill I have wrought thee.... But I see it, I see it so clearly to-day +... since the first day.... And all I did not know till now leaps in +my eyes to-night.... And it is all my fault, all that has happened, +all that will happen.... If I could tell it, thou wouldst see as I +do!... I see all! I see all!... But I loved thee so!... I loved thee +so!... But now there is some one dying.... It is I who am dying.... +And I would know.... I would ask thee.... Thou'lt bear me no +ill-will.... I would.... The truth must be told to a dying man.... He +must know the truth, or else he could not sleep.... Swearest thou to +tell me the truth? + +MÉLISANDE + +Yes. + +GOLAUD. + +Didst thou love Pélléas? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why, yes; I loved him.--Where is he? + +GOLAUD. + +Thou dost not understand me?--Thou wilt not understand me?--It seems +to me ... it seems to me.... Well, then, here: I ask thee if thou +lovedst him with a forbidden love?... Wert thou ... were you guilty? +Say, say, yes, yes, yes!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; we were not guilty.--Why do you ask that? + +GOLAUD. + +Mélisande!... tell me the truth, for the love of God! + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why have I not told the truth? + +GOLAUD. + +Do not lie so any more, at the moment of death! + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is dying?--Is it I? + +GOLAUD. + +Thou, thou! and I, I too, after thee!... And we must have the +truth.... We must have the truth at last, dost thou understand?... +Tell me all! Tell me all! I forgive thee all!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why am I going to die?--I did not know it.... + +GOLAUD. + +Thou knowest it now!... It is time! It is time!... Quick! quick!... +The truth! the truth!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +The truth ... the truth.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where art thou?--Mélisande!--Where art thou?--It is not natural! +Mélisande! Where art thou?--Where goest thou? [_Perceiving_ ARKËL +_and the_ PHYSICIAN _at the door of the room.]--_ Yes, yes; you may +come in.... I know nothing; it is useless.... It is too late; she is +already too far away from us.... I shall never know!... I shall die +here like a blind man!... + +ARKËL. + +What have you done? You will kill her.... + +GOLAUD. + +I have already killed her.... + +ARKËL. + +Mélisande.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Is it you, grandfather? + +ARKËL. + +Yes, my daughter.... What would you have me do? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Is it true that the winter is beginning?... + +ARKËL. + +Why dost thou ask? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Because it is cold, and there are no more leaves.... + +ARKËL. + +Thou art cold?--Wilt thou have the windows closed? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no,... not till the sun be at the bottom of the sea.--It sinks +slowly; then it is the winter beginning? + +ARKËL. + +Yes.--Thou dost not like the winter? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! no. I am afraid of the cold.--I am so afraid of the great cold.... + +ARKËL. + +Dost thou feel better? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; I have no longer all those qualms.... + +ARKËL. + +Wouldst thou see thy child? + +MÉLISANDE. + +What child? + +ARKËL. + +Thy child.--Thou art a mother.... Thou hast brought a little daughter +into the world.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where is she? + +ARKËL. + +Here.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is strange.... I cannot lift my arms to take her.... + +ARKËL. + +Because you are still very weak.... I will hold her myself; look.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +She does not laugh.... She is little.... She is going to weep too.... +I pity her.... + + [The room has been invaded, little by little, by the women + servants of the castle, who range themselves in silence along + the walls and wait] + +GOLAUD (_rising abruptly_). + +What is the matter?--What are all these women coming here for?... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It is the servants.... + +ARKËL. + +Who was it called them? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It was not I.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you come here?--No one has asked for you.... What come you here +to do?--But what is it, then?--Answer me!... + [_The servants make no answer._ + +ARKËL. + +Do not speak too loud.... She is going to sleep; she has closed her +eyes.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is not...? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +No, no; see, she breathes.... + +ARKËL. + +Her eyes are full of tears.--It is her soul weeping now.... Why does +she stretch her arms out so?--What would she? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It is toward the child, without doubt.... It is the straggle of +motherhood against... + +GOLAUD. + +At this moment?--At this moment?--You must say. Say! Say!... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Perhaps. + +GOLAUD. + +At once?... Oh! oh! I must tell her....--Mélisande! Mélisande!... +Leave me alone! leave me alone with her!... + +ARKËL. + +No, no; do not come near.... Trouble her not.... Speak no more to +her.... You know not what the soul is.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is not my fault!... It is not my fault! + +ARKËL. + +Hush!... Hush!... We must speak softly now.--She must not be +disturbed.... The human soul is very silent.... The human soul likes +to depart alone.... It suffers so timorously.... But the sadness, +Golaud ... the sadness of all we see!... Oh! oh! oh!... [_At this +moment, all the servants fall suddenly on their knees at the back of +the chamber._] + +ARKËL (_turning_). + +What is the matter? + +THE PHYSICIAN (_approaching the bed and feeling the body_). + +They are right.... + [_A long silence._ + +ARKËL. + +I saw nothing.--Are you sure?... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Yes, yes. + +ARKËL. + +I heard nothing.... So quick, so quick!... All at once!... She goes +without a word.... + +GOLAUD (_sobbing_). + +Oh! oh! oh! + +_ARKËL._ + +Do not stay here, Golaud.... She must have silence now.... Come, +come.... It is terrible, but it is not your fault.... 'T was a little +being, so quiet, so fearful, and so silent.... 'T was a poor little +mysterious being, like everybody.... She lies there as if she were the +big sister of her child.... Come, come.... My God! My God!... I shall +never understand it at all.... Let us not stay here.--Come; the child +most not stay here in this room.... She must live now in her place.... +It is the poor little one's turn.... + [_They go out in silence._ + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + +Alladine and Palomides. + +_To Camille Mauclair_. + + + + +Persons. + + +ABLAMORE. + +ASTOLAINE, _daughter of Ablamore_. + +ALLADINE. + +PALOMIDES. + +THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +A PHYSICIAN. + +[NOTE: The translation of Ablamore's song is taken from the version of +this play made by the editors of "Poet-lore." R.H.] + + + + +Alladine and Palomides. + + * * * * * + + + + +ACT FIRST. + +_A-wild part of the gardens_. ABLAMORE _discovered leaning over_ +ALLADINE, _who is asleep_. + + +ABLAMORE. + +Methinks sleep reigns day and night beneath these trees. Each time +she comes here with me toward nightfall, she is hardly seated when she +falls asleep. Alas! I must be glad even of that.... During the day, +whene'er I speak to her and her look happens to encounter mine, it is +hard as a slave's to whom a thing impossible has just been bidden.... +Yet that is not her customary look.... I have seen her many times +resting her beautiful eyes on children, on the forest, the sea, or her +surroundings. She smiles at me as one smiles on a foe; and I dare not +bend over her save at times when her eyes can no longer see me.... I +have a few moments every evening; and all the rest of the day I live +beside her with my eyes cast down.... It is sad to love too late.... +Maids cannot understand that years do not separate hearts.... They +have called me "The wise King."... I was wise because till now nothing +had happened to me.... There are men who seem to turn events aside. +It was enough that I should be about for nothing to be able to have +birth.... I had suspected it of old.... In the time of my youth, I had +many friends whose presence seemed to attract every adventure; but +the days when I went forth with them, for the encounter of joys or +sorrows, they came back again with empty hands.... I think I palsied +fate; and I long took pride in this gift. One lived under cover in my +reign.... But now I have recognized that misfortune itself is better +worth than sleep, and that there must be a life more active and higher +than waiting.... They shall see that I too have strength to trouble, +when I will, the water that seems dead at the bottom of the great +caldrons of the future.... Alladine, Alladine!... Oh! she is lovely +so, her hair over the flowers and over her pet lamb, her lips apart +and fresher than the morn.... I will kiss her without her knowing, +holding back my poor white beard.... [_He kisses her._]--She +smiled.... Should I pity her? For the few years she gives me, she will +some day be queen; and I shall have done a little good before I go +away.... They will be astonished.... She herself does not know.... Ah! +here she wakes with a start.... Where are you coming from, Alladine? + +ALLADINE. + +I have had a bad dream.... + +ABLAMORE. + +What is the matter? Why do you look yonder? + +ALLADINE. + +Some one went by upon the road. + +ABLAMORE. + +I heard nothing. + +ALLADINE. + +I tell you some one is coming.... There he is! [_She points out a +young knight coming forward through the trees and holding his horse by +the bridle._] Do not take me by the hand; I am not afraid.... He has +not seen us.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Who dares come here?... If I did not know.... I believe it is +Palomides.... It is Astolaine's betrothed.... He has raised his +head.... Is it you, Palomides? + +_Enter_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes, my father.... If I am suffered yet to call you by that name.... I +come hither before the day and the hour.... + +ABLAMORE. + +You are a welcome guest, whatever hour it be.... But what has +happened? We did not expect you for two days yet.... Is Astolaine +here, too?... + +PALOMIDES. + +No; she will come to-morrow. We have journeyed day and night. She was +tired and begged me to come on before.... Are my sisters come? + +ABLAMORE. + +They have been here three days waiting for your wedding.--You look +very happy, Palomides.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Who would not be happy, to have found what he sought? I was sad of +old. But now the days seem lighter and more sweet than harmless birds +in the hand.... And if old moments come again by chance, I draw near +Astolaine, and you would think I threw a window open on the dawn.... +She has a soul that can be seen around her,--that takes you in its +arms like an ailing child and without saying anything to you consoles +you for everything.... I shall never understand it at all.--I do not +know how it can all be; but my knees bend in spite of me when I speak +of it.... + +ALLADINE. + +I want to go in again. + +ABLAMORE. + +[_Seeing that_ ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES _look at each other +stealthily._] This is little Alladine who has come hither from +the heart of Arcady.... Take hands ... Does that astonish you, +Palomides?... + +PALOMIDES. + +My father.... + +[PALOMIDES' _horse starts aside, frightening_ ALLADINE'S _lamb._] + +ABLAMORE. + +Take care.... Your horse has frightened Alladine's lamb.... He will +run away.... + +ALLADINE. + +No; he never runs away.... He has been startled, but he will not +run away.... It is a lamb my godmother gave me.... He is not like +others.... He stays beside me night and day. [_Caressing it._ + +PALOMIDES (_also caressing it_). + +He looks at me with the eyes of a child.... + +ALLADINE. + +He understands everything that happens.... + +ABLAMORE. + +It is time to go find your sisters, Palomides.... They will be +astonished to see you.... + +ALLADINE. + +They have gone every day to the turning of the road.... I have gone +with them; but they did not hope yet.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Come; Palomides is covered with dust, and he must be weary.... We have +too many things to say to each other to talk here.... We will say them +to-morrow.... They claim the morn is wiser than the evening.... I see +the palace gates are open and seem to wait for us.... + +ALLADINE. + +I cannot help being uneasy when I go back into the palace.... It is so +big, and I am so little, and I get lost there still.... And then +all those windows on the sea.... You cannot count them.... And the +corridors that turn without reason, and others that never turn, but +lose themselves between the walls.... And the halls I dare not go +into.... + +PALOMIDES. + +We will go in everywhere.... + +ALLADINE. + +You would think I was not made to dwell there,--that it was not built +for me.... Once I lost my way there.... I pushed open thirty doors, +before I found the light of day again.... And I could not go out; +the last door opened on a pool.... And the vaults that are cold all +summer; and the galleries that bend back on themselves endlessly.... +There are stairways that lead nowhere and terraces from which nothing +can be seen.... + +ABLAMORE. + +You who were not wont to talk, how you talk to-night!... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT SECOND. + + + + +SCENE I.--ALLADINE _discovered, her forehead against one of the +windows that open on the park. Enter_ ABLAMORE. + + +ABLAMORE. + +Alladine.... + +ALLADINE (_turning abruptly_). + +What is it? + +ABLAMORE. + +Oh, how pale you are!... Are you ill? + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +What is it in the park?--Were you looking at the avenue of fountains +that unfolds before your windows?--They are wonderful and weariless. +They were raised there one by one, at the death of each of my +daughters.... At night I hear them singing in the garden.... They +bring to mind the lives they represent, and I can tell their voices +apart.... + +ALLADINE. + +I know. + +ABLAMORE. + +You must pardon me; I sometimes repeat the same things and my memory +is less trust-worthy.... It is not age; I am not an old man yet, thank +God! but kings have a thousand cares. Palomides has been telling me +his adventures.... + +ALLADINE. + +Ah! + +ABLAMORE. + +He has not done what he would; young people have no will any more.--He +astonishes me. I had chosen him among a thousand for my daughter. He +should have had a soul as deep as hers.--He has done nothing which may +not be excusable, but I had hoped more.... What do you say of him? + +ALLADINE. + +Who? + +ABLAMORE. + +Palomides? + +ALLADINE. + +I have only seen him one evening.... + +ABLAMORE. + +He astonishes me.--Everything has succeeded with him till now. He +would undertake a thing and accomplish it without a word.--He would +get out of danger without an effort, while others could not open a +door without finding death behind it.--He was of those whom events +seem to await on their knees. But a little while ago something +snapped. You would say he has no longer the same star, and every +step he takes carries him further from himself.--I don't know what it +is.--He does not seem to be at all aware, but others can remark it.... +Let us speak of something else: look! the night comes; I see it rise +along the walls. Would you like to go together to the wood of Astolat, +as we do other evenings? + +ALLADINE. + +I am not going out to-night. + +ABLAMORE. + +We will stay here, since you prefer it so. Yet the air is sweet and +the evening very fair. [ALLADINE _starts without his noticing it._] I +have had flowers set along the hedges, and I should like to show them +to you.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, not to-night.... If you wish me to.... I like to go there with you +... the air is pure and the trees ... but not to-night.... [_Cowers, +weeping, against the old man's breast._] I do not feel quite well.... + +ABLAMORE. + +What is the matter? You are going to fall.... I will call.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no.... It is nothing.... It is over.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Sit down. Wait.... + + [He runs to the folding-doors at the back and opens both. + Palomides is seen, seated on a bench. He has not had time to + turn away his eyes. Ablamore looks fixedly at him, without a + word, then re-enters the room. Palomides rises and retreats + in the corridor, stifling the sound of his footsteps. The pet + lamb leaves the room, unperceived.] + + + + +SCENE II.--_A drawbridge over the moats of the palace_. PALOMIDES +_and_ ALLADINE, _with her pet lamb, appear at the two ends of the +bridge._ KING ABLAMORE _leans out from a window of the tower_. + + +PALOMIDES. + +Were you going out, Alladine?--I was coming in. I am coming back from +the chase.--It rained. + +ALLADINE. + +I have never passed this bridge. + +PALOMIDES. + +It leads to the forest. It is seldom passed. People had rather go a +long way around. I think they are afraid because the moats are deeper +at this place than elsewhere, and the black water that comes down from +the mountains boils horribly between the walls before it goes hurling +itself into the sea. It roars there always; but the quays are so high +you hardly notice it. It is the most deserted wing of the palace. But +on this side the forest is more beautiful, more ancient, and greater +than any you have seen. It is full of unusual trees and flowers that +have sprung up of themselves,--Will you come? + +ALLADINE. + +I do not know.... I am afraid of the roaring water. + +PALOMIDES. + +Come, come; it roars without reason. Look at your lamb; he looks at me +as if he wished to come.... Come, come.... + +ALLADINE. + +Don't call him.... He will get away. + +PALOMIDES. + +Come, come. + + [The lamb escapes from Alladine's hands, and comes leaping toward + Palomides, but slips on the inclined plane of the drawbridge and + goes rolling into the moat.] + +ALLADINE. + +What has he done?--Where is he? + +PALOMIDES. + +He slipped. He is straggling in the heart of the eddy. Do not look at +him; there is nothing to be done.... + +ALLADINE. + +You are going to save him? + +PALOMIDES. + +Save him? But look! he is already in the tunnel. One moment more, +and he will be under the vaults; and God himself will never see him +more.... + +ALLADINE. + +Go away! Go away! + +PALOMIDES. + +What is the matter? + +ALLADINE. + +Go away!--I do not want to see you any more!... + + [Ablamore enters precipitately, seizes Alladine, and draws her + away brusquely without speaking.] + + + + +SCENE III.--_A room in the palace_. ABLAMORE _and_ ALLADINE +_discovered_. + + +ABLAMORE. + +You see, Alladine, my hands do not tremble, my heart beats like a +sleeping child's, and my voice has not once been stirred with wrath. +I bear no ill-will to Palomides, although what he has done might seem +unpardonable. And as for thee, who could bear thee ill-will? You obey +laws you do not know, and you could not act otherwise, I will not +speak to you of what took place the other day along the palace moats, +nor of all the unforeseen death of the lamb might have revealed to me, +had I believed in omens for an instant. But last night I surprised +the kiss you gave each other under the windows of Astolaine. At that +moment I was with her in her room. She has a soul that fears so much +to trouble, with a tear or with a simple movement of her eyelids, the +happiness of those about her, that I shall never know if she, as I, +surprised that wretched kiss. But I know what she has the power to +suffer. I shall not ask you anything you cannot avow to me, but I +would know if you had any secret design in following Palomides under +the window where you must have seen us. Answer me without fear; you +know beforehand I will pardon everything. + +ALLADINE. + +I did not kiss him. + +ABLAMORE. + +What? You did not kiss Palomides, and Palomides did not kiss you? + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +Ah!... Listen: I came here to forgive you everything.... I thought +you had acted as we almost all act, without aught of our soul +intervening.... But now I will know all that passed.... You love +Palomides, and you have kissed him under my eyes.... + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +Don't go away. I am only an old man. Do not flee.... + +ALLADINE. + +I am not fleeing. + +ABLAMORE. + +Ah! ah! You do not flee, because you think my old hands harmless! They +have yet the strength to tear a secret out in spite of all [_He seizes +her arms_.] And they could wrestle with all those you prefer.... [_He +twists her arms behind her head_.] Ah! you will not speak!... There +will yet come a time when all your soul shall spirt out like a clear +spring, for woe.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no! + +ABLAMORE. + +Again,... we are not at the end, the journey is very long--and naked +truth is hid among the rocks.... Will she come forth?... I see her +gestures in your eyes already, and her cool breath will lave my visage +soon.... Ah!... Alladine! Alladine!...[_He releases her suddenly_.] +I heard your bones cry out like little children.... I have not hurt +you?... Do not stay thus, upon your knees before me,... It is I who +go down on my knees. [_He does as he says_] I am a wretch.... You must +have pity.... It is not for myself alone I pray.... I have only one +poor daughter.... All the rest are dead.... I had seven of them +about me.... They were fair and full of happiness; and I saw them no +more.... The only one left to me is going to die, too.... She did +not love life.... But one day she encountered something she no longer +looked for, and I saw she had lost the desire to die.... I do not ask +a thing impossible.... [ALLADINE _weeps and makes no answer_.] + + + + +SCENE IV.--_The apartment of_ ASTOLAINE. ASTOLAINE _and_ PALOMIDES +_discovered_. + + +PALOMIDES. + +Astolaine, when I met you several months ago by chance, it seemed +to me that I had found at last what I had sought for during many +years.... Till you, I did not know all that the ever tenderer goodness +and complete simplicity of a high soul might be. I was so deeply +stirred by it that it seemed to me the first time I had met a human +being. You would have said that I had lived till then in a closed +chamber which you opened for me; and all at once I knew what must be +the soul of other men and what mine might become.... Since then, +I have known you further. I have seen you act, and others too have +taught me all that you have been. + +There have been evenings when I quitted you without a word, and went +to weep for wonder in a corner of the palace, because you had simply +raised your eyes, made a little unconscious gesture, or smiled for no +apparent cause, yet at the moment when all the souls about you asked +it and would be satisfied. There is but you who know these moments, +because you are, it seems, the soul of all, and I do not believe those +who have not drawn near you can know what true life is. To-day I come +to say all this to you, because I feel that I shall never be he whom +I hoped once to become.... A chance has come--or haply I myself have +come; for you can never tell if you have made a movement of yourself, +or if it be chance that has met with you--a chance has come, which has +opened my eyes, just as we were about to make each other unhappy; and +I have recognized there must be something more incomprehensible than +the beauty of the most beautiful soul or the most beautiful face; and +mightier, too, since I must needs obey it.... I do not know if you +have understood me. If you understand, have pity on me.... I have said +to myself all that could be said.... I know what I shall lose, for I +know her soul is a child's soul, a poor strengthless child's, beside +yours, and yet I cannot resist it.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not weep.... I know too that one does not do what one would do ... +nor was I ignorant that you would come.... There must indeed be +laws mightier than those of our souls, of which we always speak.... +[_Kissing him abruptly_].--But I love thee the more, my poor +Palomides. + +PALOMIDES. + +I love thee, too ... more than her I love.... Thou weepest, as I do? + +ASTOLAINE. + +They are little tears.... Do not be sad for them.... I weep so, +because I am woman, but they say our tears are not painful.... You see +I can dry them already.... I knew well what it was.... I waited for +the wakening.... It has come, and I can breathe with less disquietude, +being no longer happy.... There!... We must see clearly now for you +and her. For I believe my father already has suspicions. [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT THIRD. + + +SCENE I.--_A room in the palace_. ABLAMORE _discovered_. ASTOLAINE +_stands on the step of a half-open door at the back of the hall_. + +ASTOLAINE. + +Father, I have come because a voice that I no longer can resist, +commands me to. I told you all that happened in my soul when I met +Palomides. He was not like other men.... To-day I come to ask your +help ... for I do not know what should be said to him.... I have +become aware I cannot love him.... He has remained the same, and +I alone have changed, or have not understood.... And since it is +impossible for me to love, as I have dreamed of love, him I had chosen +among all, it must be that my heart is shut to these things.... I know +it to-day.... I shall look no more toward love; and you will see me +living on about you without sadness and without unrest.... I feel that +I am going to be happy.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Come hither, Astolaine. It is not so that you were wont to speak in +the old days to your father. You wait there, on the threshold of a +door hardly ajar, as if you were ready to flee; and with your hand +upon the key, as if you would close from me forever the secret of your +heart. You know quite well I have not understood what you have just +said, and that words have no sense when souls are not within reach +of each other. Draw nearer still, and speak no more to me, [ASTOLAINE +_approaches slowly_.] There is a moment when souls touch each +other, and know all without need that one should move the lips. Draw +nearer.... They do not reach each other yet, and their radiance is +so slight about us!... [ASTOLAINE _stops_.] Thou darest not?--Thou +knowest too how far one can go?--It is I who must.... [_He approaches +Astolaine with slow step, then stops and looks long at her_.] I see +thee, Astolaine.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Father!... [_She sobs as she kisses the old man_.] + +ABLAMORE. + +You see well it was useless.... + + + + +SCENE II.--_A chamber in the palace_. + + +_Enter_ ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +All will be ready to-morrow. We cannot wait longer. He prowls like +a madman through the corridors of the palace; I met him even now. +He looked at me without a word. I passed; and as I turned, I saw him +slyly laugh, shaking his keys. When he perceived that I was looking +at him, he smiled at me, making signs of friendship. He must have +some secret project, and we are in the hands of a master whose reason +begins to totter.... To-morrow we shall be far away.... Yonder there +are wonderful countries that resemble thine.... Astolaine has already +provided for our flight and for my sisters'.... + +ALLADINE. + +What has she said? + +PALOMIDES. + +Nothing, nothing.... You will see everything about my father's +castle,--after days of sea and days of forests--you will see lakes and +mountains ... not like these, under a sky that looks like the vault of +a cave, with black trees that the storms destroy ... but a sky beneath +which there is nothing more to fear,--forests that are always awake, +flowers that do not close.... + +ALLADINE. + +She wept? + +PALOMIDES. + +What are you asking?... There is something there of which we have no +right to speak, do you understand?... There is a life there that does +not belong to our poor life, and which love has no right to approach +except in silence.... We are here, like two beggars in rags, when I +think of it.... Go! go!... I could tell you things.... + +ALLADINE. + +Palomides!... What is the matter? + +PALOMIDES. + +Go! go!... I have seen tears that came from further than the eyes.... +There is something else.... It may be, nevertheless, that we are right +... but how I regret being right so, my God!... Go!... I will tell you +to-morrow ... to-morrow ... to-morrow.... + [_Exeunt severally_. + + + + +SCENE III.--_A corridor before the apartment of_ ALLADINE. _Enter_ +ASTOLAINE _and the_ SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + + +ASTOLAINE. + +The horses wait in the forest, but Palomides will not flee; and yet +your lives and his are in danger. I do not know my poor father any +longer. He has a fixed idea that troubles his reason. This is the +third day I have followed him step by step, hiding myself behind the +pillars and the walls, for he suffers no one to companion him. To-day, +as the other days, and from the first gleams of the morning he has +gone wandering through the corridors and halls of the palace, and +along the moats and ramparts, shaking the great golden keys he has +had made and singing at the top of his voice the strange song whose +refrain, _Go follow what your eyes have seen_, has perhaps pierced +even to the depths of your chambers. I have concealed from you till +now all that has come to pass, because such things must not be spoken +of without reason. He must have shut up Alladine in this apartment, +but no one knows what he has done with her. I have listened at the +doors every night and whenever he has been away a moment, but I have +never heard any noise in the room.... Do you hear anything? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +No; I hear only the murmur of the air passing through the little +chinks of the wood.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +It seems to me, when I listen hard, that I hear the great pendulum of +the clock. + +A THIRD SISTER. + +But what is this little Alladine, then, and why does he bear such +ill-will to her? + +ASTOLAINE. + +It is a little Greek slave that came from the heart of Arcady.... +He bears her no ill-will, but ... Do you hear?--It is my father.... +[_Singing heard in the distance._] Hide yourselves behind the pillars +... He will have no one pass by this corridor.--[_They hide._] + +_Enter_ ABLAMORE, _singing and shaking a bunch of great keys_. + +ABLAMORE (_sings_). + + Misfortune had three golden keys. + --He has no rescue for the Queen!-- + Misfortune had three golden keys. + Go follow what your eyes have seen. + + [Sits dejected on a bench, beside the door of Alladine's + apartment, hums a little while longer, and soon goes to sleep, his + arms hanging down and his head fallen.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Come, come! make no noise. He has fallen asleep on the bench.--Oh, my +poor old father! How white his hair has grown during these days! He +is so weak, he is so unhappy, that sleep itself no longer brings him +peace. It is three whole days now since I have dared to look upon his +face.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +He sleeps profoundly.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +He sleeps profoundly, but you can see his soul has no rest.... The +sunlight here will vex his eyelids.... I am going to draw his cloak +over his face.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +No, no; do not touch it.... He might wake with a start.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Some one is coming in the corridor. Come, come! put yourselves before +him.... Hide him.... A stranger must not see him in this state.... + +A SISTER OF PALOMIDES. + +It is Palomides.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +I am going to cover his poor eyes.... [_She covers_ ABLAMORE'S +_face_.]--I would not have Palomides see him thus.... He is too +miserable. + +_Enter_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +What is the matter? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +He has fallen asleep on the bench. + +PALOMIDES. + +I have followed him without his seeing me.... He said nothing?... + +ASTOLAINE. + +No; but see all he has suffered.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Has he the keys? + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +He holds them in his hand.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I am going to take them. + +ASTOLAINE. + +What are you going to do? Oh, do not wake him!... For three nights now +he has wandered through the palace.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I will open his hand a little without his noticing it.... We have no +right to wait any longer.... God knows what he has done.... He will +forgive us when he has his reason back.... Oh! oh! his hand has no +strength any more... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Take care! Take care! + +PALOMIDES. + +I have the keys.--Which is it? I am going to open the room. + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +Oh, I am afraid!... Do not open it at once.... Palomides!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Stay here.... I do not know what I shall find.... + +[_He goes to the door, opens it, and enters the apartment_.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Is she there? + +PALOMIDES (_in the apartment_). + +I cannot see.... The shutters are closed.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Have a care, Palomides.... Wilt thou that I go first?... Thy voice is +trembling.... + +PALOMIDES (_in the apartment_). + +No, no.... I see a ray of sunlight falling through the chinks of the +shutters. + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +Yes; it is broad day out of doors. + +PALOMIDES. + +[_Rushing headlong from the room_.] Come! Come!... I think she ... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Thou hast seen her?... + +PALOMIDES. + +She is stretched out on the bed!... She does not stir!... I do not +think she ... Come! Come! [_They all go into the room._ + +ASTOLAINE AND THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +[_In the room_.] She is here.... No, no, she is not dead.... Alladine! +Alladine!... Oh! oh! The poor child!... Do not cry out so.... She has +fainted.... Her hair is tied across her mouth.... And her hands are +bound behind her back.... They are bound with the help of her hair.... +Alladine! Alladine!... Fetch some water.... + +[ABLAMORE, _who has waked, appears on the step of the door_.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +There is my father!... + +ABLAMORE (_going to_ PALOMIDES). + +Was it you who opened the door of the room? + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes, it was I.... I did it--well, then?--well, then?... I could not +let her die under my eyes.... See what you have done. Alladine!... +Fear nothing.... She opens her eyes a little.... I will not ... + +ABLAMORE. + +Do not cry out.... Do not cry out so.... Come, we will open the +shutters.... You cannot see here. Alladine!... She is already sitting +up. Alladine, come too.... Do you see, my children, it is dark in +the room. It is as dark here as if we were a thousand feet under the +ground. But I open one of the shutters, and behold! All the light of +the sky and the sun!... It does not need much effort; the light +is full of good-will.... It suffices that one call it; it always +obeys.... Have you seen the river with its little islands between the +meadows in flower?... The sky is a crystal ring to-day.... Alladine! +Palomides, come see.... Draw both of you near Paradise.... You must +kiss each other in the new light.... I bear you no ill-will. You did +what was ordained; and so did I.... Lean out a moment from the open +window, and look once more at the sweet green things.... + [_A silence. He closes the shutter without a word_.] + + + + +ACT FOURTH. + +_Vast subterranean crypts_. ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES. + + +PALOMIDES. + +They have bound my eyes with bands; they have tied my hands with +cords. + +ALLADINE. + +They have tied my hands with cords; they have bound my eyes with +bands.... I think my hands are bleeding.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Wait. To-day I bless my strength.... I feel the knots beginning to +give way.... One struggle more, and let my fists burst! One struggle +more! I have my hands! [_Tearing away the bandage_.] And my eyes!... + +ALLADINE. + +You see now? + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes. + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Where are you? + +ALLADINE. + +Here; can you not see me? + +PALOMIDES. + +My eyes weep still where the band has left its trace.... We are not in +darkness.... Is it you I hear toward where I can just see? + +ALLADINE. + +I am here; come. + +PALOMIDES. + +You are at the edge of that which gives us light. Do not stir; I +cannot see all that there is about you. My eyes have not forgot the +bandage yet. They bound it tight enough to burst my eyelids. + +ALLADINE. + +Come; the knots stifle me. I can wait no longer.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I hear only a voice coming out of the light.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are you? + +PALOMIDES. + +I have no idea myself. I walk still in darkness.... Speak again, that +I may find you. You seem to be on the edge of an unbounded light.... + +ALLADINE. + +Come! come! I have borne without a word, but I can bear no more.... + +PALOMIDES (_groping forward_). + +You are there? I thought you so far away!... My tears deceived me. +I am here, and I see you. Oh, your hands are wounded! They have bled +upon your gown, and the knots have entered into the flesh. I have no +longer any weapons. They have taken away my poniard. I will tear them +off. Wait! wait! I have the knots. + +ALLADINE. + +Take off the bandage first that makes me blind.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I cannot.... I do not see.... It seems to be surrounded by a net of +golden threads.... + +ALLADINE. + +My hands, then, my hands! + +PALOMIDES. + +They have taken silken cords.... Wait, the knots come undone. The cord +has thirty turns.... There, there!--Oh, your hands are all blood!... +You would say they were dead.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no!... They are alive! they are alive! See!... + + [With her hands hardly yet unbound, she clasps Palomides about the + neck and kisses him passionately.] + +PALOMIDES. + +Alladine! + +ALLADINE. + +Palomides! + +PALOMIDES. + +Alladine, Alladine!... + +ALLADINE. + +I am happy!... I have waited a long while!... + +PALOMIDES. + +I was afraid to come.... + +ALLADINE. + +I am happy ... and I would that I could see thee.... + +PALOMIDES. + +They have tied down the bandage like a casque....--Do not turn round; +I have found the golden threads.... + +ALLADINE. + +Yes, yes, I will turn round.... + [_She turns about, to kiss him again._ + +PALOMIDES. + +Have a care. Do not stir. I am afraid of wounding thee.... + +ALLADINE. + +Tear it away! Fear nothing. I can bear no more!... + +PALOMIDES. + +I would see thee too.... + +ALLADINE. + +Tear it away! Tear it away! I am no longer within reach of woe!... +Tear it away!... Thou dost not know that one could wish to die.... +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Thou'lt see, thou'lt see.... It is innumerable crypts ... great blue +halls, gleaming pillars, and deep vaults.... + +ALLADINE. + +Why dost thou answer when I question thee? + +PALOMIDES. + +What matter where we be, if we be but together?... + +ALLADINE. + +Thou lovest me less already? + +PALOMIDES. + +Why, what ails thee? + +ALLADINE. + +I know well where I am when I am on thy heart.... Oh, tear the bandage +off!... I would not enter blind into thy soul.... What doest thou, +Palomides? Thou dost not laugh when I laugh. Thou dost not weep when +I weep. Thou dost not clap thy hands when I clap mine; and thou +tremblest not when I speak trembling to the bottom of my soul.... +The band! The band!... I will see!... There, there, above my hair!... +[_She tears away the bandage_.] Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Seest thou? + +ALLADINE. + +Yes.... I see thee only.... + +PALOMIDES. + +What is it, Alladine? Thou kissest me as if thou wert already sad.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Why dost thou ask so sadly? + +ALLADINE. + +No, I am not sad; but my eyes will hardly open.... + +PALOMIDES. + +One would say your joy had fallen on my lips like a child at the +threshold of the house.... Do not turn away.... I fear lest you should +flee, and I fear lest I dream.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +We are in crypts that I have never seen.... Doth it not seem to thee +the light increases? When I unclosed my eyes, I could distinguish +nothing; now little by little it is all revealed. I have been often +told of wondrous caverns whereon the halls of Ablamore were built. It +must be these. No one descends here ever; and the king only has the +keys. I knew the sea flooded the lowest vaults; and it is probably the +reflex of the sea which thus illumines us.... They thought to bury us +in night. They came down here with torches and flambeaus and saw the +darkness only, while the light came out to meet us, seeing we had +none.... It brightens without ceasing.... I am sure the dawn pierces +the ocean and sends down to us through all its greening waves the +purest of its child-soul.... + +ALLADINE. + +How long have we been here? + +PALOMIDES. + +I have no idea.... I made no effort till I heard thee speak.... + +ALLADINE. + +I do not know how this took place. I was asleep in the room where thou +didst find me; and when I waked, my eyes were bound across, and both +my hands were pinioned in my girdle.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I too was sleeping. I heard nothing, and I had a band across my eyes +ere I could open them. I struggled in the darkness; but they were +stronger than I.... I must have passed under deep vaults, for I felt +the cold fall on my shoulders; and I went down so far I could not +count the steps.... Did no one speak to thee? + +ALLADINE. + +No; no one spoke. I heard some one weeping as he walked; and then I +fainted.... + +PALOMIDES (_kissing her_). + +Alladine! + +ALLADINE. + +How gravely thou dost kiss me!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Close not thine eyes when I do kiss thee so.... I would see the kisses +trembling in thy heart, and all the dew that rises in thy soul.... We +shall not find such kisses any more.... + +ALLADINE. + +Always, always! + +PALOMIDES. + +No, no; there is no kissing twice upon the heart of death.... How fair +thou art so!... It is the first time I have seen thee near.... It is +strange, we think that we have seen each other because we have gone by +two steps apart; but everything changes the moment the lips touch.... +There, thou must be let to have thy will.... I stretch my arms wide +to admire thee, as if thou wert no longer mine; and then I draw them +nearer till I touch thy kisses and perceive only eternal bliss.... +There needed us this supernatural light!... [_He kisses her again_.] +Ah! What hast thou done? Take care! we are upon a crest of rock that +overhangs the water that gives us light. Do not step back. It was +time.... Do not turn too abruptly. I was dazzled.... + +ALLADINE. + +[_Turning and looking at the blue water that illuminates them_.] +Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is as if the sky had flowed hither.... + +ALLADINE. + +It is full of moveless flowers.... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is full of moveless flowers and strange.... Hast thou seen the +largest there that blooms beneath the others? It seems to live a +cadenced life.... And the water ... Is it water?... It seems more +beautiful, more pure, more blue than all the water in the world.... + +ALLADINE. + +I dare not look upon it longer.... + +PALOMIDES. + +See how about us all is luminous.... The light dares hesitate no +longer, and we kiss each other in the vestibules of heaven.... Seest +thou the precious stones that gem the vaults, drunken with life, that +seem to smile on us; and the thousands and thousands of glowing blue +roses that climb along the pillars?... + +ALLADINE. + +Oh!... I heard!... + +PALOMIDES. + +What? + +ALLADINE. + +Some one striking the rocks.... + +PALOMIDES. + +No, no; it is the golden gates of a new Paradise, that open in our +souls and sing upon their hinges!... + +ALLADINE. + +Listen.... again, again!... + +PALOMIDES (_with voice suddenly changed_). + +Yes; it is there.... It is at the bottom of the bluest vaults.... + +ALLADINE. + +They are coming to.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I hear the sound of iron on the rock.... They have walled up the door +or cannot open it.... It is the picks grating against the stone.... +His soul has told him we were happy.... + + [A silence; then a stone is detached at the very end of the vault, + and a ray of daylight breaks into the cavern.] + +ALLADINE. + +Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is another light.... + + [Motionless and anxious, they watch other stones detach themselves + slowly in an insufferable light, and fall one by one; while the + light, entering in more and more resistless floods, reveals to + them little by little the gloom of the cavern they had thought + marvellous. The miraculous lake becomes wan and sinister; the + precious stones about them are extinguished, and the glowing roses + appear as the stains and rotten rubbish that they are. At last, + the whole side of rock falls abruptly into the crypt. The sunlight + enters, dazzling. Calls and songs are heard without. Alladine and + Palomides recoil.] + +PALOMIDES. + +Where are we? + +ALLADINE (_embracing him_). + +I love thee still, Palomides.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I love thee too, my Alladine.... + +ALLADINE. + +They come.... + +PALOMIDES. + +[_Looking behind him as they still recoil_.] Have a care.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no; have no more care.... + +PALOMIDES (_looking at her_). + +Alladine? + +ALLADINE. + +Yes ... + + [They still recoil before the invasion of light or peril, until + they lose their footing; and they fall and disappear behind the + rock that overhangs the underground and now gloomy water.--A + silence. Astolaine and the sisters of Palomides enter the crypt.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Where are they? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +Palomides!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Alladine! Alladine!... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +Palomides!... It is we!... + +THIRD SISTER. + +Fear nothing; we are alone!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Come! come! we have come to rescue you!... + +FOURTH SISTER. + +Ablamore has fled.... + +FIFTH SISTER. + +He is no longer in the palace.... + +SIXTH SISTER. + +They do not answer.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +I heard the water stirred!... This way, this way! + +[_They run to the rock that overlooks the underground_.] + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +They are there!... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +Yes, yes; at the very bottom of the black water.... They embrace. + +THIRD SISTER. + +They are dead. + +FOURTH SISTER. + +No, no; they are alive! they are alive!... See.... + +THE OTHER SISTERS. + +Help! help!... Call!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +They make no effort to save themselves!... + + + + +ACT FIFTH. + + [A corridor, so long that its furthest arches seem to lose + themselves in a kind of indoor horizon. The sisters of Palomides + wait before one of the innumerable closed doors that open into + this corridor. They seem to be guarding it. A little further down, + on the opposite side, Astolaine and the Physician converse before + another door, also closed.] + + +ASTOLAINE. + +[_To the Physician._] Nothing has ever happened until now in this +palace, where all things have seemed to be asleep since my sisters +died; and my poor old father, pursued by a strange restlessness, has +fretted without reason at this calm, which seems, for all that, +the least dangerous form of happiness. Some time ago,--his reason +beginning to totter even then,--he went up to the top of a high tower; +and as he stretched his arms out timidly toward the forests and toward +the sea, he said to me--smiling a little fearfully at his words, as if +to disarm my incredulous smile--that he called about us events which +had long been hidden beneath the horizon. They have come, alas! sooner +and more in number than he expected, and a few days have sufficed for +them to reign in his stead. He has been their first victim. He fled +to the meadows, singing, all in tears, the evening when he had little +Alladine and luckless Palomides taken down into the crypts. He has +not since been seen. I have had search made everywhere throughout the +country and even on the sea. He has not been found. At least, I had +hoped to save those he made suffer unwittingly, for he has always been +the tenderest of men and the best of fathers; but there, too, I think +I came too late. I do not know what happened. They have not spoken +yet. They doubtless must have thought, hearing the sound of the iron +and seeing all at once the light again, that my father had regretted +the kind of surcease he had granted them, and that some one came to +bring them death. Or else they slipped as they drew back, upon +the rock that overhangs the lake; and so must have fallen through +heedlessness. But the water is not deep in that spot, and we succeeded +in saving them without difficulty. To-day it is you alone who can do +the rest. + [THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES _have drawn nearer._ + + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +They are both ailing with the same disease, and it is a disease I do +not know.--But I have little hope left. They were seized perhaps +with the cold of the underground waters; or else those waters may be +poisonous. The decomposed body of Alladine's lamb was found there.--I +will come back to-night.--Meanwhile they must have silence.... The +level of life is very low in their hearts.... Do not go into their +rooms and do not speak to them, for the least word, in the state they +are in, might cause their death.... They must succeed in forgetting +one another. [_Exit._ + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +I see that he will die. + +ASTOLAINE. + +No, no.... Do not weep;... one does not die so, at his age.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +But why is your father angry without reason at my poor brother? + +THIRD SISTER. + +I think your father loved Alladine. + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not speak so of it.... He thought I suffered. He thought to have +done good, and he did evil unwittingly.... That often happens to +us.... It is my fault, perhaps.... I recall it to-day.... One night I +was asleep. I was weeping in a dream.... We have little courage when +we dream. I waked.... He was beside my bed, looking at me.... Perhaps +he was deceived.... + +FOURTH SISTER (_running_). + +Alladine has stirred a little in her room.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Go to the door ... listen.... Perhaps it was the nurse rising.... + +FIFTH SISTER (_listening at the door_). + +No, no; I hear the nurse walking.... There is another noise. + +SIXTH SISTER (_also running_). + +I think Palomides has moved too; I hear the murmur of a voice +seeking.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +[_Very feebly, within the room._] Palomides!... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +She is calling him!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Let us be careful!... Go, go in front of the door, that Palomides may +not hear.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides! + +ASTOLAINE. + +My God! My God! Silence that voice!... Palomides will die of it if he +hear it!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +[_Very feebly, within the other room_.] Alladine!... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +He answers!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Three among you remain here,... and we will go to the other door. Come, +come quickly. We will surround them. We will try to defend them.... +Lie back against the doors.... Perhaps they will hear no longer.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +I shall go into Alladine's room.... + +SECOND SISTER. + +Yes, yes; prevent her from crying out again. + +THIRD SISTER. + +She is already cause of all this evil.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not go in, or I go in to Palomides.... She also had a right to +life; and she has done nought but to live.... But that we cannot +stifle in their passage their deadly words!... We are without help, my +poor sisters, my poor sisters, and hands cannot stop souls!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides, is it thou? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Where art thou, Alladine? + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Is it thou whom I hear far from me making moan? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Is it thou whom I hear calling, and see thee not? + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +One would believe thy voice had lost the last of hope.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +One would believe that thine had crossed the winds of death.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +It goes hard with thy voice to pierce into my room.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +And I no longer hear thy voice as of old time. + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have been woe for thee!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +They have divided us, but I do love thee ever.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have been woe for thee.... Art then still suffering? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +No; I no longer suffer, but I =fain= would see thee.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +We shall not see each other more; the doors are shut.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Thy voice would make one say thou lovedst me no more.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Yes, yes; I love thee still, but it is mournful now.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Whither is thy face turned? I hardly understand thee.