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!…