ened on a pool.... And the vaults that are cold all
summer; and the galleries that bend back on themselves endlessly....
There are stairways that lead nowhere and terraces from which nothing
can be seen....

ABLAMORE.

You who were not wont to talk, how you talk to-night!...
[_Exeunt._

ACT SECOND.

SCENE I.--ALLADINE _discovered, her forehead against one of the
windows that open on the park. Enter_ ABLAMORE.

ABLAMORE.

Alladine....

ALLADINE (_turning abruptly_).

What is it?

ABLAMORE.

Oh, how pale you are!... Are you ill?

ALLADINE.

No.

ABLAMORE.

What is it in the park?--Were you looking at the avenue of fountains
that unfolds before your windows?--They are wonderful and weariless.
They were raised there one by one, at the death of each of my
daughters.... At night I hear them singing in the garden.... They
bring to mind the lives they represent, and I can tell their voices
apart....

ALLADINE.

I know.

ABLAMORE.

You must pardon me; I sometimes repeat the same things and my memory
is less trust-worthy.... It is not age; I am not an old man yet, thank
God! but kings have a thousand cares. Palomides has been telling me
his adventures....

ALLADINE.

Ah!

ABLAMORE.

He has not done what he would; young people have no will any more.--He
astonishes me. I had chosen him among a thousand for my daughter. He
should have had a soul as deep as hers.--He has done nothing which may
not be excusable, but I had hoped more.... What do you say of him?

ALLADINE.

Who?

ABLAMORE.

Palomides?

ALLADINE.

I have only seen him one evening....

ABLAMORE.

He astonishes me.--Everything has succeeded with him till now. He
would undertake a thing and accomplish it without a word.--He would
get out of danger without an effort, while others could not open a
door without finding death behind it.--He was of those whom events
seem to await on their knees. But a little while ago something
snapped. You would say he has no longer the same star, and every
step he takes carries him further from himself.--I don't know what it
is.--He does not seem to be at all aware, but others can remark it....
Let us speak of something else: look! the night comes; I see it rise
along the walls. Would you like to go together to the wood of Astolat,
as we do other evenings?

ALLADINE.

I am not going out to-night.

ABLAMORE.

W