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +We seem to be an hundred leagues from one another.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +I try to rise in vain; my spirit is too heavy.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I too would come,--I too--but still my head falls back.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Thou seemest almost to speak in tears despite thyself.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +No; I wept long ago; it is no longer tears.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +There's something in thy thoughts thou dost not tell me of.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +They were not precious stones.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +And the flowers were not real.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +They rave.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +No, no; they know what they are saying.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +It was the light that had no pity on us.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Where goest thou, Alladine? Thou'rt being borne away.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have no more regret to lose the light o' the sun.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Yes, yes; we shall behold the sweet green things again!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have lost desire to live.... + +[_A silence; then more and more faintly:_] + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Alladine!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Alla ... dine!... + + [A silence.--Astolaine and the sisters of Palomides listen, in + anguish. Then the nurse opens, from the inside, the door of + Palomides' room, appears on the sill, makes a sign, and all enter + the room. The door doses behind them. A new silence. A little + afterwards, the door of Alladine's room opens in its turn; the + other nurse comes out in like manner, looks about in the corridor, + and, seeing no one, re-enters the room, leaving the door wide + open.] + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + +Home. + +_To Mademoiselle Sara de Swart._ + + + + +Persons. + +IN THE GARDEN. + +THE OLD MAN. +THE STRANGER. +MARTHA } _granddaughters of the old man._ +AND MARY, } +A PEASANT. +THE CROWD. + +IN THE HOUSE + +THE FATHER, } +THE MOTHER, } _Silent characters._ +THE TWO DAUGHTERS,} +THE CHILD, } + + + + +Home. + + * * * * * + + [An old garden, planted with willows. At the back, a house in + which three windows on the ground-floor are lighted. A family, + sitting up under the lamp, is seen rather distinctly. The + father is seated by the fireside. The mother, one elbow on the + table, is staring into space. Two young girls, clad in white, + embroider, dream, and smile in the quiet of the room. A + child lies asleep with his head under the mother's left arm. + Whenever one of them rises, walks, or makes a gesture, his + movements seem to be grave, slow, rare, and, as it were, + spiritualized by the distance, the light, and the vague veil + of the windows. The old man and the stranger enter the garden + cautiously.] + + +THE OLD MAN. + +We are in the part of the garden behind the house. They never come +here. The doors are on the other side.--They are closed, and the +shutters are up. But there are no shutters on this side, and I saw +a light.... Yes; they are sitting up still under the lamp. It is +fortunate they have not heard us; the mother or the young girls would +have come out, perhaps, and then what should we have done?... + +THE STRANGER. + +What are we going to do? + +THE OLD MAN. + +I should like to see, first, if they are all in the room. Yes, I see +the father sitting in the chimney-corner. He waits, with his hands on +his knees;... the mother is resting her elbow on the table. + +THE STRANGER. + +She is looking at us.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +No; she doesn't know where she is looking: her eyes do not wink. She +cannot see us; we are in the shade of great trees. But do not go any +nearer.... The two sisters of the dead girl are in the room too. They +are embroidering slowly; and the little child is asleep. It is nine +by the clock in the corner.... They suspect nothing, and they do not +speak. + +THE STRANGER. + +If one could draw the father's attention, and make him some sign? He +has turned his head this way. Would you like me to knock at one of the +windows? One of them ought to be told before the others.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +I don't know which one to choose.... We must take great +precautions.... The father is old and ailing.... So is the mother; and +the sisters are too young.... And they all loved her with such love as +will never be again.... I never saw a happier household.... No, no, do +not go near the window; that would be worse than anything else.... +It is better to announce it as simply as possible,--as if it were an +ordinary event,--and not to look too sad; for otherwise their grief +will wish to be greater than yours and will know of nothing more that +it can do.... Let us go on the other side of the garden. We will knock +at the door and go in as if nothing had happened. I will go in first: +they will not be surprised to see me; I come sometimes in the evening, +to bring them flowers or fruit, and pass a few hours with them. + +THE STRANGER. + +Why must I go with you? Go alone; I will wait till I am called.... +They have never seen me.... I am only a passer-by; I am a stranger.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is better not to be alone. A sorrow that one does not bring alone +is not so unmixed nor so heavy.... I was thinking of that as we were +coming here.... If I go in alone, I shall have to be speaking from the +first minute; in a few words they will know everything, and I shall +have nothing more to say; and I am afraid of the silence following the +last words that announce a woe.... It is then the heart is rent.... If +we go in together, I shall tell them, for example, after going a long +way about, "She was found so.... She was floating in the river, and +her hands were clasped."... + +THE STRANGER. + +Her hands were not clasped; her arms were hanging down along her body. + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see, one speaks in spite of oneself.... And the sorrow is lost in +the details;... but otherwise, if I go in alone, at the first words, +knowing them as I do, it would be dreadful, and God knows what might +happen.... But if we speak in turn, they will listen to us and not +think to look the ill news in the face.... Do not forget the mother +will be there, and that her life hangs by a thread.... It is good that +the first wave break on some unnecessary words.... There should be a +little talking around the unhappy, and they should have people about +them.... The most indifferent bear unwittingly a part of the grief.... +So, without noise or effort, it divides, like air or light.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Your clothes are wet through; they are dripping on the flagstones. + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is only the bottom of my cloak that dipped in the water.--You seem +to be cold. Your chest is covered with earth.... I did not notice it +on the road on account of the darkness.... + +THE STRANGER. + +I went into the water up to my waist. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Was it long after you found her when I came? + +THE STRANGER. + +A few minutes, barely. I was going toward the village; it was already +late, and the bank was getting dark. I was walking with my eyes +fixed on the river because it was lighter than the road, when I saw +something strange a step or two from a clump of reeds.... I drew near +and made out her hair, which had risen almost in a circle above her +head, and whirled round, so, in the current. + +[_In the room, the two young girls turn their heads toward the +window._] + +THE OLD MAN. + +Did you see the two sisters' hair quiver on their shoulders? + +THE STRANGER. + +They turned their heads this way.... They simply turned their heads. +Perhaps I spoke too loud. [_The two young girls resume their former +position._] But they are already looking no longer.... I went into the +water up to my waist and I was able to take her by the hand and +pull her without effort to the shore.... She was as beautiful as her +sisters are. + +THE OLD MAN. + +She was perhaps more beautiful.... I do not know why I have lost all +courage.... + +THE STRANGER. + +What courage are you talking of? We have done all man could do.... She +was dead more than an hour ago.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +She was alive this morning!... I met her coming out of church.... She +told me she was going away; she was going to see her grandmother on +the other side of the river where you found her.... She did not know +when I should see her again.... She must have been on the point of +asking me something; then she dared not and left me abruptly. But I +think of it now.... And I saw nothing!... She smiled as they smile who +choose to be silent, or who are afraid they will not be understood.... +She seemed hardly to hope.... Her eyes were not clear and hardly +looked at me.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Some peasants told me they had seen her wandering on the river-bank +until nightfall.... They thought she was looking for flowers.... It +may be that her death.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We cannot tell.... What is there we can tell?... She was perhaps of +those who do not wish to speak, and every one of us bears in himself +more than one reason for no longer living.... We cannot see in the +soul as we see in that room. They are all like that.... They only say +trite things; and no one suspects aught.... You live for months by +some one who is no longer of this world and whose soul can bend no +longer; you answer without thinking; and you see what happens.... They +look like motionless dolls, and, oh, the events that take place in +their souls!... They do not know themselves what they are.... She +would have lived as the rest live.... She would have said up to her +death: "Monsieur, Madame, we shall have rain this morning," or else, +"We are going to breakfast; we shall be thirteen at table," or else: +"The fruits are not yet ripe." They speak with a smile of the flowers +that have fallen, and weep in the dark.... An angel even would not see +what should be seen; and man only understands when it is too late.... +Yesterday evening she was there, under the lamp like her sisters, +and you would not see them as they should be seen, if this had not +occurred.... I seem to see her now for the first time.... Something +must be added to common life before we can understand it.... They are +beside you day and night, and you perceive them only at the moment +when they depart forever.... And yet the strange little soul she must +have had; the poor, naïve, exhaustless little soul she had, my son, +if she said what she must have said, if she did what she mast have +done!... + +THE STRANGER. + +Just now they are smiling in silence in the room.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are at peace.... They did not expect her to-night.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They smile without stirring;... and see, the father is putting his +finger on his lips.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +He is calling attention to the child asleep on its mother's heart.... + +THE STRANGER. + +She dares not raise her eyes lest she disturb its sleep.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are no longer working.... A great silence reigns.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They have let fell the skein of white silk.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are watching the child.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They do not know that others are watching them.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We are watched too.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They have lifted their eyes.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +And yet they can see nothing.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They seem happy; and yet nobody knows what may be--.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They think themselves in safety.... They have shut the doors; and +the windows have iron bars.... They have mended the walls of the old +house; they have put bolts upon the oaken doors.... They have foreseen +all that could be foreseen.... + +THE STRANGER. + +We must end by telling them.... Some one might come and let them know +abruptly.... There was a crowd of peasants in the meadow where the +dead girl was found.... If one of them knocked at the door... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha and Mary are beside the poor dead child. The peasants were to +make a litter of leaves; and I told the elder to come warn us in all +haste, the moment they began their march. Let us wait till she comes; +she will go in with me.... We should not have looked on them so.... I +thought it would be only to knock upon the door; to go in simply, find +a phrase or two, and tell.... But I have seen them live too long under +their lamp.... + +_Enter_ MARY. + +MARY. + +They are coming, grandfather. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Is It you?--Where are they? + +MARY. + +They are at the foot of the last hills. + +THE OLD MAN. + +They will come in silence? + +MARY. + +I told them to pray in a low voice. Martha is with them.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Are they many? + +MARY. + +The whole village is about the bearers. They had brought lights. I +told them to put them out.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Which way are they coming? + +MARY. + +They are coming by the footpaths. They are walking slowly.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is time.... + +MARY. + +You have told them, grandfather? + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see plainly we have told them nothing.... They are waiting still +under the lamp.... Look, my child, look! You will see something of +life.... + +MARY. + +Oh, how at peace they seem!... You would say I saw them in a dream.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Take care, I saw both sisters give a start.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are getting up.... + +THE STRANGER. + +I think they are coming to the windows.... + + [At this moment, one of the two sisters of whom they speak draws + near the first window, the other near the third, and, pressing + their hands at the same time against the panes, look a long while + into the darkness.] + +THE OLD MAN. + +No one comes to the window in the middle.... + +MARY. + +They are looking.... They are listening.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +The elder smiles at what she does not see. + +THE STRANGER. + +And the other has eyes full of fearfulness.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Take care; we do not know how far the soul extends about men.... + +[_A long silence_, MARY _cowers against the old man's breast and +kisses him._] + +MARY. + +Grandfather!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Do not weep, my child.... We shall have our turn.... + [_A silence._ + +THE STRANGER. + +They are looking a long while.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They might look a hundred thousand years and not perceive anything, +the poor little sisters.... The night is too dark.... They are looking +this way; and it is from that way the misfortune is coming.... + +THE STRANGER. + +It is fortunate they look this way.... I do not know what that is +coming toward us, over by the meadows. + +MARY. + +I think it is the crowd.... They are so far away you can hardly make +them out.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They follow the undulations of the path.... Now they appear again on a +hillside in the moonlight.... + +MARY. + +Oh, how many they seem!... They had already run up from the suburbs of +the city when I came.... They are going a long way around.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They will come in spite of all; I see them too.... They are on the +march across the meadow lands.... They seem so small you hardly make +them out among the grasses.... They look like children playing in +the moonlight; and if the girls should see them, they would not +understand.... In vain they turn their backs; those yonder draw near +with every step they take, and the sorrow has been growing these two +hours already. They cannot hinder it from growing; and they that bear +it there no longer can arrest it.... It is their master too, and they +must serve it.... It has its end and follows its own road.... It +is unwearying and has but one idea.... Needs must they lend their +strength. They are sad, but they come.... They have pity, but they +must go forward.... + +MARY. + +The elder smiles no longer, grandfather.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They leave the windows.... + +MARY. + +They kiss their mother.... + +THE STRANGER. + +The elder has caressed the curls of the child without waking him.... + +MARY. + +Oh! the father wants to be kissed too.... + +THE STRANGER. + +And now silence.... + +MARY. + +They come back beside the mother.... + +THE STRANGER. + +And the father follows the great pendulum of the clock with his +eyes.... + +MARY. + +You would say they were praying without knowing what they did.... + +THE STRANGER. + +You would say that they were listening to their souls.... + [_A silence._ + +MARY. + +Grandfather, don't tell them to-night!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see, you too lose courage.... I knew well that we must not look. I +am nearly eighty-three years old, and this is the first time the sight +of life has struck me. I do not know why everything they do seems so +strange and grave to me.... They wait for night quite simply, under +their lamp, as we might have been waiting under ours; and yet I seem +to see them from the height of another world, because I know a little +truth which they do not know yet.... Is it that, my children? Tell me, +then, why you are pale, too? Is there something else, perhaps, +that cannot be told and causes us to weep? I did not know there was +anything so sad in life, nor that it frightened those who looked upon +it.... And nothing can have occurred that I should be afraid to see +them so at peace.... They have too much confidence in this world.... +There they are, separated from the enemy by a poor window.... They +think nothing will happen because they have shut the door, and do not +know that something is always happening in our souls, and that the +world does not end at the doors of our houses.... They are so sure of +their little life and do not suspect how many others know more of +it than they; and that I, poor old man,--I hold here, two steps from +their door, all their little happiness, like a sick bird, in my old +hands I do not dare to open.... + +MARY. + +Have pity, grandfather.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We have pity on them, my child, but no one has pity on us.... + +MARY. + +Tell them to-morrow, grandfather; tell them when it is light.... They +will not be so sorrowful.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Perhaps you are right, my child.... It would be better to leave all +this in the night. And the light is sweet to sorrow.... But what would +they say to us to-morrow? Misfortune renders jealous; they whom it +strikes, wish to be told before strangers; they do not like to have it +left in the hands of those they do not know.... We should look as if +we had stolen something.... + +THE STRANGER. + +There is no more time, besides; I hear the murmur of prayers +already.... + +MARY. + +There they are.... They are passing behind the hedges.... + +_Enter_ MARTHA. + +MARTHA. + +Here I am. I have brought them this far. I have told them to wait on +the road. [_Cries of children heard._] Ah! the children are crying +again.... I forbade their coming.... But they wanted to see too, and +the mothers would not obey.... I will go tell them.... No; they are +silent.--Is everything ready?--I have brought the little ring that was +found on her.... I have some fruit, too, for the child.... I laid her +out myself on the litter. She looks as if she were asleep.... I had +a good deal of trouble; her hair would not obey.... I had some +marguerites plucked.... It is sad, there were no other flowers.... +What are you doing here? Why are you not by them?... [_She looks at +the windows._] They do not weep?... They ... you have not told them? + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha, Martha, there is too much life in your soul; you cannot +understand.... + +MARTHA. + +Why should I not understand?... [_After a silence and in a tone of +very grave reproach._] You cannot have done that, grandfather.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha, you do not know.... + +MARTHA. + +_I_ will tell them. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Stay here, my child, and look at them a moment. + +MARTHA. + +Oh, how unhappy they are!... They can wait no longer. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Why? + +MARTHA. + +I do not know;... it is no longer possible!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Come here, my child.... + +MARTHA. + +How patient they are! + +THE OLD MAN. + +Come here, my child.... + +MARTHA. + +[_Turning._] Where are you, grandfather? I am so unhappy I cannot see +you any more.... I do not know what to do myself any more.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Do not look at them any more; till they know all.... + +MARTHA. + +I will go in with you.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +No, Martha, stay here.... Sit beside your sister, on this old stone +bench, against the wall of the house, and do not look.... You are too +young; you never could forget.... You cannot know what a face is like +at the moment when death passes before its eyes.... There will +be cries, perhaps.... Do not turn round.... Perhaps there will be +nothing.... Above all, do not turn if you hear nothing.... One does +not know the course of grief beforehand.... A few little deep-rooted +sobs, and that is all, usually.... I do not know myself what I may +do when I shall hear them.... That belongs no longer to this life.... +Kiss me, my child, before I go away.... + + [The murmur of prayers has gradually drawn nearer. Part of the + crowd invades the garden. Dull steps heard, running, and low + voices speaking.] + +THE STRANGER (_to the crowd_). + +Stay here;... do not go near the windows.... Where is she?... + +A PEASANT. + +Who? + +THE STRANGER. + +The rest ... the bearers?... + +THE PEASANT. + +They are coming by the walk that leads to the door. + + [The old man goes away. Martha and Mary are seated on the bench, + with their backs turned to the windows. Murmurs in the crowd.] + +THE STRANGER. + +S--t!... Do not speak. + +[_The elder of the two sisters rises and goes to bolt the door...._] + +MARTHA. + +She opens it? + +THE STRANGER. + +On the contrary, she is shutting it. + [_A silence._ + +MARTHA. + +Grandfather has not entered? + +THE STRANGER. + +No.... She returns and sits down by her mother.... The others do not +stir, and the child sleeps all the time.... + [_A silence._ + +MARTHA. + +Sister, give me your hands.... + +MARY. + +Martha!... + [_They embrace and give each other a kiss._ + +THE STRANGER. + +He must have knocked.... They have all raised their heads at the same +time;... they look at each other.... + +MARTHA. + +Oh! oh! my poor little sister!... I shall cry too!... + [_She stifles her sobs on her sister's shoulder._ + +THE STRANGER. + +He must be knocking again.... The father looks at the clock. He rises. + +MARTHA. + +Sister, sister, I want to go in too.... They cannot be alone any +longer.... + +MARY. + +Martha! Martha!... + [_She holds her back._ + +THE STRANGER. + +The father is at the door.... He draws the bolts.... He opens the door +prudently.... + +MARTHA. + +Oh!... you do not see the... + +THE STRANGER. + +What? + +MARTHA. + +Those who bear.... + +THE STRANGER. + +He hardly opens it.... I can only see a corner of the lawn; and the +fountain.... He does not let go the door;... he steps back.... He +looks as if he were saying: "Ah, it's you!"... He raises his arms.... +He shuts the door again carefully.... Your grandfather has come into +the room.... + + [The crowd has drawn nearer the windows. Martha and Mary half rise + at first, then draw near also, clasping each other tightly. The + old man is seen advancing into the room. The two sisters of the + dead girl rise; the mother rises as well, after laying the child + carefully in the armchair she has just abandoned; in such a way + that from without the little one may be seen asleep, with his head + hanging a little to one side, in the centre of the room. The + mother advances to meet the old man and extends her hand to him, + but draws it back before he has had time to take it. One of the + young girls offers to take off the visitor's cloak and the other + brings forward a chair for him; but the old man makes a slight + gesture of refusal. The father smiles with a surprised look. The + old man looks toward the windows.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He dares not tell them.... He has looked at us.... + [_Rumors in the crowd._ + +THE STRANGER. + +S ... t!... + + [The old man, seeing their faces at the windows, has quickly + turned his eyes away. As one of the young girls continues to offer + him the same armchair, he ends by sitting down and passes his + right hand across his forehead several times.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He sits down.... + + [The other people in the room sit down also, while the father + talks volubly. At last the old man opens his mouth, and the tone + of his voice seems to attract attention. But the father interrupts + him. The old man begins to speak again, and little by little the + others become motionless. All at once, the mother starts and + rises.] + +MARTHA. + +Oh! the mother is going to understand!... + + [She turns away and hides her face in her hands. New murmurs in + the crowd. They elbow each other. Children cry to be lifted up, so + that they may see too. Most of the mothers obey.] + +THE STRANGER. + +S ... t!... He has not told them yet.... + + [The mother is seen to question the old man in anguish. He says a + few words more; then abruptly all the rest rise too and seem to + question him. He makes a slow sign of affirmation with his head.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He has told them.... He has told them all at once!... + +VOICES IN THE CROWD. + +He has told them!... He has told them!... + +THE STRANGER. + +You hear nothing.... + + [The old man rises too, and, without turning, points with his + finger to the door behind him. The mother, the father, and the two + young girls throw themselves on this door, which the father cannot + at once succeed in opening. The old man tries to prevent the + mother from going out.] + +VOICES IN THE CROWD. + +They are going out! They are going out!... + + [Jostling in the garden. All rush to the other side of the house + and disappear, with the exception of the stranger, who remains at + the windows. In the room, both sides of the folding-door at last + open; all go out at the same time. Beyond can be seen a starry + sky, the lawn and the fountain in the moonlight, while in the + middle of the abandoned room the child continues to sleep + peacefully in the armchair.--Silence.] + +THE STRANGER. + +The child has not waked!... + [_He goes out also._ + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pélléas and Mélisande, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13329 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bdfefa --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13329 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13329) diff --git a/old/13329-8.txt b/old/13329-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..583a986 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13329-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6767 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pélléas and Mélisande, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pélléas and Mélisande + +Author: Maurice Maeterlinck + +Release Date: August 30, 2004 [EBook #13329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PÉLLÉAS AND MÉLISANDE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Leah Moser and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +Pélléas and Mélisande + + +ALLADINE AND PALOMIDES + + +HOME + + +BY + +MAURICE MAETERLINCK + +_Translated by_ RICHARD HOVEY + + + +1911 + + + + +1896, BY + +STONE AND KIMBALL + + + + +Contents + + +PREFACE (by Maurice Maeterlinck) + +PÉLLÉAS AND MÉLISANDE + +ALLADINE AND PALOMIDES + +HOME + + + + +Préface. + + +On m'a demande plus d'une fois si mes drames, de _La Princesse +Maleine_ à _La Mort de Tintagiles_, avaient été réellement écrits pour +un théâtre de marionettes, ainsi que je l'avais affirmé dans l'edition +originale de cette sauvage petite légende des malheurs de Maleine. En +vérité, ils ne furent pas écrits pour des acteurs ordinaires. Il n'y +avait là nul désir ironique et pas la moindre humilité non plus. Je +croyais sincèrement et je crois encore aujourd'hui, que les poèmes +meurent lorsque des êtres vivants s'y introduisent. Un jour, dans un +écrit dont je ne retrouve plus que quelques fragments mutilés, j'ai +essayé d'expliquer ces choses qui dorment, sans doute, au fond de +notre instinct et qu'il est bien difficile de reveiller complètement. +J'y constatais d'abord, qu'une inquiètude nous attendait à tout +spectacle auquel nous assistions et qu'une déception à peu près +ineffable accompagnait toujours la chute du rideau. N'est-il pas +évident que le Macbeth ou l'Hamlet que nous voyons sur la scène ne +ressemble pas au Macbeth ou à l'Hamlet du livre? Qu'il a visiblement +retrogradé dans le sublime? Qu'une grande partie des efforts du poète +qui voulait créer avant tout une vie supérieure, une vie plus proche +de notre âme, a été annulée par une force ennemie qui ne peut se +manifester qu'en ramenant cette vie supérieure au niveau de la vie +ordinaire? Il y a peut-être, me disais-je, aux sources de ce malaise, +un très ancien malentendu, à la suite duquel le théâtre ne fut jamais +exactement ce qu'il est dans l'instinct de la foule, à savoir: _le +temple du Rêve_. Il faut admettre, ajoutai-je, que le théâtre, du +moins en ses tendances, est un art. Mais je n'y trouve pas la +marque des autres arts. L'art use toujours d'un détour et n'agit pas +directement. Il a pour mission suprême la révélation de i'infini et de +la grandeur ainsi que la beauté secrète, de l'homme. Mais montrer +au doigt à l'enfant qui nous accompagne, les étoiles d'une unit de +Juillet, ce n'est pas faire une oeuvre d'art. Il faut que l'art agisse +comme les abeilles. Elles n'apportent pas aux larves de la ruche les +fleurs des champs qui renferment leur avenir et leur vie. Les larves +mourraient sous ces fleurs sans se douter de rien. Il faut que les +abeilles nourricières apportent à ces nymphes aveugles l'âme même +de ces fleurs, et c'est alors seulement qu'elles trouveront sans le +savoir en ce miel mystérieux la substance des ailes qui un jour les +emporteront à leur tour dans l'espace. Or, le poème était une +oeuvre d'art et portait ces obliques et admirables marques. Mais la +représentation vient le contredire. Elle chasse vraiment les cygnes +du grand lac, et elle rejette les perles dans l'abîme. Elle remet les +choses exactement au point où elles étaient avant la venue du poète. +La densité mystique de l'oeuvre d'art a disparue. Elle verse dans +la même erreur que celui qui après avoir vanté à ses auditeurs +l'admirable _Annonciation_ de Vinci, par exemple, s'imaginerait +qu'il a fait pénétrer dans leurs âmes la beauté surnaturelle de cette +peinture en reproduisant, en un tableau vivant, tous les détails du +grand chef-d'oeuvre florentin. + +Qui sait si ce n'est pas pour ces raisons cachées que l'on est obligé +de s'avouer que la plupart des grands poèmes de l'humanité ne sont pas +scéniques? _Lear, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Antoine et Cléopâtre_, +ne peuvent être représentés, et il est dangereux de les voir sur +la scène. Quelque chose d'Hamlet est mort pour nous du jour où nous +l'avons vu mourir sous nos yeux. Le spectre d'un acteur l'a détrôné, +et nous ne pouvons plus écarter l'usurpateur de nos rêves. Ouvrez les +portes, ouvrez le livre, le prince antérieur ne revient plus. Il a +perdu la faculté de vivre selon la beauté la plus secrète de notre +âme. Parfois son ombre passe encore en tremblant sur le seuil, mais +désormais il n'ose plus, il ne peut plus entrer; et bien des voix sont +mortes qui l'acclamaient en nous. + +Je me souviens de cette mort de l'Hamlet de mes rêves. Un soir +j'ouvris la porte à l'usurpateur du poème. L'acteur était illustre. Il +entra. Un seul de ses regards me montra qu'il n'était pas Hamlet. +Il ne le fut pas un seul instant pour moi. Je le vis s'agiter durant +trois heures dans le mensonge. Je voyais clairement qu'il avait ses +propres destinées; et celles qu'il voulait représenter m'étaient +indiciblement indifférentes à côté des siennes. Je voyais sa santé +et ses habitudes, ses passions et ses tristesses, ses pensées et +ses oeuvres, et il essayait vainement de m'intéresser à une vie qui +n'était pas la sienne et que sa seule présence avait rendue factice. +Depuis je le revois lorsque j'ouvre le livre et Elsinore n'est plus le +palais d'autrefois.... + +"La vérité," dit quelque part Charles Lamb, "la vérité est que les +caractères de Shakespeare sont tellement des objets de méditation +plutôt que d'intérêt ou de curiosité relativement à leurs actes, +que, tandis que nous lisons l'un de ses grands caractères +criminels,--Macbeth, Richard, Iago même,--nous ne songeons pas +tant aux crimes qu'ils commettent, qu'à l'ambition, à l'esprit +d'aspiration, à l'activité intellectuelle qui les poussent à franchir +ces barrières morales. Les actions nous affectent si peu, que, tandis +que les impulsions, l'esprit intérieur en toute sa perverse grandeur, +paraissent seuls réels et appellent seuls l'attention, le crime n'est +comparativement rien. Mais lorsque nous voyons représenter ces choses, +les actes sont comparativement tout, et les mobiles ne sont plus rien. +L'émotion sublime où nous sommes entraînés par ces images de nuit +et d'horreur qu'exprime Macbeth; ce solennel prélude où il s'oublie +jusqu'à ce que l'horloge sonne l'heure qui doit l'appeler au meurtre +de Duncan; lorsque nous ne lisons plus cela dans un livre, lorsque +nous avons abandonné ce poste avantageux de l'abstraction d'où la +lecture domine la vision, et lorsque nous voyons sous nos yeux, un +homme en sa forme corporelle se préparer actuellement au meurtre; si +le jeu de l'acteur est vrai et puissant, la pénible anxiété au sujet +de l'acte, le naturel désir de le prévenir tout qu'il ne semble +pas accompli, la trop puissante apparence de réalité, provoquent un +malaise et une inquiétude qui détruisent totalement le plaisir que les +mots apportent dans le livre, où l'acte ne nous oppresse jamais de +la pénible sensation de sa présence, et semble plutôt appartenir à +l'histoire; à quelque chose de passé et d'inévitable." + +Charles Lamb a raison, et pour mille raisons bien plus profondes +encore que celles qu'il nous donne. Le théâtre est le lien où meurent +la plupart des chefs-d'oeuvre, parce que la représentation d'un +chef-d'oeuvre à l'aide d'éléments accidentels et humains est +antinomique. Tout chef-d'oeuvre est un symbole, et le symbole ne +supporte pas la présence active de l'homme. Il suffit que le coq +chante, dit Hamlet, pour que les spectres de la nuit s'évanouissent. +Et de même, le poème perd sa vie "de la seconde sphère" lorsqu'un être +de la sphère inférieure s'y introduit. L'accident ramène le symbole +à l'accident; et le chef-d'oeuvre, en son essence, est mort durant le +temps de cette présence et de ses traces. + +Les Grecs n'ignorèrent pas cette antinomie, et leurs masques que nous +ne comprenons plus ne servaient probablement qu'à atténuer la présence +de l'homme et à soulager le symbole. Aux époques où le théâtre eut une +vie véritable, il la dût peut-être uniquement à quelque circonstance +ou à quelque artifice qui venait en aide du poème dans sa lutte contre +l'homme. Ainsi, sous Elisabeth, par exemple, la déclamation était une +sorte de mélopée, le jeu était conventionnel, et la scène aussi. Il en +était à peu près de même sous Louis XIV. Le poème se retire à mesure +que l'homme s'avance. Le poème veut nous arracher du pouvoir de nos +sens et faire prédominer le passé et l'avenir; l'homme, au contraire, +n'agit que sur nos sens et n'existe que pour autant qu'il puisse +effacer cette prédomination. S'il entre en scène avec toutes ses +puissances, et libre comme s'il entrait dans une forêt; si sa voix, +ses gestes, et son attitude ne sont pas voilées par un grand nombre +de conventions synthétiques; si l'on aperçoit un seul instant l'être +vivant qu'il est et l'âme qu'il possède,--il n'y a pas de poème au +monde qui ne recule devant lui. A ce moment précis, le spectacle du +poème s'interrompt et nous assistons à une scène de la vie extérieure, +qui, de même qu'une scène de la rue, de la rivière, ou du champ de +bataille, a ses beautés éternelles et secrètes, mais qui est néanmoins +impuissante à nous arracher du présent, parce qu'en cet instant nous +n'avons pas la qualité pour apercevoir ces beautés invisibles, qui ne +sont que "des fleurs offertes aux vers aveugles." + +Et c'est pour ces raisons, et pour d'autres encore qu'on pourrait +rechercher dans les mêmes parages, que j'avais destiné mes petits +drames à des êtres indulgents aux poèmes, et que, faute de mieux, +j'appelle "Marionettes." + +MAURICE MAETERLINCK. + + + + +Pélléas and Mélisande. + + +_To Octave Mirbeau_. + + In witness of deep friendship, admiration, and gratitude. + +M.M. + + + + +PERSONS + + +ARKËL, _King of Allemonde._ + +GENEVIÈVE, _mother of Pélléas and Golaud_. + +PÉLLÉAS,} + }_grandsons of Arkël._ +GOLAUD, } + +MÉLISANDE. + +LITTLE YNIOLD, _son of Golaud (by a former marriage)._ + +A PHYSICIAN. + +THE PORTER. + +_Servants, Beggars, etc._ + + + + +Pélléas and Mélisande. + + * * * * * + + + + +ACT FIRST. + + + + +SCENE I.--_The gate of the castle._ + + +MAIDSERVANTS _(within)._ + +Open the gate! Open the gate! + +PORTER _(within)._ + +Who is there? Why do you come and wake me up? Go out by the little +gates; there are enough of them!... + +A MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +We have come to wash the threshold, the gate, and the steps; open, +then! open! + +ANOTHER MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +There are going to be great happenings! + +THIRD MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +There are going to be great fêtes! Open quickly!... + +THE MAIDSERVANTS. + +Open! open! + +PORTER. + +Wait! wait! I do not know whether I shall be able to open it;... it is +never opened.... Wait till it is light.... + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +It is light enough without; I see the sunlight through the chinks.... + +PORTER. + +Here are the great keys.... Oh! oh! how the bolts and the locks +grate!... Help me! help me!... + +MAIDSERVANTS. + +We are pulling; we are pulling.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +It will not open.... + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +Ah! ah! It is opening! it is opening slowly! + +PORTER. + +How it shrieks! how it shrieks! it will wake up everybody.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +_[Appearing on the threshold.]_ Oh, how light it is already +out-of-doors! + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +The sun is rising on the sea! + +PORTER. + +It is open.... It is wide open!... [_All the maidservants appear on +the threshold and pass over it._] + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +I am going to wash the sill first.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +We shall never be able to clean all this. + +OTHER MAIDSERVANTS. + +Fetch the water! fetch the water! + +PORTER. + +Yes, yes; pour on water; pour on water; pour on all the water of the +Flood! You will never come to the end of it.... + + + + +SCENE II.--_A forest._ MÉLISANDE _discovered at the brink of a +spring._ + + +_Enter_ GOLAUD. + +GOLAUD. + +I shall never be able to get out of this forest again.--God knows +where that beast has led me. And yet I thought I had wounded him to +death; and here are traces of blood. But now I have lost sight of him; +I believe I am lost myself--my dogs can no longer find me--I shall +retrace my steps....--I hear weeping.... Oh! oh! what is there yonder +by the water's edge?... A little girl weeping by the water's edge? +[_He coughs._]--She does not hear me. I cannot see her face. [_He +approaches and touches_ MÉLISANDE _on the shoulder._] Why weepest +thou? [MÉLISANDE _trembles, starts up, and would flee._]--Do not be +afraid. You have nothing to fear. Why are you weeping here all alone? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Do not touch me! do not touch me! + +GOLAUD. + +Do not be afraid.... I will not do you any.... Oh, you are beautiful! + +MÉLISANDE. + +Do not touch me! do not touch me! or I throw myself in the water!... + +GOLAUD. + +I will not touch you.... See, I will stay here, against the tree. Do +not be afraid. Has any one hurt you? + +MÉLISANDE + +Oh! yes! yes! yes!... [_She sobs profoundly._] + +GOLAUD. + +Who has hurt you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Every one! every one! + +GOLAUD. What hurt have they done you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I will not tell! I cannot tell!... + +GOLAUD. + +Come; do not weep so. Whence come you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I have fled!... fled ... fled.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; but whence have you fled? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am lost!... lost!... Oh! oh! lost here.... I am not of this +place.... I was not born there.... + +GOLAUD. + +Whence are you? Where were you born? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! far away from here!... far away ... far away.... + +GOLAUD. + +What is it shining so at the bottom of the water? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where?--Ah! it is the crown he gave me. It fell as I was weeping.... + +GOLAUD. + +A crown?--Who was it gave you a crown?--I will try to get it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; I will have no more of it! I will have no more of it!... I had +rather die ... die at once.... + +GOLAUD. + +I could easily pull it out. The water is not very deep. + +MÉLISANDE. + +I will have no more of it! If you take it out, I throw myself in its +place!... + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I will leave it there. It could be reached without difficulty, +nevertheless. It seems very beautiful.--Is it long since you fled? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes!... Who are you? + +GOLAUD. + +I am Prince Golaud,--grandson of Arkël, the old King of Allemonde.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, you have gray hairs already.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; some, here, by the temples.... + +MÉLISANDE + +And in your beard, too.... Why do you look at me so? + +GOLAUD. + +I am looking at your eyes.--Do you never shut your eyes? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, yes; I shut them at night.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you look so astonished? + +MÉLISANDE. + +You are a giant? + +GOLAUD. + +I am a man like the rest.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why have you come here? + +GOLAUD. + +I do not know, myself. I was hunting in the forest, I was chasing a +wild boar. I mistook the road.--You look very young. How old are you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am beginning to be cold.... + +GOLAUD. + +Will you come with me! + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; I will stay here.... + +GOLAUD. + +You cannot stay here all alone. You cannot stay here all night +long.... What is your name? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Mélisande. + +GOLAUD. + +You cannot stay here, Mélisande. Come with me.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I will stay here.... + +GOLAUD. + +You will be afraid, all alone. We do not know what there may be here +... all night long ... all alone ... it is impossible. Mélisande, +come, give me your hand.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, do not touch me!... + +GOLAUD. + +Do not scream.... I will not touch you again. But come with me. The +night will be very dark and very cold. Come with me.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where are you going?... + +GOLAUD. + +I do not know.... I am lost too.... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE III.--_A hall in the castle_. ARKËL _and_ GENEVIÈVE +_discovered_. + + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Here is what he writes to his brother Pélléas: "I found her all in +tears one evening, beside a spring in the forest where I had lost +myself. I do not know her age, nor who she is, nor whence she comes, +and I dare not question her, for she must have had a sore fright; and +when you ask her what has happened to her, she falls at once a-weeping +like a child, and sobs so heavily you are afraid. Just as I found her +by the springs, a crown of gold had slipped from her hair and fallen +to the bottom of the water. She was clad, besides, like a princess, +though her garments had been torn by the briers. It is now six months +since I married her and I know no more about it than on the day of +our meeting. Meanwhile, dear Pélléas, thou whom I love more than a +brother, although we were not born of the same father; meanwhile make +ready for my return.... I know my mother will willingly forgive me. +But I am afraid of the King, our venerable grandsire, I am afraid of +Arkël, in spite of all his kindness, for I have undone by this strange +marriage all his plans of state, and I fear the beauty of Mélisande +will not excuse my folly to eyes so wise as his. If he consents +nevertheless to receive her as he would receive his own daughter, +the third night following this letter, light a lamp at the top of the +tower that overlooks the sea. I shall perceive it from the bridge +of our ship; otherwise I shall go far away again and come back no +more...." What say you of it? + +ARKËL. + +Nothing. He has done what he probably must have done. I am very old, +and nevertheless I have not yet seen clearly for one moment into +myself; how would you that I judge what others have done? I am not +far from the tomb and do not succeed in judging myself.... One always +mistakes when one does not close his eyes. That may seem strange to +us; but that is all. He is past the age to marry and he weds like a +child, a little girl he finds by a spring.... That may seem strange to +us, because we never see but the reverse of destinies ... the reverse +even of our own.... He has always followed my counsels hitherto; I had +thought to make him happy in sending him to ask the hand of Princess +Ursula.... He could not remain alone; since the death of his wife he +has been sad to be alone; and that marriage would have put an end to +long wars and old hatreds.... He would not have it so. Let it be as he +would have it; I have never put myself athwart a destiny; and he knows +better than I his future. There happen perhaps no useless events.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +He has always been so prudent, so grave and so firm.... If it were +Pélléas, I should understand.... But he ... at his age.... Who is it +he is going to introduce here?--An unknown found along the roads.... +Since his wife's death, he has no longer lived for aught but his son, +the little Yniold, and if he were about to marry again, it was because +you had wished it.... And now ... a little girl in the forest.... He +has forgotten everything....--What shall we do?... + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS. + +ARKËL. + +Who is coming in there? + +GENEVIÈVE. + +It is Pélléas. He has been weeping. + +ARKËL. + +Is it thou, Pélléas?--Come a little nearer, that I may see thee in the +light.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Grandfather, I received another letter at the same time as my +brother's; a letter from my friend Marcellus.... He is about to die +and calls for me. He would see me before dying.... + +ARKËL. + +Thou wouldst leave before thy brother's return?--Perhaps thy friend is +less ill than he thinks.... + +PÉLLÉAS + +His letter is so sad you can see death between the lines.... He says +he knows the very day when death must come.... He tells me I can +arrive before it if I will, but that there is no more time to lose. +The journey is very long, and if I await Golaud's return, it will be +perhaps too late.... + +ARKËL. + +Thou must wait a little while, nevertheless.... We do not know what +this return has in store for us. And besides, is not thy father here, +above us, more sick perhaps than thy friend.... Couldst thou choose +between the father and the friend?... [_Exit._ + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Have a care to keep the lamp lit from this evening, Pélléas.... + +[_Exeunt severally._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_Before the castle. Enter_ GENEVIÈVE _and_ MÉLISANDE. + + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is gloomy in the gardens. And what forests, what forests all about +the palaces!... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Yes; that astonished me too when I came hither; it astonishes +everybody. There are places where you never see the sun. But one gets +used to it so quickly.... It is long ago, it is long ago.... It is +nearly forty years that I have lived here.... Look toward the other +side, you will have the light of the sea.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I hear a noise below us.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +Yes; it is some one coming up toward us.... Ah! it is Pélléas.... He +seems still tired from having waited so long for you.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He has not seen us. + +GENEVIÈVE. + +I think he has seen us but does not know what he should do.... +Pélléas, Pélléas, is it thou?... + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes!... I was coming toward the sea.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +So were we; we were seeking the light. It is a little lighter here +than elsewhere; and yet the sea is gloomy. + +PÉLLÉAS + +We shall have a storm to-night. There has been one every night for +some time, and yet it is so calm now.... One might embark unwittingly +and come back no more. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Something is leaving the port.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It must be a big ship.... The lights are very high, we shall see it in +a moment, when it enters the band of light.... + +GENEVIÈVE. + +I do not know whether we shall be able to see it ... there is still a +fog on the sea.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +The fog seems to be rising slowly.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes; I see a little light down there, which I had not seen.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is a lighthouse; there are others we cannot see yet. + +MÉLISANDE. + +The ship is in the light.... It is already very far away.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is a foreign ship. It looks larger than ours.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is the ship that brought me here!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It flies away under full sail.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is the ship that brought me here. It has great sails.... I +recognized it by its sails. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There will be a rough sea to-night. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why does it go away to-night?... You can hardly see it any longer.... +Perhaps it will be wrecked.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +The sight falls very quickly.... [_A silence._ + +GENEVIÈVE. + +No one speaks any more?... You have nothing more to say to each +other?... It is time to go in. Pélléas, show Mélisande the way. I mast +go see little Yniold a moment. [_Exit._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Nothing can be seen any longer on the sea.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I see more lights. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is the other lighthouses.... Do you hear the sea?... It is the wind +rising.... Let us go down this way. Will you give me your hand? + +MÉLISANDE. + +See, see, my hands are full.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I will hold you by the arm, the road is steep and it is very gloomy +there.... I am going away perhaps to-morrow.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh!... why do you go away? [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT SECOND. + + + + +SCENE I.--_A fountain in the park. + + +Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +You do not know where I have brought you?--I often come to sit here, +toward noon, when it is too hot in the gardens. It is stifling to-day, +even in the shade of the trees. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, how clear the water is!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is as cool as winter. It is an old abandoned spring. It seems to +have been a miraculous spring,--it opened the eyes of the blind,--they +still call it "Blind Man's Spring." + +MÉLISANDE. + +It no longer opens the eyes of the blind? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Since the King has been nearly blind himself, no one comes any +more.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +How alone one is here!... There is no sound. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There is always a wonderful silence here.... One could hear the water +sleep.... Will you sit down on the edge of the marble basin? There is +one linden where the sun never comes.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am going to lie down on the marble.--I should like to see the bottom +of the water.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +No one has ever seen it.--It is as deep, perhaps, as the sea.--It is +not known whence it comes.--Perhaps it comes from the bottom of the +earth.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +If there were anything shining at the bottom, perhaps one could see +it.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Do not lean over so.