Pelléas et Mélisande | Page 4

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. ARK?L 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 Ark?l, 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?
ARK?L.
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.
ARK?L.
Who is coming in there?
GENEVIèVE.
It is Pélléas. He has been weeping.
ARK?L.
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....
ARK?L.
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....
ARK?L.
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....