Scene IV A Fountain in the Park
Enter PÉLLÉAS.
PÉLLÉAS.
It is the last evening … the last evening. It must all end. I have played like a child about a thing I did not guess…. I have played a-dream about the snares of fate…. Who has awakened me all at once? I shall flee, crying out for joy and woe like a blind man fleeing from his burning house…. I am going to tell her I shall flee…. My father is out of danger; and I have no more reason to lie to myself…. It is late; she does not come…. I should do better to go away without seeing her again…. I must look well at her this time…. There are some things that I no longer recall…. It seems at times as if I had not seen her for a hundred years…. And I have not yet looked upon her look…. There remains nought to me if I go away thus. And all those memories … it is as if I were to take away a little water in a muslin bag…. I must see her one last time, to the bottom of her heart…. I must tell her all that I have never told her.
Enter MÉLISANDE.
Mélisande
Pélléas!
Mélisande!—Is it thou, Mélisande?
Mélisande
Yes.
Pélléas
Come hither; do not stay at the edge of the moonlight.—Come hither. We have so many things to tell each other…. Come hither in the shadow of the linden.
Mélisande
Let me stay in the light….
Pélléas
We might be seen from the windows of the tower. Come hither; here, we have nothing to fear.—Take care; we might be seen….
Mélisande
I wish to be seen….
Pélléas
Why, what doth ail thee?—Thou wert able to come out without being seen?
Mélisande
Yes; your brother slept….
Pélléas
It is late.—In an hour they will close the gates. We must be careful. Why art thou come so late?
Mélisande
Your brother had a bad dream. And then my gown was caught on the nails of the gate. See, it is torn. I lost all this time, and ran….
Pélléas
My poor Mélisande!… I should almost be afraid to touch thee…. Thou art still out of breath, like a hunted bird…. It is for me, for me, thou doest all that?… I hear thy heart beat as if it were mine…. Come hither … nearer, nearer me….
Mélisande
Why do you laugh?
Pélléas
I do not laugh;—or else I laugh for joy, unwittingly…. It were a weeping matter, rather….
Mélisande
We have come here before…. I recollect….
Pélléas
Yes … yes…. Long months ago.—I knew not then…. Knowest thou why I asked thee to come here to-night?
Mélisande
No.
Pélléas
It is perhaps the last time I shall see thee…. I must go away forever….
Mélisande
Why sayest thou always thou wilt go away?…
Pélléas
I must tell thee what thou knowest already?—Thou knowest not what I am going to tell thee?
Mélisande
Why, no; why, no; I know nothing—…
Pélléas
Thou knowest not why I must go afar…. Thou knowest not it is because … [He kisses her abruptly.] I love thee….
MÉLISANDE (in a low voice).
I love thee too….
Pélléas
Oh! oh! What saidst thou, Mélisande?… I hardly heard it!… Thou sayest that in a voice coming from the end of the world!… I hardly heard thee…. Thou lovest me?—Thou lovest me too?… Since when lovest thou me?…
Mélisande
Since always…. Since I saw thee….
Pélléas
Oh, how thou sayest that!… Thy voice seems to have blown across the sea in spring!… I have never heard it until now;… one would say it had rained on my heart!… Thou sayest that so frankly!… Like an angel questioned!… I cannot believe it, Mélisande!… Why shouldst thou love me?—Nay, why dost thou love me?—Is what thou sayest true?—Thou dost not mock me?—Thou dost not lie a little, to make me smile?…
Mélisande
No; I never lie; I lie but to thy brother….
Pélléas
Oh, how thou sayest that!… Thy voice! thy voice!… It is cooler and more frank than the water is!… It is like pure water on my lips!… It is like pure water on my hands…. Give me, give me thy hands!… Oh, how small thy hands are!… I did not know thou wert so beautiful!… I have never seen anything so beautiful before thee…. I was fall of unrest; I sought throughout the house…. I sought throughout the country…. And I found not beauty…. And now I have found thee!… I have found thee!.,. I do not think there could be on the earth a fairer woman!… Where art thou?—I no longer hear thee breathe….