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I would like to touch the water.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Have a care of slipping.... I will hold your hand.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no, I would plunge both hands in it.... You would say my hands +were sick to-day.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! take care! take care! Mélisande!... Mélisande!...--Oh! your +hair!... + +MÉLISANDE _(starting upright)._ I cannot,... I cannot reach it.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Your hair dipped in the water.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, it is longer than my arms.... It is longer than I.... [_A silence._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It was at the brink of a spring, too, that he found you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What did he say to you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Nothing;--I no longer remember.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Was he quite near you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes; he would have kissed me. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +And you would not? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why would you not? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! I saw something pass at the bottom of the water.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Take care! take care!--You will fall! What are you playing with? + +MÉLISANDE. + +With the ring he gave me.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Take care; you will lose it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; I am sure of my hands.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Do not play so, over so deep a water.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +My hands do not tremble. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +How it shines in the sunlight I--Do not throw it so high in the +air.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It has fallen? + +MÉLISANDE. + +It has fallen into the water!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where is it? where is it?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not see it sink?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I think I see it shine.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +My ring? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes; down yonder.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! It is so far away from us!... no, no, that is not it ... that +is not it.... It is lost ... lost.... There is nothing any more but +a great circle on the water.... What shall we do? What shall we do +now?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +You need not be so troubled for a ring. It is nothing.... We shall +find it again, perhaps. Or else we will find another.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; we shall never find it again; we shall never find any others +either.... And yet I thought I had it in my hands.... I had already +shut my hands, and it is fallen in spite of all.... I threw it too +high, toward the sun.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Come, come, we will come back another day;... come, it is time. They +will come to meet us. It was striking noon at the moment the ring +fell. + +MÉLISANDE. + +What shall we say to Golaud if he ask where it is? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +The truth, the truth, the truth.... [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ GOLAUD _discovered, stretched +upon his bed;_ MÉLISANDE, _by his bedside_. + + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah! all goes well; it will amount to nothing. But I cannot +understand how it came to pass. I was hunting quietly in the forest. +All at once my horse ran away, without cause. Did he see anything +unusual?... I had just heard the twelve strokes of noon. At the +twelfth stroke he suddenly took fright and ran like a blind madman +against a tree. I heard no more. I do not yet know what happened. I +fell, and he must have fallen on me. I thought I had the whole forest +on my breast; I thought my heart was crushed. But my heart is sound. +It is nothing, apparently.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Would you like a little water? + +GOLAUD. + +Thanks, thanks; I am not thirsty. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Would you like another pillow?... There is a little spot of blood on +this. + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; it is not worth while. I bled at the mouth just now. I shall +bleed again perhaps.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Are you quite sure?... You are not suffering too much? + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I have seen a good many more like this. I was made of iron +and blood.... These are not the little bones of a child; do not alarm +yourself.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Close your eyes and try to sleep. I shall stay here all night.... + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I do not wish you to tire yourself so. I do not need anything; +I shall sleep like a child.... What is the matter, Mélisande? Why do +you weep all at once?... + +MÉLISANDE _(bursting into tears)._ + +I am ... I am ill too.... + +GOLAUD. + +Thou art ill?... What ails thee, then; what ails thee, Mélisande?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not know.... I am ill here.... I had rather tell you to-day; my +lord, my lord, I am not happy here.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why, what has happened, Mélisande? What is it?... And I suspecting +nothing.... What has happened?... Some one has done thee harm?... Some +one has given thee offence? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; no one has done me the least harm.... It is not that.... It +is not that.... But I can live here no longer. I do not know why.... I +would go away, go away!... I shall die if I am left here.... + +GOLAUD. + +But something has happened? You must be hiding something from me?... +Tell me the whole truth, Mélisande.... Is it the King?... Is it my +mother?... Is it Pélléas?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; it is not Pélléas. It is not anybody.... You could not +understand me.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why should I not understand?... If you tell me nothing, what will you +have me do?... Tell me everything and I shall understand everything. + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not know myself what it is.... I do not know just what it is.... +If I could tell you, I would tell you.... It is something stronger +than I.... + +GOLAUD. + +Come; be reasonable, Mélisande.--What would you have me do?--You are +no longer a child.--Is it I whom you would leave? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! no, no; it is not that.... I would go away with you.... It is +here that I can live no longer.... I feel that I shall not live a long +while.... + +GOLAUD. + +But there must be a reason nevertheless. You will be thought mad. +It will be thought child's dreams.--Come, is it Pélléas, perhaps?--I +think he does not often speak to you. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; he speaks to me sometimes. I think he does not like me; I +have seen it in his eyes.... But he speaks to me when he meets me.... + +GOLAUD. + +You must not take it ill of him. He has always been so. He is a little +strange. And just now he is sad; he thinks of his friend Marcellus, +who is at the point of death, and whom he cannot go to see.... He will +change, he will change, you will see; he is young.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +But it is not that ... it is not that.... + +GOLAUD. + +What is it, then?--Can you not get used to the life one leads here? +Is it too gloomy here?--It is true the castle is very old and very +sombre.... It is very cold, and very deep. And all those who dwell in +it, are already old. And the country may seem gloomy too, with all +its forests, all its old forests without light. But that may all be +enlivened if we will. And then, joy, joy, one does not have it every +day; we must take things as they come. But tell me something; no +matter what; I will do everything you could wish.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; it is true.... You never see the sky here. I saw it for the +first time this morning.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is that, then, that makes you weep, my poor Mélisande?--It is only +that, then?--You weep, not to see the sky?--Come, come, you are no +longer at the age when one may weep for such things.... And then, is +not the summer yonder? You will see the sky every day.--And then, next +year.... Come, give me your hand; give me both your little hands. [_He +takes her hands._] Oh! oh! these little hands that I could crush like +flowers....--Hold! where is the ring I gave you? + +MÉLISANDE. + +The ring? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; our wedding-ring, where is it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I think.... I think it has fallen.... + +GOLAUD. + +Fallen?--Where has it fallen?--You have not lost it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; it fell ... it must have fallen.... But I know where it is.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where is it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +You know ... you know well ... the grotto by the seashore?... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Well then, it is there.... It must be it is there.... Yes, yes; I +remember.... I went there this morning to pick up shells for little +Yniold.... There were some very fine ones.... It slipped from my +finger ... then the sea came in; and I had to go out before I had +found it. + +GOLAUD. + +Are you sure it is there? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; quite sure.... I felt it slip ... then, all at once, the +noise of the waves.... + +GOLAUD. + +You must go look for it at once. + +MÉLISANDE. + +I must go look for it at once? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Now?--at once?--in the dark? + +GOLAUD. + +Now, at once, in the dark. You must go look for it at once. I had +rather have lost all I have than have lost that ring. You do not know +what it is. You do not know whence it came. The sea will be very high +to-night. The sea will come to take it before you.... Make haste. You +must go look for it at once.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I dare not.... I dare not go alone.... + +GOLAUD. + +Go, go with no matter whom. But you must go at once, do you +understand?--Make haste; ask Pélléas to go with you. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Pélléas?--With Pélléas?--But Pélléas would not.... + +GOLAUD. + +Pélléas will do all you ask of him. I know Pélléas better than you do. +Go, go; hurry! I shall not sleep until I have the ring. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! I am not happy!... I am not happy!... + [_Exit, weeping._ + + + + +SCENE III.--_Before a grotto._ + + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE. + +[_Speaking with great agitation._] Yes; it is here; we are there. It +is so dark you cannot tell the entrance of the grotto from the rest +of the night.... There are no stars on this side. Let us wait till +the moon has torn through that great cloud; it will light up the whole +grotto, and then we can enter without danger. There are dangerous +places, and the path is very narrow between two lakes whose bottom has +not yet been found. I did not think to bring a torch or a lantern, but +I think the light of the sky will be enough for us.--You have never +gone into this grotto? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Let us go in; let us go in.... You must be able to describe the place +where you lost the ring, if he questions you.... It is very big and +very beautiful. There are stalactites that look like plants and men. +It is full of blue darks. It has not yet been explored to the end. +There are great treasures hidden there, it seems. You will see the +remains of ancient shipwrecks there. But you must not go far in it +without a guide. There have been some who never have come back. I +myself dare not go forward too far. We will stop the moment we no +longer see the light of the sea or the sky. When you strike a little +light there, you would say the vault was covered with stars like the +sky. It is bits of crystal or salt, they say, that shine so in the +rock.--Look, look, I think the sky is going to clear.... Give me your +hand; do not tremble, do not tremble so. There is no danger; we will +stop the moment we no longer see the light of the sea.... Is it the +noise of the grotto that frightens you? It is the noise of night or +the noise of silence.... Do you hear the sea behind us?--It does not +seem happy to-night.... Ah! look, the light!... + + [The moon lights up abundantly the entrance and part of the + darkness of the grotto; and at a certain depth are seen three + old beggars with white hair, seated side by side, leaning upon + each other and asleep against a bowlder.] + +MÉLISANDE. + +Ah! + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What is it? + +MÉLISANDE. + +There are ... there are.... + [_She points out the three Beggars._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes; I have seen them too.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let us go!... Let us go!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes ... it is three old poor men fallen asleep.... There is a famine in +the country.... Why have they come to sleep here.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let us go!... Come, come.... Let us go!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Take care; do not speak so loud.... Let us not wake them.... They are +still sleeping heavily.... Come. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Leave me, leave me; I prefer to walk alone.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +We will come back another day.... [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_An apartment in the castle,_ ARKËL _and_ PÉLLÉAS +_discovered._ + + +ARKËL. + +You see that everything retains you here just now and forbids you this +useless journey. We have concealed your father's condition from you +until now; but it is perhaps hopeless; and that alone should suffice +to stop you on the threshold. But there are so many other reasons.... +And it is not in the day when our enemies awake, and when the people +are dying of hunger and murmur about us, that you have the right +to desert us. And why this journey? Marcellus is dead; and life has +graver duties than the visit to a tomb. You are weary, you say, +of your inactive life; but activity and duty are not found on the +highways. They must be waited for upon the threshold, and let in as +they go by; and they go by every day. You have never seen them? I +hardly see them any more myself; but I will teach you to see them, and +I will point them out to you the day when you would make them a sign. +Nevertheless, listen to me; if you believe it is from the depths of +your life this journey is exacted, I do not forbid your undertaking +it, for you must know better than I the events you must offer to your +being or your fate. I shall ask you only to wait until we know what +must take place ere long.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +How long must I wait? + +ARKËL. + +A few weeks; perhaps a few days.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I will wait.... + + + + +ACT THIRD + + + + +SCENE I.--_An apartment in the castle._ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE +_discovered_, MÉLISANDE _plies her distaff at the back of the room._ + + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yniold does not come back; where has he gone? + +MÉLISANDE + +He had heard something in the corridor; he has gone to see what it is. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Mélisande.... + +MÉLISANDE + +What is it? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +... Can you see still to work there?... + +MÉLISANDE + +I work as well in the dark.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I think everybody is already asleep in the castle. Golaud does not +come back from the chase. It is late, nevertheless.... He no longer +suffers from his fall?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He said he no longer suffered from it. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He must be more prudent; his body is no longer as supple as at twenty +years.... I see the stars through the window and the light of the moon +on the trees. It is late; he will not come back now. [_Knocking at the +door._] Who is there?... Come in!... + +_Little_ YNIOLD _opens the door and enters the room._ + +It was you knocking so?... That is not the way to knock at doors. It +is as if a misfortune had arrived; look, you have frightened little +mother. + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I only knocked a tiny little bit. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is late; little father will not come back to-night; it is time for +you to go to bed. + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I shall not go to bed before you do. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What?... What is that you are saying? + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I say ... not before you ... not before you.... + +[_Bursts into sobs and takes refuge by_ MÉLISANDE.] + +MÉLISANDE. + +What is it, Yniold?... What is it?... why do you weep all at once? + +YNIOLD _(sobbing)._ + +Because ... oh! oh! because ... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Because what?... Because what?... Tell me ... + +YNIOLD. + +Little mother ... little mother ... you are going away.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +But what has taken hold of you, Yniold?... I have never dreamed of +going away.... + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, you have; yes, you have; little father has gone away.... Little +father does not come back, and you are going to go away too.... I have +seen it ... I have seen it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +But there has never been any idea of that, Yniold.... Why, what makes +you think that I would go away?... + +YNIOLD. + +I have seen it ... I have seen it.... You have said things to uncle +that I could not hear.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He is sleepy.... He has been dreaming.... Come here, Yniold; asleep +already?... Come and look out at the window; the swans are fighting +with the dogs.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Oh! oh! they are chasing the dogs!... They are chasing them!... Oh! +oh! the water!... the wings!... the wings!... they are afraid.... + +PÉLLÉAS. _(coming back by_ MÉLISANDE_)._ + +He is sleepy; he is struggling against sleep; his eyes were +closing.... + +MÉLISANDE _(singing softly as she spins)._ + + Saint Daniel and Saint Michaël.... + Saint Michaël and Saint Raphaël.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Oh! oh! little mother!... + +MÉLISANDE _(rising abruptly)._ + +What is it, Yniold?... What is it?... + +YNIOLD. + +I saw something at the window?... + [PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE _run to the window._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What is there at the window?... What have you seen?... + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! I saw something!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +But there is nothing. I see nothing.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Nor I.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where did you see something? Which way?... + +YNIOLD. + +Down there, down there!... It is no longer there.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He does not know what he is saying. He must have seen the light of the +moon on the forest. There are often strange reflections,... or else +something must have passed on the highway ... or in his sleep. For +see, see, I believe he is quite asleep.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Little father is there! little father is there! + +PÉLLÉAS _(going to the window)._ + +He is right; Golaud is coming into the courtyard.... + +YNIOLD. + +Little father!... little father!... I am going to meet him!... + [_Exit, running,--A silence._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +They are coming up the stair.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD _and little_ YNIOLD _with a lamp._ + +GOLAUD. + +You are still waiting in the dark? + +YNIOLD. + +I have brought a light, little mother, a big light!... [_He lifts +the lamp and looks at_ MÉLISANDE.] You have been weeping, little +mother?... You have been, weeping?... [_He lifts the lamp toward_ +PÉLLÉAS _and looks in turn at him._] You too, you too, you have been +weeping?... Little father, look, little father; they have both been +weeping.... + +GOLAUD. + +Do not hold the light under their eyes so.... + + + +SCENE II.--_One of the towers of the castle.--watchman's round passes +under a window in the tower._ + + +MÉLISANDE _(at the window, combing her unbound hair)._ + + My long locks fall foaming + To the threshold of the tower,-- + My locks await your coming + All along the tower, + And all the long, long hour, + And all the long, long hour. + + _Saint Daniel and Saint Michaël,_ + _Saint Michaël and Saint Raphaël._ + + I was born on a Sunday, + A Sunday at high noon.... + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _by the watchman's round._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Holà! Holà! ho!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is there? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I, I, and I!... What art thou doing there at the window, singing like +a bird that is not native here? + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am doing my hair for the night... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Is it that I see upon the wall?... I thought you had some light.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I have opened the window; it is too hot in the tower.... It is +beautiful to-night.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There are innumerable stars; I have never seen so many as to-night;... +but the moon is still upon the sea.... Do not stay in the shadow, +Mélisande; lean forward a little till I see your unbound hair.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I am frightful so.... + [_She learn out at the window._ + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! Mélisande!... oh, thou art beautiful!... thou art beautiful +so!... Lean out! lean out!... Let me come nearer thee.... + +MÉLISANDE + +I cannot come nearer thee.... I am leaning out as far as I can.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I cannot come up higher;... give me at least thy hand to-night ... +before I go away.... I leave to-morrow.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no, no!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes, yes; I leave, I shall leave to-morrow.... Give me thy hand, +thy hand, thy little hand upon my lips.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I give thee not my hand if thou wilt leave.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Give, give, give!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Thou wilt not leave?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I will wait; I will wait.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I see a rose in the shadows.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where?... I see only the boughs of the willow hanging over the +wall.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Further down, further down, in the garden; further down, in the sombre +green.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is not a rose.... I will go see by and by, but give me thy hand +first; first thy hand.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +There, there;... I cannot lean out further.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I cannot reach thy hand with my lips.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I cannot lean out further.... I am on the point of falling....--Oh! +oh! my hair is falling down the tower!... + +[_Her tresses fall suddenly over her head, as she is leaning out so, +and stream over_ PÉLLÉAS] + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! what is it?... Thy hair, thy hair is falling down to me!... +All thy locks, Mélisande, all thy locks have fallen down the tower!... +I hold them in my hands; I hold them in my mouth.... I hold them in +my arms; I put them about my neck.... I will not open my hands again +to-night.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let me go! let me go!... Thou wilt make me fall!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +No, no, no;... I have never seen such hair as thine, Mélisande!... +See, see, see; it comes from so high and yet it floods me to the +heart!... And yet it floods me to the knees!... And it is sweet, sweet +as if it fell from heaven!... I see the sky no longer through thy +locks. Thou seest, thou seest?... I can no longer hold them with both +hands; there are some on the boughs of the willow.... They are alive +like birds in my hands,... and they love me, they love me more than +thou!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let me go; let me go!... Some one might come.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +No, no, no; I shall not set thee free to-night.... Thou art my +prisoner to-night; all night, all night!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Pélléas! Pélléas!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I tie them, I tie them to the willow boughs.... Thou shalt not go away +now;... thou shalt not go away now.... Look, look, I am kissing thy +hair.... I suffer no more in the midst of thy hair.... Hearest thou my +kisses along thy hair?... They mount along thy hair.... Each hair must +bring thee some.... Thou seest, thou seest, I can open my hands.... My +hands are free, and thou canst not leave me now.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! oh! thou hurtest me.... [_Doves come out of the tower and fly +about them in the night._]--What is that, Pélléas?--What is it flying +about me? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is the doves coming oat of the tower.... I have frightened them; +they are flying away.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is my doves, Pélléas.--Let us go away, let me go; they will not +come back again.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why will they not come back again? + +MÉLISANDE + +They will be lost in the dark.... Let me go; let me lift my head.... +I hear a noise of footsteps.... Let me go!--It is Golaud!... I believe +it is Golaud!... He has heard us.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Wait! Wait!... Thy hair is about the boughs.... It is caught there in +the darkness.... Wait, wait!... It is dark.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD, _by the watchman's round._ + +GOLAUD. + +What do you here? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +What do I here?... I.... + +GOLAUD. + +You are children.... Mélisande, do not lean out so at the window; you +will fall.... Do you not know it is late?--It is nearly midnight.--Do +not play so in the darkness.--You are children.... [_Laughing +nervously._] What children!... What children!... + [_Exit, with_ PÉLLÉAS. + + + + +SCENE III.--_The-vaults of the castle. + + +Enter_ GOLAUD _and_ PÉLLÉAS. + +GOLAUD. + +Take care; this way, this way.--You have never penetrated into these +vaults? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes; once, of old; but it was long ago.... + +GOLAUD. + +They are prodigious great; it is a succession of enormous crypts that +end, God knows where. The whole castle is builded on these crypts. Do +you smell the deathly odor that reigns here?--That is what I wished, +to show you. In my opinion, it comes from the little underground lake +I am going to have you see. Take care; walk before me, in the light of +my lantern. I will warn you when we are there, [_They continue to walk +in silence._] Hey! hey! Pélléas! stop! stop!--[_He seizes him by the +arm._] For God's sake!... Do you not see?--One step more, and you had +been in the gulf!... + +PÉLLÉAS + +But I did not see it!... The lantern no longer lighted me.... + +GOLAUD. + +I made a misstep.... but if I had not held you by the arm.... Well, +this is the stagnant water that I spoke of to you.... Do you +perceive the smell of death that rises?--Let us go to the end of this +overhanging rock, and do you lean over a little. It will strike you in +the face. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I smell it already;... you would say a smell of the tomb. + +GOLAUD. + +Further, further.... It is this that on certain days has poisoned +the castle. The King will not believe it comes from here.--The crypt +should be walled up in which this standing water is found. It is time, +besides, to examine these vaults a little. Have you noticed those +lizards on the walls and pillars of the vaults?--There is a labor +hidden here you would not suspect; and the whole castle will be +swallowed up one of these nights, if it is not looked out for. But +what will you have? nobody likes to come down this far.... There are +strange lizards in many of the walls.... Oh! here ... do you perceive +the smell of death that rises? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes; there is a smell of death rising about us.... + +GOLAUD. + +Lean over; have no fear.... I will hold you ... give me ... no, no, +not your hand ... it might slip ... your arm, your arm!... Do you see +the gulf? [_Moved._]--Pélléas? Pélléas?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes; I think I see the bottom of the gulf.... Is it the light that +trembles so?... You ... [_He straightens up, turns, and looks at_ +GOLAUD.] + +GOLAUD (_with a trembling voice_). + +Yes; it is the lantern.... See, I shook it to lighten the walls.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I stifle here;... let us go out.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; let us go out.... + [_Exeunt in silence._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_A terrace at the exit of the vaults. Enter_ GOLAUD _and_ +PÉLLÉAS. + + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Ah! I breathe at last!... I thought, one moment, I was going to be ill +in those enormous crypts; I was on the point of falling.... There is +a damp air there, heavy as a leaden dew, and darkness thick as a +poisoned paste.... And now, all the air of all the sea!... There is a +fresh wind, see; fresh as a leaf that has just opened, over the little +green waves.... Hold! the flowers have just been watered at the foot +of the terrace, and the smell of the verdure and the wet roses comes +up to us.... It must be nearly noon; they are already in the shadow of +the tower.... It is noon; I hear the bells ringing, and the children +are going down to the beach to bathe.... I did not know that we had +stayed so long in the caverns.... + +GOLAUD. + +We went down towards eleven o'clock.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Earlier; it must have been earlier; I heard it strike half-past ten. + +GOLAUD. + +Half-past ten or a quarter to eleven.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +They have opened all the windows of the castle. It will be unusually +hot this afternoon.... Look, there is mother with Mélisande at a +window of the tower.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; they have taken refuge on the shady side.--Speaking of Mélisande, +I heard what passed and what was said last night. I am quite aware all +that is but child's play; but it need not be repeated. Mélisande is +very young and very impressionable; and she must be treated the more +circumspectly that she is perhaps with child at this moment.... She +is very delicate, hardly woman; and the least emotion might bring on +a mishap. It is not the first time I have noticed there might be +something between you.... You are older than she; it will suffice to +have told you.... Avoid her as much as possible; without affectation +moreover; without affectation....--What is it I see yonder on the +highway toward the forest?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Some herds they are leading to the city.... + +GOLAUD. + +They cry like lost children; you would say they smelt the butcher +already.--It will be time for dinner.--What a fine day! What a capital +day for the harvest!... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE V.--_Before the castle._ + + +_Enter_ GOLAUD _and little_ YNIOLD. + +GOLAUD. + +Come, we are going to sit down here, Yniold; sit on my knee; we shall +see from here what passes in the forest. I do not see you any more +at all now. You abandon me too; you are always at little mother's.... +Why, we are sitting just under little mother's windows.--Perhaps she +is saying her evening prayer at this moment.... But tell me, Yniold, +she is often with your uncle Pélléas, isn't she? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; always, little father; when you are not there, little +father.... + +GOLAUD. + +Ah!--look; some one is going by with a lantern in the garden.--But I +have been told they did not like each other.... It seems they often +quarrel;... no? Is it true? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; it is true. + +GOLAUD. + +Yes?--Ah! ah!--But what do they quarrel about? + +YNIOLD. + +About the door. + +GOLAUD. + +What? about the door?--What are you talking about?--No, come, explain +yourself; why do they quarrel about the door? + +YNIOLD. + +Because it won't stay open. + +GOLAUD. + +Who wants it to stay open?--Come, why do they quarrel? + +YNIOLD. + +I don't know, little father; about the light. + +GOLAUD. + +I am not talking to you about the light; we will talk of that by and +by. I am talking to you about the door. Answer what I ask you; you +must learn to talk; it is time.... Do not put your hand in your mouth +so;... come.... + +YNIOLD. + +Little father! little father!... I won't do it any more.... [_He +cries._] + +GOLAUD. + +Come; what are you crying for now? What has happened? + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! little father, you hurt me.... + +GOLAUD. + +I hurt you?--Where did I hurt you? I did not mean to.... + +YNIOLD. + +Here, here; on my little arm.... + +GOLAUD. + +I did not mean to; come, don't cry any more, and I will give you +something to-morrow. + +YNIOLD. + +What, little father? + +GOLAUD. + +A quiver and some arrows; but tell me what you know about the door. + +YNIOLD. + +Big arrows? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes, yes; very big arrows.--But why don't they want the door to be +open?--Come, answer me sometime!--no, no; do not open your mouth to +cry. I am not angry. We are going to have a quiet talk, like Pélléas +and little mother when they are together. What do they talk about when +they are together? + +YNIOLD. + +Pélléas and little mother? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; what do they talk about? + +YNIOLD. + +About me; always about me. + +GOLAUD. + +And what do they say about you? + +YNIOLD. + +They say I am going to be very big. + +GOLAUD. + +Oh, plague of my life!... I am here like a blind man searching for +his treasure at the bottom of the ocean!... I am here like a new-born +child lost in the forest, and you ... Come, come, Yniold, I was +wandering; we are going to talk seriously. Do Pélléas and little +mother never speak of me when I am not there?... + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, little father; they are always speaking of you. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah!... And what do they say of me? + +YNIOLD. + +They say I shall grow as big as you are. + +GOLAUD. + +You are always by them? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, always, always, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +They never tell you to go play somewhere else? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they are afraid when I am not there. + +GOLAUD. + +They are afraid?... What makes you think they are afraid? + +YNIOLD. + +Little mother always says, "Don't go away; don't go away!"... They are +unhappy, but they laugh.... + +GOLAUD. + +But that does not prove they are afraid. + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, little father; she is afraid.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you say she is afraid? + +YNIOLD. + +They always weep in the dark. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah!... + +YNIOLD. + +That makes one weep too. + +GOLAUD. + +Yes, yes!... + +YNIOLD. + +She is pale, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah!... patience, my God, patience!... + +YNIOLD. + +What, little father? + +GOLAUD. + +Nothing, nothing, my child.--I saw a wolf go by in the forest.--Then +they get on well together?--I am glad to learn they are on good +terms.--They kiss each other sometimes--No?... + +YNIOLD. + +Kiss each other, little father?--No, no,--ah! yes, little father, yes; +yes; once ... once when it rained.... + +GOLAUD. + +They kissed?--But how, how did they kiss? + +YNIOLD. + +So, little father, so!... [_He gives him a kiss on the mouth, +laughing._] Ah! ah! your beard, little father!... It pricks! it +pricks! it pricks! It is getting all gray, little father, and your +hair, too; all gray, all gray, all gray.... [_The window under which +they are sitting is lighted up at this moment, and the light falls +upon them._] Ah! ah! little mother has lit her lamp. It is light, +little father; it is light.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; it is beginning to be light.... + +YNIOLD. + +Let us go there too, little father; let us go there too.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where do you want to go? + +YNIOLD. + +Where it is light, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +No, no, my child; let us stay in the dark a little longer.... One +cannot tell, one cannot tell yet.... Do you see those poor people down +there trying to kindle a little fire in the forest?--It has rained. +And over there, do you see the old gardener trying to lift that tree +the wind has blown down across the road?--He cannot; the tree is too +big; the tree is too heavy, and it will lie where it fell. All that +cannot be helped.... I think Pélléas is mad.... + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father, he is not mad; he is very good. + +GOLAUD. + +Do you want to see little mother? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; I want to see her! + +GOLAUD. + +Don't make any noise; I am going to hoist you up to the window. It is +too high for me, for all I am so big.... [_He lifts the child._] Do +not make the least noise; little mother would be terribly afraid.... +Do you see her?--Is she in the room? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes.... Oh, how light it is! + +GOLAUD. + +She is alone? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes;... no, no; Uncle Pélléas Is there, too. + +GOLAUD. + +He--...! + +YNIOLD. + +Ah! ah! little father! you have hurt me!... + +GOLAUD. + +It is nothing; be still; I will not do it any more; look, look, +Yniold!... I stumbled; speak lower. What are they doing?-- + +YNIOLD. + +They are not doing anything, little father; they are waiting for +something. + +GOLAUD. + +Are they near each other? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +And ... and the bed? are they near the bed? + +YNIOLD. + +The bed, little father?--I can't see the bed. + +GOLAUD. + +Lower, lower; they will hear you. Are they speaking? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not speak. + +GOLAUD. + +But what are they doing?--They must be doing something.... + +YNIOLD. + +They are looking at the light. + +GOLAUD. + +Both? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +They do not say anything? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not close their eyes. + +GOLAUD. + +They do not come near each other? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not stir. + +GOLAUD. + +They are sitting down? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they are standing upright against the wall. + +GOLAUD. + +They make no gestures?--They do not look at each other?--They make no +signs?... + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father.--Oh! oh! little father; they never close their +eyes.... I am terribly afraid.... + +GOLAUD. + +Be still. They do not stir yet? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father.--I am afraid, little father; let me come down!... + +GOLAUD. + +Why, what are you afraid of?--Look! look!... + +YNIOLD. + +I dare not look any more, little father!... Let me come down!... + +GOLAUD. + +Look! look!... + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! I am going to cry, little father!--Let me come down! let me +come down!,.. + +GOLAUD. + +Come; we will go see what has happened. + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT FOURTH + + + + +SCENE I.--_A corridor in the castle._ + + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS _and_ MÉLISANDE, _meeting_. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where goest thou? I must speak to thee to-night. Shall I see thee? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I have just left my father's room. He is getting better. The physician +has told us he is saved.... And yet this morning I had a presentiment +this day would end ill. I have had a rumor of misfortune in my ears +for some time.... Then, all at once there was a great change; to-day +it is no longer anything but a question of time. All the windows in +his room have been thrown open. He speaks; he seems happy. He does not +speak yet like an ordinary man, but already his ideas no longer all +come from the other world.... He recognized me. He took my hand and +said with that strange air he has had since he fell sick: "Is it thou, +Pélléas? Why, why, I had not noticed it before, but thou hast the +grave and friendly look of those who will not live long.... You must +travel; you must travel...." It is strange; I shall obey him.... My +mother listened to him and wept for joy.--Hast thou not been aware of +it?--The whole house seems already to revive, you hear breathing, you +hear speaking, you hear walking.... Listen; I hear some one speaking +behind that door. Quick, quick! answer quickly! where shall I see +thee? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where wouldst thou? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +In the park; near "Blind Man's Spring."--Wilt thou?--Wilt thou come? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It will be the last night;--I am going to travel, as my father said. +Thou wilt not see me more.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Do not say that, Pélléas.... I shall see thee always; I shall look +upon thee always.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou wilt look in vain.... I shall be so far away thou couldst no +longer see me.... I shall try to go very far away.... I am full of +joy, and you would say I had all the weight of heaven and earth on my +body to-day.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +What has happened, Pélléas?--I no longer understand what you say.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Go, go; let us separate. I hear some one speaking behind that door.... +It is the strangers who came to the castle this morning.... They are +going out.... Let us go; it is the strangers.... [_Exeunt severally._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ ARKËL _and_ MÉLISANDE +_discovered._ + + +ARKËL. + +Now that Pélléas's father is saved, and sickness, the old handmaid of +Death, has left the castle, a little joy and a little sunlight will +at last come into the house again.... It was time!--For, since thy +coming, we have only lived here whispering about a closed room.... And +truly I have pitied thee, Mélisande.... Thou camest here all joyous, +like a child seeking a gala-day, and at the moment thou enteredst in +the vestibule I saw thy face change, and probably thy soul, as the +face changes in spite of us when we enter at noon into a grotto too +gloomy and too cold.... And since,--since, on account of all that, I +have often no longer understood thee.... I observed thee, thou went +there, listless perhaps, but with the strange, astray look of one +awaiting ever a great trouble, in the sunlight, in a beautiful +garden.... I cannot explain.... But I was sad to see thee so; for thou +art too young and too beautiful to live already day and night under +the breath of death.... But now all that will change. At my age,--and +there perhaps is the surest fruit of my life,--at my age I have gained +I know not what faith in the fidelity of events, and I have always +seen that every young and beautiful being creates about itself young, +beautiful, and happy events.... And it is thou who wilt now open the +door for the new era I have glimpses of.... Come here; why dost thou +stay there without answering and without lifting thine eyes?--I have +kissed thee but once only hitherto,--the day of thy coming; and yet +old men need sometimes to touch with their lips a woman's forehead or +a child's cheek, to believe still in the freshness of life and avert +awhile the menaces.... Art thou afraid of my old lips? How I have +pitied thee these months!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Grandfather, I have not been unhappy.... + +ARKËL. + +Perhaps you were of those who are unhappy without knowing it,... and +they are the most unhappy.... Let me look at thee, so, quite near, a +moment;... we have such need of beauty beside Death.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD. + +GOLAUD. + +Pélléas leaves to-night. + +ARKËL. + +Thou hast blood on thy forehead.--What hast thou done? + +GOLAUD. + +Nothing, nothing.... I have passed through a hedge of thorns. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Bend down your head a little, my lord.... I will wipe your +forehead.... + +GOLAUD (_repulsing her_). + +I will not that you touch me, do you understand? Go, go!--I am not +speaking to you.--Where is my sword?--I came to seek my sword.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Here; on the praying-stool. + +GOLAUD. + +Bring it. [_To_ ARKËL.]--They have just found another peasant dead of +hunger, along by the sea. You would say they all meant to die under +our eyes.--[_To_ MÉLISANDE.] Well, my sword?--Why do you tremble +so?--I am not going to kill you. I would simply examine the blade. I +do not employ the sword for these uses. Why do you examine me like a +beggar?--I do not come to ask alms of you. You hope to see something +in my eyes without my seeing anything in yours?--Do you think I may +know something?--[_To_ ARKËL.]--Do you see those great eyes?--It is as +if they were proud of their richness.... + +ARKËL. + +I see there only a great innocence.... + +GOLAUD. + +A great innocence!... They are greater than innocence!... They are +purer than the eyes of a lamb.... They would give God lessons in +innocence! A great innocence! Listen: I am so near them I feel the +freshness of their lashes when they wink; and yet I am less far away +from the great secrets of the other world than from the smallest +secret of those eyes!... A great innocence!... More than innocence! +You would say the angels of heaven celebrated there an eternal +baptism!... I know those eyes! I have seen them at their work! Close +them! close them! or I shall close them for a long while!...--Do +not put your right hand to your throat so; I am saying a very simple +thing.... I have no under-thought.... If I had an under-thought, why +should I not say it? Ah! ah!--do not attempt to flee!--Here!--Give +me that hand!--Ah! your hands are too hot.... Go away! Your flesh +disgusts me!... Here!--There is no more question of fleeing now!--[_He +seizes her by the hair._]--You shall follow me on your knees!--On your +knees!--On your knees before me!--Ah! ah! your long hair serves +some purpose at last!... Right,... left!--Left,... right!--Absalom! +Absalom.--Forward! back! To the ground! to the ground!... You see, you +see; I laugh already like an old man.... + +ARKËL (_running up_). + +Golaud!... + +GOLAUD (_affecting a sudden calm_). + +You will do as you may please, look you.--I attach no importance +to that.--I am too old; and, besides, I am not a spy. I shall await +chance; and then ... Oh! then!... simply because it is the custom; +simply because it is the custom.... [_Exit._ + +ARKËL. + +What ails him?--He is drunk? + +MÉLISANDE (_in tears_). + +No, no; he does not love me any more.... I am not happy!... I am not +happy!... + +ARKËL. + +If I were God, I would have pity on men's hearts.... + + + + +SCENE III.--_A terrace of the castle. Little_ YNIOLD _discovered, +trying to lift a bowlder._ + + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +Oh, this stone is heavy!... It is heavier than I am.... It is +heavier than everybody.... It is heavier than everything that ever +happened.... I can see my golden ball between the rock and this +naughty stone, and I cannot reach it.... My little arm is not long +enough,... and this stone won't be lifted.... I can't lift it,... and +nobody could lift it.... It is heavier than the whole house;... you +would think it had roots in the earth.... [_The Bleatings of a flock +heard far away._]--Oh! oh! I hear the sheep crying.... [_He goes to +look, at the edge of the terrace._] Why! there is no more sun.... They +are coming ... the little sheep ... they are coming.... There is a lot +of them!... There is a lot of them!... They are afraid of the dark.... +They crowd together! they crowd together!... They can hardly walk any +more.... They are crying! they are crying! and they go quick!... They +go quick!... They are already at the great crossroads. Ah! ah! They +don't know where they ought to go any more.... They don't cry any +more.... They wait.... Some of them want to go to the right.... +They all want to go to the right.... They cannot!... The shepherd is +throwing earth at them.... Ah! ah! They are going to pass by here.... +They obey! They obey! They are going to pass under the terrace.... +They are going to pass under the rocks.... I am going to see them near +by.... Oh! oh! what a lot of them!... What a lot of them!... The +whole road is full of them.... They all keep still now ... Shepherd! +shepherd! why don't they speak any more? + +THE SHEPHERD (_who is out of sight_). + +Because it is no longer the road to the stable.... + +YNIOLD. + +Where are they going?--Shepherd! shepherd!--where are they going?--He +doesn't hear me any more. They are too far away already.... They go +quick.... They are not making a noise any more.... It is no longer the +road to the stable.... Where are they going to sleep to-night?--Oh! +oh!--It is too dark.... I am going to tell something to somebody.... + [_Exit._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_A fountain in the park._ + + +_Enter_ PÉLLÉAS. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is the last evening ... the last evening. It must all end. I have +played like a child about a thing I did not guess.... I have played +a-dream about the snares of fate.... Who has awakened me all at once? +I shall flee, crying out for joy and woe like a blind man fleeing +from his burning house.... I am going to tell her I shall flee.... +My father is out of danger; and I have no more reason to lie to +myself.... It is late; she does not come.... I should do better to +go away without seeing her again.... I must look well at her this +time.... There are some things that I no longer recall.... It seems at +times as if I had not seen her for a hundred years.... And I have not +yet looked upon her look.... There remains nought to me if I go away +thus. And all those memories ... it is as if I were to take away a +little water in a muslin bag.... I must see her one last time, to the +bottom of her heart.... I must tell her all that I have never told +her. + +_Enter_ MÉLISANDE. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Pélléas! + +Mélisande!--Is it thou, Mélisande? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Come hither; do not stay at the edge of the moonlight.--Come hither. +We have so many things to tell each other.... Come hither in the +shadow of the linden. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Let me stay in the light.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +We might be seen from the windows of the tower. Come hither; here, we +have nothing to fear.--Take care; we might be seen.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I wish to be seen.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why, what doth ail thee?--Thou wert able to come out without being +seen? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes; your brother slept.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is late.--In an hour they will close the gates. We must be careful. +Why art thou come so late? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Your brother had a bad dream. And then my gown was caught on the nails +of the gate. See, it is torn. I lost all this time, and ran.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +My poor Mélisande!... I should almost be afraid to touch thee.... Thou +art still out of breath, like a hunted bird.... It is for me, for me, +thou doest all that?... I hear thy heart beat as if it were mine.... +Come hither ... nearer, nearer me.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why do you laugh? + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I do not laugh;--or else I laugh for joy, unwittingly.... It were a +weeping matter, rather.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +We have come here before.... I recollect.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes ... yes.... Long months ago.--I knew not then.... Knowest thou why +I asked thee to come here to-night? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +It is perhaps the last time I shall see thee.... I must go away +forever.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why sayest thou always thou wilt go away?... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I must tell thee what thou knowest already?--Thou knowest not what I +am going to tell thee? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why, no; why, no; I know nothing--... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou knowest not why I must go afar.... Thou knowest not it is +because ... [_He kisses her abruptly._] I love thee.... + +MÉLISANDE (_in a low voice_). + +I love thee too.