Pelléas et Mélisande | Page 6

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