Mélisande
Because I look on thee….
Pélléas
Why dost thou look so gravely on me?—We are already in the shadow.—It is too dark under this tree. Come into the light. We cannot see how happy we are. Come, come; so little time remains to us….
Mélisande
No, no; let us stay here…. I am nearer thee in the dark….
Pélléas
Where are thine eyes?—Thou art not going to fly me?—Thou dost not think of me just now.
Mélisande
Oh, yes; oh, yes; I only think of thee….
Pélléas
Thou wert looking elsewhere….
Mélisande
I saw thee elsewhere….
Pélléas
Thy soul is far away…. What ails thee, then?—Meseems thou art not happy….
Mélisande
Yes, yes; I am happy, but I am sad….
Pélléas
One is sad often when one loves….
Mélisande
I weep always when I think of thee….
Pélléas
I too…. I too, Mélisande…. I am quite near thee; I weep for joy, and yet …[He kisses her again.]—Thou art strange when I kiss thee so…. Thou art so beautiful that one would think thou wert about to die….
Mélisande
Thou too….
Pélléas
There, there…. We do not what we will…. I did not love thee the first time I saw thee….
Mélisande
Nor I … nor I…. I was afraid….
Pélléas
I could not admit thine eyes…. I would have gone away at once … and then….
Mélisande
And I,—I would not have come…. I do not yet know why,—I was afraid to come….
Pélléas
There are so many things one never knows. We are ever waiting; and then…. What is that noise?—They are closing the gates!…
Mélisande
Yes, they have closed the gates….
Pélléas
We cannot go back now?—Hearest thou the bolts?—Listen! listen!… the great chains!… the great chains!… It is too late; it is too late!…
Mélisande
All the better! all the better! all the better!…
Pélléas
Thou—…? Behold, behold!… It is no longer we who will it so!… All’s lost, all’s saved! all is saved to-night!—Come, come…. My heart beats like a madman,—up to my very throat…. [They embrace.] Listen! listen! my heart is almost strangling me…. Come! come!… Ah, how beautiful it is in the shadows!…
Mélisande
There is some one behind us!…
Pélléas
I see no one….
Mélisande
I heard a noise….
Pélléas
I hear only thy heart in the dark….
Mélisande
I heard the crackling of dead leaves….
Pélléas
Because the wind is silent all at once…. It fell as we were kissing….
Mélisande
How long our shadows are to-night!…
Pélléas
They embrace to the very end of the garden. Oh, how they kiss far away from us!… Look! look!…
MÉLISANDE.(a stifled voice).
A-a-h!—He is behind a tree!
Pélléas
Who?
Mélisande
Golaud!
Pélléas
Golaud!—where?—I see nothing….
Mélisande
There … at the end of our shadows.
Pélléas
Yes, yes; I saw him…. Let us not turn abruptly….
Mélisande
He has his sword….
Pélléas
I have not mine….
Mélisande
He saw us kiss….
Pélléas
He does not know we have seen him…. Do not stir; do not turn your head…. He would rush headlong on us…. He will remain there while he thinks we do not know. He watches us…. He is still motionless…. Go, go at once this way…. I will wait for him…. I will stop him….
Mélisande
No, no, no!…
Pélléas
Go! go! he has seen all!… He will kill us!…
Mélisande
All the better! all the better! all the better!…
Pélléas
He comes! he comes!… Thy mouth!… Thy mouth!…
Mélisande
Yes!… yes! yes!… [They kiss desperately.
Pélléas
Oh! oh! All the stars are falling!…
Mélisande
Upon me too! upon me too!…
Pélléas
Again! Again!… Give! give!…
Mélisande
All! all! all!…
[Golaud rushes upon them, sword in hand, and strikes Pélléas, who falls at the brink of the fountain. Mélisande flees terrified.]
MÉLISANDE. (fleeing).
Oh! oh! I have no courage I … I have no courage!…
[GOLAUD pursues her through the wood in silence.