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh! oh! What saidst thou, Mélisande?... I hardly heard it!... Thou +sayest that in a voice coming from the end of the world!... I hardly +heard thee.... Thou lovest me?--Thou lovest me too?... Since when +lovest thou me?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Since always.... Since I saw thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh, how thou sayest that!... Thy voice seems to have blown across the +sea in spring!... I have never heard it until now;... one would say +it had rained on my heart!... Thou sayest that so frankly!... Like an +angel questioned!... I cannot believe it, Mélisande!... Why shouldst +thou love me?--Nay, why dost thou love me?--Is what thou sayest +true?--Thou dost not mock me?--Thou dost not lie a little, to make me +smile?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No; I never lie; I lie but to thy brother.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Oh, how thou sayest that!... Thy voice! thy voice!... It is cooler and +more frank than the water is!... It is like pure water on my lips!... +It is like pure water on my hands.... Give me, give me thy hands!... +Oh, how small thy hands are!... I did not know thou wert so +beautiful!... I have never seen anything so beautiful before thee.... +I was fall of unrest; I sought throughout the house.... I sought +throughout the country.... And I found not beauty.... And now I have +found thee!... I have found thee!.,. I do not think there could be on +the earth a fairer woman!... Where art thou?--I no longer hear thee +breathe.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Because I look on thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Why dost thou look so gravely on me?--We are already in the +shadow.--It is too dark under this tree. Come into the light. We +cannot see how happy we are. Come, come; so little time remains to +us.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; let us stay here.... I am nearer thee in the dark.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Where are thine eyes?--Thou art not going to fly me?--Thou dost not +think of me just now. + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh, yes; oh, yes; I only think of thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou wert looking elsewhere.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I saw thee elsewhere.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thy soul is far away.... What ails thee, then?--Meseems thou art not +happy.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; I am happy, but I am sad.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +One is sad often when one loves.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I weep always when I think of thee.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I too.... I too, Mélisande.... I am quite near thee; I weep for joy, +and yet ...[_He kisses her again._]--Thou art strange when I kiss thee +so.... Thou art so beautiful that one would think thou wert about to +die.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Thou too.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There, there.... We do not what we will.... I did not love thee the +first time I saw thee.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Nor I ... nor I.... I was afraid.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I could not admit thine eyes.... I would have gone away at once ... +and then.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +And I,--I would not have come.... I do not yet know why,--I was afraid +to come.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +There are so many things one never knows. We are ever waiting; and +then.... What is that noise?--They are closing the gates!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, they have closed the gates.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +We cannot go back now?--Hearest thou the bolts?--Listen! listen!... +the great chains!... the great chains!... It is too late; it is too +late!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +All the better! all the better! all the better!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Thou--...? Behold, behold!... It is no longer we who will it so!... +All's lost, all's saved! all is saved to-night!--Come, come.... My +heart beats like a madman,--up to my very throat.... [_They embrace._] +Listen! listen! my heart is almost strangling me.... Come! come!... +Ah, how beautiful it is in the shadows!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +There is some one behind us!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I see no one.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I heard a noise.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I hear only thy heart in the dark.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I heard the crackling of dead leaves.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Because the wind is silent all at once.... It fell as we were +kissing.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +How long our shadows are to-night!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +They embrace to the very end of the garden. Oh, how they kiss far away +from us!... Look! look!... + +MÉLISANDE.(_a stifled voice_). + +A-a-h!--He is behind a tree! + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Who? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Golaud! + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Golaud!--where?--I see nothing.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +There ... at the end of our shadows. + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Yes, yes; I saw him.... Let us not turn abruptly.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He has his sword.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +I have not mine.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +He saw us kiss.... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He does not know we have seen him.... Do not stir; do not turn your +head.... He would rush headlong on us.... He will remain there while +he thinks we do not know. He watches us.... He is still motionless.... +Go, go at once this way.... I will wait for him.... I will stop +him.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no, no!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Go! go! he has seen all!... He will kill us!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +All the better! all the better! all the better!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +He comes! he comes!... Thy mouth!... Thy mouth!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes!... yes! yes!... + [_They kiss desperately._ + +PÉLLÉAS + +Oh! oh! All the stars are falling!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Upon me too! upon me too!... + +PÉLLÉAS. + +Again! Again!... Give! give!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +All! all! all!... + + [Golaud rushes upon them, sword in hand, and strikes Pélléas, who + falls at the brink of the fountain. Mélisande flees terrified.] + +MÉLISANDE. (_fleeing_). + +Oh! oh! I have no courage I ... I have no courage!... + + [GOLAUD _pursues her through the wood in silence._ + + + + +ACT FIFTH. + + + + +SCENE I.--_A lower hall in the castle. The women servants discovered, +gathered together, while without children are playing before one of +the ventilators of the hall._ + + +AN OLD SERVANT. + +You will see, you will see, my daughters; it will be to-night.--Some +one will come to tell us by and by.... + +ANOTHER SERVANT. + +They will not come to tell us.... They don't know what they are doing +any longer.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Let us wait here.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +We shall know well enough when we must go up.... + +FIFTH SERVANT. + +When the time is come, we shall go up of ourselves.... + +SIXTH SERVANT. + +There is no longer a sound heard in the house.... + +SEVENTH SERVANT. + +We ought to make the children keep still, who are playing before the +ventilator. + +EIGHTH SERVANT. + +They will be still of themselves by and by. + +NINTH SERVANT. + +The time has not yet come.... + +_Enter an old Servant._ + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +No one can go in the room any longer. I have listened more than +an hour.... You could hear the flies walk on the doors.... I heard +nothing.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Has she been left alone in the room? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +No, no; I think the room is full of people. + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They will come, they will come, by and by.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Lord! Lord! It is not happiness that has come into the house.... One +may not speak, but if I could say what I know... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +It was you who found them before the gate? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Why, yes! why, yes! it was I who found them. The porter says it was +he who saw them first; but it was I who waked them. He was sleeping on +his face and would not get up.--And now he comes saying, "It was I who +saw them first." Is that just?--See, I burned myself lighting a lamp +to go down cellar.--Now what was I going to do down cellar?--I can't +remember any more what I was going to do down cellar.--At any rate I +got up very early; it was not yet very light; I said to myself, I will +go across the courtyard, and then I will open the gate. Good; I +go down the stairs on tiptoe, and I open the gate as if it were an +ordinary gate.... My God! My God! What do I see? Divine a little what +I see!... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They were before the gate? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +They were both stretched out before the gate!... Exactly like poor +folk that are too hungry.... They were huddled together like little +children who are afraid.... The little princess was nearly dead, and +the great Golaud had still his sword in his side.... There was blood +on the sill.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +We ought to make the children keep still.... They are screaming with +all their might before the ventilator.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +You can't hear yourself speak.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +There is nothing to be done: I have tried already; they won't keep +still.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +It seems he is nearly cured? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Who? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +The great Golaud. + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; they have taken him to his wife's room. I met them just +now, in the corridor. They were holding him up as if he were drunk. He +cannot yet walk alone. + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +He could not kill himself; he is too big. But she is hardly wounded, +and it is she who is going to die.... Can you understand that? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +You have seen the wound? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +As I see you, my daughter.--I saw everything, you understand.... I saw +it before all the others.... A tiny little wound under her little left +breast,--a little wound that wouldn't kill a pigeon. Is it natural? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; there is something underneath.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +Yes; but she was delivered of her babe three days ago.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Exactly!... She was delivered on her death-bed; is that a little +sign?--And what a child! Have you seen it?--A wee little girl a beggar +would not bring into the world.... A little wax figure that came much +too soon;... a little wax figure that must live in lambs' wool.... +Yes, yes; it is not happiness that has come into the house.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; it Is the hand of God that has been stirring.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; all that did not happen without reason.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +It is as good lord Pélléas ... where is he?--No one knows.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; everybody knows.... But nobody dare speak of it.... One does +not speak of this;... one does not speak of that;... one speaks no +more of anything;... one no longer speaks truth.... But _I_ know he +was found at the bottom of Blind Man's Spring;... but no one, no one +could see him.... Well, well, we shall only know all that at the last +day.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +I dare not sleep here any longer.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; once ill-fortune is in the house, one keeps silence in +vain.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Yes; it finds you all the same.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; but we do not go where we would.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; we do not do what we would.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They are afraid of us now.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +They all keep silence.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +They cast down their eyes in the corridors. + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +They do not speak any more except in a low voice. + +FIFTH SERVANT. + +You would think they had all done it together. + +SIXTH SERVANT. + +One doesn't know what they have done.... + +SEVENTH SERVANT. + +What is to be done when the masters are afraid?... [_A silence_. + +FIRST SERVANT. + +I no longer hear the children screaming. + +SECOND SERVANT. + +They are sitting down before the ventilator. + +THIRD SERVANT. + +They are huddled against each other. + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +I no longer hear anything in the house.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +You no longer even hear the children breathe.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Come, come; it is time to go up.... + [_Exeunt in silence._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ + + +ARKËL, GOLAUD, _and the_ PHYSICIAN _discovered in one corner of the +room._ MÉLISANDE _is stretched upon her bed._ + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It cannot be of that little wound she is dying; a bird would not have +died of it.... It is not you, then, who have killed her, good my lord; +do not be so disconsolate.... She could not have lived.... She was +born without reason ... to die; and she dies without reason.... And +then, it is not sure we shall not save her.... + +ARKËL. + +No, no; it seems to me we keep too silent, in spite of ourselves, in +her room.... It is not a good sign.... Look how she sleeps ... slowly, +slowly;... it is as if her soul was cold forever.... + +GOLAUD. + +I have killed her without cause! I have killed her without cause!... +Is it not enough to make the stones weep?... They had kissed like +little children.... They had simply kissed.... They were brother and +sister.... And I, and I at once!... I did it in spite of myself, look +you.... I did it in spite of myself.... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Stop; I think she is waking.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Open the window;... open the window.... + +ARKËL + +Shall I open this one, Mélisande? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; the great window ... the great window.... It is to see.... + +ARKËL. + +Is not the sea air too cold to-night? Do it; do it.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Thanks.... Is it sunset? + +ARKËL. + +Yes; it is sunset on the sea; it is late.--How are you, Mélisande? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Well, well.--Why do you ask that? I have never been better.--And yet +it seems to me I know something.... + +ARKËL. + +What sayest thou?--I do not understand thee.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Neither do I understand all I say, you see.... I do not know what I +am saying.... I do not know what I know.... I no longer say what I +would.... + +ARKËL. + +Why, yes! why, yes!... I am quite happy to hear thee speak so; thou +hast raved a little these last days, and one no longer understood +thee.... But now all that is far away.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +I do not know....--Are you all alone in the room, grandfather? + +ARKËL. + +No; there is the physician, besides, who cured thee.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Ah!... + +ARKËL. + +And then there is still some one else.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is it? + +ARKËL. + +It is ... thou must not be frightened.... He does not wish thee the +least harm, be sure.... If thou'rt afraid, he will go away.... He is +very unhappy.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is it? + +ARKËL. + +It is thy ... thy husband.... It is Golaud.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Golaud is here? Why does he not come by me? + +GOLAUD (_dragging himself toward the bed._) + +Mélisande ... Mélisande.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Is it you, Golaud? I should hardly recognize you any more.... It is +the evening sunlight in my eyes.... Why look you on the walls? You +have grown thin and old.... Is it a long while since we saw each +other? + +GOLAUD (_to_ ARKËL _and the_ PHYSICIAN). + +Will you withdraw a moment, if you please, if you please?... I will +leave the door wide open.... One moment only.... I would say something +to her; else I could not die.... Will you?--Go clear to the end of +the corridor; you can come back at once, at once.... Do not refuse +me this.... I am a wretch.... [_Exit_ ARKËL _and the_ +PHYSICIAN.]--Mélisande, hast thou pity on me, as I have pity on +thee?... Mélisande?... Dost thou forgive me, Mélisande?... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes, I do forgive thee.... What must I forgive?... + +GOLAUD. + +I have wrought thee so much ill, Mélisande.... I cannot tell thee the +ill I have wrought thee.... But I see it, I see it so clearly to-day +... since the first day.... And all I did not know till now leaps in +my eyes to-night.... And it is all my fault, all that has happened, +all that will happen.... If I could tell it, thou wouldst see as I +do!... I see all! I see all!... But I loved thee so!... I loved thee +so!... But now there is some one dying.... It is I who am dying.... +And I would know.... I would ask thee.... Thou'lt bear me no +ill-will.... I would.... The truth must be told to a dying man.... He +must know the truth, or else he could not sleep.... Swearest thou to +tell me the truth? + +MÉLISANDE + +Yes. + +GOLAUD. + +Didst thou love Pélléas? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why, yes; I loved him.--Where is he? + +GOLAUD. + +Thou dost not understand me?--Thou wilt not understand me?--It seems +to me ... it seems to me.... Well, then, here: I ask thee if thou +lovedst him with a forbidden love?... Wert thou ... were you guilty? +Say, say, yes, yes, yes!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no; we were not guilty.--Why do you ask that? + +GOLAUD. + +Mélisande!... tell me the truth, for the love of God! + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why have I not told the truth? + +GOLAUD. + +Do not lie so any more, at the moment of death! + +MÉLISANDE. + +Who is dying?--Is it I? + +GOLAUD. + +Thou, thou! and I, I too, after thee!... And we must have the +truth.... We must have the truth at last, dost thou understand?... +Tell me all! Tell me all! I forgive thee all!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Why am I going to die?--I did not know it.... + +GOLAUD. + +Thou knowest it now!... It is time! It is time!... Quick! quick!... +The truth! the truth!... + +MÉLISANDE. + +The truth ... the truth.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where art thou?--Mélisande!--Where art thou?--It is not natural! +Mélisande! Where art thou?--Where goest thou? [_Perceiving_ ARKËL +_and the_ PHYSICIAN _at the door of the room.]--_ Yes, yes; you may +come in.... I know nothing; it is useless.... It is too late; she is +already too far away from us.... I shall never know!... I shall die +here like a blind man!... + +ARKËL. + +What have you done? You will kill her.... + +GOLAUD. + +I have already killed her.... + +ARKËL. + +Mélisande.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Is it you, grandfather? + +ARKËL. + +Yes, my daughter.... What would you have me do? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Is it true that the winter is beginning?... + +ARKËL. + +Why dost thou ask? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Because it is cold, and there are no more leaves.... + +ARKËL. + +Thou art cold?--Wilt thou have the windows closed? + +MÉLISANDE. + +No, no,... not till the sun be at the bottom of the sea.--It sinks +slowly; then it is the winter beginning? + +ARKËL. + +Yes.--Thou dost not like the winter? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Oh! no. I am afraid of the cold.--I am so afraid of the great cold.... + +ARKËL. + +Dost thou feel better? + +MÉLISANDE. + +Yes, yes; I have no longer all those qualms.... + +ARKËL. + +Wouldst thou see thy child? + +MÉLISANDE. + +What child? + +ARKËL. + +Thy child.--Thou art a mother.... Thou hast brought a little daughter +into the world.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +Where is she? + +ARKËL. + +Here.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +It is strange.... I cannot lift my arms to take her.... + +ARKËL. + +Because you are still very weak.... I will hold her myself; look.... + +MÉLISANDE. + +She does not laugh.... She is little.... She is going to weep too.... +I pity her.... + + [The room has been invaded, little by little, by the women + servants of the castle, who range themselves in silence along + the walls and wait] + +GOLAUD (_rising abruptly_). + +What is the matter?--What are all these women coming here for?... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It is the servants.... + +ARKËL. + +Who was it called them? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It was not I.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you come here?--No one has asked for you.... What come you here +to do?--But what is it, then?--Answer me!... + [_The servants make no answer._ + +ARKËL. + +Do not speak too loud.... She is going to sleep; she has closed her +eyes.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is not...? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +No, no; see, she breathes.... + +ARKËL. + +Her eyes are full of tears.--It is her soul weeping now.... Why does +she stretch her arms out so?--What would she? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It is toward the child, without doubt.... It is the straggle of +motherhood against... + +GOLAUD. + +At this moment?--At this moment?--You must say. Say! Say!... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Perhaps. + +GOLAUD. + +At once?... Oh! oh! I must tell her....--Mélisande! Mélisande!... +Leave me alone! leave me alone with her!... + +ARKËL. + +No, no; do not come near.... Trouble her not.... Speak no more to +her.... You know not what the soul is.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is not my fault!... It is not my fault! + +ARKËL. + +Hush!... Hush!... We must speak softly now.--She must not be +disturbed.... The human soul is very silent.... The human soul likes +to depart alone.... It suffers so timorously.... But the sadness, +Golaud ... the sadness of all we see!... Oh! oh! oh!... [_At this +moment, all the servants fall suddenly on their knees at the back of +the chamber._] + +ARKËL (_turning_). + +What is the matter? + +THE PHYSICIAN (_approaching the bed and feeling the body_). + +They are right.... + [_A long silence._ + +ARKËL. + +I saw nothing.--Are you sure?... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Yes, yes. + +ARKËL. + +I heard nothing.... So quick, so quick!... All at once!... She goes +without a word.... + +GOLAUD (_sobbing_). + +Oh! oh! oh! + +_ARKËL._ + +Do not stay here, Golaud.... She must have silence now.... Come, +come.... It is terrible, but it is not your fault.... 'T was a little +being, so quiet, so fearful, and so silent.... 'T was a poor little +mysterious being, like everybody.... She lies there as if she were the +big sister of her child.... Come, come.... My God! My God!... I shall +never understand it at all.... Let us not stay here.--Come; the child +most not stay here in this room.... She must live now in her place.... +It is the poor little one's turn.... + [_They go out in silence._ + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + +Alladine and Palomides. + +_To Camille Mauclair_. + + + + +Persons. + + +ABLAMORE. + +ASTOLAINE, _daughter of Ablamore_. + +ALLADINE. + +PALOMIDES. + +THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +A PHYSICIAN. + +[NOTE: The translation of Ablamore's song is taken from the version of +this play made by the editors of "Poet-lore." R.H.] + + + + +Alladine and Palomides. + + * * * * * + + + + +ACT FIRST. + +_A-wild part of the gardens_. ABLAMORE _discovered leaning over_ +ALLADINE, _who is asleep_. + + +ABLAMORE. + +Methinks sleep reigns day and night beneath these trees. Each time +she comes here with me toward nightfall, she is hardly seated when she +falls asleep. Alas! I must be glad even of that.... During the day, +whene'er I speak to her and her look happens to encounter mine, it is +hard as a slave's to whom a thing impossible has just been bidden.... +Yet that is not her customary look.... I have seen her many times +resting her beautiful eyes on children, on the forest, the sea, or her +surroundings. She smiles at me as one smiles on a foe; and I dare not +bend over her save at times when her eyes can no longer see me.... I +have a few moments every evening; and all the rest of the day I live +beside her with my eyes cast down.... It is sad to love too late.... +Maids cannot understand that years do not separate hearts.... They +have called me "The wise King."... I was wise because till now nothing +had happened to me.... There are men who seem to turn events aside. +It was enough that I should be about for nothing to be able to have +birth.... I had suspected it of old.... In the time of my youth, I had +many friends whose presence seemed to attract every adventure; but +the days when I went forth with them, for the encounter of joys or +sorrows, they came back again with empty hands.... I think I palsied +fate; and I long took pride in this gift. One lived under cover in my +reign.... But now I have recognized that misfortune itself is better +worth than sleep, and that there must be a life more active and higher +than waiting.... They shall see that I too have strength to trouble, +when I will, the water that seems dead at the bottom of the great +caldrons of the future.... Alladine, Alladine!... Oh! she is lovely +so, her hair over the flowers and over her pet lamb, her lips apart +and fresher than the morn.... I will kiss her without her knowing, +holding back my poor white beard.... [_He kisses her._]--She +smiled.... Should I pity her? For the few years she gives me, she will +some day be queen; and I shall have done a little good before I go +away.... They will be astonished.... She herself does not know.... Ah! +here she wakes with a start.... Where are you coming from, Alladine? + +ALLADINE. + +I have had a bad dream.... + +ABLAMORE. + +What is the matter? Why do you look yonder? + +ALLADINE. + +Some one went by upon the road. + +ABLAMORE. + +I heard nothing. + +ALLADINE. + +I tell you some one is coming.... There he is! [_She points out a +young knight coming forward through the trees and holding his horse by +the bridle._] Do not take me by the hand; I am not afraid.... He has +not seen us.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Who dares come here?... If I did not know.... I believe it is +Palomides.... It is Astolaine's betrothed.... He has raised his +head.... Is it you, Palomides? + +_Enter_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes, my father.... If I am suffered yet to call you by that name.... I +come hither before the day and the hour.... + +ABLAMORE. + +You are a welcome guest, whatever hour it be.... But what has +happened? We did not expect you for two days yet.... Is Astolaine +here, too?... + +PALOMIDES. + +No; she will come to-morrow. We have journeyed day and night. She was +tired and begged me to come on before.... Are my sisters come? + +ABLAMORE. + +They have been here three days waiting for your wedding.--You look +very happy, Palomides.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Who would not be happy, to have found what he sought? I was sad of +old. But now the days seem lighter and more sweet than harmless birds +in the hand.... And if old moments come again by chance, I draw near +Astolaine, and you would think I threw a window open on the dawn.... +She has a soul that can be seen around her,--that takes you in its +arms like an ailing child and without saying anything to you consoles +you for everything.... I shall never understand it at all.--I do not +know how it can all be; but my knees bend in spite of me when I speak +of it.... + +ALLADINE. + +I want to go in again. + +ABLAMORE. + +[_Seeing that_ ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES _look at each other +stealthily._] This is little Alladine who has come hither from +the heart of Arcady.... Take hands ... Does that astonish you, +Palomides?... + +PALOMIDES. + +My father.... + +[PALOMIDES' _horse starts aside, frightening_ ALLADINE'S _lamb._] + +ABLAMORE. + +Take care.... Your horse has frightened Alladine's lamb.... He will +run away.... + +ALLADINE. + +No; he never runs away.... He has been startled, but he will not +run away.... It is a lamb my godmother gave me.... He is not like +others.... He stays beside me night and day. [_Caressing it._ + +PALOMIDES (_also caressing it_). + +He looks at me with the eyes of a child.... + +ALLADINE. + +He understands everything that happens.... + +ABLAMORE. + +It is time to go find your sisters, Palomides.... They will be +astonished to see you.... + +ALLADINE. + +They have gone every day to the turning of the road.... I have gone +with them; but they did not hope yet.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Come; Palomides is covered with dust, and he must be weary.... We have +too many things to say to each other to talk here.... We will say them +to-morrow.... They claim the morn is wiser than the evening.... I see +the palace gates are open and seem to wait for us.... + +ALLADINE. + +I cannot help being uneasy when I go back into the palace.... It is so +big, and I am so little, and I get lost there still.... And then +all those windows on the sea.... You cannot count them.... And the +corridors that turn without reason, and others that never turn, but +lose themselves between the walls.... And the halls I dare not go +into.... + +PALOMIDES. + +We will go in everywhere.... + +ALLADINE. + +You would think I was not made to dwell there,--that it was not built +for me.... Once I lost my way there.... I pushed open thirty doors, +before I found the light of day again.... And I could not go out; +the last door opened on a pool.... And the vaults that are cold all +summer; and the galleries that bend back on themselves endlessly.... +There are stairways that lead nowhere and terraces from which nothing +can be seen.... + +ABLAMORE. + +You who were not wont to talk, how you talk to-night!... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT SECOND. + + + + +SCENE I.--ALLADINE _discovered, her forehead against one of the +windows that open on the park. Enter_ ABLAMORE. + + +ABLAMORE. + +Alladine.... + +ALLADINE (_turning abruptly_). + +What is it? + +ABLAMORE. + +Oh, how pale you are!... Are you ill? + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +What is it in the park?--Were you looking at the avenue of fountains +that unfolds before your windows?--They are wonderful and weariless. +They were raised there one by one, at the death of each of my +daughters.... At night I hear them singing in the garden.... They +bring to mind the lives they represent, and I can tell their voices +apart.... + +ALLADINE. + +I know. + +ABLAMORE. + +You must pardon me; I sometimes repeat the same things and my memory +is less trust-worthy.... It is not age; I am not an old man yet, thank +God! but kings have a thousand cares. Palomides has been telling me +his adventures.... + +ALLADINE. + +Ah! + +ABLAMORE. + +He has not done what he would; young people have no will any more.--He +astonishes me. I had chosen him among a thousand for my daughter. He +should have had a soul as deep as hers.--He has done nothing which may +not be excusable, but I had hoped more.... What do you say of him? + +ALLADINE. + +Who? + +ABLAMORE. + +Palomides? + +ALLADINE. + +I have only seen him one evening.... + +ABLAMORE. + +He astonishes me.--Everything has succeeded with him till now. He +would undertake a thing and accomplish it without a word.--He would +get out of danger without an effort, while others could not open a +door without finding death behind it.--He was of those whom events +seem to await on their knees. But a little while ago something +snapped. You would say he has no longer the same star, and every +step he takes carries him further from himself.--I don't know what it +is.--He does not seem to be at all aware, but others can remark it.... +Let us speak of something else: look! the night comes; I see it rise +along the walls. Would you like to go together to the wood of Astolat, +as we do other evenings? + +ALLADINE. + +I am not going out to-night. + +ABLAMORE. + +We will stay here, since you prefer it so. Yet the air is sweet and +the evening very fair. [ALLADINE _starts without his noticing it._] I +have had flowers set along the hedges, and I should like to show them +to you.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, not to-night.... If you wish me to.... I like to go there with you +... the air is pure and the trees ... but not to-night.... [_Cowers, +weeping, against the old man's breast._] I do not feel quite well.... + +ABLAMORE. + +What is the matter? You are going to fall.... I will call.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no.... It is nothing.... It is over.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Sit down. Wait.... + + [He runs to the folding-doors at the back and opens both. + Palomides is seen, seated on a bench. He has not had time to + turn away his eyes. Ablamore looks fixedly at him, without a + word, then re-enters the room. Palomides rises and retreats + in the corridor, stifling the sound of his footsteps. The pet + lamb leaves the room, unperceived.] + + + + +SCENE II.--_A drawbridge over the moats of the palace_. PALOMIDES +_and_ ALLADINE, _with her pet lamb, appear at the two ends of the +bridge._ KING ABLAMORE _leans out from a window of the tower_. + + +PALOMIDES. + +Were you going out, Alladine?--I was coming in. I am coming back from +the chase.--It rained. + +ALLADINE. + +I have never passed this bridge. + +PALOMIDES. + +It leads to the forest. It is seldom passed. People had rather go a +long way around. I think they are afraid because the moats are deeper +at this place than elsewhere, and the black water that comes down from +the mountains boils horribly between the walls before it goes hurling +itself into the sea. It roars there always; but the quays are so high +you hardly notice it. It is the most deserted wing of the palace. But +on this side the forest is more beautiful, more ancient, and greater +than any you have seen. It is full of unusual trees and flowers that +have sprung up of themselves,--Will you come? + +ALLADINE. + +I do not know.... I am afraid of the roaring water. + +PALOMIDES. + +Come, come; it roars without reason. Look at your lamb; he looks at me +as if he wished to come.... Come, come.... + +ALLADINE. + +Don't call him.... He will get away. + +PALOMIDES. + +Come, come. + + [The lamb escapes from Alladine's hands, and comes leaping toward + Palomides, but slips on the inclined plane of the drawbridge and + goes rolling into the moat.] + +ALLADINE. + +What has he done?--Where is he? + +PALOMIDES. + +He slipped. He is straggling in the heart of the eddy. Do not look at +him; there is nothing to be done.... + +ALLADINE. + +You are going to save him? + +PALOMIDES. + +Save him? But look! he is already in the tunnel. One moment more, +and he will be under the vaults; and God himself will never see him +more.... + +ALLADINE. + +Go away! Go away! + +PALOMIDES. + +What is the matter? + +ALLADINE. + +Go away!--I do not want to see you any more!... + + [Ablamore enters precipitately, seizes Alladine, and draws her + away brusquely without speaking.] + + + + +SCENE III.--_A room in the palace_. ABLAMORE _and_ ALLADINE +_discovered_. + + +ABLAMORE. + +You see, Alladine, my hands do not tremble, my heart beats like a +sleeping child's, and my voice has not once been stirred with wrath. +I bear no ill-will to Palomides, although what he has done might seem +unpardonable. And as for thee, who could bear thee ill-will? You obey +laws you do not know, and you could not act otherwise, I will not +speak to you of what took place the other day along the palace moats, +nor of all the unforeseen death of the lamb might have revealed to me, +had I believed in omens for an instant. But last night I surprised +the kiss you gave each other under the windows of Astolaine. At that +moment I was with her in her room. She has a soul that fears so much +to trouble, with a tear or with a simple movement of her eyelids, the +happiness of those about her, that I shall never know if she, as I, +surprised that wretched kiss. But I know what she has the power to +suffer. I shall not ask you anything you cannot avow to me, but I +would know if you had any secret design in following Palomides under +the window where you must have seen us. Answer me without fear; you +know beforehand I will pardon everything. + +ALLADINE. + +I did not kiss him. + +ABLAMORE. + +What? You did not kiss Palomides, and Palomides did not kiss you? + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +Ah!... Listen: I came here to forgive you everything.... I thought +you had acted as we almost all act, without aught of our soul +intervening.... But now I will know all that passed.... You love +Palomides, and you have kissed him under my eyes.... + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +Don't go away. I am only an old man. Do not flee.... + +ALLADINE. + +I am not fleeing. + +ABLAMORE. + +Ah! ah! You do not flee, because you think my old hands harmless! They +have yet the strength to tear a secret out in spite of all [_He seizes +her arms_.] And they could wrestle with all those you prefer.... [_He +twists her arms behind her head_.] Ah! you will not speak!... There +will yet come a time when all your soul shall spirt out like a clear +spring, for woe.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no! + +ABLAMORE. + +Again,... we are not at the end, the journey is very long--and naked +truth is hid among the rocks.... Will she come forth?... I see her +gestures in your eyes already, and her cool breath will lave my visage +soon.... Ah!... Alladine! Alladine!...[_He releases her suddenly_.] +I heard your bones cry out like little children.... I have not hurt +you?... Do not stay thus, upon your knees before me,... It is I who +go down on my knees. [_He does as he says_] I am a wretch.... You must +have pity.... It is not for myself alone I pray.... I have only one +poor daughter.... All the rest are dead.... I had seven of them +about me.... They were fair and full of happiness; and I saw them no +more.... The only one left to me is going to die, too.... She did +not love life.... But one day she encountered something she no longer +looked for, and I saw she had lost the desire to die.... I do not ask +a thing impossible.... [ALLADINE _weeps and makes no answer_.] + + + + +SCENE IV.--_The apartment of_ ASTOLAINE. ASTOLAINE _and_ PALOMIDES +_discovered_. + + +PALOMIDES. + +Astolaine, when I met you several months ago by chance, it seemed +to me that I had found at last what I had sought for during many +years.... Till you, I did not know all that the ever tenderer goodness +and complete simplicity of a high soul might be. I was so deeply +stirred by it that it seemed to me the first time I had met a human +being. You would have said that I had lived till then in a closed +chamber which you opened for me; and all at once I knew what must be +the soul of other men and what mine might become.... Since then, +I have known you further. I have seen you act, and others too have +taught me all that you have been. + +There have been evenings when I quitted you without a word, and went +to weep for wonder in a corner of the palace, because you had simply +raised your eyes, made a little unconscious gesture, or smiled for no +apparent cause, yet at the moment when all the souls about you asked +it and would be satisfied. There is but you who know these moments, +because you are, it seems, the soul of all, and I do not believe those +who have not drawn near you can know what true life is. To-day I come +to say all this to you, because I feel that I shall never be he whom +I hoped once to become.... A chance has come--or haply I myself have +come; for you can never tell if you have made a movement of yourself, +or if it be chance that has met with you--a chance has come, which has +opened my eyes, just as we were about to make each other unhappy; and +I have recognized there must be something more incomprehensible than +the beauty of the most beautiful soul or the most beautiful face; and +mightier, too, since I must needs obey it.... I do not know if you +have understood me. If you understand, have pity on me.... I have said +to myself all that could be said.... I know what I shall lose, for I +know her soul is a child's soul, a poor strengthless child's, beside +yours, and yet I cannot resist it.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not weep.... I know too that one does not do what one would do ... +nor was I ignorant that you would come.... There must indeed be +laws mightier than those of our souls, of which we always speak.... +[_Kissing him abruptly_].--But I love thee the more, my poor +Palomides. + +PALOMIDES. + +I love thee, too ... more than her I love.... Thou weepest, as I do? + +ASTOLAINE. + +They are little tears.... Do not be sad for them.... I weep so, +because I am woman, but they say our tears are not painful.... You see +I can dry them already.... I knew well what it was.... I waited for +the wakening.... It has come, and I can breathe with less disquietude, +being no longer happy.... There!... We must see clearly now for you +and her. For I believe my father already has suspicions. [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT THIRD. + + +SCENE I.--_A room in the palace_. ABLAMORE _discovered_. ASTOLAINE +_stands on the step of a half-open door at the back of the hall_. + +ASTOLAINE. + +Father, I have come because a voice that I no longer can resist, +commands me to. I told you all that happened in my soul when I met +Palomides. He was not like other men.... To-day I come to ask your +help ... for I do not know what should be said to him.... I have +become aware I cannot love him.... He has remained the same, and +I alone have changed, or have not understood.... And since it is +impossible for me to love, as I have dreamed of love, him I had chosen +among all, it must be that my heart is shut to these things.... I know +it to-day.... I shall look no more toward love; and you will see me +living on about you without sadness and without unrest.... I feel that +I am going to be happy.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Come hither, Astolaine. It is not so that you were wont to speak in +the old days to your father. You wait there, on the threshold of a +door hardly ajar, as if you were ready to flee; and with your hand +upon the key, as if you would close from me forever the secret of your +heart. You know quite well I have not understood what you have just +said, and that words have no sense when souls are not within reach +of each other. Draw nearer still, and speak no more to me, [ASTOLAINE +_approaches slowly_.] There is a moment when souls touch each +other, and know all without need that one should move the lips. Draw +nearer.... They do not reach each other yet, and their radiance is +so slight about us!... [ASTOLAINE _stops_.] Thou darest not?--Thou +knowest too how far one can go?--It is I who must.... [_He approaches +Astolaine with slow step, then stops and looks long at her_.] I see +thee, Astolaine.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Father!... [_She sobs as she kisses the old man_.] + +ABLAMORE. + +You see well it was useless.... + + + + +SCENE II.--_A chamber in the palace_. + + +_Enter_ ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +All will be ready to-morrow. We cannot wait longer. He prowls like +a madman through the corridors of the palace; I met him even now. +He looked at me without a word. I passed; and as I turned, I saw him +slyly laugh, shaking his keys. When he perceived that I was looking +at him, he smiled at me, making signs of friendship. He must have +some secret project, and we are in the hands of a master whose reason +begins to totter.... To-morrow we shall be far away.... Yonder there +are wonderful countries that resemble thine.... Astolaine has already +provided for our flight and for my sisters'.... + +ALLADINE. + +What has she said? + +PALOMIDES. + +Nothing, nothing.... You will see everything about my father's +castle,--after days of sea and days of forests--you will see lakes and +mountains ... not like these, under a sky that looks like the vault of +a cave, with black trees that the storms destroy ... but a sky beneath +which there is nothing more to fear,--forests that are always awake, +flowers that do not close.... + +ALLADINE. + +She wept? + +PALOMIDES. + +What are you asking?... There is something there of which we have no +right to speak, do you understand?... There is a life there that does +not belong to our poor life, and which love has no right to approach +except in silence.... We are here, like two beggars in rags, when I +think of it.... Go! go!... I could tell you things.... + +ALLADINE. + +Palomides!... What is the matter? + +PALOMIDES. + +Go! go!... I have seen tears that came from further than the eyes.... +There is something else.... It may be, nevertheless, that we are right +... but how I regret being right so, my God!... Go!... I will tell you +to-morrow ... to-morrow ... to-morrow.... + [_Exeunt severally_. + + + + +SCENE III.--_A corridor before the apartment of_ ALLADINE. _Enter_ +ASTOLAINE _and the_ SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + + +ASTOLAINE. + +The horses wait in the forest, but Palomides will not flee; and yet +your lives and his are in danger. I do not know my poor father any +longer. He has a fixed idea that troubles his reason. This is the +third day I have followed him step by step, hiding myself behind the +pillars and the walls, for he suffers no one to companion him. To-day, +as the other days, and from the first gleams of the morning he has +gone wandering through the corridors and halls of the palace, and +along the moats and ramparts, shaking the great golden keys he has +had made and singing at the top of his voice the strange song whose +refrain, _Go follow what your eyes have seen_, has perhaps pierced +even to the depths of your chambers. I have concealed from you till +now all that has come to pass, because such things must not be spoken +of without reason. He must have shut up Alladine in this apartment, +but no one knows what he has done with her. I have listened at the +doors every night and whenever he has been away a moment, but I have +never heard any noise in the room.... Do you hear anything? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +No; I hear only the murmur of the air passing through the little +chinks of the wood.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +It seems to me, when I listen hard, that I hear the great pendulum of +the clock. + +A THIRD SISTER. + +But what is this little Alladine, then, and why does he bear such +ill-will to her? + +ASTOLAINE. + +It is a little Greek slave that came from the heart of Arcady.... +He bears her no ill-will, but ... Do you hear?--It is my father.... +[_Singing heard in the distance._] Hide yourselves behind the pillars +... He will have no one pass by this corridor.--[_They hide._] + +_Enter_ ABLAMORE, _singing and shaking a bunch of great keys_. + +ABLAMORE (_sings_). + + Misfortune had three golden keys. + --He has no rescue for the Queen!-- + Misfortune had three golden keys. + Go follow what your eyes have seen. + + [Sits dejected on a bench, beside the door of Alladine's + apartment, hums a little while longer, and soon goes to sleep, his + arms hanging down and his head fallen.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Come, come! make no noise. He has fallen asleep on the bench.--Oh, my +poor old father! How white his hair has grown during these days! He +is so weak, he is so unhappy, that sleep itself no longer brings him +peace. It is three whole days now since I have dared to look upon his +face.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +He sleeps profoundly.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +He sleeps profoundly, but you can see his soul has no rest.... The +sunlight here will vex his eyelids.... I am going to draw his cloak +over his face.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +No, no; do not touch it.... He might wake with a start.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Some one is coming in the corridor. Come, come! put yourselves before +him.... Hide him.... A stranger must not see him in this state.... + +A SISTER OF PALOMIDES. + +It is Palomides.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +I am going to cover his poor eyes.... [_She covers_ ABLAMORE'S +_face_.]--I would not have Palomides see him thus.... He is too +miserable. + +_Enter_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +What is the matter? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +He has fallen asleep on the bench. + +PALOMIDES. + +I have followed him without his seeing me.... He said nothing?... + +ASTOLAINE. + +No; but see all he has suffered.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Has he the keys? + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +He holds them in his hand.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I am going to take them. + +ASTOLAINE. + +What are you going to do? Oh, do not wake him!... For three nights now +he has wandered through the palace.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I will open his hand a little without his noticing it.... We have no +right to wait any longer.... God knows what he has done.... He will +forgive us when he has his reason back.... Oh! oh! his hand has no +strength any more... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Take care! Take care! + +PALOMIDES. + +I have the keys.--Which is it? I am going to open the room. + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +Oh, I am afraid!... Do not open it at once.... Palomides!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Stay here.... I do not know what I shall find.... + +[_He goes to the door, opens it, and enters the apartment_.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Is she there? + +PALOMIDES (_in the apartment_). + +I cannot see.... The shutters are closed.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Have a care, Palomides.... Wilt thou that I go first?... Thy voice is +trembling.... + +PALOMIDES (_in the apartment_). + +No, no.... I see a ray of sunlight falling through the chinks of the +shutters. + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +Yes; it is broad day out of doors. + +PALOMIDES. + +[_Rushing headlong from the room_.] Come! Come!... I think she ... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Thou hast seen her?... + +PALOMIDES. + +She is stretched out on the bed!... She does not stir!... I do not +think she ... Come! Come! [_They all go into the room._ + +ASTOLAINE AND THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +[_In the room_.] She is here.... No, no, she is not dead.... Alladine! +Alladine!... Oh! oh! The poor child!... Do not cry out so.... She has +fainted.... Her hair is tied across her mouth.... And her hands are +bound behind her back.... They are bound with the help of her hair.... +Alladine! Alladine!... Fetch some water.... + +[ABLAMORE, _who has waked, appears on the step of the door_.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +There is my father!... + +ABLAMORE (_going to_ PALOMIDES). + +Was it you who opened the door of the room? + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes, it was I.... I did it--well, then?--well, then?... I could not +let her die under my eyes.... See what you have done. Alladine!... +Fear nothing.... She opens her eyes a little.... I will not ... + +ABLAMORE. + +Do not cry out.... Do not cry out so.... Come, we will open the +shutters.... You cannot see here. Alladine!... She is already sitting +up. Alladine, come too.... Do you see, my children, it is dark in +the room. It is as dark here as if we were a thousand feet under the +ground. But I open one of the shutters, and behold! All the light of +the sky and the sun!... It does not need much effort; the light +is full of good-will.... It suffices that one call it; it always +obeys.... Have you seen the river with its little islands between the +meadows in flower?... The sky is a crystal ring to-day.... Alladine! +Palomides, come see.... Draw both of you near Paradise.... You must +kiss each other in the new light.... I bear you no ill-will. You did +what was ordained; and so did I.... Lean out a moment from the open +window, and look once more at the sweet green things.... + [_A silence. He closes the shutter without a word_.] + + + + +ACT FOURTH. + +_Vast subterranean crypts_. ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES. + + +PALOMIDES. + +They have bound my eyes with bands; they have tied my hands with +cords. + +ALLADINE. + +They have tied my hands with cords; they have bound my eyes with +bands.... I think my hands are bleeding.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Wait. To-day I bless my strength.... I feel the knots beginning to +give way.... One struggle more, and let my fists burst! One struggle +more! I have my hands! [_Tearing away the bandage_.] And my eyes!... + +ALLADINE. + +You see now? + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes. + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Where are you? + +ALLADINE. + +Here; can you not see me? + +PALOMIDES. + +My eyes weep still where the band has left its trace.... We are not in +darkness.... Is it you I hear toward where I can just see? + +ALLADINE. + +I am here; come. + +PALOMIDES. + +You are at the edge of that which gives us light. Do not stir; I +cannot see all that there is about you. My eyes have not forgot the +bandage yet. They bound it tight enough to burst my eyelids. + +ALLADINE. + +Come; the knots stifle me. I can wait no longer.