Page:Pelléas and Melisande.djvu/25

Rh

Yes, it is here, we have arrived. It is so black that the entrance to the grotto cannot be distinguished from the rest of the night… There are no stars on this side… Let us await until the moon has torn apart this great cloud; it will light up the whole grotto and then we can enter without danger. There are dangerous places and the path is very narrow, between two lakes of which they have not found the bottom. I had not thought of bringing a torch or a lantern, but I think that the light of heaven will suffice us.—You have penetrated into this grotto?

No…

Let us enter… You must be able to describe the place where you lost the ring, if he questions you. It is very large and very beautiful. It is full of blue darkness. When one lights a little lamp, it is as if the vault were covered with stars, like the heavens. Give me your hand, do not tremble, do not tremble so. There is no danger: we will stop at the moment when we longer see the light of the sea… Is it the noise of the grotto that frightens you? Do you hear the sea behind us?—It does not seem happy to-night… Ah! here comes the light.

The moon clearly illuminates the entrance and a part of the darkness of the grotto: and one perceives, at a certain depth, three old, poor, men with white hair, seated side by side, supporting each other and asleep against a boulder.

Ah!

What is it?

It is… it is…

(She points at the three poor men.)

Yes, yes; I saw them also…

Let us go!… Let us go!…

It is three old poor men who have fallen asleep… Why have they come to sleep here?… There will be a famine in the country.

Let us go… Come… Let us go!…

Take care, do not speak so loud… Let us not awaken them… They still sleep profoundly… Come.

Let me be: I prefer to walk alone…

We will return another day…

(They go out.)