ils upon
her to go with him--the night is coming on, and she cannot remain alone
in the forest. She refuses, at first, in terror, then reluctantly
consents. "Where are you going?" she asks. "I do not know.... I, too, am
lost," replies Golaud. They leave together.

The scene changes to a hall in the castle--the silent and forbidding
castle near the sea, surrounded by deep forests, where Golaud, with his
mother Genevieve and his little son Yniold (the child of his first wife,
now dead), lives with his aged father, Arkel, king of Allemonde. Here,
too, lives Golaud's young half-brother, Pelleas--for they are not sons
of the same father. Half a year has passed, and it is spring. Genevieve
reads to her father, the ancient Arkel, a letter sent by Golaud to
Pelleas. After recounting the circumstances of his meeting with
Melisande, Golaud continues: "It is now six months since I married her,
and I know as little of her past as on the day we met. Meanwhile, dear
Pelleas, you whom I love more than a brother, ... make ready for our
return. I know that my mother will gladly pardon me; but I dread the
King, in spite of all his kindness. If, however, he will consent to
receive her as if she were his own daughter, light a lamp at the summit
of the tower overlooking the sea, upon the third night after you receive
this letter. I shall be able to see it from our vessel. If I see no
light, I shall pass on and shall return no more." They decide to receive
Golaud and his child-bride, although the marriage has prevented a union
which, for political reasons, Arkel had arranged for his grandson.

Again the scene changes. Melisande and Genevieve are walking together in
the gardens, and they are joined by Pelleas. "We shall have a storm
to-night," he says, "yet it is so calm now.... One might embark
unwittingly and come back no more." They watch the departure of a great
ship that is leaving the port, the ship that brought Golaud and his
young wife. "Why does she sail to-night?... She may be wrecked," says
Melisande.... "The night comes quickly," observes Pelleas. A silence
falls between them. "It is time to go in," says Genevieve. "Pelleas,
show the way to Melisande. I must go 'tend to little Yniold," and she
leaves them alone. "Will you let me take your hand?" says Pelleas to
Melisande. Her hands are full of flowers, she responds. He will hold her
arm, he says, for the road is steep. He tells her that he has had a
letter from his dying friend M