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I hear only a voice coming out of the light.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are you? + +PALOMIDES. + +I have no idea myself. I walk still in darkness.... Speak again, that +I may find you. You seem to be on the edge of an unbounded light.... + +ALLADINE. + +Come! come! I have borne without a word, but I can bear no more.... + +PALOMIDES (_groping forward_). + +You are there? I thought you so far away!... My tears deceived me. +I am here, and I see you. Oh, your hands are wounded! They have bled +upon your gown, and the knots have entered into the flesh. I have no +longer any weapons. They have taken away my poniard. I will tear them +off. Wait! wait! I have the knots. + +ALLADINE. + +Take off the bandage first that makes me blind.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I cannot.... I do not see.... It seems to be surrounded by a net of +golden threads.... + +ALLADINE. + +My hands, then, my hands! + +PALOMIDES. + +They have taken silken cords.... Wait, the knots come undone. The cord +has thirty turns.... There, there!--Oh, your hands are all blood!... +You would say they were dead.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no!... They are alive! they are alive! See!... + + [With her hands hardly yet unbound, she clasps Palomides about the + neck and kisses him passionately.] + +PALOMIDES. + +Alladine! + +ALLADINE. + +Palomides! + +PALOMIDES. + +Alladine, Alladine!... + +ALLADINE. + +I am happy!... I have waited a long while!... + +PALOMIDES. + +I was afraid to come.... + +ALLADINE. + +I am happy ... and I would that I could see thee.... + +PALOMIDES. + +They have tied down the bandage like a casque....--Do not turn round; +I have found the golden threads.... + +ALLADINE. + +Yes, yes, I will turn round.... + [_She turns about, to kiss him again._ + +PALOMIDES. + +Have a care. Do not stir. I am afraid of wounding thee.... + +ALLADINE. + +Tear it away! Fear nothing. I can bear no more!... + +PALOMIDES. + +I would see thee too.... + +ALLADINE. + +Tear it away! Tear it away! I am no longer within reach of woe!... +Tear it away!... Thou dost not know that one could wish to die.... +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Thou'lt see, thou'lt see.... It is innumerable crypts ... great blue +halls, gleaming pillars, and deep vaults.... + +ALLADINE. + +Why dost thou answer when I question thee? + +PALOMIDES. + +What matter where we be, if we be but together?... + +ALLADINE. + +Thou lovest me less already? + +PALOMIDES. + +Why, what ails thee? + +ALLADINE. + +I know well where I am when I am on thy heart.... Oh, tear the bandage +off!... I would not enter blind into thy soul.... What doest thou, +Palomides? Thou dost not laugh when I laugh. Thou dost not weep when +I weep. Thou dost not clap thy hands when I clap mine; and thou +tremblest not when I speak trembling to the bottom of my soul.... +The band! The band!... I will see!... There, there, above my hair!... +[_She tears away the bandage_.] Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Seest thou? + +ALLADINE. + +Yes.... I see thee only.... + +PALOMIDES. + +What is it, Alladine? Thou kissest me as if thou wert already sad.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Why dost thou ask so sadly? + +ALLADINE. + +No, I am not sad; but my eyes will hardly open.... + +PALOMIDES. + +One would say your joy had fallen on my lips like a child at the +threshold of the house.... Do not turn away.... I fear lest you should +flee, and I fear lest I dream.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +We are in crypts that I have never seen.... Doth it not seem to thee +the light increases? When I unclosed my eyes, I could distinguish +nothing; now little by little it is all revealed. I have been often +told of wondrous caverns whereon the halls of Ablamore were built. It +must be these. No one descends here ever; and the king only has the +keys. I knew the sea flooded the lowest vaults; and it is probably the +reflex of the sea which thus illumines us.... They thought to bury us +in night. They came down here with torches and flambeaus and saw the +darkness only, while the light came out to meet us, seeing we had +none.... It brightens without ceasing.... I am sure the dawn pierces +the ocean and sends down to us through all its greening waves the +purest of its child-soul.... + +ALLADINE. + +How long have we been here? + +PALOMIDES. + +I have no idea.... I made no effort till I heard thee speak.... + +ALLADINE. + +I do not know how this took place. I was asleep in the room where thou +didst find me; and when I waked, my eyes were bound across, and both +my hands were pinioned in my girdle.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I too was sleeping. I heard nothing, and I had a band across my eyes +ere I could open them. I struggled in the darkness; but they were +stronger than I.... I must have passed under deep vaults, for I felt +the cold fall on my shoulders; and I went down so far I could not +count the steps.... Did no one speak to thee? + +ALLADINE. + +No; no one spoke. I heard some one weeping as he walked; and then I +fainted.... + +PALOMIDES (_kissing her_). + +Alladine! + +ALLADINE. + +How gravely thou dost kiss me!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Close not thine eyes when I do kiss thee so.... I would see the kisses +trembling in thy heart, and all the dew that rises in thy soul.... We +shall not find such kisses any more.... + +ALLADINE. + +Always, always! + +PALOMIDES. + +No, no; there is no kissing twice upon the heart of death.... How fair +thou art so!... It is the first time I have seen thee near.... It is +strange, we think that we have seen each other because we have gone by +two steps apart; but everything changes the moment the lips touch.... +There, thou must be let to have thy will.... I stretch my arms wide +to admire thee, as if thou wert no longer mine; and then I draw them +nearer till I touch thy kisses and perceive only eternal bliss.... +There needed us this supernatural light!... [_He kisses her again_.] +Ah! What hast thou done? Take care! we are upon a crest of rock that +overhangs the water that gives us light. Do not step back. It was +time.... Do not turn too abruptly. I was dazzled.... + +ALLADINE. + +[_Turning and looking at the blue water that illuminates them_.] +Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is as if the sky had flowed hither.... + +ALLADINE. + +It is full of moveless flowers.... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is full of moveless flowers and strange.... Hast thou seen the +largest there that blooms beneath the others? It seems to live a +cadenced life.... And the water ... Is it water?... It seems more +beautiful, more pure, more blue than all the water in the world.... + +ALLADINE. + +I dare not look upon it longer.... + +PALOMIDES. + +See how about us all is luminous.... The light dares hesitate no +longer, and we kiss each other in the vestibules of heaven.... Seest +thou the precious stones that gem the vaults, drunken with life, that +seem to smile on us; and the thousands and thousands of glowing blue +roses that climb along the pillars?... + +ALLADINE. + +Oh!... I heard!... + +PALOMIDES. + +What? + +ALLADINE. + +Some one striking the rocks.... + +PALOMIDES. + +No, no; it is the golden gates of a new Paradise, that open in our +souls and sing upon their hinges!... + +ALLADINE. + +Listen.... again, again!... + +PALOMIDES (_with voice suddenly changed_). + +Yes; it is there.... It is at the bottom of the bluest vaults.... + +ALLADINE. + +They are coming to.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I hear the sound of iron on the rock.... They have walled up the door +or cannot open it.... It is the picks grating against the stone.... +His soul has told him we were happy.... + + [A silence; then a stone is detached at the very end of the vault, + and a ray of daylight breaks into the cavern.] + +ALLADINE. + +Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is another light.... + + [Motionless and anxious, they watch other stones detach themselves + slowly in an insufferable light, and fall one by one; while the + light, entering in more and more resistless floods, reveals to + them little by little the gloom of the cavern they had thought + marvellous. The miraculous lake becomes wan and sinister; the + precious stones about them are extinguished, and the glowing roses + appear as the stains and rotten rubbish that they are. At last, + the whole side of rock falls abruptly into the crypt. The sunlight + enters, dazzling. Calls and songs are heard without. Alladine and + Palomides recoil.] + +PALOMIDES. + +Where are we? + +ALLADINE (_embracing him_). + +I love thee still, Palomides.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I love thee too, my Alladine.... + +ALLADINE. + +They come.... + +PALOMIDES. + +[_Looking behind him as they still recoil_.] Have a care.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no; have no more care.... + +PALOMIDES (_looking at her_). + +Alladine? + +ALLADINE. + +Yes ... + + [They still recoil before the invasion of light or peril, until + they lose their footing; and they fall and disappear behind the + rock that overhangs the underground and now gloomy water.--A + silence. Astolaine and the sisters of Palomides enter the crypt.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Where are they? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +Palomides!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Alladine! Alladine!... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +Palomides!... It is we!... + +THIRD SISTER. + +Fear nothing; we are alone!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Come! come! we have come to rescue you!... + +FOURTH SISTER. + +Ablamore has fled.... + +FIFTH SISTER. + +He is no longer in the palace.... + +SIXTH SISTER. + +They do not answer.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +I heard the water stirred!... This way, this way! + +[_They run to the rock that overlooks the underground_.] + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +They are there!... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +Yes, yes; at the very bottom of the black water.... They embrace. + +THIRD SISTER. + +They are dead. + +FOURTH SISTER. + +No, no; they are alive! they are alive!... See.... + +THE OTHER SISTERS. + +Help! help!... Call!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +They make no effort to save themselves!... + + + + +ACT FIFTH. + + [A corridor, so long that its furthest arches seem to lose + themselves in a kind of indoor horizon. The sisters of Palomides + wait before one of the innumerable closed doors that open into + this corridor. They seem to be guarding it. A little further down, + on the opposite side, Astolaine and the Physician converse before + another door, also closed.] + + +ASTOLAINE. + +[_To the Physician._] Nothing has ever happened until now in this +palace, where all things have seemed to be asleep since my sisters +died; and my poor old father, pursued by a strange restlessness, has +fretted without reason at this calm, which seems, for all that, +the least dangerous form of happiness. Some time ago,--his reason +beginning to totter even then,--he went up to the top of a high tower; +and as he stretched his arms out timidly toward the forests and toward +the sea, he said to me--smiling a little fearfully at his words, as if +to disarm my incredulous smile--that he called about us events which +had long been hidden beneath the horizon. They have come, alas! sooner +and more in number than he expected, and a few days have sufficed for +them to reign in his stead. He has been their first victim. He fled +to the meadows, singing, all in tears, the evening when he had little +Alladine and luckless Palomides taken down into the crypts. He has +not since been seen. I have had search made everywhere throughout the +country and even on the sea. He has not been found. At least, I had +hoped to save those he made suffer unwittingly, for he has always been +the tenderest of men and the best of fathers; but there, too, I think +I came too late. I do not know what happened. They have not spoken +yet. They doubtless must have thought, hearing the sound of the iron +and seeing all at once the light again, that my father had regretted +the kind of surcease he had granted them, and that some one came to +bring them death. Or else they slipped as they drew back, upon +the rock that overhangs the lake; and so must have fallen through +heedlessness. But the water is not deep in that spot, and we succeeded +in saving them without difficulty. To-day it is you alone who can do +the rest. + [THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES _have drawn nearer._ + + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +They are both ailing with the same disease, and it is a disease I do +not know.--But I have little hope left. They were seized perhaps +with the cold of the underground waters; or else those waters may be +poisonous. The decomposed body of Alladine's lamb was found there.--I +will come back to-night.--Meanwhile they must have silence.... The +level of life is very low in their hearts.... Do not go into their +rooms and do not speak to them, for the least word, in the state they +are in, might cause their death.... They must succeed in forgetting +one another. [_Exit._ + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +I see that he will die. + +ASTOLAINE. + +No, no.... Do not weep;... one does not die so, at his age.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +But why is your father angry without reason at my poor brother? + +THIRD SISTER. + +I think your father loved Alladine. + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not speak so of it.... He thought I suffered. He thought to have +done good, and he did evil unwittingly.... That often happens to +us.... It is my fault, perhaps.... I recall it to-day.... One night I +was asleep. I was weeping in a dream.... We have little courage when +we dream. I waked.... He was beside my bed, looking at me.... Perhaps +he was deceived.... + +FOURTH SISTER (_running_). + +Alladine has stirred a little in her room.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Go to the door ... listen.... Perhaps it was the nurse rising.... + +FIFTH SISTER (_listening at the door_). + +No, no; I hear the nurse walking.... There is another noise. + +SIXTH SISTER (_also running_). + +I think Palomides has moved too; I hear the murmur of a voice +seeking.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +[_Very feebly, within the room._] Palomides!... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +She is calling him!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Let us be careful!... Go, go in front of the door, that Palomides may +not hear.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides! + +ASTOLAINE. + +My God! My God! Silence that voice!... Palomides will die of it if he +hear it!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +[_Very feebly, within the other room_.] Alladine!... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +He answers!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Three among you remain here,... and we will go to the other door. Come, +come quickly. We will surround them. We will try to defend them.... +Lie back against the doors.... Perhaps they will hear no longer.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +I shall go into Alladine's room.... + +SECOND SISTER. + +Yes, yes; prevent her from crying out again. + +THIRD SISTER. + +She is already cause of all this evil.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not go in, or I go in to Palomides.... She also had a right to +life; and she has done nought but to live.... But that we cannot +stifle in their passage their deadly words!... We are without help, my +poor sisters, my poor sisters, and hands cannot stop souls!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides, is it thou? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Where art thou, Alladine? + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Is it thou whom I hear far from me making moan? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Is it thou whom I hear calling, and see thee not? + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +One would believe thy voice had lost the last of hope.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +One would believe that thine had crossed the winds of death.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +It goes hard with thy voice to pierce into my room.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +And I no longer hear thy voice as of old time. + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have been woe for thee!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +They have divided us, but I do love thee ever.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have been woe for thee.... Art then still suffering? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +No; I no longer suffer, but I =fain= would see thee.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +We shall not see each other more; the doors are shut.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Thy voice would make one say thou lovedst me no more.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Yes, yes; I love thee still, but it is mournful now.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Whither is thy face turned? I hardly understand thee.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +We seem to be an hundred leagues from one another.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +I try to rise in vain; my spirit is too heavy.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I too would come,--I too--but still my head falls back.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Thou seemest almost to speak in tears despite thyself.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +No; I wept long ago; it is no longer tears.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +There's something in thy thoughts thou dost not tell me of.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +They were not precious stones.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +And the flowers were not real.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +They rave.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +No, no; they know what they are saying.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +It was the light that had no pity on us.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Where goest thou, Alladine? Thou'rt being borne away.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have no more regret to lose the light o' the sun.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Yes, yes; we shall behold the sweet green things again!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have lost desire to live.... + +[_A silence; then more and more faintly:_] + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Alladine!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Alla ... dine!... + + [A silence.--Astolaine and the sisters of Palomides listen, in + anguish. Then the nurse opens, from the inside, the door of + Palomides' room, appears on the sill, makes a sign, and all enter + the room. The door doses behind them. A new silence. A little + afterwards, the door of Alladine's room opens in its turn; the + other nurse comes out in like manner, looks about in the corridor, + and, seeing no one, re-enters the room, leaving the door wide + open.] + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + +Home. + +_To Mademoiselle Sara de Swart._ + + + + +Persons. + +IN THE GARDEN. + +THE OLD MAN. +THE STRANGER. +MARTHA } _granddaughters of the old man._ +AND MARY, } +A PEASANT. +THE CROWD. + +IN THE HOUSE + +THE FATHER, } +THE MOTHER, } _Silent characters._ +THE TWO DAUGHTERS,} +THE CHILD, } + + + + +Home. + + * * * * * + + [An old garden, planted with willows. At the back, a house in + which three windows on the ground-floor are lighted. A family, + sitting up under the lamp, is seen rather distinctly. The + father is seated by the fireside. The mother, one elbow on the + table, is staring into space. Two young girls, clad in white, + embroider, dream, and smile in the quiet of the room. A + child lies asleep with his head under the mother's left arm. + Whenever one of them rises, walks, or makes a gesture, his + movements seem to be grave, slow, rare, and, as it were, + spiritualized by the distance, the light, and the vague veil + of the windows. The old man and the stranger enter the garden + cautiously.] + + +THE OLD MAN. + +We are in the part of the garden behind the house. They never come +here. The doors are on the other side.--They are closed, and the +shutters are up. But there are no shutters on this side, and I saw +a light.... Yes; they are sitting up still under the lamp. It is +fortunate they have not heard us; the mother or the young girls would +have come out, perhaps, and then what should we have done?... + +THE STRANGER. + +What are we going to do? + +THE OLD MAN. + +I should like to see, first, if they are all in the room. Yes, I see +the father sitting in the chimney-corner. He waits, with his hands on +his knees;... the mother is resting her elbow on the table. + +THE STRANGER. + +She is looking at us.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +No; she doesn't know where she is looking: her eyes do not wink. She +cannot see us; we are in the shade of great trees. But do not go any +nearer.... The two sisters of the dead girl are in the room too. They +are embroidering slowly; and the little child is asleep. It is nine +by the clock in the corner.... They suspect nothing, and they do not +speak. + +THE STRANGER. + +If one could draw the father's attention, and make him some sign? He +has turned his head this way. Would you like me to knock at one of the +windows? One of them ought to be told before the others.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +I don't know which one to choose.... We must take great +precautions.... The father is old and ailing.... So is the mother; and +the sisters are too young.... And they all loved her with such love as +will never be again.... I never saw a happier household.... No, no, do +not go near the window; that would be worse than anything else.... +It is better to announce it as simply as possible,--as if it were an +ordinary event,--and not to look too sad; for otherwise their grief +will wish to be greater than yours and will know of nothing more that +it can do.... Let us go on the other side of the garden. We will knock +at the door and go in as if nothing had happened. I will go in first: +they will not be surprised to see me; I come sometimes in the evening, +to bring them flowers or fruit, and pass a few hours with them. + +THE STRANGER. + +Why must I go with you? Go alone; I will wait till I am called.... +They have never seen me.... I am only a passer-by; I am a stranger.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is better not to be alone. A sorrow that one does not bring alone +is not so unmixed nor so heavy.... I was thinking of that as we were +coming here.... If I go in alone, I shall have to be speaking from the +first minute; in a few words they will know everything, and I shall +have nothing more to say; and I am afraid of the silence following the +last words that announce a woe.... It is then the heart is rent.... If +we go in together, I shall tell them, for example, after going a long +way about, "She was found so.... She was floating in the river, and +her hands were clasped."... + +THE STRANGER. + +Her hands were not clasped; her arms were hanging down along her body. + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see, one speaks in spite of oneself.... And the sorrow is lost in +the details;... but otherwise, if I go in alone, at the first words, +knowing them as I do, it would be dreadful, and God knows what might +happen.... But if we speak in turn, they will listen to us and not +think to look the ill news in the face.... Do not forget the mother +will be there, and that her life hangs by a thread.... It is good that +the first wave break on some unnecessary words.... There should be a +little talking around the unhappy, and they should have people about +them.... The most indifferent bear unwittingly a part of the grief.... +So, without noise or effort, it divides, like air or light.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Your clothes are wet through; they are dripping on the flagstones. + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is only the bottom of my cloak that dipped in the water.--You seem +to be cold. Your chest is covered with earth.... I did not notice it +on the road on account of the darkness.... + +THE STRANGER. + +I went into the water up to my waist. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Was it long after you found her when I came? + +THE STRANGER. + +A few minutes, barely. I was going toward the village; it was already +late, and the bank was getting dark. I was walking with my eyes +fixed on the river because it was lighter than the road, when I saw +something strange a step or two from a clump of reeds.... I drew near +and made out her hair, which had risen almost in a circle above her +head, and whirled round, so, in the current. + +[_In the room, the two young girls turn their heads toward the +window._] + +THE OLD MAN. + +Did you see the two sisters' hair quiver on their shoulders? + +THE STRANGER. + +They turned their heads this way.... They simply turned their heads. +Perhaps I spoke too loud. [_The two young girls resume their former +position._] But they are already looking no longer.... I went into the +water up to my waist and I was able to take her by the hand and +pull her without effort to the shore.... She was as beautiful as her +sisters are. + +THE OLD MAN. + +She was perhaps more beautiful.... I do not know why I have lost all +courage.... + +THE STRANGER. + +What courage are you talking of? We have done all man could do.... She +was dead more than an hour ago.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +She was alive this morning!... I met her coming out of church.... She +told me she was going away; she was going to see her grandmother on +the other side of the river where you found her.... She did not know +when I should see her again.... She must have been on the point of +asking me something; then she dared not and left me abruptly. But I +think of it now.... And I saw nothing!... She smiled as they smile who +choose to be silent, or who are afraid they will not be understood.... +She seemed hardly to hope.... Her eyes were not clear and hardly +looked at me.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Some peasants told me they had seen her wandering on the river-bank +until nightfall.... They thought she was looking for flowers.... It +may be that her death.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We cannot tell.... What is there we can tell?... She was perhaps of +those who do not wish to speak, and every one of us bears in himself +more than one reason for no longer living.... We cannot see in the +soul as we see in that room. They are all like that.... They only say +trite things; and no one suspects aught.... You live for months by +some one who is no longer of this world and whose soul can bend no +longer; you answer without thinking; and you see what happens.... They +look like motionless dolls, and, oh, the events that take place in +their souls!... They do not know themselves what they are.... She +would have lived as the rest live.... She would have said up to her +death: "Monsieur, Madame, we shall have rain this morning," or else, +"We are going to breakfast; we shall be thirteen at table," or else: +"The fruits are not yet ripe." They speak with a smile of the flowers +that have fallen, and weep in the dark.... An angel even would not see +what should be seen; and man only understands when it is too late.... +Yesterday evening she was there, under the lamp like her sisters, +and you would not see them as they should be seen, if this had not +occurred.... I seem to see her now for the first time.... Something +must be added to common life before we can understand it.... They are +beside you day and night, and you perceive them only at the moment +when they depart forever.... And yet the strange little soul she must +have had; the poor, naïve, exhaustless little soul she had, my son, +if she said what she must have said, if she did what she mast have +done!... + +THE STRANGER. + +Just now they are smiling in silence in the room.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are at peace.... They did not expect her to-night.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They smile without stirring;... and see, the father is putting his +finger on his lips.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +He is calling attention to the child asleep on its mother's heart.... + +THE STRANGER. + +She dares not raise her eyes lest she disturb its sleep.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are no longer working.... A great silence reigns.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They have let fell the skein of white silk.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are watching the child.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They do not know that others are watching them.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We are watched too.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They have lifted their eyes.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +And yet they can see nothing.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They seem happy; and yet nobody knows what may be--.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They think themselves in safety.... They have shut the doors; and +the windows have iron bars.... They have mended the walls of the old +house; they have put bolts upon the oaken doors.... They have foreseen +all that could be foreseen.... + +THE STRANGER. + +We must end by telling them.... Some one might come and let them know +abruptly.... There was a crowd of peasants in the meadow where the +dead girl was found.... If one of them knocked at the door... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha and Mary are beside the poor dead child. The peasants were to +make a litter of leaves; and I told the elder to come warn us in all +haste, the moment they began their march. Let us wait till she comes; +she will go in with me.... We should not have looked on them so.... I +thought it would be only to knock upon the door; to go in simply, find +a phrase or two, and tell.... But I have seen them live too long under +their lamp.... + +_Enter_ MARY. + +MARY. + +They are coming, grandfather. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Is It you?--Where are they? + +MARY. + +They are at the foot of the last hills. + +THE OLD MAN. + +They will come in silence? + +MARY. + +I told them to pray in a low voice. Martha is with them.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Are they many? + +MARY. + +The whole village is about the bearers. They had brought lights. I +told them to put them out.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Which way are they coming? + +MARY. + +They are coming by the footpaths. They are walking slowly.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is time.... + +MARY. + +You have told them, grandfather? + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see plainly we have told them nothing.... They are waiting still +under the lamp.... Look, my child, look! You will see something of +life.... + +MARY. + +Oh, how at peace they seem!... You would say I saw them in a dream.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Take care, I saw both sisters give a start.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are getting up.... + +THE STRANGER. + +I think they are coming to the windows.... + + [At this moment, one of the two sisters of whom they speak draws + near the first window, the other near the third, and, pressing + their hands at the same time against the panes, look a long while + into the darkness.] + +THE OLD MAN. + +No one comes to the window in the middle.... + +MARY. + +They are looking.... They are listening.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +The elder smiles at what she does not see. + +THE STRANGER. + +And the other has eyes full of fearfulness.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Take care; we do not know how far the soul extends about men.... + +[_A long silence_, MARY _cowers against the old man's breast and +kisses him._] + +MARY. + +Grandfather!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Do not weep, my child.... We shall have our turn.... + [_A silence._ + +THE STRANGER. + +They are looking a long while.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They might look a hundred thousand years and not perceive anything, +the poor little sisters.... The night is too dark.... They are looking +this way; and it is from that way the misfortune is coming.... + +THE STRANGER. + +It is fortunate they look this way.... I do not know what that is +coming toward us, over by the meadows. + +MARY. + +I think it is the crowd.... They are so far away you can hardly make +them out.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They follow the undulations of the path.... Now they appear again on a +hillside in the moonlight.... + +MARY. + +Oh, how many they seem!... They had already run up from the suburbs of +the city when I came.... They are going a long way around.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They will come in spite of all; I see them too.... They are on the +march across the meadow lands.... They seem so small you hardly make +them out among the grasses.... They look like children playing in +the moonlight; and if the girls should see them, they would not +understand.... In vain they turn their backs; those yonder draw near +with every step they take, and the sorrow has been growing these two +hours already. They cannot hinder it from growing; and they that bear +it there no longer can arrest it.... It is their master too, and they +must serve it.... It has its end and follows its own road.... It +is unwearying and has but one idea.... Needs must they lend their +strength. They are sad, but they come.... They have pity, but they +must go forward.... + +MARY. + +The elder smiles no longer, grandfather.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They leave the windows.... + +MARY. + +They kiss their mother.... + +THE STRANGER. + +The elder has caressed the curls of the child without waking him.... + +MARY. + +Oh! the father wants to be kissed too.... + +THE STRANGER. + +And now silence.... + +MARY. + +They come back beside the mother.... + +THE STRANGER. + +And the father follows the great pendulum of the clock with his +eyes.... + +MARY. + +You would say they were praying without knowing what they did.... + +THE STRANGER. + +You would say that they were listening to their souls.... + [_A silence._ + +MARY. + +Grandfather, don't tell them to-night!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see, you too lose courage.... I knew well that we must not look. I +am nearly eighty-three years old, and this is the first time the sight +of life has struck me. I do not know why everything they do seems so +strange and grave to me.... They wait for night quite simply, under +their lamp, as we might have been waiting under ours; and yet I seem +to see them from the height of another world, because I know a little +truth which they do not know yet.... Is it that, my children? Tell me, +then, why you are pale, too? Is there something else, perhaps, +that cannot be told and causes us to weep? I did not know there was +anything so sad in life, nor that it frightened those who looked upon +it.... And nothing can have occurred that I should be afraid to see +them so at peace.... They have too much confidence in this world.... +There they are, separated from the enemy by a poor window.... They +think nothing will happen because they have shut the door, and do not +know that something is always happening in our souls, and that the +world does not end at the doors of our houses.... They are so sure of +their little life and do not suspect how many others know more of +it than they; and that I, poor old man,--I hold here, two steps from +their door, all their little happiness, like a sick bird, in my old +hands I do not dare to open.... + +MARY. + +Have pity, grandfather.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We have pity on them, my child, but no one has pity on us.... + +MARY. + +Tell them to-morrow, grandfather; tell them when it is light.... They +will not be so sorrowful.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Perhaps you are right, my child.... It would be better to leave all +this in the night. And the light is sweet to sorrow.... But what would +they say to us to-morrow? Misfortune renders jealous; they whom it +strikes, wish to be told before strangers; they do not like to have it +left in the hands of those they do not know.... We should look as if +we had stolen something.... + +THE STRANGER. + +There is no more time, besides; I hear the murmur of prayers +already.... + +MARY. + +There they are.... They are passing behind the hedges.... + +_Enter_ MARTHA. + +MARTHA. + +Here I am. I have brought them this far. I have told them to wait on +the road. [_Cries of children heard._] Ah! the children are crying +again.... I forbade their coming.... But they wanted to see too, and +the mothers would not obey.... I will go tell them.... No; they are +silent.--Is everything ready?--I have brought the little ring that was +found on her.... I have some fruit, too, for the child.... I laid her +out myself on the litter. She looks as if she were asleep.... I had +a good deal of trouble; her hair would not obey.... I had some +marguerites plucked.... It is sad, there were no other flowers.... +What are you doing here? Why are you not by them?... [_She looks at +the windows._] They do not weep?... They ... you have not told them? + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha, Martha, there is too much life in your soul; you cannot +understand.... + +MARTHA. + +Why should I not understand?... [_After a silence and in a tone of +very grave reproach._] You cannot have done that, grandfather.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha, you do not know.... + +MARTHA. + +_I_ will tell them. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Stay here, my child, and look at them a moment. + +MARTHA. + +Oh, how unhappy they are!... They can wait no longer. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Why? + +MARTHA. + +I do not know;... it is no longer possible!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Come here, my child.... + +MARTHA. + +How patient they are! + +THE OLD MAN. + +Come here, my child.... + +MARTHA. + +[_Turning._] Where are you, grandfather? I am so unhappy I cannot see +you any more.... I do not know what to do myself any more.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Do not look at them any more; till they know all.... + +MARTHA. + +I will go in with you.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +No, Martha, stay here.... Sit beside your sister, on this old stone +bench, against the wall of the house, and do not look.... You are too +young; you never could forget.... You cannot know what a face is like +at the moment when death passes before its eyes.... There will +be cries, perhaps.... Do not turn round.... Perhaps there will be +nothing.... Above all, do not turn if you hear nothing.... One does +not know the course of grief beforehand.... A few little deep-rooted +sobs, and that is all, usually.... I do not know myself what I may +do when I shall hear them.... That belongs no longer to this life.... +Kiss me, my child, before I go away.... + + [The murmur of prayers has gradually drawn nearer. Part of the + crowd invades the garden. Dull steps heard, running, and low + voices speaking.] + +THE STRANGER (_to the crowd_). + +Stay here;... do not go near the windows.... Where is she?... + +A PEASANT. + +Who? + +THE STRANGER. + +The rest ... the bearers?... + +THE PEASANT. + +They are coming by the walk that leads to the door. + + [The old man goes away. Martha and Mary are seated on the bench, + with their backs turned to the windows. Murmurs in the crowd.] + +THE STRANGER. + +S--t!... Do not speak. + +[_The elder of the two sisters rises and goes to bolt the door...._] + +MARTHA. + +She opens it? + +THE STRANGER. + +On the contrary, she is shutting it. + [_A silence._ + +MARTHA. + +Grandfather has not entered? + +THE STRANGER. + +No.... She returns and sits down by her mother.... The others do not +stir, and the child sleeps all the time.... + [_A silence._ + +MARTHA. + +Sister, give me your hands.... + +MARY. + +Martha!... + [_They embrace and give each other a kiss._ + +THE STRANGER. + +He must have knocked.... They have all raised their heads at the same +time;... they look at each other.... + +MARTHA. + +Oh! oh! my poor little sister!... I shall cry too!... + [_She stifles her sobs on her sister's shoulder._ + +THE STRANGER. + +He must be knocking again.... The father looks at the clock. He rises. + +MARTHA. + +Sister, sister, I want to go in too.... They cannot be alone any +longer.... + +MARY. + +Martha! Martha!... + [_She holds her back._ + +THE STRANGER. + +The father is at the door.... He draws the bolts.... He opens the door +prudently.... + +MARTHA. + +Oh!... you do not see the... + +THE STRANGER. + +What? + +MARTHA. + +Those who bear.... + +THE STRANGER. + +He hardly opens it.... I can only see a corner of the lawn; and the +fountain.... He does not let go the door;... he steps back.... He +looks as if he were saying: "Ah, it's you!"... He raises his arms.... +He shuts the door again carefully.... Your grandfather has come into +the room.... + + [The crowd has drawn nearer the windows. Martha and Mary half rise + at first, then draw near also, clasping each other tightly. The + old man is seen advancing into the room. The two sisters of the + dead girl rise; the mother rises as well, after laying the child + carefully in the armchair she has just abandoned; in such a way + that from without the little one may be seen asleep, with his head + hanging a little to one side, in the centre of the room. The + mother advances to meet the old man and extends her hand to him, + but draws it back before he has had time to take it. One of the + young girls offers to take off the visitor's cloak and the other + brings forward a chair for him; but the old man makes a slight + gesture of refusal. The father smiles with a surprised look. The + old man looks toward the windows.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He dares not tell them.... He has looked at us.... + [_Rumors in the crowd._ + +THE STRANGER. + +S ... t!... + + [The old man, seeing their faces at the windows, has quickly + turned his eyes away. As one of the young girls continues to offer + him the same armchair, he ends by sitting down and passes his + right hand across his forehead several times.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He sits down.... + + [The other people in the room sit down also, while the father + talks volubly. At last the old man opens his mouth, and the tone + of his voice seems to attract attention. But the father interrupts + him. The old man begins to speak again, and little by little the + others become motionless. All at once, the mother starts and + rises.] + +MARTHA. + +Oh! the mother is going to understand!... + + [She turns away and hides her face in her hands. New murmurs in + the crowd. They elbow each other. Children cry to be lifted up, so + that they may see too. Most of the mothers obey.] + +THE STRANGER. + +S ... t!... He has not told them yet.... + + [The mother is seen to question the old man in anguish. He says a + few words more; then abruptly all the rest rise too and seem to + question him. He makes a slow sign of affirmation with his head.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He has told them.... He has told them all at once!... + +VOICES IN THE CROWD. + +He has told them!... He has told them!... + +THE STRANGER. + +You hear nothing.... + + [The old man rises too, and, without turning, points with his + finger to the door behind him. The mother, the father, and the two + young girls throw themselves on this door, which the father cannot + at once succeed in opening. The old man tries to prevent the + mother from going out.] + +VOICES IN THE CROWD. + +They are going out! They are going out!... + + [Jostling in the garden. All rush to the other side of the house + and disappear, with the exception of the stranger, who remains at + the windows. In the room, both sides of the folding-door at last + open; all go out at the same time. Beyond can be seen a starry + sky, the lawn and the fountain in the moonlight, while in the + middle of the abandoned room the child continues to sleep + peacefully in the armchair.--Silence.] + +THE STRANGER. + +The child has not waked!... + [_He goes out also._ + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pélléas and Mélisande, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PÉLLÉAS AND MÉLISANDE *** + +***** This file should be named 13329-8.txt or 13329-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/2/13329/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Leah Moser and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/13329-8.zip b/old/13329-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e164ff2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13329-8.zip diff --git a/old/13329.txt b/old/13329.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39e33a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13329.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6767 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pelleas and Melisande, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pelleas and Melisande + +Author: Maurice Maeterlinck + +Release Date: August 30, 2004 [EBook #13329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLEAS AND MELISANDE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Leah Moser and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +Pelleas and Melisande + + +ALLADINE AND PALOMIDES + + +HOME + + +BY + +MAURICE MAETERLINCK + +_Translated by_ RICHARD HOVEY + + + +1911 + + + + +1896, BY + +STONE AND KIMBALL + + + + +Contents + + +PREFACE (by Maurice Maeterlinck) + +PELLEAS AND MELISANDE + +ALLADINE AND PALOMIDES + +HOME + + + + +Preface. + + +On m'a demande plus d'une fois si mes drames, de _La Princesse +Maleine_ a _La Mort de Tintagiles_, avaient ete reellement ecrits pour +un theatre de marionettes, ainsi que je l'avais affirme dans l'edition +originale de cette sauvage petite legende des malheurs de Maleine. En +verite, ils ne furent pas ecrits pour des acteurs ordinaires. Il n'y +avait la nul desir ironique et pas la moindre humilite non plus. Je +croyais sincerement et je crois encore aujourd'hui, que les poemes +meurent lorsque des etres vivants s'y introduisent. Un jour, dans un +ecrit dont je ne retrouve plus que quelques fragments mutiles, j'ai +essaye d'expliquer ces choses qui dorment, sans doute, au fond de +notre instinct et qu'il est bien difficile de reveiller completement. +J'y constatais d'abord, qu'une inquietude nous attendait a tout +spectacle auquel nous assistions et qu'une deception a peu pres +ineffable accompagnait toujours la chute du rideau. N'est-il pas +evident que le Macbeth ou l'Hamlet que nous voyons sur la scene ne +ressemble pas au Macbeth ou a l'Hamlet du livre? Qu'il a visiblement +retrograde dans le sublime? Qu'une grande partie des efforts du poete +qui voulait creer avant tout une vie superieure, une vie plus proche +de notre ame, a ete annulee par une force ennemie qui ne peut se +manifester qu'en ramenant cette vie superieure au niveau de la vie +ordinaire? Il y a peut-etre, me disais-je, aux sources de ce malaise, +un tres ancien malentendu, a la suite duquel le theatre ne fut jamais +exactement ce qu'il est dans l'instinct de la foule, a savoir: _le +temple du Reve_. Il faut admettre, ajoutai-je, que le theatre, du +moins en ses tendances, est un art. Mais je n'y trouve pas la +marque des autres arts. L'art use toujours d'un detour et n'agit pas +directement. Il a pour mission supreme la revelation de i'infini et de +la grandeur ainsi que la beaute secrete, de l'homme. Mais montrer +au doigt a l'enfant qui nous accompagne, les etoiles d'une unit de +Juillet, ce n'est pas faire une oeuvre d'art. Il faut que l'art agisse +comme les abeilles. Elles n'apportent pas aux larves de la ruche les +fleurs des champs qui renferment leur avenir et leur vie. Les larves +mourraient sous ces fleurs sans se douter de rien. Il faut que les +abeilles nourricieres apportent a ces nymphes aveugles l'ame meme +de ces fleurs, et c'est alors seulement qu'elles trouveront sans le +savoir en ce miel mysterieux la substance des ailes qui un jour les +emporteront a leur tour dans l'espace. Or, le poeme etait une +oeuvre d'art et portait ces obliques et admirables marques. Mais la +representation vient le contredire. Elle chasse vraiment les cygnes +du grand lac, et elle rejette les perles dans l'abime. Elle remet les +choses exactement au point ou elles etaient avant la venue du poete. +La densite mystique de l'oeuvre d'art a disparue. Elle verse dans +la meme erreur que celui qui apres avoir vante a ses auditeurs +l'admirable _Annonciation_ de Vinci, par exemple, s'imaginerait +qu'il a fait penetrer dans leurs ames la beaute surnaturelle de cette +peinture en reproduisant, en un tableau vivant, tous les details du +grand chef-d'oeuvre florentin. + +Qui sait si ce n'est pas pour ces raisons cachees que l'on est oblige +de s'avouer que la plupart des grands poemes de l'humanite ne sont pas +sceniques? _Lear, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Antoine et Cleopatre_, +ne peuvent etre representes, et il est dangereux de les voir sur +la scene. Quelque chose d'Hamlet est mort pour nous du jour ou nous +l'avons vu mourir sous nos yeux. Le spectre d'un acteur l'a detrone, +et nous ne pouvons plus ecarter l'usurpateur de nos reves. Ouvrez les +portes, ouvrez le livre, le prince anterieur ne revient plus. Il a +perdu la faculte de vivre selon la beaute la plus secrete de notre +ame. Parfois son ombre passe encore en tremblant sur le seuil, mais +desormais il n'ose plus, il ne peut plus entrer; et bien des voix sont +mortes qui l'acclamaient en nous. + +Je me souviens de cette mort de l'Hamlet de mes reves. Un soir +j'ouvris la porte a l'usurpateur du poeme. L'acteur etait illustre. Il +entra. Un seul de ses regards me montra qu'il n'etait pas Hamlet. +Il ne le fut pas un seul instant pour moi. Je le vis s'agiter durant +trois heures dans le mensonge. Je voyais clairement qu'il avait ses +propres destinees; et celles qu'il voulait representer m'etaient +indiciblement indifferentes a cote des siennes. Je voyais sa sante +et ses habitudes, ses passions et ses tristesses, ses pensees et +ses oeuvres, et il essayait vainement de m'interesser a une vie qui +n'etait pas la sienne et que sa seule presence avait rendue factice. +Depuis je le revois lorsque j'ouvre le livre et Elsinore n'est plus le +palais d'autrefois.... + +"La verite," dit quelque part Charles Lamb, "la verite est que les +caracteres de Shakespeare sont tellement des objets de meditation +plutot que d'interet ou de curiosite relativement a leurs actes, +que, tandis que nous lisons l'un de ses grands caracteres +criminels,--Macbeth, Richard, Iago meme,--nous ne songeons pas +tant aux crimes qu'ils commettent, qu'a l'ambition, a l'esprit +d'aspiration, a l'activite intellectuelle qui les poussent a franchir +ces barrieres morales. Les actions nous affectent si peu, que, tandis +que les impulsions, l'esprit interieur en toute sa perverse grandeur, +paraissent seuls reels et appellent seuls l'attention, le crime n'est +comparativement rien. Mais lorsque nous voyons representer ces choses, +les actes sont comparativement tout, et les mobiles ne sont plus rien. +L'emotion sublime ou nous sommes entraines par ces images de nuit +et d'horreur qu'exprime Macbeth; ce solennel prelude ou il s'oublie +jusqu'a ce que l'horloge sonne l'heure qui doit l'appeler au meurtre +de Duncan; lorsque nous ne lisons plus cela dans un livre, lorsque +nous avons abandonne ce poste avantageux de l'abstraction d'ou la +lecture domine la vision, et lorsque nous voyons sous nos yeux, un +homme en sa forme corporelle se preparer actuellement au meurtre; si +le jeu de l'acteur est vrai et puissant, la penible anxiete au sujet +de l'acte, le naturel desir de le prevenir tout qu'il ne semble +pas accompli, la trop puissante apparence de realite, provoquent un +malaise et une inquietude qui detruisent totalement le plaisir que les +mots apportent dans le livre, ou l'acte ne nous oppresse jamais de +la penible sensation de sa presence, et semble plutot appartenir a +l'histoire; a quelque chose de passe et d'inevitable." + +Charles Lamb a raison, et pour mille raisons bien plus profondes +encore que celles qu'il nous donne. Le theatre est le lien ou meurent +la plupart des chefs-d'oeuvre, parce que la representation d'un +chef-d'oeuvre a l'aide d'elements accidentels et humains est +antinomique. Tout chef-d'oeuvre est un symbole, et le symbole ne +supporte pas la presence active de l'homme. Il suffit que le coq +chante, dit Hamlet, pour que les spectres de la nuit s'evanouissent. +Et de meme, le poeme perd sa vie "de la seconde sphere" lorsqu'un etre +de la sphere inferieure s'y introduit. L'accident ramene le symbole +a l'accident; et le chef-d'oeuvre, en son essence, est mort durant le +temps de cette presence et de ses traces. + +Les Grecs n'ignorerent pas cette antinomie, et leurs masques que nous +ne comprenons plus ne servaient probablement qu'a attenuer la presence +de l'homme et a soulager le symbole. Aux epoques ou le theatre eut une +vie veritable, il la dut peut-etre uniquement a quelque circonstance +ou a quelque artifice qui venait en aide du poeme dans sa lutte contre +l'homme. Ainsi, sous Elisabeth, par exemple, la declamation etait une +sorte de melopee, le jeu etait conventionnel, et la scene aussi. Il en +etait a peu pres de meme sous Louis XIV. Le poeme se retire a mesure +que l'homme s'avance. Le poeme veut nous arracher du pouvoir de nos +sens et faire predominer le passe et l'avenir; l'homme, au contraire, +n'agit que sur nos sens et n'existe que pour autant qu'il puisse +effacer cette predomination. S'il entre en scene avec toutes ses +puissances, et libre comme s'il entrait dans une foret; si sa voix, +ses gestes, et son attitude ne sont pas voilees par un grand nombre +de conventions synthetiques; si l'on apercoit un seul instant l'etre +vivant qu'il est et l'ame qu'il possede,--il n'y a pas de poeme au +monde qui ne recule devant lui. A ce moment precis, le spectacle du +poeme s'interrompt et nous assistons a une scene de la vie exterieure, +qui, de meme qu'une scene de la rue, de la riviere, ou du champ de +bataille, a ses beautes eternelles et secretes, mais qui est neanmoins +impuissante a nous arracher du present, parce qu'en cet instant nous +n'avons pas la qualite pour apercevoir ces beautes invisibles, qui ne +sont que "des fleurs offertes aux vers aveugles." + +Et c'est pour ces raisons, et pour d'autres encore qu'on pourrait +rechercher dans les memes parages, que j'avais destine mes petits +drames a des etres indulgents aux poemes, et que, faute de mieux, +j'appelle "Marionettes." + +MAURICE MAETERLINCK. + + + + +Pelleas and Melisande. + + +_To Octave Mirbeau_. + + In witness of deep friendship, admiration, and gratitude. + +M.M. + + + + +PERSONS + + +ARKEL, _King of Allemonde._ + +GENEVIEVE, _mother of Pelleas and Golaud_. + +PELLEAS,} + }_grandsons of Arkel._ +GOLAUD, } + +MELISANDE. + +LITTLE YNIOLD, _son of Golaud (by a former marriage)._ + +A PHYSICIAN. + +THE PORTER. + +_Servants, Beggars, etc._ + + + + +Pelleas and Melisande. + + * * * * * + + + + +ACT FIRST. + + + + +SCENE I.