th!

STRANGER. Death... no. But of something else, the unknown.

LADY. Listen. Give me your hand. You're ill, I'll take you to a doctor.
Come!

STRANGER. If you like. But tell me: is this carnival, or... reality?

LADY. It's real enough.

STRANGER. This beggar must be a wretched fellow. Is it true he resembles
me?

LADY. He will, if you go on drinking. Now go to the post office and get
your letter. And then come with me.

STRANGER. No, I won't. It'll only be about lawsuits.

LADY. If not?

STRANGER. Malicious gossip.

LADY. Well, do as you wish. No one can escape his fate. At this moment
I feel a higher power is sitting in judgment on us and has made a
decision.

STRANGER. You feel that, too! I heard the hammer fall just now; and the
chairs being pushed back. The clerk's being sent to find me! Oh, the
suspense! No, I can't follow you.

LADY. Tell me, what have you done to me? In the church I found I
couldn't pray. A light on the altar was extinguished and an icy wind
blew in my face when I heard you call me.

STRANGER. I didn't call you. But I wanted you.

LADY. You're not as weak as you pretend. You have great strength; and
I'm afraid of you....

STRANGER. When I'm alone I've no strength at all; but if I can find
a single companion I grow strong. I shall be strong now; and so I'll
follow you.

LADY. Perhaps you can free me from the werewolf.

STRANGER. Who's he?

LADY. That's what I call him.

STRANGER. Count on me. Killing dragons, freeing princesses, defeating
werewolves--that is Life!

LADY. Then come, my liberator!

(She draws her veil over her face, kisses him on the mouth and hurries
out. The STRANGER stands where he is for a moment, surprised and
stunned. A loud chord sung by women's voices, rather like a cry, is
heard from the church. The rose window suddenly grows dark and the tree
above the seat is shaken by the wind. The MOURNERS rise and look at the
sky, as if they could see something terrifying. The STRANGER hurries out
after the LADY.)

SCENE II

DOCTOR'S HOUSE

[Courtyard enclosed on three sides by a single-storied house with a
tiled roof. Small windows in all three facades. Right, verandah with
glass doors. Left, climbing roses and bee-hives outside the windows. In
the middle of the courtyard a woodpile in the form of a cupola. A well
beside it. The top of a walnut tree is seen above the central facade
of the house. In the corner, right, a garden gate. By the well a