Pelléas et Mélisande | Page 5

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