--_The gate of the castle._ + + +MAIDSERVANTS _(within)._ + +Open the gate! Open the gate! + +PORTER _(within)._ + +Who is there? Why do you come and wake me up? Go out by the little +gates; there are enough of them!... + +A MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +We have come to wash the threshold, the gate, and the steps; open, +then! open! + +ANOTHER MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +There are going to be great happenings! + +THIRD MAIDSERVANT _(within)._ + +There are going to be great fetes! Open quickly!... + +THE MAIDSERVANTS. + +Open! open! + +PORTER. + +Wait! wait! I do not know whether I shall be able to open it;... it is +never opened.... Wait till it is light.... + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +It is light enough without; I see the sunlight through the chinks.... + +PORTER. + +Here are the great keys.... Oh! oh! how the bolts and the locks +grate!... Help me! help me!... + +MAIDSERVANTS. + +We are pulling; we are pulling.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +It will not open.... + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +Ah! ah! It is opening! it is opening slowly! + +PORTER. + +How it shrieks! how it shrieks! it will wake up everybody.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +_[Appearing on the threshold.]_ Oh, how light it is already +out-of-doors! + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +The sun is rising on the sea! + +PORTER. + +It is open.... It is wide open!... [_All the maidservants appear on +the threshold and pass over it._] + +FIRST MAIDSERVANT. + +I am going to wash the sill first.... + +SECOND MAIDSERVANT. + +We shall never be able to clean all this. + +OTHER MAIDSERVANTS. + +Fetch the water! fetch the water! + +PORTER. + +Yes, yes; pour on water; pour on water; pour on all the water of the +Flood! You will never come to the end of it.... + + + + +SCENE II.--_A forest._ MELISANDE _discovered at the brink of a +spring._ + + +_Enter_ GOLAUD. + +GOLAUD. + +I shall never be able to get out of this forest again.--God knows +where that beast has led me. And yet I thought I had wounded him to +death; and here are traces of blood. But now I have lost sight of him; +I believe I am lost myself--my dogs can no longer find me--I shall +retrace my steps....--I hear weeping.... Oh! oh! what is there yonder +by the water's edge?... A little girl weeping by the water's edge? +[_He coughs._]--She does not hear me. I cannot see her face. [_He +approaches and touches_ MELISANDE _on the shoulder._] Why weepest +thou? [MELISANDE _trembles, starts up, and would flee._]--Do not be +afraid. You have nothing to fear. Why are you weeping here all alone? + +MELISANDE. + +Do not touch me! do not touch me! + +GOLAUD. + +Do not be afraid.... I will not do you any.... Oh, you are beautiful! + +MELISANDE. + +Do not touch me! do not touch me! or I throw myself in the water!... + +GOLAUD. + +I will not touch you.... See, I will stay here, against the tree. Do +not be afraid. Has any one hurt you? + +MELISANDE + +Oh! yes! yes! yes!... [_She sobs profoundly._] + +GOLAUD. + +Who has hurt you? + +MELISANDE. + +Every one! every one! + +GOLAUD. What hurt have they done you? + +MELISANDE. + +I will not tell! I cannot tell!... + +GOLAUD. + +Come; do not weep so. Whence come you? + +MELISANDE. + +I have fled!... fled ... fled.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; but whence have you fled? + +MELISANDE. + +I am lost!... lost!... Oh! oh! lost here.... I am not of this +place.... I was not born there.... + +GOLAUD. + +Whence are you? Where were you born? + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! oh! far away from here!... far away ... far away.... + +GOLAUD. + +What is it shining so at the bottom of the water? + +MELISANDE. + +Where?--Ah! it is the crown he gave me. It fell as I was weeping.... + +GOLAUD. + +A crown?--Who was it gave you a crown?--I will try to get it.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; I will have no more of it! I will have no more of it!... I had +rather die ... die at once.... + +GOLAUD. + +I could easily pull it out. The water is not very deep. + +MELISANDE. + +I will have no more of it! If you take it out, I throw myself in its +place!... + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I will leave it there. It could be reached without difficulty, +nevertheless. It seems very beautiful.--Is it long since you fled? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes!... Who are you? + +GOLAUD. + +I am Prince Golaud,--grandson of Arkel, the old King of Allemonde.... + +MELISANDE. + +Oh, you have gray hairs already.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; some, here, by the temples.... + +MELISANDE + +And in your beard, too.... Why do you look at me so? + +GOLAUD. + +I am looking at your eyes.--Do you never shut your eyes? + +MELISANDE. + +Oh, yes; I shut them at night.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you look so astonished? + +MELISANDE. + +You are a giant? + +GOLAUD. + +I am a man like the rest.... + +MELISANDE. + +Why have you come here? + +GOLAUD. + +I do not know, myself. I was hunting in the forest, I was chasing a +wild boar. I mistook the road.--You look very young. How old are you? + +MELISANDE. + +I am beginning to be cold.... + +GOLAUD. + +Will you come with me! + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; I will stay here.... + +GOLAUD. + +You cannot stay here all alone. You cannot stay here all night +long.... What is your name? + +MELISANDE. + +Melisande. + +GOLAUD. + +You cannot stay here, Melisande. Come with me.... + +MELISANDE. + +I will stay here.... + +GOLAUD. + +You will be afraid, all alone. We do not know what there may be here +... all night long ... all alone ... it is impossible. Melisande, +come, give me your hand.... + +MELISANDE. + +Oh, do not touch me!... + +GOLAUD. + +Do not scream.... I will not touch you again. But come with me. The +night will be very dark and very cold. Come with me.... + +MELISANDE. + +Where are you going?... + +GOLAUD. + +I do not know.... I am lost too.... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE III.--_A hall in the castle_. ARKEL _and_ GENEVIEVE +_discovered_. + + +GENEVIEVE. + +Here is what he writes to his brother Pelleas: "I found her all in +tears one evening, beside a spring in the forest where I had lost +myself. I do not know her age, nor who she is, nor whence she comes, +and I dare not question her, for she must have had a sore fright; and +when you ask her what has happened to her, she falls at once a-weeping +like a child, and sobs so heavily you are afraid. Just as I found her +by the springs, a crown of gold had slipped from her hair and fallen +to the bottom of the water. She was clad, besides, like a princess, +though her garments had been torn by the briers. It is now six months +since I married her and I know no more about it than on the day of +our meeting. Meanwhile, dear Pelleas, thou whom I love more than a +brother, although we were not born of the same father; meanwhile make +ready for my return.... I know my mother will willingly forgive me. +But I am afraid of the King, our venerable grandsire, I am afraid of +Arkel, in spite of all his kindness, for I have undone by this strange +marriage all his plans of state, and I fear the beauty of Melisande +will not excuse my folly to eyes so wise as his. If he consents +nevertheless to receive her as he would receive his own daughter, +the third night following this letter, light a lamp at the top of the +tower that overlooks the sea. I shall perceive it from the bridge +of our ship; otherwise I shall go far away again and come back no +more...." What say you of it? + +ARKEL. + +Nothing. He has done what he probably must have done. I am very old, +and nevertheless I have not yet seen clearly for one moment into +myself; how would you that I judge what others have done? I am not +far from the tomb and do not succeed in judging myself.... One always +mistakes when one does not close his eyes. That may seem strange to +us; but that is all. He is past the age to marry and he weds like a +child, a little girl he finds by a spring.... That may seem strange to +us, because we never see but the reverse of destinies ... the reverse +even of our own.... He has always followed my counsels hitherto; I had +thought to make him happy in sending him to ask the hand of Princess +Ursula.... He could not remain alone; since the death of his wife he +has been sad to be alone; and that marriage would have put an end to +long wars and old hatreds.... He would not have it so. Let it be as he +would have it; I have never put myself athwart a destiny; and he knows +better than I his future. There happen perhaps no useless events.... + +GENEVIEVE. + +He has always been so prudent, so grave and so firm.... If it were +Pelleas, I should understand.... But he ... at his age.... Who is it +he is going to introduce here?--An unknown found along the roads.... +Since his wife's death, he has no longer lived for aught but his son, +the little Yniold, and if he were about to marry again, it was because +you had wished it.... And now ... a little girl in the forest.... He +has forgotten everything....--What shall we do?... + +_Enter_ PELLEAS. + +ARKEL. + +Who is coming in there? + +GENEVIEVE. + +It is Pelleas. He has been weeping. + +ARKEL. + +Is it thou, Pelleas?--Come a little nearer, that I may see thee in the +light.... + +PELLEAS. + +Grandfather, I received another letter at the same time as my +brother's; a letter from my friend Marcellus.... He is about to die +and calls for me. He would see me before dying.... + +ARKEL. + +Thou wouldst leave before thy brother's return?--Perhaps thy friend is +less ill than he thinks.... + +PELLEAS + +His letter is so sad you can see death between the lines.... He says +he knows the very day when death must come.... He tells me I can +arrive before it if I will, but that there is no more time to lose. +The journey is very long, and if I await Golaud's return, it will be +perhaps too late.... + +ARKEL. + +Thou must wait a little while, nevertheless.... We do not know what +this return has in store for us. And besides, is not thy father here, +above us, more sick perhaps than thy friend.... Couldst thou choose +between the father and the friend?... [_Exit._ + +GENEVIEVE. + +Have a care to keep the lamp lit from this evening, Pelleas.... + +[_Exeunt severally._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_Before the castle. Enter_ GENEVIEVE _and_ MELISANDE. + + +MELISANDE. + +It is gloomy in the gardens. And what forests, what forests all about +the palaces!... + +GENEVIEVE. + +Yes; that astonished me too when I came hither; it astonishes +everybody. There are places where you never see the sun. But one gets +used to it so quickly.... It is long ago, it is long ago.... It is +nearly forty years that I have lived here.... Look toward the other +side, you will have the light of the sea.... + +MELISANDE. + +I hear a noise below us.... + +GENEVIEVE. + +Yes; it is some one coming up toward us.... Ah! it is Pelleas.... He +seems still tired from having waited so long for you.... + +MELISANDE. + +He has not seen us. + +GENEVIEVE. + +I think he has seen us but does not know what he should do.... +Pelleas, Pelleas, is it thou?... + +_Enter_ PELLEAS + +PELLEAS. + +Yes!... I was coming toward the sea.... + +GENEVIEVE. + +So were we; we were seeking the light. It is a little lighter here +than elsewhere; and yet the sea is gloomy. + +PELLEAS + +We shall have a storm to-night. There has been one every night for +some time, and yet it is so calm now.... One might embark unwittingly +and come back no more. + +MELISANDE. + +Something is leaving the port.... + +PELLEAS. + +It must be a big ship.... The lights are very high, we shall see it in +a moment, when it enters the band of light.... + +GENEVIEVE. + +I do not know whether we shall be able to see it ... there is still a +fog on the sea.... + +PELLEAS. + +The fog seems to be rising slowly.... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes; I see a little light down there, which I had not seen.... + +PELLEAS. + +It is a lighthouse; there are others we cannot see yet. + +MELISANDE. + +The ship is in the light.... It is already very far away.... + +PELLEAS. + +It is a foreign ship. It looks larger than ours.... + +MELISANDE. + +It is the ship that brought me here!... + +PELLEAS. + +It flies away under full sail.... + +MELISANDE. + +It is the ship that brought me here. It has great sails.... I +recognized it by its sails. + +PELLEAS. + +There will be a rough sea to-night. + +MELISANDE. + +Why does it go away to-night?... You can hardly see it any longer.... +Perhaps it will be wrecked.... + +PELLEAS. + +The sight falls very quickly.... [_A silence._ + +GENEVIEVE. + +No one speaks any more?... You have nothing more to say to each +other?... It is time to go in. Pelleas, show Melisande the way. I mast +go see little Yniold a moment. [_Exit._ + +PELLEAS. + +Nothing can be seen any longer on the sea.... + +MELISANDE. + +I see more lights. + +PELLEAS. + +It is the other lighthouses.... Do you hear the sea?... It is the wind +rising.... Let us go down this way. Will you give me your hand? + +MELISANDE. + +See, see, my hands are full.... + +PELLEAS. + +I will hold you by the arm, the road is steep and it is very gloomy +there.... I am going away perhaps to-morrow.... + +MELISANDE. + +Oh!... why do you go away? [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT SECOND. + + + + +SCENE I.--_A fountain in the park. + + +Enter_ PELLEAS _and_ MELISANDE. + +PELLEAS. + +You do not know where I have brought you?--I often come to sit here, +toward noon, when it is too hot in the gardens. It is stifling to-day, +even in the shade of the trees. + +MELISANDE. + +Oh, how clear the water is!... + +PELLEAS. + +It is as cool as winter. It is an old abandoned spring. It seems to +have been a miraculous spring,--it opened the eyes of the blind,--they +still call it "Blind Man's Spring." + +MELISANDE. + +It no longer opens the eyes of the blind? + +PELLEAS. + +Since the King has been nearly blind himself, no one comes any +more.... + +MELISANDE. + +How alone one is here!... There is no sound. + +PELLEAS. + +There is always a wonderful silence here.... One could hear the water +sleep.... Will you sit down on the edge of the marble basin? There is +one linden where the sun never comes.... + +MELISANDE. + +I am going to lie down on the marble.--I should like to see the bottom +of the water.... + +PELLEAS. + +No one has ever seen it.--It is as deep, perhaps, as the sea.--It is +not known whence it comes.--Perhaps it comes from the bottom of the +earth.... + +MELISANDE. + +If there were anything shining at the bottom, perhaps one could see +it.... + +PELLEAS. + +Do not lean over so.... + +MELISANDE. + +I would like to touch the water.... + +PELLEAS. + +Have a care of slipping.... I will hold your hand.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no, I would plunge both hands in it.... You would say my hands +were sick to-day.... + +PELLEAS. + +Oh! oh! take care! take care! Melisande!... Melisande!...--Oh! your +hair!... + +MELISANDE _(starting upright)._ I cannot,... I cannot reach it.... + +PELLEAS. + +Your hair dipped in the water.... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, it is longer than my arms.... It is longer than I.... [_A silence._ + +PELLEAS. + +It was at the brink of a spring, too, that he found you? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes.... + +PELLEAS. + +What did he say to you? + +MELISANDE. + +Nothing;--I no longer remember.... + +PELLEAS. + +Was he quite near you? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes; he would have kissed me. + +PELLEAS. + +And you would not? + +MELISANDE. + +No. + +PELLEAS. + +Why would you not? + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! oh! I saw something pass at the bottom of the water.... + +PELLEAS. + +Take care! take care!--You will fall! What are you playing with? + +MELISANDE. + +With the ring he gave me.... + +PELLEAS. + +Take care; you will lose it.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; I am sure of my hands.... + +PELLEAS. + +Do not play so, over so deep a water.... + +MELISANDE. + +My hands do not tremble. + +PELLEAS. + +How it shines in the sunlight I--Do not throw it so high in the +air.... + +MELISANDE. + +Oh!... + +PELLEAS. + +It has fallen? + +MELISANDE. + +It has fallen into the water!... + +PELLEAS. + +Where is it? where is it?... + +MELISANDE. + +I do not see it sink?... + +PELLEAS. + +I think I see it shine.... + +MELISANDE. + +My ring? + +PELLEAS. + +Yes, yes; down yonder.... + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! oh! It is so far away from us!... no, no, that is not it ... that +is not it.... It is lost ... lost.... There is nothing any more but +a great circle on the water.... What shall we do? What shall we do +now?... + +PELLEAS. + +You need not be so troubled for a ring. It is nothing.... We shall +find it again, perhaps. Or else we will find another.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; we shall never find it again; we shall never find any others +either.... And yet I thought I had it in my hands.... I had already +shut my hands, and it is fallen in spite of all.... I threw it too +high, toward the sun.... + +PELLEAS. + +Come, come, we will come back another day;... come, it is time. They +will come to meet us. It was striking noon at the moment the ring +fell. + +MELISANDE. + +What shall we say to Golaud if he ask where it is? + +PELLEAS. + +The truth, the truth, the truth.... [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ GOLAUD _discovered, stretched +upon his bed;_ MELISANDE, _by his bedside_. + + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah! all goes well; it will amount to nothing. But I cannot +understand how it came to pass. I was hunting quietly in the forest. +All at once my horse ran away, without cause. Did he see anything +unusual?... I had just heard the twelve strokes of noon. At the +twelfth stroke he suddenly took fright and ran like a blind madman +against a tree. I heard no more. I do not yet know what happened. I +fell, and he must have fallen on me. I thought I had the whole forest +on my breast; I thought my heart was crushed. But my heart is sound. +It is nothing, apparently.... + +MELISANDE. + +Would you like a little water? + +GOLAUD. + +Thanks, thanks; I am not thirsty. + +MELISANDE. + +Would you like another pillow?... There is a little spot of blood on +this. + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; it is not worth while. I bled at the mouth just now. I shall +bleed again perhaps.... + +MELISANDE. + +Are you quite sure?... You are not suffering too much? + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I have seen a good many more like this. I was made of iron +and blood.... These are not the little bones of a child; do not alarm +yourself.... + +MELISANDE. + +Close your eyes and try to sleep. I shall stay here all night.... + +GOLAUD. + +No, no; I do not wish you to tire yourself so. I do not need anything; +I shall sleep like a child.... What is the matter, Melisande? Why do +you weep all at once?... + +MELISANDE _(bursting into tears)._ + +I am ... I am ill too.... + +GOLAUD. + +Thou art ill?... What ails thee, then; what ails thee, Melisande?... + +MELISANDE. + +I do not know.... I am ill here.... I had rather tell you to-day; my +lord, my lord, I am not happy here.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why, what has happened, Melisande? What is it?... And I suspecting +nothing.... What has happened?... Some one has done thee harm?... Some +one has given thee offence? + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; no one has done me the least harm.... It is not that.... It +is not that.... But I can live here no longer. I do not know why.... I +would go away, go away!... I shall die if I am left here.... + +GOLAUD. + +But something has happened? You must be hiding something from me?... +Tell me the whole truth, Melisande.... Is it the King?... Is it my +mother?... Is it Pelleas?... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; it is not Pelleas. It is not anybody.... You could not +understand me.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why should I not understand?... If you tell me nothing, what will you +have me do?... Tell me everything and I shall understand everything. + +MELISANDE. + +I do not know myself what it is.... I do not know just what it is.... +If I could tell you, I would tell you.... It is something stronger +than I.... + +GOLAUD. + +Come; be reasonable, Melisande.--What would you have me do?--You are +no longer a child.--Is it I whom you would leave? + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! no, no; it is not that.... I would go away with you.... It is +here that I can live no longer.... I feel that I shall not live a long +while.... + +GOLAUD. + +But there must be a reason nevertheless. You will be thought mad. +It will be thought child's dreams.--Come, is it Pelleas, perhaps?--I +think he does not often speak to you. + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes; he speaks to me sometimes. I think he does not like me; I +have seen it in his eyes.... But he speaks to me when he meets me.... + +GOLAUD. + +You must not take it ill of him. He has always been so. He is a little +strange. And just now he is sad; he thinks of his friend Marcellus, +who is at the point of death, and whom he cannot go to see.... He will +change, he will change, you will see; he is young.... + +MELISANDE. + +But it is not that ... it is not that.... + +GOLAUD. + +What is it, then?--Can you not get used to the life one leads here? +Is it too gloomy here?--It is true the castle is very old and very +sombre.... It is very cold, and very deep. And all those who dwell in +it, are already old. And the country may seem gloomy too, with all +its forests, all its old forests without light. But that may all be +enlivened if we will. And then, joy, joy, one does not have it every +day; we must take things as they come. But tell me something; no +matter what; I will do everything you could wish.... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes; it is true.... You never see the sky here. I saw it for the +first time this morning.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is that, then, that makes you weep, my poor Melisande?--It is only +that, then?--You weep, not to see the sky?--Come, come, you are no +longer at the age when one may weep for such things.... And then, is +not the summer yonder? You will see the sky every day.--And then, next +year.... Come, give me your hand; give me both your little hands. [_He +takes her hands._] Oh! oh! these little hands that I could crush like +flowers....--Hold! where is the ring I gave you? + +MELISANDE. + +The ring? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; our wedding-ring, where is it? + +MELISANDE. + +I think.... I think it has fallen.... + +GOLAUD. + +Fallen?--Where has it fallen?--You have not lost it? + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; it fell ... it must have fallen.... But I know where it is.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where is it? + +MELISANDE. + +You know ... you know well ... the grotto by the seashore?... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes. + +MELISANDE. + +Well then, it is there.... It must be it is there.... Yes, yes; I +remember.... I went there this morning to pick up shells for little +Yniold.... There were some very fine ones.... It slipped from my +finger ... then the sea came in; and I had to go out before I had +found it. + +GOLAUD. + +Are you sure it is there? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes; quite sure.... I felt it slip ... then, all at once, the +noise of the waves.... + +GOLAUD. + +You must go look for it at once. + +MELISANDE. + +I must go look for it at once? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes. + +MELISANDE. + +Now?--at once?--in the dark? + +GOLAUD. + +Now, at once, in the dark. You must go look for it at once. I had +rather have lost all I have than have lost that ring. You do not know +what it is. You do not know whence it came. The sea will be very high +to-night. The sea will come to take it before you.... Make haste. You +must go look for it at once.... + +MELISANDE. + +I dare not.... I dare not go alone.... + +GOLAUD. + +Go, go with no matter whom. But you must go at once, do you +understand?--Make haste; ask Pelleas to go with you. + +MELISANDE. + +Pelleas?--With Pelleas?--But Pelleas would not.... + +GOLAUD. + +Pelleas will do all you ask of him. I know Pelleas better than you do. +Go, go; hurry! I shall not sleep until I have the ring. + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! oh! I am not happy!... I am not happy!... + [_Exit, weeping._ + + + + +SCENE III.--_Before a grotto._ + + +_Enter_ PELLEAS _and_ MELISANDE. + +[_Speaking with great agitation._] Yes; it is here; we are there. It +is so dark you cannot tell the entrance of the grotto from the rest +of the night.... There are no stars on this side. Let us wait till +the moon has torn through that great cloud; it will light up the whole +grotto, and then we can enter without danger. There are dangerous +places, and the path is very narrow between two lakes whose bottom has +not yet been found. I did not think to bring a torch or a lantern, but +I think the light of the sky will be enough for us.--You have never +gone into this grotto? + +MELISANDE. + +No.... + +PELLEAS. + +Let us go in; let us go in.... You must be able to describe the place +where you lost the ring, if he questions you.... It is very big and +very beautiful. There are stalactites that look like plants and men. +It is full of blue darks. It has not yet been explored to the end. +There are great treasures hidden there, it seems. You will see the +remains of ancient shipwrecks there. But you must not go far in it +without a guide. There have been some who never have come back. I +myself dare not go forward too far. We will stop the moment we no +longer see the light of the sea or the sky. When you strike a little +light there, you would say the vault was covered with stars like the +sky. It is bits of crystal or salt, they say, that shine so in the +rock.--Look, look, I think the sky is going to clear.... Give me your +hand; do not tremble, do not tremble so. There is no danger; we will +stop the moment we no longer see the light of the sea.... Is it the +noise of the grotto that frightens you? It is the noise of night or +the noise of silence.... Do you hear the sea behind us?--It does not +seem happy to-night.... Ah! look, the light!... + + [The moon lights up abundantly the entrance and part of the + darkness of the grotto; and at a certain depth are seen three + old beggars with white hair, seated side by side, leaning upon + each other and asleep against a bowlder.] + +MELISANDE. + +Ah! + +PELLEAS. + +What is it? + +MELISANDE. + +There are ... there are.... + [_She points out the three Beggars._ + +PELLEAS. + +Yes, yes; I have seen them too.... + +MELISANDE. + +Let us go!... Let us go!... + +PELLEAS. + +Yes ... it is three old poor men fallen asleep.... There is a famine in +the country.... Why have they come to sleep here.... + +MELISANDE. + +Let us go!... Come, come.... Let us go!... + +PELLEAS. + +Take care; do not speak so loud.... Let us not wake them.... They are +still sleeping heavily.... Come. + +MELISANDE. + +Leave me, leave me; I prefer to walk alone.... + +PELLEAS. + +We will come back another day.... [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_An apartment in the castle,_ ARKEL _and_ PELLEAS +_discovered._ + + +ARKEL. + +You see that everything retains you here just now and forbids you this +useless journey. We have concealed your father's condition from you +until now; but it is perhaps hopeless; and that alone should suffice +to stop you on the threshold. But there are so many other reasons.... +And it is not in the day when our enemies awake, and when the people +are dying of hunger and murmur about us, that you have the right +to desert us. And why this journey? Marcellus is dead; and life has +graver duties than the visit to a tomb. You are weary, you say, +of your inactive life; but activity and duty are not found on the +highways. They must be waited for upon the threshold, and let in as +they go by; and they go by every day. You have never seen them? I +hardly see them any more myself; but I will teach you to see them, and +I will point them out to you the day when you would make them a sign. +Nevertheless, listen to me; if you believe it is from the depths of +your life this journey is exacted, I do not forbid your undertaking +it, for you must know better than I the events you must offer to your +being or your fate. I shall ask you only to wait until we know what +must take place ere long.... + +PELLEAS. + +How long must I wait? + +ARKEL. + +A few weeks; perhaps a few days.... + +PELLEAS. + +I will wait.... + + + + +ACT THIRD + + + + +SCENE I.--_An apartment in the castle._ PELLEAS _and_ MELISANDE +_discovered_, MELISANDE _plies her distaff at the back of the room._ + + +PELLEAS. + +Yniold does not come back; where has he gone? + +MELISANDE + +He had heard something in the corridor; he has gone to see what it is. + +PELLEAS. + +Melisande.... + +MELISANDE + +What is it? + +PELLEAS. + +... Can you see still to work there?... + +MELISANDE + +I work as well in the dark.... + +PELLEAS. + +I think everybody is already asleep in the castle. Golaud does not +come back from the chase. It is late, nevertheless.... He no longer +suffers from his fall?... + +MELISANDE. + +He said he no longer suffered from it. + +PELLEAS. + +He must be more prudent; his body is no longer as supple as at twenty +years.... I see the stars through the window and the light of the moon +on the trees. It is late; he will not come back now. [_Knocking at the +door._] Who is there?... Come in!... + +_Little_ YNIOLD _opens the door and enters the room._ + +It was you knocking so?... That is not the way to knock at doors. It +is as if a misfortune had arrived; look, you have frightened little +mother. + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I only knocked a tiny little bit. + +PELLEAS. + +It is late; little father will not come back to-night; it is time for +you to go to bed. + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I shall not go to bed before you do. + +PELLEAS. + +What?... What is that you are saying? + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +I say ... not before you ... not before you.... + +[_Bursts into sobs and takes refuge by_ MELISANDE.] + +MELISANDE. + +What is it, Yniold?... What is it?... why do you weep all at once? + +YNIOLD _(sobbing)._ + +Because ... oh! oh! because ... + +MELISANDE. + +Because what?... Because what?... Tell me ... + +YNIOLD. + +Little mother ... little mother ... you are going away.... + +MELISANDE. + +But what has taken hold of you, Yniold?... I have never dreamed of +going away.... + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, you have; yes, you have; little father has gone away.... Little +father does not come back, and you are going to go away too.... I have +seen it ... I have seen it.... + +MELISANDE. + +But there has never been any idea of that, Yniold.... Why, what makes +you think that I would go away?... + +YNIOLD. + +I have seen it ... I have seen it.... You have said things to uncle +that I could not hear.... + +PELLEAS. + +He is sleepy.... He has been dreaming.... Come here, Yniold; asleep +already?... Come and look out at the window; the swans are fighting +with the dogs.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Oh! oh! they are chasing the dogs!... They are chasing them!... Oh! +oh! the water!... the wings!... the wings!... they are afraid.... + +PELLEAS. _(coming back by_ MELISANDE_)._ + +He is sleepy; he is struggling against sleep; his eyes were +closing.... + +MELISANDE _(singing softly as she spins)._ + + Saint Daniel and Saint Michael.... + Saint Michael and Saint Raphael.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Oh! oh! little mother!... + +MELISANDE _(rising abruptly)._ + +What is it, Yniold?... What is it?... + +YNIOLD. + +I saw something at the window?... + [PELLEAS _and_ MELISANDE _run to the window._ + +PELLEAS. + +What is there at the window?... What have you seen?... + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! I saw something!... + +PELLEAS. + +But there is nothing. I see nothing.... + +MELISANDE. + +Nor I.... + +PELLEAS. + +Where did you see something? Which way?... + +YNIOLD. + +Down there, down there!... It is no longer there.... + +PELLEAS. + +He does not know what he is saying. He must have seen the light of the +moon on the forest. There are often strange reflections,... or else +something must have passed on the highway ... or in his sleep. For +see, see, I believe he is quite asleep.... + +YNIOLD _(at the window)._ + +Little father is there! little father is there! + +PELLEAS _(going to the window)._ + +He is right; Golaud is coming into the courtyard.... + +YNIOLD. + +Little father!... little father!... I am going to meet him!... + [_Exit, running,--A silence._ + +PELLEAS. + +They are coming up the stair.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD _and little_ YNIOLD _with a lamp._ + +GOLAUD. + +You are still waiting in the dark? + +YNIOLD. + +I have brought a light, little mother, a big light!... [_He lifts +the lamp and looks at_ MELISANDE.] You have been weeping, little +mother?... You have been, weeping?... [_He lifts the lamp toward_ +PELLEAS _and looks in turn at him._] You too, you too, you have been +weeping?... Little father, look, little father; they have both been +weeping.... + +GOLAUD. + +Do not hold the light under their eyes so.... + + + +SCENE II.--_One of the towers of the castle.--watchman's round passes +under a window in the tower._ + + +MELISANDE _(at the window, combing her unbound hair)._ + + My long locks fall foaming + To the threshold of the tower,-- + My locks await your coming + All along the tower, + And all the long, long hour, + And all the long, long hour. + + _Saint Daniel and Saint Michael,_ + _Saint Michael and Saint Raphael._ + + I was born on a Sunday, + A Sunday at high noon.... + +_Enter_ PELLEAS _by the watchman's round._ + +PELLEAS. + +Hola! Hola! ho!... + +MELISANDE. + +Who is there? + +PELLEAS. + +I, I, and I!... What art thou doing there at the window, singing like +a bird that is not native here? + +MELISANDE. + +I am doing my hair for the night... + +PELLEAS. + +Is it that I see upon the wall?... I thought you had some light.... + +MELISANDE. + +I have opened the window; it is too hot in the tower.... It is +beautiful to-night.... + +PELLEAS. + +There are innumerable stars; I have never seen so many as to-night;... +but the moon is still upon the sea.... Do not stay in the shadow, +Melisande; lean forward a little till I see your unbound hair.... + +MELISANDE. + +I am frightful so.... + [_She learn out at the window._ + +PELLEAS. + +Oh! oh! Melisande!... oh, thou art beautiful!... thou art beautiful +so!... Lean out! lean out!... Let me come nearer thee.... + +MELISANDE + +I cannot come nearer thee.... I am leaning out as far as I can.... + +PELLEAS. + +I cannot come up higher;... give me at least thy hand to-night ... +before I go away.... I leave to-morrow.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no, no!... + +PELLEAS. + +Yes, yes, yes; I leave, I shall leave to-morrow.... Give me thy hand, +thy hand, thy little hand upon my lips.... + +MELISANDE. + +I give thee not my hand if thou wilt leave.... + +PELLEAS. + +Give, give, give!... + +MELISANDE. + +Thou wilt not leave?... + +PELLEAS. + +I will wait; I will wait.... + +MELISANDE. + +I see a rose in the shadows.... + +PELLEAS. + +Where?... I see only the boughs of the willow hanging over the +wall.... + +MELISANDE. + +Further down, further down, in the garden; further down, in the sombre +green.... + +PELLEAS. + +It is not a rose.... I will go see by and by, but give me thy hand +first; first thy hand.... + +MELISANDE. + +There, there;... I cannot lean out further.... + +PELLEAS. + +I cannot reach thy hand with my lips.... + +MELISANDE. + +I cannot lean out further.... I am on the point of falling....--Oh! +oh! my hair is falling down the tower!... + +[_Her tresses fall suddenly over her head, as she is leaning out so, +and stream over_ PELLEAS] + +PELLEAS. + +Oh! oh! what is it?... Thy hair, thy hair is falling down to me!... +All thy locks, Melisande, all thy locks have fallen down the tower!... +I hold them in my hands; I hold them in my mouth.... I hold them in +my arms; I put them about my neck.... I will not open my hands again +to-night.... + +MELISANDE. + +Let me go! let me go!... Thou wilt make me fall!... + +PELLEAS. + +No, no, no;... I have never seen such hair as thine, Melisande!... +See, see, see; it comes from so high and yet it floods me to the +heart!... And yet it floods me to the knees!... And it is sweet, sweet +as if it fell from heaven!... I see the sky no longer through thy +locks. Thou seest, thou seest?... I can no longer hold them with both +hands; there are some on the boughs of the willow.... They are alive +like birds in my hands,... and they love me, they love me more than +thou!... + +MELISANDE. + +Let me go; let me go!... Some one might come.... + +PELLEAS. + +No, no, no; I shall not set thee free to-night.... Thou art my +prisoner to-night; all night, all night!... + +MELISANDE. + +Pelleas! Pelleas!... + +PELLEAS. + +I tie them, I tie them to the willow boughs.... Thou shalt not go away +now;... thou shalt not go away now.... Look, look, I am kissing thy +hair.... I suffer no more in the midst of thy hair.... Hearest thou my +kisses along thy hair?... They mount along thy hair.... Each hair must +bring thee some.... Thou seest, thou seest, I can open my hands.... My +hands are free, and thou canst not leave me now.... + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! oh! thou hurtest me.... [_Doves come out of the tower and fly +about them in the night._]--What is that, Pelleas?--What is it flying +about me? + +PELLEAS. + +It is the doves coming oat of the tower.... I have frightened them; +they are flying away.... + +MELISANDE. + +It is my doves, Pelleas.--Let us go away, let me go; they will not +come back again.... + +PELLEAS. + +Why will they not come back again? + +MELISANDE + +They will be lost in the dark.... Let me go; let me lift my head.... +I hear a noise of footsteps.... Let me go!--It is Golaud!... I believe +it is Golaud!... He has heard us.... + +PELLEAS. + +Wait! Wait!... Thy hair is about the boughs.... It is caught there in +the darkness.... Wait, wait!... It is dark.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD, _by the watchman's round._ + +GOLAUD. + +What do you here? + +PELLEAS. + +What do I here?... I.... + +GOLAUD. + +You are children.... Melisande, do not lean out so at the window; you +will fall.... Do you not know it is late?--It is nearly midnight.--Do +not play so in the darkness.--You are children.... [_Laughing +nervously._] What children!... What children!... + [_Exit, with_ PELLEAS. + + + + +SCENE III.--_The-vaults of the castle. + + +Enter_ GOLAUD _and_ PELLEAS. + +GOLAUD. + +Take care; this way, this way.--You have never penetrated into these +vaults? + +PELLEAS. + +Yes; once, of old; but it was long ago.... + +GOLAUD. + +They are prodigious great; it is a succession of enormous crypts that +end, God knows where. The whole castle is builded on these crypts. Do +you smell the deathly odor that reigns here?--That is what I wished, +to show you. In my opinion, it comes from the little underground lake +I am going to have you see. Take care; walk before me, in the light of +my lantern. I will warn you when we are there, [_They continue to walk +in silence._] Hey! hey! Pelleas! stop! stop!--[_He seizes him by the +arm._] For God's sake!... Do you not see?--One step more, and you had +been in the gulf!... + +PELLEAS + +But I did not see it!... The lantern no longer lighted me.... + +GOLAUD. + +I made a misstep.... but if I had not held you by the arm.... Well, +this is the stagnant water that I spoke of to you.... Do you +perceive the smell of death that rises?--Let us go to the end of this +overhanging rock, and do you lean over a little. It will strike you in +the face. + +PELLEAS. + +I smell it already;... you would say a smell of the tomb. + +GOLAUD. + +Further, further.... It is this that on certain days has poisoned +the castle. The King will not believe it comes from here.--The crypt +should be walled up in which this standing water is found. It is time, +besides, to examine these vaults a little. Have you noticed those +lizards on the walls and pillars of the vaults?--There is a labor +hidden here you would not suspect; and the whole castle will be +swallowed up one of these nights, if it is not looked out for. But +what will you have? nobody likes to come down this far.... There are +strange lizards in many of the walls.... Oh! here ... do you perceive +the smell of death that rises? + +PELLEAS. + +Yes; there is a smell of death rising about us.... + +GOLAUD. + +Lean over; have no fear.... I will hold you ... give me ... no, no, +not your hand ... it might slip ... your arm, your arm!... Do you see +the gulf? [_Moved._]--Pelleas? Pelleas?... + +PELLEAS. + +Yes; I think I see the bottom of the gulf.... Is it the light that +trembles so?... You ... [_He straightens up, turns, and looks at_ +GOLAUD.] + +GOLAUD (_with a trembling voice_). + +Yes; it is the lantern.... See, I shook it to lighten the walls.... + +PELLEAS. + +I stifle here;... let us go out.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; let us go out.... + [_Exeunt in silence._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_A terrace at the exit of the vaults. Enter_ GOLAUD _and_ +PELLEAS. + + +PELLEAS. + +Ah! I breathe at last!... I thought, one moment, I was going to be ill +in those enormous crypts; I was on the point of falling.... There is +a damp air there, heavy as a leaden dew, and darkness thick as a +poisoned paste.... And now, all the air of all the sea!... There is a +fresh wind, see; fresh as a leaf that has just opened, over the little +green waves.... Hold! the flowers have just been watered at the foot +of the terrace, and the smell of the verdure and the wet roses comes +up to us.... It must be nearly noon; they are already in the shadow of +the tower.... It is noon; I hear the bells ringing, and the children +are going down to the beach to bathe.... I did not know that we had +stayed so long in the caverns.... + +GOLAUD. + +We went down towards eleven o'clock.... + +PELLEAS. + +Earlier; it must have been earlier; I heard it strike half-past ten. + +GOLAUD. + +Half-past ten or a quarter to eleven.... + +PELLEAS. + +They have opened all the windows of the castle. It will be unusually +hot this afternoon.... Look, there is mother with Melisande at a +window of the tower.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; they have taken refuge on the shady side.--Speaking of Melisande, +I heard what passed and what was said last night. I am quite aware all +that is but child's play; but it need not be repeated. Melisande is +very young and very impressionable; and she must be treated the more +circumspectly that she is perhaps with child at this moment.... She +is very delicate, hardly woman; and the least emotion might bring on +a mishap. It is not the first time I have noticed there might be +something between you.... You are older than she; it will suffice to +have told you.... Avoid her as much as possible; without affectation +moreover; without affectation....--What is it I see yonder on the +highway toward the forest?... + +PELLEAS. + +Some herds they are leading to the city.... + +GOLAUD. + +They cry like lost children; you would say they smelt the butcher +already.--It will be time for dinner.--What a fine day! What a capital +day for the harvest!... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +SCENE V.--_Before the castle._ + + +_Enter_ GOLAUD _and little_ YNIOLD. + +GOLAUD. + +Come, we are going to sit down here, Yniold; sit on my knee; we shall +see from here what passes in the forest. I do not see you any more +at all now. You abandon me too; you are always at little mother's.... +Why, we are sitting just under little mother's windows.--Perhaps she +is saying her evening prayer at this moment.... But tell me, Yniold, +she is often with your uncle Pelleas, isn't she? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; always, little father; when you are not there, little +father.... + +GOLAUD. + +Ah!--look; some one is going by with a lantern in the garden.--But I +have been told they did not like each other.... It seems they often +quarrel;... no? Is it true? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; it is true. + +GOLAUD. + +Yes?--Ah! ah!--But what do they quarrel about? + +YNIOLD. + +About the door. + +GOLAUD. + +What? about the door?--What are you talking about?--No, come, explain +yourself; why do they quarrel about the door? + +YNIOLD. + +Because it won't stay open. + +GOLAUD. + +Who wants it to stay open?--Come, why do they quarrel? + +YNIOLD. + +I don't know, little father; about the light. + +GOLAUD. + +I am not talking to you about the light; we will talk of that by and +by. I am talking to you about the door. Answer what I ask you; you +must learn to talk; it is time.... Do not put your hand in your mouth +so;... come.... + +YNIOLD. + +Little father! little father!... I won't do it any more.... [_He +cries._] + +GOLAUD. + +Come; what are you crying for now? What has happened? + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! little father, you hurt me.... + +GOLAUD. + +I hurt you?--Where did I hurt you? I did not mean to.... + +YNIOLD. + +Here, here; on my little arm.... + +GOLAUD. + +I did not mean to; come, don't cry any more, and I will give you +something to-morrow. + +YNIOLD. + +What, little father? + +GOLAUD. + +A quiver and some arrows; but tell me what you know about the door. + +YNIOLD. + +Big arrows? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes, yes; very big arrows.--But why don't they want the door to be +open?--Come, answer me sometime!--no, no; do not open your mouth to +cry. I am not angry. We are going to have a quiet talk, like Pelleas +and little mother when they are together. What do they talk about when +they are together? + +YNIOLD. + +Pelleas and little mother? + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; what do they talk about? + +YNIOLD. + +About me; always about me. + +GOLAUD. + +And what do they say about you? + +YNIOLD. + +They say I am going to be very big. + +GOLAUD. + +Oh, plague of my life!... I am here like a blind man searching for +his treasure at the bottom of the ocean!... I am here like a new-born +child lost in the forest, and you ... Come, come, Yniold, I was +wandering; we are going to talk seriously. Do Pelleas and little +mother never speak of me when I am not there?... + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, little father; they are always speaking of you. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah!... And what do they say of me? + +YNIOLD. + +They say I shall grow as big as you are. + +GOLAUD. + +You are always by them? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, always, always, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +They never tell you to go play somewhere else? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they are afraid when I am not there. + +GOLAUD. + +They are afraid?... What makes you think they are afraid? + +YNIOLD. + +Little mother always says, "Don't go away; don't go away!"... They are +unhappy, but they laugh.... + +GOLAUD. + +But that does not prove they are afraid. + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes, little father; she is afraid.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you say she is afraid? + +YNIOLD. + +They always weep in the dark. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah!... + +YNIOLD. + +That makes one weep too. + +GOLAUD. + +Yes, yes!... + +YNIOLD. + +She is pale, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +Ah! ah!... patience, my God, patience!... + +YNIOLD. + +What, little father? + +GOLAUD. + +Nothing, nothing, my child.--I saw a wolf go by in the forest.--Then +they get on well together?--I am glad to learn they are on good +terms.--They kiss each other sometimes--No?... + +YNIOLD. + +Kiss each other, little father?--No, no,--ah! yes, little father, yes; +yes; once ... once when it rained.... + +GOLAUD. + +They kissed?--But how, how did they kiss? + +YNIOLD. + +So, little father, so!... [_He gives him a kiss on the mouth, +laughing._] Ah! ah! your beard, little father!... It pricks! it +pricks! it pricks! It is getting all gray, little father, and your +hair, too; all gray, all gray, all gray.... [_The window under which +they are sitting is lighted up at this moment, and the light falls +upon them._] Ah! ah! little mother has lit her lamp. It is light, +little father; it is light.... + +GOLAUD. + +Yes; it is beginning to be light.... + +YNIOLD. + +Let us go there too, little father; let us go there too.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where do you want to go? + +YNIOLD. + +Where it is light, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +No, no, my child; let us stay in the dark a little longer.... One +cannot tell, one cannot tell yet.... Do you see those poor people down +there trying to kindle a little fire in the forest?--It has rained. +And over there, do you see the old gardener trying to lift that tree +the wind has blown down across the road?--He cannot; the tree is too +big; the tree is too heavy, and it will lie where it fell. All that +cannot be helped.... I think Pelleas is mad.... + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father, he is not mad; he is very good. + +GOLAUD. + +Do you want to see little mother? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, yes; I want to see her! + +GOLAUD. + +Don't make any noise; I am going to hoist you up to the window. It is +too high for me, for all I am so big.... [_He lifts the child._] Do +not make the least noise; little mother would be terribly afraid.... +Do you see her?--Is she in the room? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes.... Oh, how light it is! + +GOLAUD. + +She is alone? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes;... no, no; Uncle Pelleas Is there, too. + +GOLAUD. + +He--...! + +YNIOLD. + +Ah! ah! little father! you have hurt me!... + +GOLAUD. + +It is nothing; be still; I will not do it any more; look, look, +Yniold!... I stumbled; speak lower. What are they doing?-- + +YNIOLD. + +They are not doing anything, little father; they are waiting for +something. + +GOLAUD. + +Are they near each other? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +And ... and the bed? are they near the bed? + +YNIOLD. + +The bed, little father?--I can't see the bed. + +GOLAUD. + +Lower, lower; they will hear you. Are they speaking? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not speak. + +GOLAUD. + +But what are they doing?--They must be doing something.... + +YNIOLD. + +They are looking at the light. + +GOLAUD. + +Both? + +YNIOLD. + +Yes, little father. + +GOLAUD. + +They do not say anything? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not close their eyes. + +GOLAUD. + +They do not come near each other? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they do not stir. + +GOLAUD. + +They are sitting down? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father; they are standing upright against the wall. + +GOLAUD. + +They make no gestures?--They do not look at each other?--They make no +signs?... + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father.--Oh! oh! little father; they never close their +eyes.... I am terribly afraid.... + +GOLAUD. + +Be still. They do not stir yet? + +YNIOLD. + +No, little father.--I am afraid, little father; let me come down!... + +GOLAUD. + +Why, what are you afraid of?--Look! look!... + +YNIOLD. + +I dare not look any more, little father!... Let me come down!... + +GOLAUD. + +Look! look!... + +YNIOLD. + +Oh! oh! I am going to cry, little father!--Let me come down! let me +come down!,.. + +GOLAUD. + +Come; we will go see what has happened. + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT FOURTH + + + + +SCENE I.--_A corridor in the castle._ + + +_Enter_ PELLEAS _and_ MELISANDE, _meeting_. + +PELLEAS. + +Where goest thou? I must speak to thee to-night. Shall I see thee? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes. + +PELLEAS. + +I have just left my father's room. He is getting better. The physician +has told us he is saved.... And yet this morning I had a presentiment +this day would end ill. I have had a rumor of misfortune in my ears +for some time.... Then, all at once there was a great change; to-day +it is no longer anything but a question of time. All the windows in +his room have been thrown open. He speaks; he seems happy. He does not +speak yet like an ordinary man, but already his ideas no longer all +come from the other world.... He recognized me. He took my hand and +said with that strange air he has had since he fell sick: "Is it thou, +Pelleas? Why, why, I had not noticed it before, but thou hast the +grave and friendly look of those who will not live long.... You must +travel; you must travel...." It is strange; I shall obey him.... My +mother listened to him and wept for joy.