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_ ACT III
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.] _
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