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THE MAKROPOULOS SECRET

I am tired. Speak softly.

Softly? I warn you, if I speak softly I won’t know what I am saying—I shall say foolish things. Do you hear, Emilia? I love you. I am mad. I love you—you don’t laugh? I wanted you to get up and box my ears. I would have loved you the more for it. I love you. What—what is the matter?

It is cold, Berti. Everyone—everything—is cold.

Yes. You are cold to me but it makes me happy. Even that—I would like to strangle you when you torture me. I would like Ah, I am a fool, Emilia. Some day I will kill you. In you there is something awful. You are bad, low.

No, Berti.

Yes. Nothing means anything to you. Cruel, cold—as cold as the dead. [Softly] Listen—it is hell to love you. But I do. I love you so much I could tear the flesh from my body!

Do you like the name Makropoulos?