--Hast thou not been aware of +it?--The whole house seems already to revive, you hear breathing, you +hear speaking, you hear walking.... Listen; I hear some one speaking +behind that door. Quick, quick! answer quickly! where shall I see +thee? + +MELISANDE. + +Where wouldst thou? + +PELLEAS. + +In the park; near "Blind Man's Spring."--Wilt thou?--Wilt thou come? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes. + +PELLEAS. + +It will be the last night;--I am going to travel, as my father said. +Thou wilt not see me more.... + +MELISANDE. + +Do not say that, Pelleas.... I shall see thee always; I shall look +upon thee always.... + +PELLEAS. + +Thou wilt look in vain.... I shall be so far away thou couldst no +longer see me.... I shall try to go very far away.... I am full of +joy, and you would say I had all the weight of heaven and earth on my +body to-day.... + +MELISANDE. + +What has happened, Pelleas?--I no longer understand what you say.... + +PELLEAS. + +Go, go; let us separate. I hear some one speaking behind that door.... +It is the strangers who came to the castle this morning.... They are +going out.... Let us go; it is the strangers.... [_Exeunt severally._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ ARKEL _and_ MELISANDE +_discovered._ + + +ARKEL. + +Now that Pelleas's father is saved, and sickness, the old handmaid of +Death, has left the castle, a little joy and a little sunlight will +at last come into the house again.... It was time!--For, since thy +coming, we have only lived here whispering about a closed room.... And +truly I have pitied thee, Melisande.... Thou camest here all joyous, +like a child seeking a gala-day, and at the moment thou enteredst in +the vestibule I saw thy face change, and probably thy soul, as the +face changes in spite of us when we enter at noon into a grotto too +gloomy and too cold.... And since,--since, on account of all that, I +have often no longer understood thee.... I observed thee, thou went +there, listless perhaps, but with the strange, astray look of one +awaiting ever a great trouble, in the sunlight, in a beautiful +garden.... I cannot explain.... But I was sad to see thee so; for thou +art too young and too beautiful to live already day and night under +the breath of death.... But now all that will change. At my age,--and +there perhaps is the surest fruit of my life,--at my age I have gained +I know not what faith in the fidelity of events, and I have always +seen that every young and beautiful being creates about itself young, +beautiful, and happy events.... And it is thou who wilt now open the +door for the new era I have glimpses of.... Come here; why dost thou +stay there without answering and without lifting thine eyes?--I have +kissed thee but once only hitherto,--the day of thy coming; and yet +old men need sometimes to touch with their lips a woman's forehead or +a child's cheek, to believe still in the freshness of life and avert +awhile the menaces.... Art thou afraid of my old lips? How I have +pitied thee these months!... + +MELISANDE. + +Grandfather, I have not been unhappy.... + +ARKEL. + +Perhaps you were of those who are unhappy without knowing it,... and +they are the most unhappy.... Let me look at thee, so, quite near, a +moment;... we have such need of beauty beside Death.... + +_Enter_ GOLAUD. + +GOLAUD. + +Pelleas leaves to-night. + +ARKEL. + +Thou hast blood on thy forehead.--What hast thou done? + +GOLAUD. + +Nothing, nothing.... I have passed through a hedge of thorns. + +MELISANDE. + +Bend down your head a little, my lord.... I will wipe your +forehead.... + +GOLAUD (_repulsing her_). + +I will not that you touch me, do you understand? Go, go!--I am not +speaking to you.--Where is my sword?--I came to seek my sword.... + +MELISANDE. + +Here; on the praying-stool. + +GOLAUD. + +Bring it. [_To_ ARKEL.]--They have just found another peasant dead of +hunger, along by the sea. You would say they all meant to die under +our eyes.--[_To_ MELISANDE.] Well, my sword?--Why do you tremble +so?--I am not going to kill you. I would simply examine the blade. I +do not employ the sword for these uses. Why do you examine me like a +beggar?--I do not come to ask alms of you. You hope to see something +in my eyes without my seeing anything in yours?--Do you think I may +know something?--[_To_ ARKEL.]--Do you see those great eyes?--It is as +if they were proud of their richness.... + +ARKEL. + +I see there only a great innocence.... + +GOLAUD. + +A great innocence!... They are greater than innocence!... They are +purer than the eyes of a lamb.... They would give God lessons in +innocence! A great innocence! Listen: I am so near them I feel the +freshness of their lashes when they wink; and yet I am less far away +from the great secrets of the other world than from the smallest +secret of those eyes!... A great innocence!... More than innocence! +You would say the angels of heaven celebrated there an eternal +baptism!... I know those eyes! I have seen them at their work! Close +them! close them! or I shall close them for a long while!...--Do +not put your right hand to your throat so; I am saying a very simple +thing.... I have no under-thought.... If I had an under-thought, why +should I not say it? Ah! ah!--do not attempt to flee!--Here!--Give +me that hand!--Ah! your hands are too hot.... Go away! Your flesh +disgusts me!... Here!--There is no more question of fleeing now!--[_He +seizes her by the hair._]--You shall follow me on your knees!--On your +knees!--On your knees before me!--Ah! ah! your long hair serves +some purpose at last!... Right,... left!--Left,... right!--Absalom! +Absalom.--Forward! back! To the ground! to the ground!... You see, you +see; I laugh already like an old man.... + +ARKEL (_running up_). + +Golaud!... + +GOLAUD (_affecting a sudden calm_). + +You will do as you may please, look you.--I attach no importance +to that.--I am too old; and, besides, I am not a spy. I shall await +chance; and then ... Oh! then!... simply because it is the custom; +simply because it is the custom.... [_Exit._ + +ARKEL. + +What ails him?--He is drunk? + +MELISANDE (_in tears_). + +No, no; he does not love me any more.... I am not happy!... I am not +happy!... + +ARKEL. + +If I were God, I would have pity on men's hearts.... + + + + +SCENE III.--_A terrace of the castle. Little_ YNIOLD _discovered, +trying to lift a bowlder._ + + +LITTLE YNIOLD. + +Oh, this stone is heavy!... It is heavier than I am.... It is +heavier than everybody.... It is heavier than everything that ever +happened.... I can see my golden ball between the rock and this +naughty stone, and I cannot reach it.... My little arm is not long +enough,... and this stone won't be lifted.... I can't lift it,... and +nobody could lift it.... It is heavier than the whole house;... you +would think it had roots in the earth.... [_The Bleatings of a flock +heard far away._]--Oh! oh! I hear the sheep crying.... [_He goes to +look, at the edge of the terrace._] Why! there is no more sun.... They +are coming ... the little sheep ... they are coming.... There is a lot +of them!... There is a lot of them!... They are afraid of the dark.... +They crowd together! they crowd together!... They can hardly walk any +more.... They are crying! they are crying! and they go quick!... They +go quick!... They are already at the great crossroads. Ah! ah! They +don't know where they ought to go any more.... They don't cry any +more.... They wait.... Some of them want to go to the right.... +They all want to go to the right.... They cannot!... The shepherd is +throwing earth at them.... Ah! ah! They are going to pass by here.... +They obey! They obey! They are going to pass under the terrace.... +They are going to pass under the rocks.... I am going to see them near +by.... Oh! oh! what a lot of them!... What a lot of them!... The +whole road is full of them.... They all keep still now ... Shepherd! +shepherd! why don't they speak any more? + +THE SHEPHERD (_who is out of sight_). + +Because it is no longer the road to the stable.... + +YNIOLD. + +Where are they going?--Shepherd! shepherd!--where are they going?--He +doesn't hear me any more. They are too far away already.... They go +quick.... They are not making a noise any more.... It is no longer the +road to the stable.... Where are they going to sleep to-night?--Oh! +oh!--It is too dark.... I am going to tell something to somebody.... + [_Exit._ + + + + +SCENE IV.--_A fountain in the park._ + + +_Enter_ PELLEAS. + +PELLEAS. + +It is the last evening ... the last evening. It must all end. I have +played like a child about a thing I did not guess.... I have played +a-dream about the snares of fate.... Who has awakened me all at once? +I shall flee, crying out for joy and woe like a blind man fleeing +from his burning house.... I am going to tell her I shall flee.... +My father is out of danger; and I have no more reason to lie to +myself.... It is late; she does not come.... I should do better to +go away without seeing her again.... I must look well at her this +time.... There are some things that I no longer recall.... It seems at +times as if I had not seen her for a hundred years.... And I have not +yet looked upon her look.... There remains nought to me if I go away +thus. And all those memories ... it is as if I were to take away a +little water in a muslin bag.... I must see her one last time, to the +bottom of her heart.... I must tell her all that I have never told +her. + +_Enter_ MELISANDE. + +MELISANDE. + +Pelleas! + +Melisande!--Is it thou, Melisande? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes. + +PELLEAS. + +Come hither; do not stay at the edge of the moonlight.--Come hither. +We have so many things to tell each other.... Come hither in the +shadow of the linden. + +MELISANDE. + +Let me stay in the light.... + +PELLEAS. + +We might be seen from the windows of the tower. Come hither; here, we +have nothing to fear.--Take care; we might be seen.... + +MELISANDE. + +I wish to be seen.... + +PELLEAS. + +Why, what doth ail thee?--Thou wert able to come out without being +seen? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes; your brother slept.... + +PELLEAS. + +It is late.--In an hour they will close the gates. We must be careful. +Why art thou come so late? + +MELISANDE. + +Your brother had a bad dream. And then my gown was caught on the nails +of the gate. See, it is torn. I lost all this time, and ran.... + +PELLEAS. + +My poor Melisande!... I should almost be afraid to touch thee.... Thou +art still out of breath, like a hunted bird.... It is for me, for me, +thou doest all that?... I hear thy heart beat as if it were mine.... +Come hither ... nearer, nearer me.... + +MELISANDE. + +Why do you laugh? + +PELLEAS. + +I do not laugh;--or else I laugh for joy, unwittingly.... It were a +weeping matter, rather.... + +MELISANDE. + +We have come here before.... I recollect.... + +PELLEAS. + +Yes ... yes.... Long months ago.--I knew not then.... Knowest thou why +I asked thee to come here to-night? + +MELISANDE. + +No. + +PELLEAS. + +It is perhaps the last time I shall see thee.... I must go away +forever.... + +MELISANDE. + +Why sayest thou always thou wilt go away?... + +PELLEAS. + +I must tell thee what thou knowest already?--Thou knowest not what I +am going to tell thee? + +MELISANDE. + +Why, no; why, no; I know nothing--... + +PELLEAS. + +Thou knowest not why I must go afar.... Thou knowest not it is +because ... [_He kisses her abruptly._] I love thee.... + +MELISANDE (_in a low voice_). + +I love thee too.... + +PELLEAS. + +Oh! oh! What saidst thou, Melisande?... I hardly heard it!... Thou +sayest that in a voice coming from the end of the world!... I hardly +heard thee.... Thou lovest me?--Thou lovest me too?... Since when +lovest thou me?... + +MELISANDE. + +Since always.... Since I saw thee.... + +PELLEAS. + +Oh, how thou sayest that!... Thy voice seems to have blown across the +sea in spring!... I have never heard it until now;... one would say +it had rained on my heart!... Thou sayest that so frankly!... Like an +angel questioned!... I cannot believe it, Melisande!... Why shouldst +thou love me?--Nay, why dost thou love me?--Is what thou sayest +true?--Thou dost not mock me?--Thou dost not lie a little, to make me +smile?... + +MELISANDE. + +No; I never lie; I lie but to thy brother.... + +PELLEAS. + +Oh, how thou sayest that!... Thy voice! thy voice!... It is cooler and +more frank than the water is!... It is like pure water on my lips!... +It is like pure water on my hands.... Give me, give me thy hands!... +Oh, how small thy hands are!... I did not know thou wert so +beautiful!... I have never seen anything so beautiful before thee.... +I was fall of unrest; I sought throughout the house.... I sought +throughout the country.... And I found not beauty.... And now I have +found thee!... I have found thee!.,. I do not think there could be on +the earth a fairer woman!... Where art thou?--I no longer hear thee +breathe.... + +MELISANDE. + +Because I look on thee.... + +PELLEAS. + +Why dost thou look so gravely on me?--We are already in the +shadow.--It is too dark under this tree. Come into the light. We +cannot see how happy we are. Come, come; so little time remains to +us.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; let us stay here.... I am nearer thee in the dark.... + +PELLEAS. + +Where are thine eyes?--Thou art not going to fly me?--Thou dost not +think of me just now. + +MELISANDE. + +Oh, yes; oh, yes; I only think of thee.... + +PELLEAS. + +Thou wert looking elsewhere.... + +MELISANDE. + +I saw thee elsewhere.... + +PELLEAS. + +Thy soul is far away.... What ails thee, then?--Meseems thou art not +happy.... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes; I am happy, but I am sad.... + +PELLEAS. + +One is sad often when one loves.... + +MELISANDE. + +I weep always when I think of thee.... + +PELLEAS. + +I too.... I too, Melisande.... I am quite near thee; I weep for joy, +and yet ...[_He kisses her again._]--Thou art strange when I kiss thee +so.... Thou art so beautiful that one would think thou wert about to +die.... + +MELISANDE. + +Thou too.... + +PELLEAS. + +There, there.... We do not what we will.... I did not love thee the +first time I saw thee.... + +MELISANDE. + +Nor I ... nor I.... I was afraid.... + +PELLEAS. + +I could not admit thine eyes.... I would have gone away at once ... +and then.... + +MELISANDE. + +And I,--I would not have come.... I do not yet know why,--I was afraid +to come.... + +PELLEAS. + +There are so many things one never knows. We are ever waiting; and +then.... What is that noise?--They are closing the gates!... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, they have closed the gates.... + +PELLEAS. + +We cannot go back now?--Hearest thou the bolts?--Listen! listen!... +the great chains!... the great chains!... It is too late; it is too +late!... + +MELISANDE. + +All the better! all the better! all the better!... + +PELLEAS. + +Thou--...? Behold, behold!... It is no longer we who will it so!... +All's lost, all's saved! all is saved to-night!--Come, come.... My +heart beats like a madman,--up to my very throat.... [_They embrace._] +Listen! listen! my heart is almost strangling me.... Come! come!... +Ah, how beautiful it is in the shadows!... + +MELISANDE. + +There is some one behind us!... + +PELLEAS. + +I see no one.... + +MELISANDE. + +I heard a noise.... + +PELLEAS. + +I hear only thy heart in the dark.... + +MELISANDE. + +I heard the crackling of dead leaves.... + +PELLEAS. + +Because the wind is silent all at once.... It fell as we were +kissing.... + +MELISANDE. + +How long our shadows are to-night!... + +PELLEAS. + +They embrace to the very end of the garden. Oh, how they kiss far away +from us!... Look! look!... + +MELISANDE.(_a stifled voice_). + +A-a-h!--He is behind a tree! + +PELLEAS. + +Who? + +MELISANDE. + +Golaud! + +PELLEAS. + +Golaud!--where?--I see nothing.... + +MELISANDE. + +There ... at the end of our shadows. + +PELLEAS. + +Yes, yes; I saw him.... Let us not turn abruptly.... + +MELISANDE. + +He has his sword.... + +PELLEAS. + +I have not mine.... + +MELISANDE. + +He saw us kiss.... + +PELLEAS. + +He does not know we have seen him.... Do not stir; do not turn your +head.... He would rush headlong on us.... He will remain there while +he thinks we do not know. He watches us.... He is still motionless.... +Go, go at once this way.... I will wait for him.... I will stop +him.... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no, no!... + +PELLEAS. + +Go! go! he has seen all!... He will kill us!... + +MELISANDE. + +All the better! all the better! all the better!... + +PELLEAS. + +He comes! he comes!... Thy mouth!... Thy mouth!... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes!... yes! yes!... + [_They kiss desperately._ + +PELLEAS + +Oh! oh! All the stars are falling!... + +MELISANDE. + +Upon me too! upon me too!... + +PELLEAS. + +Again! Again!... Give! give!... + +MELISANDE. + +All! all! all!... + + [Golaud rushes upon them, sword in hand, and strikes Pelleas, who + falls at the brink of the fountain. Melisande flees terrified.] + +MELISANDE. (_fleeing_). + +Oh! oh! I have no courage I ... I have no courage!... + + [GOLAUD _pursues her through the wood in silence._ + + + + +ACT FIFTH. + + + + +SCENE I.--_A lower hall in the castle. The women servants discovered, +gathered together, while without children are playing before one of +the ventilators of the hall._ + + +AN OLD SERVANT. + +You will see, you will see, my daughters; it will be to-night.--Some +one will come to tell us by and by.... + +ANOTHER SERVANT. + +They will not come to tell us.... They don't know what they are doing +any longer.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Let us wait here.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +We shall know well enough when we must go up.... + +FIFTH SERVANT. + +When the time is come, we shall go up of ourselves.... + +SIXTH SERVANT. + +There is no longer a sound heard in the house.... + +SEVENTH SERVANT. + +We ought to make the children keep still, who are playing before the +ventilator. + +EIGHTH SERVANT. + +They will be still of themselves by and by. + +NINTH SERVANT. + +The time has not yet come.... + +_Enter an old Servant._ + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +No one can go in the room any longer. I have listened more than +an hour.... You could hear the flies walk on the doors.... I heard +nothing.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Has she been left alone in the room? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +No, no; I think the room is full of people. + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They will come, they will come, by and by.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Lord! Lord! It is not happiness that has come into the house.... One +may not speak, but if I could say what I know... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +It was you who found them before the gate? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Why, yes! why, yes! it was I who found them. The porter says it was +he who saw them first; but it was I who waked them. He was sleeping on +his face and would not get up.--And now he comes saying, "It was I who +saw them first." Is that just?--See, I burned myself lighting a lamp +to go down cellar.--Now what was I going to do down cellar?--I can't +remember any more what I was going to do down cellar.--At any rate I +got up very early; it was not yet very light; I said to myself, I will +go across the courtyard, and then I will open the gate. Good; I +go down the stairs on tiptoe, and I open the gate as if it were an +ordinary gate.... My God! My God! What do I see? Divine a little what +I see!... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They were before the gate? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +They were both stretched out before the gate!... Exactly like poor +folk that are too hungry.... They were huddled together like little +children who are afraid.... The little princess was nearly dead, and +the great Golaud had still his sword in his side.... There was blood +on the sill.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +We ought to make the children keep still.... They are screaming with +all their might before the ventilator.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +You can't hear yourself speak.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +There is nothing to be done: I have tried already; they won't keep +still.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +It seems he is nearly cured? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Who? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +The great Golaud. + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; they have taken him to his wife's room. I met them just +now, in the corridor. They were holding him up as if he were drunk. He +cannot yet walk alone. + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +He could not kill himself; he is too big. But she is hardly wounded, +and it is she who is going to die.... Can you understand that? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +You have seen the wound? + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +As I see you, my daughter.--I saw everything, you understand.... I saw +it before all the others.... A tiny little wound under her little left +breast,--a little wound that wouldn't kill a pigeon. Is it natural? + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; there is something underneath.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +Yes; but she was delivered of her babe three days ago.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Exactly!... She was delivered on her death-bed; is that a little +sign?--And what a child! Have you seen it?--A wee little girl a beggar +would not bring into the world.... A little wax figure that came much +too soon;... a little wax figure that must live in lambs' wool.... +Yes, yes; it is not happiness that has come into the house.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; it Is the hand of God that has been stirring.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; all that did not happen without reason.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +It is as good lord Pelleas ... where is he?--No one knows.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; everybody knows.... But nobody dare speak of it.... One does +not speak of this;... one does not speak of that;... one speaks no +more of anything;... one no longer speaks truth.... But _I_ know he +was found at the bottom of Blind Man's Spring;... but no one, no one +could see him.... Well, well, we shall only know all that at the last +day.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +I dare not sleep here any longer.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; once ill-fortune is in the house, one keeps silence in +vain.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +Yes; it finds you all the same.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; but we do not go where we would.... + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +Yes, yes; we do not do what we would.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +They are afraid of us now.... + +SECOND SERVANT. + +They all keep silence.... + +THIRD SERVANT. + +They cast down their eyes in the corridors. + +FOURTH SERVANT. + +They do not speak any more except in a low voice. + +FIFTH SERVANT. + +You would think they had all done it together. + +SIXTH SERVANT. + +One doesn't know what they have done.... + +SEVENTH SERVANT. + +What is to be done when the masters are afraid?... [_A silence_. + +FIRST SERVANT. + +I no longer hear the children screaming. + +SECOND SERVANT. + +They are sitting down before the ventilator. + +THIRD SERVANT. + +They are huddled against each other. + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +I no longer hear anything in the house.... + +FIRST SERVANT. + +You no longer even hear the children breathe.... + +THE OLD SERVANT. + +Come, come; it is time to go up.... + [_Exeunt in silence._ + + + + +SCENE II.--_An apartment in the castle._ + + +ARKEL, GOLAUD, _and the_ PHYSICIAN _discovered in one corner of the +room._ MELISANDE _is stretched upon her bed._ + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It cannot be of that little wound she is dying; a bird would not have +died of it.... It is not you, then, who have killed her, good my lord; +do not be so disconsolate.... She could not have lived.... She was +born without reason ... to die; and she dies without reason.... And +then, it is not sure we shall not save her.... + +ARKEL. + +No, no; it seems to me we keep too silent, in spite of ourselves, in +her room.... It is not a good sign.... Look how she sleeps ... slowly, +slowly;... it is as if her soul was cold forever.... + +GOLAUD. + +I have killed her without cause! I have killed her without cause!... +Is it not enough to make the stones weep?... They had kissed like +little children.... They had simply kissed.... They were brother and +sister.... And I, and I at once!... I did it in spite of myself, look +you.... I did it in spite of myself.... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Stop; I think she is waking.... + +MELISANDE. + +Open the window;... open the window.... + +ARKEL + +Shall I open this one, Melisande? + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; the great window ... the great window.... It is to see.... + +ARKEL. + +Is not the sea air too cold to-night? Do it; do it.... + +MELISANDE. + +Thanks.... Is it sunset? + +ARKEL. + +Yes; it is sunset on the sea; it is late.--How are you, Melisande? + +MELISANDE. + +Well, well.--Why do you ask that? I have never been better.--And yet +it seems to me I know something.... + +ARKEL. + +What sayest thou?--I do not understand thee.... + +MELISANDE. + +Neither do I understand all I say, you see.... I do not know what I +am saying.... I do not know what I know.... I no longer say what I +would.... + +ARKEL. + +Why, yes! why, yes!... I am quite happy to hear thee speak so; thou +hast raved a little these last days, and one no longer understood +thee.... But now all that is far away.... + +MELISANDE. + +I do not know....--Are you all alone in the room, grandfather? + +ARKEL. + +No; there is the physician, besides, who cured thee.... + +MELISANDE. + +Ah!... + +ARKEL. + +And then there is still some one else.... + +MELISANDE. + +Who is it? + +ARKEL. + +It is ... thou must not be frightened.... He does not wish thee the +least harm, be sure.... If thou'rt afraid, he will go away.... He is +very unhappy.... + +MELISANDE. + +Who is it? + +ARKEL. + +It is thy ... thy husband.... It is Golaud.... + +MELISANDE. + +Golaud is here? Why does he not come by me? + +GOLAUD (_dragging himself toward the bed._) + +Melisande ... Melisande.... + +MELISANDE. + +Is it you, Golaud? I should hardly recognize you any more.... It is +the evening sunlight in my eyes.... Why look you on the walls? You +have grown thin and old.... Is it a long while since we saw each +other? + +GOLAUD (_to_ ARKEL _and the_ PHYSICIAN). + +Will you withdraw a moment, if you please, if you please?... I will +leave the door wide open.... One moment only.... I would say something +to her; else I could not die.... Will you?--Go clear to the end of +the corridor; you can come back at once, at once.... Do not refuse +me this.... I am a wretch.... [_Exit_ ARKEL _and the_ +PHYSICIAN.]--Melisande, hast thou pity on me, as I have pity on +thee?... Melisande?... Dost thou forgive me, Melisande?... + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes, I do forgive thee.... What must I forgive?... + +GOLAUD. + +I have wrought thee so much ill, Melisande.... I cannot tell thee the +ill I have wrought thee.... But I see it, I see it so clearly to-day +... since the first day.... And all I did not know till now leaps in +my eyes to-night.... And it is all my fault, all that has happened, +all that will happen.... If I could tell it, thou wouldst see as I +do!... I see all! I see all!... But I loved thee so!... I loved thee +so!... But now there is some one dying.... It is I who am dying.... +And I would know.... I would ask thee.... Thou'lt bear me no +ill-will.... I would.... The truth must be told to a dying man.... He +must know the truth, or else he could not sleep.... Swearest thou to +tell me the truth? + +MELISANDE + +Yes. + +GOLAUD. + +Didst thou love Pelleas? + +MELISANDE. + +Why, yes; I loved him.--Where is he? + +GOLAUD. + +Thou dost not understand me?--Thou wilt not understand me?--It seems +to me ... it seems to me.... Well, then, here: I ask thee if thou +lovedst him with a forbidden love?... Wert thou ... were you guilty? +Say, say, yes, yes, yes!... + +MELISANDE. + +No, no; we were not guilty.--Why do you ask that? + +GOLAUD. + +Melisande!... tell me the truth, for the love of God! + +MELISANDE. + +Why have I not told the truth? + +GOLAUD. + +Do not lie so any more, at the moment of death! + +MELISANDE. + +Who is dying?--Is it I? + +GOLAUD. + +Thou, thou! and I, I too, after thee!... And we must have the +truth.... We must have the truth at last, dost thou understand?... +Tell me all! Tell me all! I forgive thee all!... + +MELISANDE. + +Why am I going to die?--I did not know it.... + +GOLAUD. + +Thou knowest it now!... It is time! It is time!... Quick! quick!... +The truth! the truth!... + +MELISANDE. + +The truth ... the truth.... + +GOLAUD. + +Where art thou?--Melisande!--Where art thou?--It is not natural! +Melisande! Where art thou?--Where goest thou? [_Perceiving_ ARKEL +_and the_ PHYSICIAN _at the door of the room.]--_ Yes, yes; you may +come in.... I know nothing; it is useless.... It is too late; she is +already too far away from us.... I shall never know!... I shall die +here like a blind man!... + +ARKEL. + +What have you done? You will kill her.... + +GOLAUD. + +I have already killed her.... + +ARKEL. + +Melisande.... + +MELISANDE. + +Is it you, grandfather? + +ARKEL. + +Yes, my daughter.... What would you have me do? + +MELISANDE. + +Is it true that the winter is beginning?... + +ARKEL. + +Why dost thou ask? + +MELISANDE. + +Because it is cold, and there are no more leaves.... + +ARKEL. + +Thou art cold?--Wilt thou have the windows closed? + +MELISANDE. + +No, no,... not till the sun be at the bottom of the sea.--It sinks +slowly; then it is the winter beginning? + +ARKEL. + +Yes.--Thou dost not like the winter? + +MELISANDE. + +Oh! no. I am afraid of the cold.--I am so afraid of the great cold.... + +ARKEL. + +Dost thou feel better? + +MELISANDE. + +Yes, yes; I have no longer all those qualms.... + +ARKEL. + +Wouldst thou see thy child? + +MELISANDE. + +What child? + +ARKEL. + +Thy child.--Thou art a mother.... Thou hast brought a little daughter +into the world.... + +MELISANDE. + +Where is she? + +ARKEL. + +Here.... + +MELISANDE. + +It is strange.... I cannot lift my arms to take her.... + +ARKEL. + +Because you are still very weak.... I will hold her myself; look.... + +MELISANDE. + +She does not laugh.... She is little.... She is going to weep too.... +I pity her.... + + [The room has been invaded, little by little, by the women + servants of the castle, who range themselves in silence along + the walls and wait] + +GOLAUD (_rising abruptly_). + +What is the matter?--What are all these women coming here for?... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It is the servants.... + +ARKEL. + +Who was it called them? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It was not I.... + +GOLAUD. + +Why do you come here?--No one has asked for you.... What come you here +to do?--But what is it, then?--Answer me!... + [_The servants make no answer._ + +ARKEL. + +Do not speak too loud.... She is going to sleep; she has closed her +eyes.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is not...? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +No, no; see, she breathes.... + +ARKEL. + +Her eyes are full of tears.--It is her soul weeping now.... Why does +she stretch her arms out so?--What would she? + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +It is toward the child, without doubt.... It is the straggle of +motherhood against... + +GOLAUD. + +At this moment?--At this moment?--You must say. Say! Say!... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Perhaps. + +GOLAUD. + +At once?... Oh! oh! I must tell her....--Melisande! Melisande!... +Leave me alone! leave me alone with her!... + +ARKEL. + +No, no; do not come near.... Trouble her not.... Speak no more to +her.... You know not what the soul is.... + +GOLAUD. + +It is not my fault!... It is not my fault! + +ARKEL. + +Hush!... Hush!... We must speak softly now.--She must not be +disturbed.... The human soul is very silent.... The human soul likes +to depart alone.... It suffers so timorously.... But the sadness, +Golaud ... the sadness of all we see!... Oh! oh! oh!... [_At this +moment, all the servants fall suddenly on their knees at the back of +the chamber._] + +ARKEL (_turning_). + +What is the matter? + +THE PHYSICIAN (_approaching the bed and feeling the body_). + +They are right.... + [_A long silence._ + +ARKEL. + +I saw nothing.--Are you sure?... + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +Yes, yes. + +ARKEL. + +I heard nothing.... So quick, so quick!... All at once!... She goes +without a word.... + +GOLAUD (_sobbing_). + +Oh! oh! oh! + +_ARKEL._ + +Do not stay here, Golaud.... She must have silence now.... Come, +come.... It is terrible, but it is not your fault.... 'T was a little +being, so quiet, so fearful, and so silent.... 'T was a poor little +mysterious being, like everybody.... She lies there as if she were the +big sister of her child.... Come, come.... My God! My God!... I shall +never understand it at all.... Let us not stay here.--Come; the child +most not stay here in this room.... She must live now in her place.... +It is the poor little one's turn.... + [_They go out in silence._ + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + +Alladine and Palomides. + +_To Camille Mauclair_. + + + + +Persons. + + +ABLAMORE. + +ASTOLAINE, _daughter of Ablamore_. + +ALLADINE. + +PALOMIDES. + +THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +A PHYSICIAN. + +[NOTE: The translation of Ablamore's song is taken from the version of +this play made by the editors of "Poet-lore." R.H.] + + + + +Alladine and Palomides. + + * * * * * + + + + +ACT FIRST. + +_A-wild part of the gardens_. ABLAMORE _discovered leaning over_ +ALLADINE, _who is asleep_. + + +ABLAMORE. + +Methinks sleep reigns day and night beneath these trees. Each time +she comes here with me toward nightfall, she is hardly seated when she +falls asleep. Alas! I must be glad even of that.... During the day, +whene'er I speak to her and her look happens to encounter mine, it is +hard as a slave's to whom a thing impossible has just been bidden.... +Yet that is not her customary look.... I have seen her many times +resting her beautiful eyes on children, on the forest, the sea, or her +surroundings. She smiles at me as one smiles on a foe; and I dare not +bend over her save at times when her eyes can no longer see me.... I +have a few moments every evening; and all the rest of the day I live +beside her with my eyes cast down.... It is sad to love too late.... +Maids cannot understand that years do not separate hearts.... They +have called me "The wise King."... I was wise because till now nothing +had happened to me.... There are men who seem to turn events aside. +It was enough that I should be about for nothing to be able to have +birth.... I had suspected it of old.... In the time of my youth, I had +many friends whose presence seemed to attract every adventure; but +the days when I went forth with them, for the encounter of joys or +sorrows, they came back again with empty hands.... I think I palsied +fate; and I long took pride in this gift. One lived under cover in my +reign.... But now I have recognized that misfortune itself is better +worth than sleep, and that there must be a life more active and higher +than waiting.... They shall see that I too have strength to trouble, +when I will, the water that seems dead at the bottom of the great +caldrons of the future.... Alladine, Alladine!... Oh! she is lovely +so, her hair over the flowers and over her pet lamb, her lips apart +and fresher than the morn.... I will kiss her without her knowing, +holding back my poor white beard.... [_He kisses her._]--She +smiled.... Should I pity her? For the few years she gives me, she will +some day be queen; and I shall have done a little good before I go +away.... They will be astonished.... She herself does not know.... Ah! +here she wakes with a start.... Where are you coming from, Alladine? + +ALLADINE. + +I have had a bad dream.... + +ABLAMORE. + +What is the matter? Why do you look yonder? + +ALLADINE. + +Some one went by upon the road. + +ABLAMORE. + +I heard nothing. + +ALLADINE. + +I tell you some one is coming.... There he is! [_She points out a +young knight coming forward through the trees and holding his horse by +the bridle._] Do not take me by the hand; I am not afraid.... He has +not seen us.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Who dares come here?... If I did not know.... I believe it is +Palomides.... It is Astolaine's betrothed.... He has raised his +head.... Is it you, Palomides? + +_Enter_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes, my father.... If I am suffered yet to call you by that name.... I +come hither before the day and the hour.... + +ABLAMORE. + +You are a welcome guest, whatever hour it be.... But what has +happened? We did not expect you for two days yet.... Is Astolaine +here, too?... + +PALOMIDES. + +No; she will come to-morrow. We have journeyed day and night. She was +tired and begged me to come on before.... Are my sisters come? + +ABLAMORE. + +They have been here three days waiting for your wedding.--You look +very happy, Palomides.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Who would not be happy, to have found what he sought? I was sad of +old. But now the days seem lighter and more sweet than harmless birds +in the hand.... And if old moments come again by chance, I draw near +Astolaine, and you would think I threw a window open on the dawn.... +She has a soul that can be seen around her,--that takes you in its +arms like an ailing child and without saying anything to you consoles +you for everything.... I shall never understand it at all.--I do not +know how it can all be; but my knees bend in spite of me when I speak +of it.... + +ALLADINE. + +I want to go in again. + +ABLAMORE. + +[_Seeing that_ ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES _look at each other +stealthily._] This is little Alladine who has come hither from +the heart of Arcady.... Take hands ... Does that astonish you, +Palomides?... + +PALOMIDES. + +My father.... + +[PALOMIDES' _horse starts aside, frightening_ ALLADINE'S _lamb._] + +ABLAMORE. + +Take care.... Your horse has frightened Alladine's lamb.... He will +run away.... + +ALLADINE. + +No; he never runs away.... He has been startled, but he will not +run away.... It is a lamb my godmother gave me.... He is not like +others.... He stays beside me night and day. [_Caressing it._ + +PALOMIDES (_also caressing it_). + +He looks at me with the eyes of a child.... + +ALLADINE. + +He understands everything that happens.... + +ABLAMORE. + +It is time to go find your sisters, Palomides.... They will be +astonished to see you.... + +ALLADINE. + +They have gone every day to the turning of the road.... I have gone +with them; but they did not hope yet.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Come; Palomides is covered with dust, and he must be weary.... We have +too many things to say to each other to talk here.... We will say them +to-morrow.... They claim the morn is wiser than the evening.... I see +the palace gates are open and seem to wait for us.... + +ALLADINE. + +I cannot help being uneasy when I go back into the palace.... It is so +big, and I am so little, and I get lost there still.... And then +all those windows on the sea.... You cannot count them.... And the +corridors that turn without reason, and others that never turn, but +lose themselves between the walls.... And the halls I dare not go +into.... + +PALOMIDES. + +We will go in everywhere.... + +ALLADINE. + +You would think I was not made to dwell there,--that it was not built +for me.... Once I lost my way there.... I pushed open thirty doors, +before I found the light of day again.... And I could not go out; +the last door opened on a pool.... And the vaults that are cold all +summer; and the galleries that bend back on themselves endlessly.... +There are stairways that lead nowhere and terraces from which nothing +can be seen.... + +ABLAMORE. + +You who were not wont to talk, how you talk to-night!... + [_Exeunt._ + + + + +ACT SECOND. + + + + +SCENE I.--ALLADINE _discovered, her forehead against one of the +windows that open on the park. Enter_ ABLAMORE. + + +ABLAMORE. + +Alladine.... + +ALLADINE (_turning abruptly_). + +What is it? + +ABLAMORE. + +Oh, how pale you are!... Are you ill? + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +What is it in the park?--Were you looking at the avenue of fountains +that unfolds before your windows?--They are wonderful and weariless. +They were raised there one by one, at the death of each of my +daughters.... At night I hear them singing in the garden.... They +bring to mind the lives they represent, and I can tell their voices +apart.... + +ALLADINE. + +I know. + +ABLAMORE. + +You must pardon me; I sometimes repeat the same things and my memory +is less trust-worthy.... It is not age; I am not an old man yet, thank +God! but kings have a thousand cares. Palomides has been telling me +his adventures.... + +ALLADINE. + +Ah! + +ABLAMORE. + +He has not done what he would; young people have no will any more.--He +astonishes me. I had chosen him among a thousand for my daughter. He +should have had a soul as deep as hers.--He has done nothing which may +not be excusable, but I had hoped more.... What do you say of him? + +ALLADINE. + +Who? + +ABLAMORE. + +Palomides? + +ALLADINE. + +I have only seen him one evening.... + +ABLAMORE. + +He astonishes me.--Everything has succeeded with him till now. He +would undertake a thing and accomplish it without a word.--He would +get out of danger without an effort, while others could not open a +door without finding death behind it.--He was of those whom events +seem to await on their knees. But a little while ago something +snapped. You would say he has no longer the same star, and every +step he takes carries him further from himself.--I don't know what it +is.--He does not seem to be at all aware, but others can remark it.... +Let us speak of something else: look! the night comes; I see it rise +along the walls. Would you like to go together to the wood of Astolat, +as we do other evenings? + +ALLADINE. + +I am not going out to-night. + +ABLAMORE. + +We will stay here, since you prefer it so. Yet the air is sweet and +the evening very fair. [ALLADINE _starts without his noticing it._] I +have had flowers set along the hedges, and I should like to show them +to you.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, not to-night.... If you wish me to.... I like to go there with you +... the air is pure and the trees ... but not to-night.... [_Cowers, +weeping, against the old man's breast._] I do not feel quite well.... + +ABLAMORE. + +What is the matter? You are going to fall.... I will call.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no.... It is nothing.... It is over.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Sit down. Wait.... + + [He runs to the folding-doors at the back and opens both. + Palomides is seen, seated on a bench. He has not had time to + turn away his eyes. Ablamore looks fixedly at him, without a + word, then re-enters the room. Palomides rises and retreats + in the corridor, stifling the sound of his footsteps. The pet + lamb leaves the room, unperceived.] + + + + +SCENE II.--_A drawbridge over the moats of the palace_. PALOMIDES +_and_ ALLADINE, _with her pet lamb, appear at the two ends of the +bridge._ KING ABLAMORE _leans out from a window of the tower_. + + +PALOMIDES. + +Were you going out, Alladine?--I was coming in. I am coming back from +the chase.--It rained. + +ALLADINE. + +I have never passed this bridge. + +PALOMIDES. + +It leads to the forest. It is seldom passed. People had rather go a +long way around. I think they are afraid because the moats are deeper +at this place than elsewhere, and the black water that comes down from +the mountains boils horribly between the walls before it goes hurling +itself into the sea. It roars there always; but the quays are so high +you hardly notice it. It is the most deserted wing of the palace. But +on this side the forest is more beautiful, more ancient, and greater +than any you have seen. It is full of unusual trees and flowers that +have sprung up of themselves,--Will you come? + +ALLADINE. + +I do not know.... I am afraid of the roaring water. + +PALOMIDES. + +Come, come; it roars without reason. Look at your lamb; he looks at me +as if he wished to come.... Come, come.... + +ALLADINE. + +Don't call him.... He will get away. + +PALOMIDES. + +Come, come. + + [The lamb escapes from Alladine's hands, and comes leaping toward + Palomides, but slips on the inclined plane of the drawbridge and + goes rolling into the moat.] + +ALLADINE. + +What has he done?--Where is he? + +PALOMIDES. + +He slipped. He is straggling in the heart of the eddy. Do not look at +him; there is nothing to be done.... + +ALLADINE. + +You are going to save him? + +PALOMIDES. + +Save him? But look! he is already in the tunnel. One moment more, +and he will be under the vaults; and God himself will never see him +more.... + +ALLADINE. + +Go away! Go away! + +PALOMIDES. + +What is the matter? + +ALLADINE. + +Go away!--I do not want to see you any more!... + + [Ablamore enters precipitately, seizes Alladine, and draws her + away brusquely without speaking.] + + + + +SCENE III.--_A room in the palace_. ABLAMORE _and_ ALLADINE +_discovered_. + + +ABLAMORE. + +You see, Alladine, my hands do not tremble, my heart beats like a +sleeping child's, and my voice has not once been stirred with wrath. +I bear no ill-will to Palomides, although what he has done might seem +unpardonable. And as for thee, who could bear thee ill-will? You obey +laws you do not know, and you could not act otherwise, I will not +speak to you of what took place the other day along the palace moats, +nor of all the unforeseen death of the lamb might have revealed to me, +had I believed in omens for an instant. But last night I surprised +the kiss you gave each other under the windows of Astolaine. At that +moment I was with her in her room. She has a soul that fears so much +to trouble, with a tear or with a simple movement of her eyelids, the +happiness of those about her, that I shall never know if she, as I, +surprised that wretched kiss. But I know what she has the power to +suffer. I shall not ask you anything you cannot avow to me, but I +would know if you had any secret design in following Palomides under +the window where you must have seen us. Answer me without fear; you +know beforehand I will pardon everything. + +ALLADINE. + +I did not kiss him. + +ABLAMORE. + +What? You did not kiss Palomides, and Palomides did not kiss you? + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +Ah!... Listen: I came here to forgive you everything.... I thought +you had acted as we almost all act, without aught of our soul +intervening.... But now I will know all that passed.... You love +Palomides, and you have kissed him under my eyes.... + +ALLADINE. + +No. + +ABLAMORE. + +Don't go away. I am only an old man. Do not flee.... + +ALLADINE. + +I am not fleeing. + +ABLAMORE. + +Ah! ah! You do not flee, because you think my old hands harmless! They +have yet the strength to tear a secret out in spite of all [_He seizes +her arms_.] And they could wrestle with all those you prefer.... [_He +twists her arms behind her head_.] Ah! you will not speak!... There +will yet come a time when all your soul shall spirt out like a clear +spring, for woe.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no! + +ABLAMORE. + +Again,... we are not at the end, the journey is very long--and naked +truth is hid among the rocks.... Will she come forth?... I see her +gestures in your eyes already, and her cool breath will lave my visage +soon.... Ah!... Alladine! Alladine!...[_He releases her suddenly_.] +I heard your bones cry out like little children.... I have not hurt +you?... Do not stay thus, upon your knees before me,... It is I who +go down on my knees. [_He does as he says_] I am a wretch.... You must +have pity.... It is not for myself alone I pray.... I have only one +poor daughter.... All the rest are dead.... I had seven of them +about me.... They were fair and full of happiness; and I saw them no +more.... The only one left to me is going to die, too.... She did +not love life.... But one day she encountered something she no longer +looked for, and I saw she had lost the desire to die.... I do not ask +a thing impossible.... [ALLADINE _weeps and makes no answer_.] + + + + +SCENE IV.--_The apartment of_ ASTOLAINE. ASTOLAINE _and_ PALOMIDES +_discovered_. + + +PALOMIDES. + +Astolaine, when I met you several months ago by chance, it seemed +to me that I had found at last what I had sought for during many +years.... Till you, I did not know all that the ever tenderer goodness +and complete simplicity of a high soul might be. I was so deeply +stirred by it that it seemed to me the first time I had met a human +being. You would have said that I had lived till then in a closed +chamber which you opened for me; and all at once I knew what must be +the soul of other men and what mine might become.... Since then, +I have known you further. I have seen you act, and others too have +taught me all that you have been. + +There have been evenings when I quitted you without a word, and went +to weep for wonder in a corner of the palace, because you had simply +raised your eyes, made a little unconscious gesture, or smiled for no +apparent cause, yet at the moment when all the souls about you asked +it and would be satisfied. There is but you who know these moments, +because you are, it seems, the soul of all, and I do not believe those +who have not drawn near you can know what true life is. To-day I come +to say all this to you, because I feel that I shall never be he whom +I hoped once to become.... A chance has come--or haply I myself have +come; for you can never tell if you have made a movement of yourself, +or if it be chance that has met with you--a chance has come, which has +opened my eyes, just as we were about to make each other unhappy; and +I have recognized there must be something more incomprehensible than +the beauty of the most beautiful soul or the most beautiful face; and +mightier, too, since I must needs obey it.... I do not know if you +have understood me. If you understand, have pity on me.... I have said +to myself all that could be said.... I know what I shall lose, for I +know her soul is a child's soul, a poor strengthless child's, beside +yours, and yet I cannot resist it.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not weep.... I know too that one does not do what one would do ... +nor was I ignorant that you would come.... There must indeed be +laws mightier than those of our souls, of which we always speak.... +[_Kissing him abruptly_].--But I love thee the more, my poor +Palomides. + +PALOMIDES. + +I love thee, too ... more than her I love.... Thou weepest, as I do? + +ASTOLAINE. + +They are little tears.... Do not be sad for them.... I weep so, +because I am woman, but they say our tears are not painful.... You see +I can dry them already.... I knew well what it was.... I waited for +the wakening.... It has come, and I can breathe with less disquietude, +being no longer happy.... There!... We must see clearly now for you +and her. For I believe my father already has suspicions. [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT THIRD. + + +SCENE I.--_A room in the palace_. ABLAMORE _discovered_. ASTOLAINE +_stands on the step of a half-open door at the back of the hall_. + +ASTOLAINE. + +Father, I have come because a voice that I no longer can resist, +commands me to. I told you all that happened in my soul when I met +Palomides. He was not like other men.... To-day I come to ask your +help ... for I do not know what should be said to him.... I have +become aware I cannot love him.... He has remained the same, and +I alone have changed, or have not understood.... And since it is +impossible for me to love, as I have dreamed of love, him I had chosen +among all, it must be that my heart is shut to these things.... I know +it to-day.... I shall look no more toward love; and you will see me +living on about you without sadness and without unrest.... I feel that +I am going to be happy.... + +ABLAMORE. + +Come hither, Astolaine. It is not so that you were wont to speak in +the old days to your father. You wait there, on the threshold of a +door hardly ajar, as if you were ready to flee; and with your hand +upon the key, as if you would close from me forever the secret of your +heart. You know quite well I have not understood what you have just +said, and that words have no sense when souls are not within reach +of each other. Draw nearer still, and speak no more to me, [ASTOLAINE +_approaches slowly_.] There is a moment when souls touch each +other, and know all without need that one should move the lips. Draw +nearer.... They do not reach each other yet, and their radiance is +so slight about us!... [ASTOLAINE _stops_.] Thou darest not?--Thou +knowest too how far one can go?--It is I who must.... [_He approaches +Astolaine with slow step, then stops and looks long at her_.] I see +thee, Astolaine.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Father!... [_She sobs as she kisses the old man_.] + +ABLAMORE. + +You see well it was useless.... + + + + +SCENE II.--_A chamber in the palace_. + + +_Enter_ ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +All will be ready to-morrow. We cannot wait longer. He prowls like +a madman through the corridors of the palace; I met him even now. +He looked at me without a word. I passed; and as I turned, I saw him +slyly laugh, shaking his keys. When he perceived that I was looking +at him, he smiled at me, making signs of friendship. He must have +some secret project, and we are in the hands of a master whose reason +begins to totter.... To-morrow we shall be far away.... Yonder there +are wonderful countries that resemble thine.... Astolaine has already +provided for our flight and for my sisters'.... + +ALLADINE. + +What has she said? + +PALOMIDES. + +Nothing, nothing.... You will see everything about my father's +castle,--after days of sea and days of forests--you will see lakes and +mountains ... not like these, under a sky that looks like the vault of +a cave, with black trees that the storms destroy ... but a sky beneath +which there is nothing more to fear,--forests that are always awake, +flowers that do not close.... + +ALLADINE. + +She wept? + +PALOMIDES. + +What are you asking?... There is something there of which we have no +right to speak, do you understand?... There is a life there that does +not belong to our poor life, and which love has no right to approach +except in silence.... We are here, like two beggars in rags, when I +think of it.... Go! go!... I could tell you things.... + +ALLADINE. + +Palomides!... What is the matter? + +PALOMIDES. + +Go! go!... I have seen tears that came from further than the eyes.... +There is something else.... It may be, nevertheless, that we are right +... but how I regret being right so, my God!... Go!... I will tell you +to-morrow ... to-morrow ... to-morrow.... + [_Exeunt severally_. + + + + +SCENE III.--_A corridor before the apartment of_ ALLADINE. _Enter_ +ASTOLAINE _and the_ SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + + +ASTOLAINE. + +The horses wait in the forest, but Palomides will not flee; and yet +your lives and his are in danger. I do not know my poor father any +longer. He has a fixed idea that troubles his reason. This is the +third day I have followed him step by step, hiding myself behind the +pillars and the walls, for he suffers no one to companion him. To-day, +as the other days, and from the first gleams of the morning he has +gone wandering through the corridors and halls of the palace, and +along the moats and ramparts, shaking the great golden keys he has +had made and singing at the top of his voice the strange song whose +refrain, _Go follow what your eyes have seen_, has perhaps pierced +even to the depths of your chambers. I have concealed from you till +now all that has come to pass, because such things must not be spoken +of without reason. He must have shut up Alladine in this apartment, +but no one knows what he has done with her. I have listened at the +doors every night and whenever he has been away a moment, but I have +never heard any noise in the room.... Do you hear anything? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +No; I hear only the murmur of the air passing through the little +chinks of the wood.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +It seems to me, when I listen hard, that I hear the great pendulum of +the clock. + +A THIRD SISTER. + +But what is this little Alladine, then, and why does he bear such +ill-will to her? + +ASTOLAINE. + +It is a little Greek slave that came from the heart of Arcady.... +He bears her no ill-will, but ... Do you hear?--It is my father.... +[_Singing heard in the distance._] Hide yourselves behind the pillars +... He will have no one pass by this corridor.--[_They hide._] + +_Enter_ ABLAMORE, _singing and shaking a bunch of great keys_. + +ABLAMORE (_sings_). + + Misfortune had three golden keys. + --He has no rescue for the Queen!-- + Misfortune had three golden keys. + Go follow what your eyes have seen. + + [Sits dejected on a bench, beside the door of Alladine's + apartment, hums a little while longer, and soon goes to sleep, his + arms hanging down and his head fallen.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Come, come! make no noise. He has fallen asleep on the bench.--Oh, my +poor old father! How white his hair has grown during these days! He +is so weak, he is so unhappy, that sleep itself no longer brings him +peace. It is three whole days now since I have dared to look upon his +face.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +He sleeps profoundly.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +He sleeps profoundly, but you can see his soul has no rest.... The +sunlight here will vex his eyelids.... I am going to draw his cloak +over his face.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +No, no; do not touch it.... He might wake with a start.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Some one is coming in the corridor. Come, come! put yourselves before +him.... Hide him.... A stranger must not see him in this state.... + +A SISTER OF PALOMIDES. + +It is Palomides.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +I am going to cover his poor eyes.... [_She covers_ ABLAMORE'S +_face_.]--I would not have Palomides see him thus.... He is too +miserable. + +_Enter_ PALOMIDES. + +PALOMIDES. + +What is the matter? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +He has fallen asleep on the bench. + +PALOMIDES. + +I have followed him without his seeing me.... He said nothing?... + +ASTOLAINE. + +No; but see all he has suffered.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Has he the keys? + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +He holds them in his hand.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I am going to take them. + +ASTOLAINE. + +What are you going to do? Oh, do not wake him!... For three nights now +he has wandered through the palace.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I will open his hand a little without his noticing it.... We have no +right to wait any longer.... God knows what he has done.... He will +forgive us when he has his reason back.... Oh! oh! his hand has no +strength any more... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Take care! Take care! + +PALOMIDES. + +I have the keys.--Which is it? I am going to open the room. + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +Oh, I am afraid!... Do not open it at once.... Palomides!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Stay here.... I do not know what I shall find.... + +[_He goes to the door, opens it, and enters the apartment_.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Is she there? + +PALOMIDES (_in the apartment_). + +I cannot see.... The shutters are closed.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Have a care, Palomides.... Wilt thou that I go first?... Thy voice is +trembling.... + +PALOMIDES (_in the apartment_). + +No, no.... I see a ray of sunlight falling through the chinks of the +shutters. + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +Yes; it is broad day out of doors. + +PALOMIDES. + +[_Rushing headlong from the room_.] Come! Come!... I think she ... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Thou hast seen her?... + +PALOMIDES. + +She is stretched out on the bed!... She does not stir!... I do not +think she ... Come! Come! [_They all go into the room._ + +ASTOLAINE AND THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +[_In the room_.] She is here.... No, no, she is not dead.... Alladine! +Alladine!... Oh! oh! The poor child!... Do not cry out so.... She has +fainted.... Her hair is tied across her mouth.... And her hands are +bound behind her back.... They are bound with the help of her hair.... +Alladine! Alladine!... Fetch some water.... + +[ABLAMORE, _who has waked, appears on the step of the door_.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +There is my father!... + +ABLAMORE (_going to_ PALOMIDES). + +Was it you who opened the door of the room? + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes, it was I.... I did it--well, then?--well, then?... I could not +let her die under my eyes.... See what you have done. Alladine!... +Fear nothing.... She opens her eyes a little.... I will not ... + +ABLAMORE. + +Do not cry out.... Do not cry out so.... Come, we will open the +shutters.... You cannot see here. Alladine!... She is already sitting +up. Alladine, come too.... Do you see, my children, it is dark in +the room. It is as dark here as if we were a thousand feet under the +ground. But I open one of the shutters, and behold! All the light of +the sky and the sun!... It does not need much effort; the light +is full of good-will.... It suffices that one call it; it always +obeys.... Have you seen the river with its little islands between the +meadows in flower?... The sky is a crystal ring to-day.... Alladine! +Palomides, come see.... Draw both of you near Paradise.... You must +kiss each other in the new light.... I bear you no ill-will. You did +what was ordained; and so did I.... Lean out a moment from the open +window, and look once more at the sweet green things.... + [_A silence. He closes the shutter without a word_.] + + + + +ACT FOURTH. + +_Vast subterranean crypts_. ALLADINE _and_ PALOMIDES. + + +PALOMIDES. + +They have bound my eyes with bands; they have tied my hands with +cords. + +ALLADINE. + +They have tied my hands with cords; they have bound my eyes with +bands.... I think my hands are bleeding.... + +PALOMIDES. + +Wait. To-day I bless my strength.... I feel the knots beginning to +give way.... One struggle more, and let my fists burst! One struggle +more! I have my hands! [_Tearing away the bandage_.] And my eyes!... + +ALLADINE. + +You see now? + +PALOMIDES. + +Yes. + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Where are you? + +ALLADINE. + +Here; can you not see me? + +PALOMIDES. + +My eyes weep still where the band has left its trace.... We are not in +darkness.... Is it you I hear toward where I can just see? + +ALLADINE. + +I am here; come. + +PALOMIDES. + +You are at the edge of that which gives us light. Do not stir; I +cannot see all that there is about you. My eyes have not forgot the +bandage yet. They bound it tight enough to burst my eyelids. + +ALLADINE. + +Come; the knots stifle me. I can wait no longer.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I hear only a voice coming out of the light.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are you? + +PALOMIDES. + +I have no idea myself. I walk still in darkness.... Speak again, that +I may find you. You seem to be on the edge of an unbounded light.... + +ALLADINE. + +Come! come! I have borne without a word, but I can bear no more.... + +PALOMIDES (_groping forward_). + +You are there? I thought you so far away!... My tears deceived me. +I am here, and I see you. Oh, your hands are wounded! They have bled +upon your gown, and the knots have entered into the flesh. I have no +longer any weapons. They have taken away my poniard. I will tear them +off. Wait! wait! I have the knots. + +ALLADINE. + +Take off the bandage first that makes me blind.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I cannot.... I do not see.... It seems to be surrounded by a net of +golden threads.... + +ALLADINE. + +My hands, then, my hands! + +PALOMIDES. + +They have taken silken cords.... Wait, the knots come undone. The cord +has thirty turns.... There, there!--Oh, your hands are all blood!... +You would say they were dead.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no!... They are alive! they are alive! See!... + + [With her hands hardly yet unbound, she clasps Palomides about the + neck and kisses him passionately.] + +PALOMIDES. + +Alladine! + +ALLADINE. + +Palomides! + +PALOMIDES. + +Alladine, Alladine!... + +ALLADINE. + +I am happy!... I have waited a long while!... + +PALOMIDES. + +I was afraid to come.... + +ALLADINE. + +I am happy ... and I would that I could see thee.... + +PALOMIDES. + +They have tied down the bandage like a casque....--Do not turn round; +I have found the golden threads.... + +ALLADINE. + +Yes, yes, I will turn round.... + [_She turns about, to kiss him again._ + +PALOMIDES. + +Have a care. Do not stir. I am afraid of wounding thee.... + +ALLADINE. + +Tear it away! Fear nothing. I can bear no more!... + +PALOMIDES. + +I would see thee too.... + +ALLADINE. + +Tear it away! Tear it away! I am no longer within reach of woe!... +Tear it away!... Thou dost not know that one could wish to die.... +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Thou'lt see, thou'lt see.... It is innumerable crypts ... great blue +halls, gleaming pillars, and deep vaults.... + +ALLADINE. + +Why dost thou answer when I question thee? + +PALOMIDES. + +What matter where we be, if we be but together?... + +ALLADINE. + +Thou lovest me less already? + +PALOMIDES. + +Why, what ails thee? + +ALLADINE. + +I know well where I am when I am on thy heart.... Oh, tear the bandage +off!... I would not enter blind into thy soul.... What doest thou, +Palomides? Thou dost not laugh when I laugh. Thou dost not weep when +I weep. Thou dost not clap thy hands when I clap mine; and thou +tremblest not when I speak trembling to the bottom of my soul.... +The band! The band!... I will see!... There, there, above my hair!... +[_She tears away the bandage_.] Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Seest thou? + +ALLADINE. + +Yes.... I see thee only.... + +PALOMIDES. + +What is it, Alladine? Thou kissest me as if thou wert already sad.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +Why dost thou ask so sadly? + +ALLADINE. + +No, I am not sad; but my eyes will hardly open.... + +PALOMIDES. + +One would say your joy had fallen on my lips like a child at the +threshold of the house.... Do not turn away.... I fear lest you should +flee, and I fear lest I dream.... + +ALLADINE. + +Where are we? + +PALOMIDES. + +We are in crypts that I have never seen.... Doth it not seem to thee +the light increases? When I unclosed my eyes, I could distinguish +nothing; now little by little it is all revealed. I have been often +told of wondrous caverns whereon the halls of Ablamore were built. It +must be these. No one descends here ever; and the king only has the +keys. I knew the sea flooded the lowest vaults; and it is probably the +reflex of the sea which thus illumines us.... They thought to bury us +in night. They came down here with torches and flambeaus and saw the +darkness only, while the light came out to meet us, seeing we had +none.... It brightens without ceasing.... I am sure the dawn pierces +the ocean and sends down to us through all its greening waves the +purest of its child-soul.... + +ALLADINE. + +How long have we been here? + +PALOMIDES. + +I have no idea.... I made no effort till I heard thee speak.... + +ALLADINE. + +I do not know how this took place. I was asleep in the room where thou +didst find me; and when I waked, my eyes were bound across, and both +my hands were pinioned in my girdle.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I too was sleeping. I heard nothing, and I had a band across my eyes +ere I could open them. I struggled in the darkness; but they were +stronger than I.... I must have passed under deep vaults, for I felt +the cold fall on my shoulders; and I went down so far I could not +count the steps.... Did no one speak to thee? + +ALLADINE. + +No; no one spoke. I heard some one weeping as he walked; and then I +fainted.... + +PALOMIDES (_kissing her_). + +Alladine! + +ALLADINE. + +How gravely thou dost kiss me!... + +PALOMIDES. + +Close not thine eyes when I do kiss thee so.... I would see the kisses +trembling in thy heart, and all the dew that rises in thy soul.... We +shall not find such kisses any more.... + +ALLADINE. + +Always, always! + +PALOMIDES. + +No, no; there is no kissing twice upon the heart of death.... How fair +thou art so!... It is the first time I have seen thee near.... It is +strange, we think that we have seen each other because we have gone by +two steps apart; but everything changes the moment the lips touch.... +There, thou must be let to have thy will.... I stretch my arms wide +to admire thee, as if thou wert no longer mine; and then I draw them +nearer till I touch thy kisses and perceive only eternal bliss.... +There needed us this supernatural light!... [_He kisses her again_.] +Ah! What hast thou done? Take care! we are upon a crest of rock that +overhangs the water that gives us light. Do not step back. It was +time.... Do not turn too abruptly. I was dazzled.... + +ALLADINE. + +[_Turning and looking at the blue water that illuminates them_.] +Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is as if the sky had flowed hither.... + +ALLADINE. + +It is full of moveless flowers.... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is full of moveless flowers and strange.... Hast thou seen the +largest there that blooms beneath the others? It seems to live a +cadenced life.... And the water ... Is it water?... It seems more +beautiful, more pure, more blue than all the water in the world.... + +ALLADINE. + +I dare not look upon it longer.... + +PALOMIDES. + +See how about us all is luminous.... The light dares hesitate no +longer, and we kiss each other in the vestibules of heaven.... Seest +thou the precious stones that gem the vaults, drunken with life, that +seem to smile on us; and the thousands and thousands of glowing blue +roses that climb along the pillars?... + +ALLADINE. + +Oh!... I heard!... + +PALOMIDES. + +What? + +ALLADINE. + +Some one striking the rocks.... + +PALOMIDES. + +No, no; it is the golden gates of a new Paradise, that open in our +souls and sing upon their hinges!... + +ALLADINE. + +Listen.... again, again!... + +PALOMIDES (_with voice suddenly changed_). + +Yes; it is there.... It is at the bottom of the bluest vaults.... + +ALLADINE. + +They are coming to.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I hear the sound of iron on the rock.... They have walled up the door +or cannot open it.... It is the picks grating against the stone.... +His soul has told him we were happy.... + + [A silence; then a stone is detached at the very end of the vault, + and a ray of daylight breaks into the cavern.] + +ALLADINE. + +Oh!... + +PALOMIDES. + +It is another light.... + + [Motionless and anxious, they watch other stones detach themselves + slowly in an insufferable light, and fall one by one; while the + light, entering in more and more resistless floods, reveals to + them little by little the gloom of the cavern they had thought + marvellous. The miraculous lake becomes wan and sinister; the + precious stones about them are extinguished, and the glowing roses + appear as the stains and rotten rubbish that they are. At last, + the whole side of rock falls abruptly into the crypt. The sunlight + enters, dazzling. Calls and songs are heard without. Alladine and + Palomides recoil.] + +PALOMIDES. + +Where are we? + +ALLADINE (_embracing him_). + +I love thee still, Palomides.... + +PALOMIDES. + +I love thee too, my Alladine.... + +ALLADINE. + +They come.... + +PALOMIDES. + +[_Looking behind him as they still recoil_.] Have a care.... + +ALLADINE. + +No, no; have no more care.... + +PALOMIDES (_looking at her_). + +Alladine? + +ALLADINE. + +Yes ... + + [They still recoil before the invasion of light or peril, until + they lose their footing; and they fall and disappear behind the + rock that overhangs the underground and now gloomy water.--A + silence. Astolaine and the sisters of Palomides enter the crypt.] + +ASTOLAINE. + +Where are they? + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +Palomides!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Alladine! Alladine!... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +Palomides!... It is we!... + +THIRD SISTER. + +Fear nothing; we are alone!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Come! come! we have come to rescue you!... + +FOURTH SISTER. + +Ablamore has fled.... + +FIFTH SISTER. + +He is no longer in the palace.... + +SIXTH SISTER. + +They do not answer.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +I heard the water stirred!... This way, this way! + +[_They run to the rock that overlooks the underground_.] + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +They are there!... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +Yes, yes; at the very bottom of the black water.... They embrace. + +THIRD SISTER. + +They are dead. + +FOURTH SISTER. + +No, no; they are alive! they are alive!... See.... + +THE OTHER SISTERS. + +Help! help!... Call!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +They make no effort to save themselves!... + + + + +ACT FIFTH. + + [A corridor, so long that its furthest arches seem to lose + themselves in a kind of indoor horizon. The sisters of Palomides + wait before one of the innumerable closed doors that open into + this corridor. They seem to be guarding it. A little further down, + on the opposite side, Astolaine and the Physician converse before + another door, also closed.] + + +ASTOLAINE. + +[_To the Physician._] Nothing has ever happened until now in this +palace, where all things have seemed to be asleep since my sisters +died; and my poor old father, pursued by a strange restlessness, has +fretted without reason at this calm, which seems, for all that, +the least dangerous form of happiness. Some time ago,--his reason +beginning to totter even then,--he went up to the top of a high tower; +and as he stretched his arms out timidly toward the forests and toward +the sea, he said to me--smiling a little fearfully at his words, as if +to disarm my incredulous smile--that he called about us events which +had long been hidden beneath the horizon. They have come, alas! sooner +and more in number than he expected, and a few days have sufficed for +them to reign in his stead. He has been their first victim. He fled +to the meadows, singing, all in tears, the evening when he had little +Alladine and luckless Palomides taken down into the crypts. He has +not since been seen. I have had search made everywhere throughout the +country and even on the sea. He has not been found. At least, I had +hoped to save those he made suffer unwittingly, for he has always been +the tenderest of men and the best of fathers; but there, too, I think +I came too late. I do not know what happened. They have not spoken +yet. They doubtless must have thought, hearing the sound of the iron +and seeing all at once the light again, that my father had regretted +the kind of surcease he had granted them, and that some one came to +bring them death. Or else they slipped as they drew back, upon +the rock that overhangs the lake; and so must have fallen through +heedlessness. But the water is not deep in that spot, and we succeeded +in saving them without difficulty. To-day it is you alone who can do +the rest. + [THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES _have drawn nearer._ + + +THE PHYSICIAN. + +They are both ailing with the same disease, and it is a disease I do +not know.--But I have little hope left. They were seized perhaps +with the cold of the underground waters; or else those waters may be +poisonous. The decomposed body of Alladine's lamb was found there.--I +will come back to-night.--Meanwhile they must have silence.... The +level of life is very low in their hearts.... Do not go into their +rooms and do not speak to them, for the least word, in the state they +are in, might cause their death.... They must succeed in forgetting +one another. [_Exit._ + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +I see that he will die. + +ASTOLAINE. + +No, no.... Do not weep;... one does not die so, at his age.... + +ANOTHER SISTER. + +But why is your father angry without reason at my poor brother? + +THIRD SISTER. + +I think your father loved Alladine. + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not speak so of it.... He thought I suffered. He thought to have +done good, and he did evil unwittingly.... That often happens to +us.... It is my fault, perhaps.... I recall it to-day.... One night I +was asleep. I was weeping in a dream.... We have little courage when +we dream. I waked.... He was beside my bed, looking at me.... Perhaps +he was deceived.... + +FOURTH SISTER (_running_). + +Alladine has stirred a little in her room.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Go to the door ... listen.... Perhaps it was the nurse rising.... + +FIFTH SISTER (_listening at the door_). + +No, no; I hear the nurse walking.... There is another noise. + +SIXTH SISTER (_also running_). + +I think Palomides has moved too; I hear the murmur of a voice +seeking.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +[_Very feebly, within the room._] Palomides!... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +She is calling him!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Let us be careful!... Go, go in front of the door, that Palomides may +not hear.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides! + +ASTOLAINE. + +My God! My God! Silence that voice!... Palomides will die of it if he +hear it!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +[_Very feebly, within the other room_.] Alladine!... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +He answers!... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Three among you remain here,... and we will go to the other door. Come, +come quickly. We will surround them. We will try to defend them.... +Lie back against the doors.... Perhaps they will hear no longer.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS. + +I shall go into Alladine's room.... + +SECOND SISTER. + +Yes, yes; prevent her from crying out again. + +THIRD SISTER. + +She is already cause of all this evil.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +Do not go in, or I go in to Palomides.... She also had a right to +life; and she has done nought but to live.... But that we cannot +stifle in their passage their deadly words!... We are without help, my +poor sisters, my poor sisters, and hands cannot stop souls!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides, is it thou? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Where art thou, Alladine? + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Is it thou whom I hear far from me making moan? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Is it thou whom I hear calling, and see thee not? + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +One would believe thy voice had lost the last of hope.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +One would believe that thine had crossed the winds of death.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +It goes hard with thy voice to pierce into my room.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +And I no longer hear thy voice as of old time. + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have been woe for thee!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +They have divided us, but I do love thee ever.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have been woe for thee.... Art then still suffering? + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +No; I no longer suffer, but I =fain= would see thee.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +We shall not see each other more; the doors are shut.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Thy voice would make one say thou lovedst me no more.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Yes, yes; I love thee still, but it is mournful now.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Whither is thy face turned? I hardly understand thee.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +We seem to be an hundred leagues from one another.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +I try to rise in vain; my spirit is too heavy.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I too would come,--I too--but still my head falls back.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Thou seemest almost to speak in tears despite thyself.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +No; I wept long ago; it is no longer tears.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +There's something in thy thoughts thou dost not tell me of.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +They were not precious stones.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +And the flowers were not real.... + +ONE OF THE SISTERS OF PALOMIDES. + +They rave.... + +ASTOLAINE. + +No, no; they know what they are saying.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +It was the light that had no pity on us.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Where goest thou, Alladine? Thou'rt being borne away.... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have no more regret to lose the light o' the sun.... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Yes, yes; we shall behold the sweet green things again!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +I have lost desire to live.... + +[_A silence; then more and more faintly:_] + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Alladine!... + +THE VOICE OF ALLADINE. + +Palomides!... + +THE VOICE OF PALOMIDES. + +Alla ... dine!... + + [A silence.--Astolaine and the sisters of Palomides listen, in + anguish. Then the nurse opens, from the inside, the door of + Palomides' room, appears on the sill, makes a sign, and all enter + the room. The door doses behind them. A new silence. A little + afterwards, the door of Alladine's room opens in its turn; the + other nurse comes out in like manner, looks about in the corridor, + and, seeing no one, re-enters the room, leaving the door wide + open.] + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + +Home. + +_To Mademoiselle Sara de Swart._ + + + + +Persons. + +IN THE GARDEN. + +THE OLD MAN. +THE STRANGER. +MARTHA } _granddaughters of the old man._ +AND MARY, } +A PEASANT. +THE CROWD. + +IN THE HOUSE + +THE FATHER, } +THE MOTHER, } _Silent characters._ +THE TWO DAUGHTERS,} +THE CHILD, } + + + + +Home. + + * * * * * + + [An old garden, planted with willows. At the back, a house in + which three windows on the ground-floor are lighted. A family, + sitting up under the lamp, is seen rather distinctly. The + father is seated by the fireside. The mother, one elbow on the + table, is staring into space. Two young girls, clad in white, + embroider, dream, and smile in the quiet of the room. A + child lies asleep with his head under the mother's left arm. + Whenever one of them rises, walks, or makes a gesture, his + movements seem to be grave, slow, rare, and, as it were, + spiritualized by the distance, the light, and the vague veil + of the windows. The old man and the stranger enter the garden + cautiously.] + + +THE OLD MAN. + +We are in the part of the garden behind the house. They never come +here. The doors are on the other side.--They are closed, and the +shutters are up. But there are no shutters on this side, and I saw +a light.... Yes; they are sitting up still under the lamp. It is +fortunate they have not heard us; the mother or the young girls would +have come out, perhaps, and then what should we have done?... + +THE STRANGER. + +What are we going to do? + +THE OLD MAN. + +I should like to see, first, if they are all in the room. Yes, I see +the father sitting in the chimney-corner. He waits, with his hands on +his knees;... the mother is resting her elbow on the table. + +THE STRANGER. + +She is looking at us.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +No; she doesn't know where she is looking: her eyes do not wink. She +cannot see us; we are in the shade of great trees. But do not go any +nearer.... The two sisters of the dead girl are in the room too. They +are embroidering slowly; and the little child is asleep. It is nine +by the clock in the corner.... They suspect nothing, and they do not +speak. + +THE STRANGER. + +If one could draw the father's attention, and make him some sign? He +has turned his head this way. Would you like me to knock at one of the +windows? One of them ought to be told before the others.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +I don't know which one to choose.... We must take great +precautions.... The father is old and ailing.... So is the mother; and +the sisters are too young.... And they all loved her with such love as +will never be again.... I never saw a happier household.... No, no, do +not go near the window; that would be worse than anything else.... +It is better to announce it as simply as possible,--as if it were an +ordinary event,--and not to look too sad; for otherwise their grief +will wish to be greater than yours and will know of nothing more that +it can do.... Let us go on the other side of the garden. We will knock +at the door and go in as if nothing had happened. I will go in first: +they will not be surprised to see me; I come sometimes in the evening, +to bring them flowers or fruit, and pass a few hours with them. + +THE STRANGER. + +Why must I go with you? Go alone; I will wait till I am called.... +They have never seen me.... I am only a passer-by; I am a stranger.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is better not to be alone. A sorrow that one does not bring alone +is not so unmixed nor so heavy.... I was thinking of that as we were +coming here.... If I go in alone, I shall have to be speaking from the +first minute; in a few words they will know everything, and I shall +have nothing more to say; and I am afraid of the silence following the +last words that announce a woe.... It is then the heart is rent.... If +we go in together, I shall tell them, for example, after going a long +way about, "She was found so.... She was floating in the river, and +her hands were clasped."... + +THE STRANGER. + +Her hands were not clasped; her arms were hanging down along her body. + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see, one speaks in spite of oneself.... And the sorrow is lost in +the details;... but otherwise, if I go in alone, at the first words, +knowing them as I do, it would be dreadful, and God knows what might +happen.... But if we speak in turn, they will listen to us and not +think to look the ill news in the face.... Do not forget the mother +will be there, and that her life hangs by a thread.... It is good that +the first wave break on some unnecessary words.... There should be a +little talking around the unhappy, and they should have people about +them.... The most indifferent bear unwittingly a part of the grief.... +So, without noise or effort, it divides, like air or light.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Your clothes are wet through; they are dripping on the flagstones. + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is only the bottom of my cloak that dipped in the water.--You seem +to be cold. Your chest is covered with earth.... I did not notice it +on the road on account of the darkness.... + +THE STRANGER. + +I went into the water up to my waist. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Was it long after you found her when I came? + +THE STRANGER. + +A few minutes, barely. I was going toward the village; it was already +late, and the bank was getting dark. I was walking with my eyes +fixed on the river because it was lighter than the road, when I saw +something strange a step or two from a clump of reeds.... I drew near +and made out her hair, which had risen almost in a circle above her +head, and whirled round, so, in the current. + +[_In the room, the two young girls turn their heads toward the +window._] + +THE OLD MAN. + +Did you see the two sisters' hair quiver on their shoulders? + +THE STRANGER. + +They turned their heads this way.... They simply turned their heads. +Perhaps I spoke too loud. [_The two young girls resume their former +position._] But they are already looking no longer.... I went into the +water up to my waist and I was able to take her by the hand and +pull her without effort to the shore.... She was as beautiful as her +sisters are. + +THE OLD MAN. + +She was perhaps more beautiful.... I do not know why I have lost all +courage.... + +THE STRANGER. + +What courage are you talking of? We have done all man could do.... She +was dead more than an hour ago.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +She was alive this morning!... I met her coming out of church.... She +told me she was going away; she was going to see her grandmother on +the other side of the river where you found her.... She did not know +when I should see her again.... She must have been on the point of +asking me something; then she dared not and left me abruptly. But I +think of it now.... And I saw nothing!... She smiled as they smile who +choose to be silent, or who are afraid they will not be understood.... +She seemed hardly to hope.... Her eyes were not clear and hardly +looked at me.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Some peasants told me they had seen her wandering on the river-bank +until nightfall.... They thought she was looking for flowers.... It +may be that her death.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We cannot tell.... What is there we can tell?... She was perhaps of +those who do not wish to speak, and every one of us bears in himself +more than one reason for no longer living.... We cannot see in the +soul as we see in that room. They are all like that.... They only say +trite things; and no one suspects aught.... You live for months by +some one who is no longer of this world and whose soul can bend no +longer; you answer without thinking; and you see what happens.... They +look like motionless dolls, and, oh, the events that take place in +their souls!... They do not know themselves what they are.... She +would have lived as the rest live.... She would have said up to her +death: "Monsieur, Madame, we shall have rain this morning," or else, +"We are going to breakfast; we shall be thirteen at table," or else: +"The fruits are not yet ripe." They speak with a smile of the flowers +that have fallen, and weep in the dark.... An angel even would not see +what should be seen; and man only understands when it is too late.... +Yesterday evening she was there, under the lamp like her sisters, +and you would not see them as they should be seen, if this had not +occurred.... I seem to see her now for the first time.... Something +must be added to common life before we can understand it.... They are +beside you day and night, and you perceive them only at the moment +when they depart forever.... And yet the strange little soul she must +have had; the poor, naive, exhaustless little soul she had, my son, +if she said what she must have said, if she did what she mast have +done!... + +THE STRANGER. + +Just now they are smiling in silence in the room.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are at peace.... They did not expect her to-night.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They smile without stirring;... and see, the father is putting his +finger on his lips.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +He is calling attention to the child asleep on its mother's heart.... + +THE STRANGER. + +She dares not raise her eyes lest she disturb its sleep.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are no longer working.... A great silence reigns.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They have let fell the skein of white silk.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are watching the child.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They do not know that others are watching them.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We are watched too.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They have lifted their eyes.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +And yet they can see nothing.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They seem happy; and yet nobody knows what may be--.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They think themselves in safety.... They have shut the doors; and +the windows have iron bars.... They have mended the walls of the old +house; they have put bolts upon the oaken doors.... They have foreseen +all that could be foreseen.... + +THE STRANGER. + +We must end by telling them.... Some one might come and let them know +abruptly.... There was a crowd of peasants in the meadow where the +dead girl was found.... If one of them knocked at the door... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha and Mary are beside the poor dead child. The peasants were to +make a litter of leaves; and I told the elder to come warn us in all +haste, the moment they began their march. Let us wait till she comes; +she will go in with me.... We should not have looked on them so.... I +thought it would be only to knock upon the door; to go in simply, find +a phrase or two, and tell.... But I have seen them live too long under +their lamp.... + +_Enter_ MARY. + +MARY. + +They are coming, grandfather. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Is It you?--Where are they? + +MARY. + +They are at the foot of the last hills. + +THE OLD MAN. + +They will come in silence? + +MARY. + +I told them to pray in a low voice. Martha is with them.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Are they many? + +MARY. + +The whole village is about the bearers. They had brought lights. I +told them to put them out.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Which way are they coming? + +MARY. + +They are coming by the footpaths. They are walking slowly.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +It is time.... + +MARY. + +You have told them, grandfather? + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see plainly we have told them nothing.... They are waiting still +under the lamp.... Look, my child, look! You will see something of +life.... + +MARY. + +Oh, how at peace they seem!... You would say I saw them in a dream.... + +THE STRANGER. + +Take care, I saw both sisters give a start.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They are getting up.... + +THE STRANGER. + +I think they are coming to the windows.... + + [At this moment, one of the two sisters of whom they speak draws + near the first window, the other near the third, and, pressing + their hands at the same time against the panes, look a long while + into the darkness.] + +THE OLD MAN. + +No one comes to the window in the middle.... + +MARY. + +They are looking.... They are listening.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +The elder smiles at what she does not see. + +THE STRANGER. + +And the other has eyes full of fearfulness.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Take care; we do not know how far the soul extends about men.... + +[_A long silence_, MARY _cowers against the old man's breast and +kisses him._] + +MARY. + +Grandfather!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Do not weep, my child.... We shall have our turn.... + [_A silence._ + +THE STRANGER. + +They are looking a long while.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They might look a hundred thousand years and not perceive anything, +the poor little sisters.... The night is too dark.... They are looking +this way; and it is from that way the misfortune is coming.... + +THE STRANGER. + +It is fortunate they look this way.... I do not know what that is +coming toward us, over by the meadows. + +MARY. + +I think it is the crowd.... They are so far away you can hardly make +them out.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They follow the undulations of the path.... Now they appear again on a +hillside in the moonlight.... + +MARY. + +Oh, how many they seem!... They had already run up from the suburbs of +the city when I came.... They are going a long way around.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +They will come in spite of all; I see them too.... They are on the +march across the meadow lands.... They seem so small you hardly make +them out among the grasses.... They look like children playing in +the moonlight; and if the girls should see them, they would not +understand.... In vain they turn their backs; those yonder draw near +with every step they take, and the sorrow has been growing these two +hours already. They cannot hinder it from growing; and they that bear +it there no longer can arrest it.... It is their master too, and they +must serve it.... It has its end and follows its own road.... It +is unwearying and has but one idea.... Needs must they lend their +strength. They are sad, but they come.... They have pity, but they +must go forward.... + +MARY. + +The elder smiles no longer, grandfather.... + +THE STRANGER. + +They leave the windows.... + +MARY. + +They kiss their mother.... + +THE STRANGER. + +The elder has caressed the curls of the child without waking him.... + +MARY. + +Oh! the father wants to be kissed too.... + +THE STRANGER. + +And now silence.... + +MARY. + +They come back beside the mother.... + +THE STRANGER. + +And the father follows the great pendulum of the clock with his +eyes.... + +MARY. + +You would say they were praying without knowing what they did.... + +THE STRANGER. + +You would say that they were listening to their souls.... + [_A silence._ + +MARY. + +Grandfather, don't tell them to-night!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +You see, you too lose courage.... I knew well that we must not look. I +am nearly eighty-three years old, and this is the first time the sight +of life has struck me. I do not know why everything they do seems so +strange and grave to me.... They wait for night quite simply, under +their lamp, as we might have been waiting under ours; and yet I seem +to see them from the height of another world, because I know a little +truth which they do not know yet.... Is it that, my children? Tell me, +then, why you are pale, too? Is there something else, perhaps, +that cannot be told and causes us to weep? I did not know there was +anything so sad in life, nor that it frightened those who looked upon +it.... And nothing can have occurred that I should be afraid to see +them so at peace.... They have too much confidence in this world.... +There they are, separated from the enemy by a poor window.... They +think nothing will happen because they have shut the door, and do not +know that something is always happening in our souls, and that the +world does not end at the doors of our houses.... They are so sure of +their little life and do not suspect how many others know more of +it than they; and that I, poor old man,--I hold here, two steps from +their door, all their little happiness, like a sick bird, in my old +hands I do not dare to open.... + +MARY. + +Have pity, grandfather.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +We have pity on them, my child, but no one has pity on us.... + +MARY. + +Tell them to-morrow, grandfather; tell them when it is light.... They +will not be so sorrowful.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Perhaps you are right, my child.... It would be better to leave all +this in the night. And the light is sweet to sorrow.... But what would +they say to us to-morrow? Misfortune renders jealous; they whom it +strikes, wish to be told before strangers; they do not like to have it +left in the hands of those they do not know.... We should look as if +we had stolen something.... + +THE STRANGER. + +There is no more time, besides; I hear the murmur of prayers +already.... + +MARY. + +There they are.... They are passing behind the hedges.... + +_Enter_ MARTHA. + +MARTHA. + +Here I am. I have brought them this far. I have told them to wait on +the road. [_Cries of children heard._] Ah! the children are crying +again.... I forbade their coming.... But they wanted to see too, and +the mothers would not obey.... I will go tell them.... No; they are +silent.--Is everything ready?--I have brought the little ring that was +found on her.... I have some fruit, too, for the child.... I laid her +out myself on the litter. She looks as if she were asleep.... I had +a good deal of trouble; her hair would not obey.... I had some +marguerites plucked.... It is sad, there were no other flowers.... +What are you doing here? Why are you not by them?... [_She looks at +the windows._] They do not weep?... They ... you have not told them? + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha, Martha, there is too much life in your soul; you cannot +understand.... + +MARTHA. + +Why should I not understand?... [_After a silence and in a tone of +very grave reproach._] You cannot have done that, grandfather.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Martha, you do not know.... + +MARTHA. + +_I_ will tell them. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Stay here, my child, and look at them a moment. + +MARTHA. + +Oh, how unhappy they are!... They can wait no longer. + +THE OLD MAN. + +Why? + +MARTHA. + +I do not know;... it is no longer possible!... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Come here, my child.... + +MARTHA. + +How patient they are! + +THE OLD MAN. + +Come here, my child.... + +MARTHA. + +[_Turning._] Where are you, grandfather? I am so unhappy I cannot see +you any more.... I do not know what to do myself any more.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +Do not look at them any more; till they know all.... + +MARTHA. + +I will go in with you.... + +THE OLD MAN. + +No, Martha, stay here.... Sit beside your sister, on this old stone +bench, against the wall of the house, and do not look.... You are too +young; you never could forget.... You cannot know what a face is like +at the moment when death passes before its eyes.... There will +be cries, perhaps.... Do not turn round.... Perhaps there will be +nothing.... Above all, do not turn if you hear nothing.... One does +not know the course of grief beforehand.... A few little deep-rooted +sobs, and that is all, usually.... I do not know myself what I may +do when I shall hear them.... That belongs no longer to this life.... +Kiss me, my child, before I go away.... + + [The murmur of prayers has gradually drawn nearer. Part of the + crowd invades the garden. Dull steps heard, running, and low + voices speaking.] + +THE STRANGER (_to the crowd_). + +Stay here;... do not go near the windows.... Where is she?... + +A PEASANT. + +Who? + +THE STRANGER. + +The rest ... the bearers?... + +THE PEASANT. + +They are coming by the walk that leads to the door. + + [The old man goes away. Martha and Mary are seated on the bench, + with their backs turned to the windows. Murmurs in the crowd.] + +THE STRANGER. + +S--t!... Do not speak. + +[_The elder of the two sisters rises and goes to bolt the door...._] + +MARTHA. + +She opens it? + +THE STRANGER. + +On the contrary, she is shutting it. + [_A silence._ + +MARTHA. + +Grandfather has not entered? + +THE STRANGER. + +No.... She returns and sits down by her mother.... The others do not +stir, and the child sleeps all the time.... + [_A silence._ + +MARTHA. + +Sister, give me your hands.... + +MARY. + +Martha!... + [_They embrace and give each other a kiss._ + +THE STRANGER. + +He must have knocked.... They have all raised their heads at the same +time;... they look at each other.... + +MARTHA. + +Oh! oh! my poor little sister!... I shall cry too!... + [_She stifles her sobs on her sister's shoulder._ + +THE STRANGER. + +He must be knocking again.... The father looks at the clock. He rises. + +MARTHA. + +Sister, sister, I want to go in too.... They cannot be alone any +longer.... + +MARY. + +Martha! Martha!... + [_She holds her back._ + +THE STRANGER. + +The father is at the door.... He draws the bolts.... He opens the door +prudently.... + +MARTHA. + +Oh!... you do not see the... + +THE STRANGER. + +What? + +MARTHA. + +Those who bear.... + +THE STRANGER. + +He hardly opens it.... I can only see a corner of the lawn; and the +fountain.... He does not let go the door;... he steps back.... He +looks as if he were saying: "Ah, it's you!"... He raises his arms.... +He shuts the door again carefully.... Your grandfather has come into +the room.... + + [The crowd has drawn nearer the windows. Martha and Mary half rise + at first, then draw near also, clasping each other tightly. The + old man is seen advancing into the room. The two sisters of the + dead girl rise; the mother rises as well, after laying the child + carefully in the armchair she has just abandoned; in such a way + that from without the little one may be seen asleep, with his head + hanging a little to one side, in the centre of the room. The + mother advances to meet the old man and extends her hand to him, + but draws it back before he has had time to take it. One of the + young girls offers to take off the visitor's cloak and the other + brings forward a chair for him; but the old man makes a slight + gesture of refusal. The father smiles with a surprised look. The + old man looks toward the windows.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He dares not tell them.... He has looked at us.... + [_Rumors in the crowd._ + +THE STRANGER. + +S ... t!... + + [The old man, seeing their faces at the windows, has quickly + turned his eyes away. As one of the young girls continues to offer + him the same armchair, he ends by sitting down and passes his + right hand across his forehead several times.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He sits down.... + + [The other people in the room sit down also, while the father + talks volubly. At last the old man opens his mouth, and the tone + of his voice seems to attract attention. But the father interrupts + him. The old man begins to speak again, and little by little the + others become motionless. All at once, the mother starts and + rises.] + +MARTHA. + +Oh! the mother is going to understand!... + + [She turns away and hides her face in her hands. New murmurs in + the crowd. They elbow each other. Children cry to be lifted up, so + that they may see too. Most of the mothers obey.] + +THE STRANGER. + +S ... t!... He has not told them yet.... + + [The mother is seen to question the old man in anguish. He says a + few words more; then abruptly all the rest rise too and seem to + question him. He makes a slow sign of affirmation with his head.] + +THE STRANGER. + +He has told them.... He has told them all at once!... + +VOICES IN THE CROWD. + +He has told them!... He has told them!... + +THE STRANGER. + +You hear nothing.... + + [The old man rises too, and, without turning, points with his + finger to the door behind him. The mother, the father, and the two + young girls throw themselves on this door, which the father cannot + at once succeed in opening. The old man tries to prevent the + mother from going out.] + +VOICES IN THE CROWD. + +They are going out! They are going out!... + + [Jostling in the garden. All rush to the other side of the house + and disappear, with the exception of the stranger, who remains at + the windows. In the room, both sides of the folding-door at last + open; all go out at the same time. Beyond can be seen a starry + sky, the lawn and the fountain in the moonlight, while in the + middle of the abandoned room the child continues to sleep + peacefully in the armchair.--Silence.] + +THE STRANGER. + +The child has not waked!... + [_He goes out also._ + + +[CURTAIN.] + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pelleas and Melisande, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLEAS AND MELISANDE *** + +***** This file should be named 13329.txt or 13329.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/2/13329/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Leah Moser and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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